Simply put, Dana McPherson and Bill Brown's garden is glamorous. Nestled on a deceptively large half acre in Loring Heights, near Georgia Tech, the space is filled with shimmering chandeliers, crystal and wrought iron gates, gilded mirrors, angelic ornaments, birdhouses and — lest we forget — plants. Lots and lots of plants.

Brown bought the property in 1976 when it had just a basic grassy lawn. But with McPherson, his partner in life and work, the yard has been transformed into a sloping garden filled with lush greenery and treasures from their travels. The couple run Platinum Seminars and train travel agents in handling luxury vacations.

Louie Favorite / AJC (ENLARGE)

Dana McPherson and Bill Brown's created a lush garden in their Loring Heights home with their bare hands.

Louie Favorite / AJC (ENLARGE)

Their garden is filled with collectibles and garden ornaments.

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"The best thing about this garden is that anybody can have it. It's not a checkbook garden — we do everything ourselves," McPherson said. "I'm the chief planter, he's the chief weeder."

McPherson keeps a photo album of their garden's progression. Fifteen years ago, they built a dramatic hill and recirculating stream, which runs alongside a stone pathway, meandering underneath a footbridge into a koi pond.

The garden blooms with year-round color, but is also a gallery of sorts featuring the couple's extensive collection of garden ornaments and collectibles. Take, for instance, the spirit house brought back from a recent trip to Phuket, Thailand; as is custom, the men place fruit or flowers at its base as an homage to the earth. This whimsical act reflects the couple's gardening approach.

"We're working with Mother Nature," McPherson said. "Not against her."

McPherson and Brown use their light-filled conservatory year-round for entertaining, as well as to house their more than 100 orchids and tropical plants in the winter months. McPherson's father applied authentic Venetian plaster to the conservatory, built eight years ago.

"We dine out here all the time," McPherson said. "That's why it's a conservatory —not a greenhouse."

The couple expanded their garden roughly two years ago when the neighboring lot became available. Now, they maintain a street-side potage garden in which they grow flowers, herbs and fruit such as apples, kiwi, figs and peaches. Brown, who completed the outdoor water use registration program by the Georgia Urban Agriculture Council, said the garden is largely self-sustaining; it has to be, he explained, as he and McPherson travel several months a year.

This garden mirror reflects a portrait in iron composite of a young man's head by Atlanta artist Martin Dawe. The sculpture measures nearly three feet tall and wide. McPherson said the piece looks like him or Brown in their youth. Because of the sculpture's serene expression, with head slightly tilted toward the sky, the couple appropriately dubbed him "Bliss."