Gardenblogger garden is a stand-out in Nashville

As promised, heres some show and tell from my recent trip to Nashville, starting with a very cool exhibit by British glass artist Bruce Munro at Cheekwood Garden.

And Cheekwoods scarecrows were lots of fun. Too bad it was 38 degrees when my group was there to see it all and picnic on the grounds. (The toddlers took the cold in stride. Their grandparents and yours truly were all Well meet you in the heated visitors center.)

But lets move on to the landscaping of Nashville, a city Im crazy about. I could even imagine living there, but wow, Ive never seen so many tortured shrubs in my life. Below are some representative shots of actual homes for sale in Nashvilles Belle Mead neighborhood, which if you watch the TV show Nashville you already know is the country club part of town. Acres and acres of perfectly tended lawn, and the aforementioned tortured shrubs.

In stark contrast to typical Nashville front yards (and really, front yards across Suburbia, U.S.A.) is the crazy-beautiful-alive front garden of gardenblogger Gail Eichelberger. Gails critter-focussed blog Clay and Limestone hadnt really prepared me for the wild-and-crazy gorgeousness and in-your-face differentness of it, compared to her neighbors. Granted her neighborhood isnt quite as grand as Belle Mead, but still her neighbors follow the script and Gails front yard is a shocker. Or to my eyes, a welcome relief.

Locally, Gails garden is referred to as the one with the bottle tree. In the next shot you can see the road and across it, a typical front yard.

Heres Gail is showing me how she protected some blooming Salvias from the recent frost, in hopes of having something in bloom to show a visiting gardener. I assured her that weve all said something like You should have seen the garden last week! Or next week!

Notice on the right her fabulous screened-in porch overlooking all this botanical glory. Click here for better views of it and from it.

In addition to a huge assortment of plants, many of them natives, Gails garden includes bird feeders and homes, and this fun contraption that she made herself. It was intended to house mason bees but due to insufficient sun in that spot, has become home to an assortment of other insects, like spiders. But like all wildlife are welcome in Gails garden here except for chipmunks, which must be really destructive to have earned Gails ill will toward those cutest of critters.

After a tour of her garden and breakfast prepared by her awesome husband, Gail showed me some of the sights of Nashville, including one thats been met with less than universal praise, to say the least. Art critics and religious prudes are united in their disdain for the group statue of nudes that occupies a prominent spot on Music Row.

Thanks for everything, Gail! You can bet Ill be coming back to see you and your crazy-beautiful garden again, the sooner the better.

Sculpture photo credit.

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