Tour an Old-Fashioned Cottage Garden

Despite Atlanta’s epic 2014 snowstorms, Mary Huntz’s hydrangeas have bounced back with deep hues. The normally pale ‘Blushing Bride’ Hydrangea (on the left) ended up having more fall color than expected, with a ‘Lady in Red’ Hydrangea and Japanese anemone blooming on the right.

Master gardener Mary Huntz, with Gracie, describes her Atlanta property as a “Southern plant-lover’s garden.” She’s a leader of the Mimosa Garden Club in Atlanta, past president of the Associates of the Atlanta Botanical Garden and her Atlanta neighborhood Morningside Garden Club, and on the advisory board for The Trust for Public Land. Of her own garden Huntz says, “in the old neighborhoods in Atlanta with all the big trees, you have learn to be a shade gardener.”

A covered brick porch was added in 2012 to the home, creating more spaces for John and Mary Huntz to enjoy their yard. Rudbeckia matches the blooms on the other side of the garden. She’s also planted camellias, Lady Banks roses, hostas and bronze fennel.

This Atlanta garden is filled with old-fashioned plants that gardener Mary Huntz adores, such as the perennial four-o’clock and weigela, along with camellias, hostas and boxwoods. A boxwood in the mossy container is surrounded by strawberry begonia.