This is a repeat from Summer 2016, but worth sharing again! Enjoy this beautiful Georgia Hydrangea tour and Ryan Gainey’s garden that Mark and I toured.
**********
A couple of weekends ago, Mark and I went on the annual Georgia Hydrangea tour, which has been going on for many years. This is the first year I’ve actually remembered it was happening so made a point to get tickets for the tour. I LOVE hydrangeas and since my front garden hydrangeas did so well this year, it made me even more eager to see all the beauty happening in the Atlanta area this year. This was a really good year for hydrangeas apparently. I want to fill my yard with lots more varieties of blooming hydrangeas, because you just can’t have too many!
The tour was really nice and there were 7 houses on the tour this year, 3 stops in Marietta and 4 stops in Decatur. We started on the far side of town at the house further away in Decatur and then hit the rest in that area before driving back to Marietta for the remainder of the homes.
My favorite by far was Ryan Gainey’s garden tour at his home in Decatur. I have heard about Ryan for many many years here in the Atlanta area and he is a superstar garden designer, having designed many famous gardens private and public worldwide. He’s a Southerner, from South Carolina and looks to be quite the dapper gentleman. I knew we were in for a treat and we certainly were not disappointed. From the docents at the tour, we learned that his current house is next door to a house he formerly owned and designed the garden and now both gardens just flow into each other. His house recently had a tree fall on it, so was in the process of being renovated, but we all certainly enjoyed the garden tour. It’s amazing! So, what you will see is both homes and their gardens, all flowing together.
The homeowners of the yellow house left a comment and here is the information about their house and gardens:
We purchased the property 6 years ago and the garden was completely redesigned by my husband, Tim Wolfe of Tim Wolfe Design, in the past six years. Ryan did not live here but purchased the property after acquiring his residence next door and used it as an office then rental for years. Tim was approached about doing the Hydrangea tour this year and brough Mr. Gainey on board.
We started at this house, which is next door to Mr. Gainey. He lived here and designed this garden and then moved next door and the gardens all wind together from the backyard over.
This space has a lawn area in the backyard, unlike Mr. Gainey’s current residence, which is a mass of winding paths, beautiful garden artifacts, greenhouses, tree house, guest house, and more.
Still in the neighbor’s garden, we’re about to go thru the back garden gate to Mr. Gainey’s current garden.
A greenhouse is filled with lots of plants. You can definitely tell a true gardener lives here.
Mr. Gainey’s back yard garden is truly a treasure trove of beauty, with winding brick pathways, beautiful garden pieces and so many plant varieties. And yes, hydrangeas!
It was very hard to even capture the beauty of the space and I had my big camera and iPhone camera with me.
So much was in the shade so hard for the lens to capture it all, but this tree house was amazing.
A little guest house that looks like it’s not being used is buried in the backyard and hidden away.
I just adore old garden statuary and he has plenty in his backyard. Old and vintage is definitely the theme of Mr. Gainey’s garden.
It’s so lush and shady back there and all the paths wind in and out creating really private garden rooms.
Folk art, garden art, crusty statuary is strewn throughout the garden giving it a very old and established feel. I’m not sure how long this garden has been around, but it’s truly beautiful.
Winding paths and archways are all through the garden creating such ambience.
The back of Mr. Gainey’s current home.
Don’t you love this garden gate?
The tree that fell on his house has been removed, but the massive truck remains, along with tags stating the year and how old this tree is thought to be, at least 100 years old.
I’m thinking he’s going to keep this in his garden for an architectural feature.
His garden style is wild and wandering, with an eye for detail and magic.
His current house is in the midst of a renovation and I’m sure it will be charming when completed. We thoroughly enjoyed our strolling through Mr. Ryan Gainey’s backyard garden and I hope you enjoyed me taking you along too.
Sadly, Mr. Gainey passed away not too long after this tour was completed.
Rhoda, this is a real treat. Mr. Gainey’s garden is fabulous. I want to live in the guest house. Sweet talk mr. Gainey into a tour of his home. If the house is anything like the garden, it will be beautiful. That stump adds to the garden,usually a stump is an eyesore. Some people are truly gifted.
