AMERICAN HYDRANGEA SOCIETY TOUR

Atlanta, Georgia

June 10, 2006

Overview: It was a pretty hot day, but there was a great turnout. 10 gardens in all, counting the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. A couple of real gems. This was the last year that Penny McHenrys garden will probably be on the tour. She was the founder of the AHS and passed away this past year. The Atlanta Botanical Gardens is moving some of her plants and redoing their hydrangea garden and naming it after her.

The tour takes pretty much all day. There are some intown gardens, some on the East side, then a few way, way up on the northside of the Metro area.

I wasnÂt writing down a lot of names, but made comments where I can remember. (Captions below pics.) Some of the garden pics may run together and be mixed up a little. A couple of gardens I didnÂt take pictures.

Decatur

This lady is usually always on the tour and has just a KNOCKOUT garden, well grown mature plants. Nicely laid out. As a bonus, there are huge gardenia bushes all over so the place smells incredible.

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Mmmmm Fuji Waterfalls  one of my fav.

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As youÂve probably noticed she does some great combinations.

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Another garden.

The Entrance to Penny McHenryÂs garden "Hydrangea Heaven".

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Home of "Penny Mac" These are some of the originals.

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Okay, this to me was the highlight of the tour, these were absolutely beautiful, this collection goes back, 3 generations back to the 50s.

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Okay, my FAVORITE of the whole tour. A beautiful huge lacecap. The flowers are actually mottled blue/purple/pink with almost an iridescent sheen, and the petals are edged in white  BEAUTIFUL!!!

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A nice planter, apparently they were moved here, but theyÂd originally been used in "Driving Mrs. Daisy", or something like that.

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View from their back porch.

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Another Garden

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Part of the fun of garden tours is exploring all the woodland paths.

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Another garden where theyÂd done a great job with a very difficult, sloped site. One of my pet peeves is garden tours where nothing is marked. This guy was so organized. Everything was marked and there were maps (see yellow sheet). The ones that were cuttings, were marked by the person who gave it to them and the year.

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There was a nice little stream running down one side.

I finish up with the Atlanta Botanical Garden. My card was filling up, so I couldnÂt take all the pics I wanted, but here are highlights, they have a really great collection.

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One stand of MerritÂs Supreme showing the entire color range.

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A stunning Jogasaki.

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B. Vend.

THATÂS IT.

Hope you enjoyed.

This is a great tour. Tickets are free with a AHS membership (or vice versa).