Georgia Perennial Plant Association (GPPA)

Georgia Perennial Plant Association (GPPA) We promote perennials and ornamental gardening via lectures, garden parties and visits, "shop & sips," and garden expeditions. Join us! $40 and up. is it kind?

https://georgiaperennial.membershiptoolkit.com/membership Members include new gardeners as well as professionals, and it is this interaction and diversity that enriches the experience of joining GPPA. Every member has something to learn and something to teach. In the coming year we plan to offer more opportunities for interaction including garden visits/tours, workshops, plants sales and swaps. We

are a 501(c)(3) organization entirely run by volunteers. We welcome your participation and help. Rules for commenting. We expect civility in conversation. Follow the caution of Socrates before posting: Is it true? Does it need to be said? There is a great deal of advice about gardening on the internet that is not backed by facts or science. If you claim something is true on our page, be prepared to offer support to a primary source -- more than just "I read it." We will tag posts for revision and/or remove them if they do not comply with these rules.

Georgia Perennial members had a lovely tour of McFarlane Nature Park in Marietta this July. At 11.2 acres, the park hold...
08/14/2026

Georgia Perennial members had a lovely tour of McFarlane Nature Park in Marietta this July. At 11.2 acres, the park holds a specimen of every tree native to the Piedmont and features 13 different garden areas, including a long leaf pine grove, a fern garden, shade gardens, a sun garden, a meadow, a nectar garden with beehives, and a stumpery. Thank you to Georgia Perennial member Karin Guzy for guiding our tour!
Photos courtesy Georgia Perennial member Tony Rizzuto.

PICNIC and TOUR SATUDAY! 🤸‍♂️🤸🤸‍♀️KIDS WELCOME! McFarlane Nature Park, 11 to 2. With our naturalist guide, Georgia Peren...
07/13/2026

PICNIC and TOUR SATUDAY! 🤸‍♂️🤸🤸‍♀️KIDS WELCOME! McFarlane Nature Park, 11 to 2. With our naturalist guide, Georgia Perennial member Karin Guzy, discover the trees and plants NATIVE to our region in 13 different garden areas including a LONG LEAF PINE GROVE, a FERN garden, SHADE gardens, a SUN garden, a MEADOW, a NECTAR garden with BEEHIVES, and a STUMPERY. The park has a specimen of every tree native to the Piedmont! We’ll eat our lunches at the Picnic Pavillion and finish off with ICE COLD WATERMELON!

Celebrate SUMMER with Georgia Perennial!

To BECOME A MEMBER and join us on this and all our other wonderful activities, visit our website. If you plan to JOIN US SATURDAY, be sure to add your name to the sign-up sheet, link below. See you soon!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZNrcxAdE-FqWRv4ipAajfdGRVvVt5wSndaT8WX9nd44/edit?usp=drivesdk

We met so many AWESOME FUTURE GEORGIA PERENNIAL MEMBERS today at Summer at the Mill!! You know who you are! 😄 See you so...
07/11/2026

We met so many AWESOME FUTURE GEORGIA PERENNIAL MEMBERS today at Summer at the Mill!! You know who you are! 😄 See you soon!  And, WE think WE had the best retro summer camp (and campy) decor, but we haven’t heard who won the prize! Fingers crossed! What a fun day!

Flower photos from Georgia Perennial’s “Jenks Farmer & Friends Field Trip” in June!
07/07/2026

Flower photos from Georgia Perennial’s “Jenks Farmer & Friends Field Trip” in June!

Georgia Perennial member Zia Taylor is in Cape Cod this July 4th weekend. “What a treat to spend a week's vacation on Ca...
07/06/2026

Georgia Perennial member Zia Taylor is in Cape Cod this July 4th weekend. “What a treat to spend a week's vacation on Cape Cod with the hydrangeas and rose hedges at their absolute peak — from great mounds of lavender and blue hydrangeas to snowy white spilling over the roadside. The gardens at the historic Hopkins House were especially inspiring, and the vine-draped entrance to Tim's Used Books in Provincetown couldn't have been more inviting. Grateful for a week full of beautiful gardens and plenty of inspiration to bring home.”

