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The story below is an excerpt from our May/June 2018 issue. For the rest of this story and more like it subscribe today, log in to read our digital edition or download our FREE iOS app. Thank you!
The 292 acres in the shadow of Mt. Oglethorpe begin their season with 20 million daffodils, and blooms then cascade through the rest of the green season.
A small town in the North Georgia foothills might not be the first place you’d expect to find a world-class garden, but for creator Jim Gibbs, it was the perfect spot. Some 2,000 residents strong, Ball Ground draws over 50 times its population each year to the award-winning Gibbs Gardens. Visitors come from around the globe to see the millions of blooms, from native azaleas and mountain laurels to the showier daffodils and daylilies. Gibbs calls it a pleasure garden.
“You’re able to see, smell, hear and touch,” he says, pointing out the fuzzy, pale green lamb’s ear grown in clusters. “I wanted to build a pleasure garden that delights the senses and challenges the soul. And I did. It’s a peaceful place.”
Even before the first flower was planted, the 292-acre property showed promise, he says. It had everything he was looking for: plenty of water, a location convenient to yet distant from Atlanta’s growing metro area and a mature forest of hickory, dogwood and white oak—aged beauty you can’t manufacture. And something else: a rolling topography.
“It makes a difference to have a garden that has elevation changes,” he explains. “If you’re at Gibbs Gardens and you look up, it’s like a floral arrangement, one on top of the other.”
Crowning it all, Mount Oglethorpe looms in the distance. Garden-goers can get a glimpse of the 3,300-foot peak from a verandah built to face the mountain. Its jagged peak adds a touch of solemnity to the brightly landscaped lawn below.
While the land is distinctly Appalachian, the ornamental features are diverse. Gibbs spent 15 years touring the world’s gardens, bringing the best of each back to the Georgia foothills. The color design comes in part from Canada’s famous Butchart Gardens: a rainbow of shrubs and flowers in almost every shade. A trip to Japan inspired Tsukiyama, a meditative Japanese garden of over 40 acres, the largest in the U.S.
