Gardens on Coweta fall tour awash in color

With most of metro Atlanta’s garden tours kicking off in the spring, one might assume it’s because fall gardens pale in comparison.

Not so, urge the Coweta County Master Gardeners. The group is hosting its first Fall Garden Gate Tour on Saturday in Newnan, featuring five rural and suburban landscapes rich in color, texture and creativity.

The group also hosts a spring tour, but decided to host a fall tour to show the progression of flowers in all seasons. (Two of the homes featured in last spring’s tour will be shown again.) In addition, 24 local artists will paint in the gardens during the tour, and the art will be sold at the event’s dinner.

“There are so many different things that bloom in the fall than the spring,” says Cindy Bruce, president-elect of the Coweta County Master Gardeners. “We think [a fall tour] shows that you can have a beautiful garden year-round.”

From the purples and yellows of mums to the blues of plumbago, Pete Neyenhouse’s garden is proof that autumn gardens are awash in color. His backyard is also a lesson for homeowners with challenging spaces out back. What once was a mud bank is now a neatly partitioned hillside of pathways and flower beds. Nandina lends a shocking pinkish-red burst of color, while loropetalum lines the space with moody mauves and fuchsia. The gardener’s yellow and pink lantana measures several feet wide, paired with maturing roses and rosemary.

Neighbor Kim McCraw’s backyard oasis is also replete with fall foliage, from the salmon-colored leaves of young dogwoods to the red berries on a Deodora cedar. Tucked in pockets around a sweeping waterfall and recirculating koi pond, pansies pop with color. And while gardenia may provide sweet scents of spring, her fall garden is rich in rosemary.

IN THE GARDEN
Coweta County Master Gardeners Fall Garden Gate Tour. 3-7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets: $30 or $5 for individual gardens. Tour ticket includes dinner featuring locally grown produce and an art sale of works painted during the tour; tickets must be reserved by 5 p.m. Friday. For details or reservations: 770-251-2673, www.ugaextension.com/coweta. Or purchase at ticket pick-up location: Country Gardens Farm and Nursery, 3728 Lower Fayetteville Road, Newnan.