MACON — These days, it's not uncommon for many gardens to look as sad as the day after Christmas. It's that transitional time of year when the pyrotechnic color of summer has withered and it's way too early to appreciate the simple evergreens that get us through winter.

Not at Peter and Jeanne Holliday's garden. Theirs is still going strong.

Photos by JOEY IVANSCO / AJC (ENLARGE)
The parterre's quadrants brim with annuals and perennials, such as chartreuse coleus, Mexican sage and daisy mums.
(ENLARGE)
A Moroccan fountain is the centerpiece of the parterre garden, surrounded by Mexican sage, mums and coleus.
(ENLARGE)
An old scuppernong grape arbor doubles as a cool brick-floored sitting area.
(ENLARGE)
Built in 1854, the Holliday house features a formal rear garden where summer annuals spill from containers and beds well into autumn.
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That's because the landscape surrounding their 150-year-old Macon home has been intricately planned to capitalize on the color of each season. In autumn, the beds and borders are particularly ablaze because their garden designer, James Farmer, doesn't rely on just budding pansies and snapdragons for achieving that wow factor. Instead, his recipe contains several key ingredients for extending summer to the max — and even beyond that dreaded first frost.

"Fall is definitely my favorite season, because I love the richness of the colors," Farmer says. "There are colors I don't use any other time of year because they just don't feel right until now."

Casting a fresh eye

Farmer's had a hand in the College Hill neighborhood garden only since March, but his heart's been there for years. A resident of nearby Perry, he'd admired the house, best known as the Corn House, since childhood and watched the Hollidays' 20-year effort to renovate it and its gardens.

The home's previous owner, Polly Corn, was an avid gardener, and when the Hollidays bought the property in 1984, the basic design of a formal boxwood parterre was intact. But the garden had been neglected so long, it needed an overhaul.

"My husband's always loved boxwood gardens, and we transplanted a lot of shrubs that he grew from clippings," Jeanne says.

In the backyard, the couple relaid the brick pathways — this time with mortar, because the old walks had become overrun with weeds —but maintained the three distinct "rooms" that the paths connect. The first area is a St. Augustine lawn, bordered by a scuppernong grape arbor, that doubles as a terrace. The second is the garden's centerpiece — the parterre garden, with its four boxwood-bordered quadrants. And finally, there's the swimming pool garden and cabana.

Last spring, after years of adding their favorite shrubs and perennials, the Hollidays decided the old garden needed a fresh eye, and Farmer jumped at the chance to help.

"I inherited really good bones here," he says of the garden's structure, "so I just jazzed things up a bit."

A bit?

Stretching the season

In the boxwood garden, beds spill with color year-round, whether it's shrubs, perennials, annuals or bulbs, and this fall is yielding a spectacular display. By carefully selecting plants, Farmer blends all the lush maturity of a late-summer garden with the crisp, warm hues of autumn.

His secrets?

• Start with good evergreen structure. The dark green backdrop of boxwoods or other dense shrubs makes colors pop and provides a framework for organizing the garden.

• Emphasize tropicals that reach maturity in the heat of late summer/early autumn, such as coleus, gingers, bird of paradise, angel's trumpet and strobe plant.

• Integrate perennials that perform best in late summer and fall, including salvias such as Mexican sage, swamp sunflower and chrysanthemums.

• Think wardrobe. Play up the warm, earthy colors — vibrant reds, burgundy, russet and purple — that say fall.

• Rely on other color sources besides blooms, such as foliage, bark, even accents like pumpkins, gourds, containers and garden art.

"If you plan it right," Farmer promises, "a garden will reward you."

More than just blooms

Here are Farmer's tips for other color sources and interest:

• Paint your containers (metal, terra cotta or concrete) the color of your shutters or a dark, black/green for elegance.

• Paint your door a fun color, and then paint your entrance containers a complementing color (examples: red door with dark green containers; black door with lime-green containers; gold door with brown containers).

• Stencil your initials, monogram or street number with gold leaf or paint on the front of entrance containers.

• Try monochromatic planting schemes (boxwood, aspidistra, ajuga, liriope and ivy or cannas, caladiums and coleus).

• For architectural interest, fashion lattice from birch or willow limbs into arbors, trellises and topiary forms.

• Give containers height with pot feet, which also raise the containers for good circulation.

• In warm seasons, use houseplants, such as bromeliads, African violets and zebra plants, for an unexpected punch of tropical color outdoors.

• Underplant a standard (tree-form) container topiary, such as ligustrum, with trailing plants such as ivy, wandering Jew, jasmine or creeping fig.

• Dress surfaces of containers with sheet moss or pea gravel for depth and additional interest.

12 months of color

Here's a partial list of which plants provide color throughout the year in the Holliday garden:

January

Winter annuals (pansies, violas, snapdragons, sweetgrass, rosemary, parsley, greens), winter daphne, early-blooming camellias, hellebores, cedar berries, monkey spruce.

February

Winter annuals, miniature daffodils, grape hyacinths, mid-blooming camellias, winter honeysuckle, hellebores, Japanese holly fern, autumn fern, winter greens (Swiss chard, mustard, parsley).

March

Japanese magnolia, dogwood, late-blooming camellias, early tulips, winter annuals, early azaleas, kerria rose, clematis, parsley.

April

Azaleas, kerria rose, Confederate jasmine, 'New Dawn' roses, tulips, irises, foxglove, poppies.

May

Summer annuals (coleus, narrowleaf zinnias, pentas, vinca, portulaca, salvia, 'Kimberly Queen' ferns, hibiscus, strobe plant, impatiens, caladiums), hydrangeas, daylilies, jasmine, clematis, 'New Dawn' roses, hostas, magnolias.

June

Hydrangeas ('Nikko Blue'), daylilies ('Mary Todd,' 'Lady Lucille,' 'Magic Obsession,' 'Barbara Mitchell'), hostas, rose campion, cleome.

July

'Annabelle' hydrangeas, late-blooming daylilies, shasta daisies, veronica, 'Midnight Blue' salvia, warm-color annuals (coleus, caladiums, bird of paradise, ginger), hydrangeas (now teal, coral, chartreuse), pears, agapanthus, Japanese painted ferns, crape myrtles.

August

Mature annuals, false bird of paradise, ferns, ginger, 'Annabelle' hydrangeas (now chartreuse), peach angel's trumpet, agapanthus.

September

Mexican sage, coleus, strobe plant, peaked annuals, early mums, Veronica, roses, tea olive.

October

Mexican sage, peaked annuals, Veronica, bird of paradise, pumpkins, dogwood berries, changing leaves including oakleaf hydrangeas (scarlet and rust), mums, tea olive, chrysanthemums, swamp sunflower.

November

Winter annuals, sasanqua camellias, ginkgo, dogwood, crape myrtle, sugar maple, pumpkins.

December

Winter annuals, sasanqua camellias, paperwhite narcissus, nandina and holly berries.