Almost every year, I go on a garden tour sponsored by The Atlanta Botanical Gardens. The tour is called, Gardens for Connoisseurs Tour, and this was it’s 26th year. The tour always includes around 12 gardens, and occasionally, a well-known/famous person’s garden will be on the tour. This year, we had the pleasure of touring the garden of Arthur Blank, co-founder of The Home Depot and the current owner of the Atlanta Falcons.
Here’s a view of the back of the Blank home. I snapped this pic as we made our way to a back entrance drive where we began our tour.
The Blank home is situated on 5 acres. Arthur Blank and his wife, Stephanie, are big proponents of parks and green spaces in communities and they have worked hard to push for the development of more parks in the Atlanta area. Their back yard was very much like a park setting…it was beautiful!
This little guy gave us a good laugh. See the tall thingy in the background that looks sort of like a bird house? Well, it’s not a birdhouse. Can you guess what it is? Here’s a hint…they were everywhere on the property.
Sooo cute!
There’s a putting green on the property. Fun!
This is the actual front of the home. The Blanks did a full renovation on their Italian Renaissance styled estate.
Everywhere you look, there are beautiful views and lovely flowers.
A refreshing spot to cool off in this Georgia heat…
You may read more about the Blanks beautiful garden HERE and see more pictures HERE.
This looks like a fun tour. Beautiful home and gardens.
Morning Susan
What a great garden to visit. It is lovely that people let the public in to their land and for 26 years!!
We visited one early in the Spring, David Gold, who owns a number of outlets here in the UK, Ann Summers, Knickerbox, West Ham Football Club among a few. He had two helicopters, a landing pad and a 9 hole golf course http://www.davidgold.co.uk/ . Another one we visited was owned by a Christian couple who have the nativity play and the Life of Christ play every year in their grounds.http://www.wintershall-estate.com/.
How is your Etsy shop and Ebay selling going? I have looked at both but the postage would be too expensive to send to the UK!!
Have a good weekend, Jackie in UK.
Thanks for the tour — lovely gardens — would love a house tour as well!
Thanks for sharing pictures of this lovely estate. This tour must have been a great one!
picture this…after dinner Mr. Blank says to Mrs. Blank…"Honey I think I"ll go our and do some weeding"…just the thought of that cracks me up…that's alot of yard…but beautiful..and I bet Mr. Blank doesn't do any weeding.
Susan,
Thank you for sharing this beautiful garden!
Donna
Wow! What a great house and garden! Thanx for the gorgeous photos!!
Thanks for sharing this beautiful garden and home! I just love that otter! So cute!
Miss Bloomers
Lovely landscape! Thanks!
Oh how I would love to go on that tour!! Thanks to bringing a bit of it to us via your blog! 🙂
wow…loved the tour…always enjoy these…loved the B&B you went to that time and shared (in NC i think)…..always love your tablescapes and "mondays(remodeling)…just love anything you blog about!!!! jennie in tn <><
Holy moly!!! what a grande home! My hubby works(part time) for Home Depot. I showed him your pics, and he was impressed….as, of course, I was.
Looks like you got to see some awesome sites. The little otter is too cute.
Thank you for sharing Susan.
Debbie@houseatthelake
Beautiful grounds! We use to go to Callaway Gardens when we lived in Georgia. I was there last week and enjoyed every minute of the sunshine & heat:) First time I have been hot since I left Florida. LOL!
So pretty – Thanks for sharing your tour.
Hi Susan! I always love your house and garden tours! This garden is so beautiful and natural. I like the use of urns in the beds and the info on the link! I am glad to hear they use an underground cistern to catch runoff! Very clever! Linda
This is beautiful!
So what were the birdhouses? I'm guessing something to relay their wifi network.
Susan, thank you for taking us along on the tour of this beautiful garden. What a treat! Love the critter!
Have a great weekend! ~ Sarah
Megan, it appeared to be their security system…we were being watched! 😉
Certainly not a Blank canvas! Mine mind is blank as how to even describe it….
Was it a security camera?
Dear Susan, this was a great tour through a phantastic garden. I love the otter, so cute!
Greetings, Johanna
Susan, how beautiful, and Mr. Magpie would love that putting green! Glad you took us on the tour…
XO,
Sheila 🙂
…now susan if you could just get inside that house…
Laney…maybe the Blanks will see my post and invite me over! I'm not holding my breath. LOL I'd love a tour!
What fun ! Thank you for sharing your tour with us !!!
gena – yup still swollen, this cellulitis is kicking my tush big time : (
http://www.thehouseonlavenderhill.blogspot.com
Beautiful. It's so nice to see these gardens that are in other parts of the world (I'm in the UK). I love that animal statue with the hose pipe in its paws!
🙂
Beautiful home and gorgeous gardens. I love attending garden tours. Of course then I want to come home and dig up my entire yard!
xo, Sherry
So lovely – I'll bet it was hard to leave! Thanks for sharing the beauty.
That is just amazing! Thank you for sharing!
With this fantastically detailed and expansive garden on the tour, how did you have the time/energy to do the other eleven houses? Wow!!
What an amazing garden!
Hello Susan, Thanks for the lovely tour. I can see that my tiny container garden is green with envy! I really love the fish pond with the lilies. Thanks for the eye candy…
Sherry
It looks as thought this place "had it all"! A golf green would really thrill my husband…I would enjoy the water feature. Of course, I can also see the work involved here. I suppose they might hire help. My husband and I often talk about hiring ourselves out as live-in garden/maintenance people in such a place 🙂
All I say, Susan, is BEAUTIFUL. Just beautiful! I can just imagine the sound of that impressive fountain in the courtyard mingling with the scent of all of those flowers. Can you just imagine yourself waking up in a place like that every morning? Wow….
xoxo laurie@heavenswalk
I'm thinking those birdhouse things were security cameras?? Beautiful home! I love that sea otter holding the water hose!! If I ever see one of those, I may just have to snatch it. Wonder if I buy that Lowes?! LOL…I mean, Home Depot!
~angela @ peonypatch
I love garden tours, the home is lovely especially the lily pond and the japanese maples.
Beautiful!
Thank you for sharing your pictures!
Mary
Wow… I'm speechless!!! beautiful!!! Thank you for sharing these inspiring pictures.
Wow! Awesome tour! I love the fountain in front and those beautiful lily pads in their pond! By the way, what are those bird-house-looking boxes? Do they have to do with the security system, like some of the other comments suggest? Thanks for the tour, Patti
Beautiful!
Beautiful and interesting garden. Thanks for the great tour. They will be watching you.