Georgia Perennial’s “Jenks Farmer & Friends Field Trip” was sublime! A deep dive into the culture of a region - from the...
07/06/2026

Georgia Perennial’s “Jenks Farmer & Friends Field Trip” was sublime! A deep dive into the culture of a region - from the Antebellum, through the Gilded Age, to the present – all through the lens of gardens. The tour of Jenks Farmer’s family home and crinum farm knitted together 200 years of history, of the land and its people, and detailed the practices of a modern day horticulturist, nurseryman, garden designer, and writer - and his efforts to conserve and promote connection with the natural world. These themes were echoed in the two rare plant nurseries we visited, Nurseries Caroliniana and Woodlanders; the gardens of historic Green Court, Sandhurst, and Hopelands Gardens; and the newly created garden at the home of Georgia Perennial member Bonnie Thurmond. We soaked it all in together and left happy, educated, and inspired. All in 32 hours – including the driving! Visit georgiaperennial.org to become a member and join us on future adventures!

SEE THESE GARDENS THIS WEEKEND! While we think of Newport and New York when we think of Guilded Age mansions, northern t...
06/11/2026

SEE THESE GARDENS THIS WEEKEND!
While we think of Newport and New York when we think of Guilded Age mansions, northern titans of industry also built opulent “winter cottages" and estates across the South to escape the cold. Both Augusta and Aiken served as premier winter resorts, Augusta with a focus on golfing and Aiken a winter equestrian colony where the likes of the Vanderbilts and Astors resided. Thanks to Jenks Farmer, we’ll visit them this weekend.

While technically an antebellum mansion, the gardens at Green Court were created by Henry Crowell of Chicago, the founder of Quaker Oats Company, who bought the property in 1909 and wintered there for nearly 40 years. An acclaimed gardener himself, Crowell commissioned Rose Standish Nichols, a famous Boston landscape architect, to design the
lush Green Court gardens, which are being lovingly renovated by the current owners.

Sandhurst, in Aiken, a true Gilded Age mansion, was built in 1900 and designed by Hoppen and Koen, protégés of Stanford White, a premier Gilded Age architect working primarily in New York and Newport. Read about Jenks’s renovation of the garden here: https://open.substack.com/pub/jenksfarmer/p/formality-out-meadow-in?selection=79fc0707-34e0-48b3-ba27-621b5de748b5&r=7vf7a&utm_medium=ios.

Join us on Georgia Perennials “Jenks Farmer & Friends Field Trip” this weekend. https://www.georgiaperennial.org/story/486795

COME SEE IT ALL IN PERSON SATURDAY! Jenks Farmer, Plantsman and Bonnie have been friends for years. Read about when the...
06/09/2026

COME SEE IT ALL IN PERSON SATURDAY! Jenks Farmer, Plantsman and Bonnie have been friends for years. Read about when they first met, https://jenksfarmer.com/conjunction-junction-a-lady-who-loves-her-function/. When Bonnie downsized from her beloved “Azalea Cottage,” where she had gardened for 48 years, to the “flat rectangle” on Applegate Lane, she turned to Jenks for help. See what they created in just 6 1/2 years! Before and after pictures below. Become a member and sign up for the “Jenks Farmer & Friends Field Trip” at www.georgiaperennial.org to see Jenks Farmer’s Farm, this garden and more!

According to Brie Arthur "No trip to Aiken is complete without a visit to Jenks Farmer’s Crinum Farm, where time slows d...
06/05/2026

According to Brie Arthur "No trip to Aiken is complete without a visit to Jenks Farmer’s Crinum Farm, where time slows down and life just makes more sense."

It starts when you turn off the highway and on to the sand track that takes you there. Then you turn in the sandy drive and park in a freshly mowed field, with the old farmhouse and out buildings spread out under the shade of old pecan trees. You’ll be greeted by dogs Gracie and Coco and hear Buck braying hello from the far field. You’ll meet Jenks’s mom Gloria, husband Tom, and some of the friends, family, coworkers, and interns who work, and sometimes live, on the farm. You’ll learn about Jenks’s passion, crinum bulbs, as well as good old-fashioned vegetable and ornamental gardening, and caring for the soil. You may well go home with an armload of fresh produce from the vegetable garden. You will definitely leave with a full heart and lots of inspiration!

As Brie says, “If you aren't already following him, you definitely need to! He is full of wisdom and humor, and the best gardening advice for southerners.
Check out his substack here: https:// jenksfarmer.substack.com/.”

Join us next Saturday as we head over to tour Jenks‘s farm and several gardens he has put his indelible stamp on! https://www.georgiaperennial.org/story/486795

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Brookhaven, GA

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