Wow! This is really exceptional. We love the wild and wooly look to a garden. That tree was massive!
I have been to his garden twice years ago on the Botanical May tour. I loved it and can see that I need to go back since it’s grown so much.
Love this garden tour and look forward to more!!
Love all the pictures and the beauty you captured. A true outside living space.
Thank you so much Rhoda! I was just thinking about him this weekend. I knew a tree had fallen and wondered how the repairs were coming along. I’ve never been to his garden but I saw a video decades ago and then purchased his book “The Well-Placed Weed”. Love his gardens and I was thrilled to read your post.
I really enjoyed this post. I have toured his gardens twice before but never the newer part. I love those garden tours but its always around my birthday and Mothers Day and it seems like I always have other plans. Someday I hope to tour his garden again. I just love all the shade he has.
Thanks for sharing it with us.
Amazing you should write about Ryan Gainey this week. Last week my friends and I toured Gibbs Gardens…hydrangeas and 300,000 daylilies in bloom. I asked if anyone knew whatever happened to Mr. Gainey. I used to love his gardening show on PBS. Here in Clemson he designed a beautiful garden to go along with a Southen Living house that was built at the university. Your tour of his home garden is enchanting!
HI, Roxanne, so glad you got to Gibbs Gardens. It’s such a beautiful place too and I’ve done several blog posts about it.
I’ve heard of Ryan Gainey for so long from a much older friend…she is a Master Gardener and had known him many years ago. I’ve often wondered about him (my friend has moved away) and now I know! Thank you for the wonderful tour. Wow. Gardens are fabulous and ever changing and I am happiest when working in mine!
Rachel and I saw this garden a few summers ago and it is truly amazing! Thanks for the fun tour!
Rhoda, this is one of my favorite gardens ever and when we have out-of-town friends, we sometimes take them for a visit. Mr. Gainey is very accommodating and will give you a tour if he’s home. Just a peek from the street is a treat. I had heard about the tree and thankful his house is still there and he’s OK. Did you know he also has a house in Lexington, GA? You’d LOVE that town, all of which is a historic district — and best of all — near Goodness Grows, one of the best garden centers anywhere. Road trip!?
Rachel, you always share things that I don’t know already, so no I didn’t know that. What fun, I have no idea where Lexington is, but I’m sure I would love it.
Dear R,
The thumbnail pictures showing up on your blog don’t do your hard work justice. Can’t wait until your format is corrected back to full screen again!
GBY, M J
HI, MJ, unfortunately if you are running an ad blocker, that is the problem. Many have turned off the ad blocker and things went back to normal. It seems to be incompatibility with an ad plugin I have on my sidebar with Chrome and Firefox, so there’s nothing I can do for you folks who run ad blockers.
Hi Rhoda, I was trying to find the actual tour you were on so I could mark it for next year. Is it Hydrangea Festival Tours of Private Gardens
Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 9:00 AM – Douglasville, GA
or was it
American Hydrangea Society’s 22nd Annual Garden Tour?
Thanks for your help.
HI, Connie, it was the American Hydrangea Society tour.
So sorry to learn of his passing last night in a house fire at his second home in Lexington, Ga. July 29, 2016
OH my gosh, I had not heard. That is so very sad!!
Hi there! We’re very happy you enjoyed the Tour this year. We actually own the little yellow cottage next to Ryan. While you are correct that the property used to belong to Mr. Gainey, we purchased the property 6 years ago and the garden was completely redesigned by my husband, Tim Wolfe of Tim Wolfe Design, in the past six years. Ryan did not live here but purchased the property after acquiring his residence next door and used it as an office then rental for years. Tim was approached about doing the Hydrangea tour this year and brough Mr. Gainey on board. We would appreciate you correcting your post to include this information or removing the images as any photos were to be for personal use only.
HI, Elizabeth, thank you for correcting. I’ll change the post to reflect what you told me. Sorry for the error, it was not intentional.
Thank you for sharing Mr Gainey’s gardens again! I enjoyed visiting them when I lived in Atlanta. I remember the tree house, the gate, and some of the statuary.
I am saddened to hear of his passing. What a loss for Atlanta and the gardening community. I hope that his gardens remain open to the public.