In the 34 years Bob Gilbert and Richard Smith gardened on their 13 acres in Kennesaw, only the distant buzz of chain saws and roar of bulldozers from advancing development competed with the squawking birds migrating overhead.

Nowadays, it's the eager chatter of volunteers and the constant clatter of rototillers that fill the air at what's to become Cobb County's first public garden. Plans for redeveloping the private garden, which the city purchased two years ago, as the Smith-Gilbert Arboretum are progressing rapidly.

Photos by ANDY SHARP / Staff (ENLARGE)

Cobb Master Gardener Lee McCleskey sets out pizza pepper plants that will be a part of the Plant a Row for the Hungry garden her group is cultivating at this new location, the planned Smith-Gilbert Arboretum.

(ENLARGE)

Bob Gilbert perches on the trunk of a white mulberry tree with a very interesting shape in a section of the planned Smith-Gilbert Arboretum, located in a secluded area of Pine Mountain Road. Gilbert has agreed to oversee the project by continuing to live there during the transition.

But the site's public opening hinges on acquiring additional land for parking and other visitor facilities.

"We can't move ahead until then," says Gilbert, who agreed to oversee the project by continuing to live there during the transition.

Gilbert and Smith cultivated nearly 3,000 varieties of plants on the grounds of their Victorian farmhouse, complemented by their extensive collection of outdoor sculpture. After Smith died suddenly four years ago, Gilbert, a retired Buckhead periodontist, began to fear for his property's future as developers closed in. So he offered to sell the site, along Pine Mountain Road off Cobb Parkway (U.S. 41), to the city for use as recreational space. Residents approved the $2 million purchase in a referendum, and the county is helping to shoulder the costs of converting the site to an outdoor classroom emphasizing nature, art and history. Master Gardeners and other volunteers are providing the labor in a public-private venture billed as an example of what's possible when local governments cooperate.

"This is just so consistent with our plans for parks, so when you get a beautiful piece of property and can preserve it for future generations, you do it,'' Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens says. "Plus, I like the idea of having a botanical garden in our county, for not only an educational resource but also just the quality of life. It's just a win-win for both the city and the county."

So far, the reaction from tour groups has been positive, Gilbert says. "The feedback is that this property is so much more interesting than [other] area botanical gardens. What we're trying to determine is why and what our niche will be. We're certainly not as refined as other public gardens."

Instead, he and arboretum organizers believe the site is so appealing because it was gardened by owners who actually lived there — in a historic house that many find just as interesting as the flora. The 1845 plantation home is fully furnished with antiques complemented by contemporary art.

Outside, it's surrounded by formal gardens — with courtyards, a Japanese koi pond, bonsai pavilion and perennial border — that extend to a woodland garden. There, more than 60 varieties of hollies along with rhododendrons, hostas, ferns and bulbs thrive under the lush canopy of pines, maples and magnolias.

One row at a time

Despite its tranquillity, the arboretum site is a beehive of activity. The rose garden at Cobb's Backacre Garden demonstration site has been relocated to the Smith-Gilbert site, with more than 100 shrubs donated by homeowners. So has the county Master Gardeners' vegetable garden, dedicated to Plant a Row for the Hungry.

"We're really excited about being here and eventually hope to open the garden for demonstrating to the public what can be done with vegetables," says Susan Dawsey, an organizer of the seventh annual Master Gardeners' plot.

This spring, she and about a dozen volunteers have flocked to the site every Wednesday to prepare a harvest for donating to Plant a Row. The food drive, sponsored by the Atlanta Community Food Bank and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, generates fresh produce for nonprofit organizations in metro Atlanta.

Dawsey says the volunteers hope to demonstrate proper soil preparation and trellising techniques on the site, which once served as the owners' nursery bed for propagating plants.

Other developments:

• Hundreds of plants have been cataloged in a database, from which Gilbert hopes to create display labels to replace ones lost over time.

• The Georgia Daffodil Society and hosta experts have helped identify older or more unusual varieties.

• More than two dozen docents have been trained for leading tours.

• Classes are being developed to offer visitors instruction on horticulture.

• The city has formed a nonprofit foundation for development and fund-raising, with the goal of making the garden self-sustaining.

The quest for land

Gilbert says a master plan being developed for the site will help determine staffing needs and operational costs. The city recently hired an executive director, but the candidate could not accept the job because of health reasons, so it's seeking new applicants.

The site, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, once was part of a 4,000-acre antebellum plantation. The county has committed to purchasing a historic property next door believed to have been the corncrib for Gilbert's house, but he's not sure the owner is willing to sell. The additional property would be used for developing parking, a visitors center and restrooms.

Until those are in place, he's not sure when the arboretum will open but hopes within two years — even if initially on a limited schedule. "It won't open until I move out, and I've not even started building my house," says Gilbert, who plans to move to the mountains of western North Carolina.

Leaving behind a garden he's nurtured for more than 30 years will be tough, he admits. He points to some of its more unusual plants along the woodland trail — a dogwood that blooms throughout summer, a poinsettialike feverfew in flower, a budding acanthus — then is distracted by the sound of birds. In the garden — located on a migration route and near a popular birding site, Kennesaw Mountain — he's identified 123 species, including barred owls and Cooper's hawks.

But the rattle of tillers quickly draws him back, and Gilbert smiles.

WHERE YOU CAN GO NOW

Until the Smith-Gilbert Arboretum opens, here are some other metro area public gardens worth a visit and what they offer:

Atlanta Botanical Garden, 1315 Piedmont Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-876-5859, www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org. Display gardens, orchid house, children's garden. Featured exhibit: sculptures by artist Niki de Saint Phalle.

State Botanical Garden of Georgia, 2450 S. Milledge Ave., Athens. 706-542-1244, www.uga.edu/~botgarden. University of Georgia's 313-acre preserve with international garden, herb garden, flower bridge.

Callaway Gardens, Ga. 18/354, Pine Mountain. 706-663-2281, www.callawaygardens.com. 13,000 acres of resort and gardens, featuring butterfly center, vegetable garden, natural trails, azalea bowl.

Barnsley Gardens Resort, 597 Barnsley Gardens Road, Adairsville. 1-877-773-2447, www.barnsleyresort.com. Historic estate in North Georgia foothills with manor house ruins, rose garden.

Atlanta History Center and Gardens, 130 W. Paces Ferry Road N.W., Atlanta. 404-814-4000, www.atlhist.org. Quarry garden, heritage farm garden, Swan House gardens, rhododendron gardens.

Chattahoochee Nature Center, 9135 Willeo Road, Roswell. 770-992-2055, www.chattnaturecenter.com. Pristine refuge on banks of Chattahoochee River, home to several hundred species of native plants, greenhouse, plant sales.

Vines Botanical Gardens, 3500 Oak Grove Road, Loganville. 770-466-7532. 25 acres of themed gardens, antique statuary, Swan Lake, garden railroad, formal rose garden, manor house.

Georgia Perimeter College Native Plant Garden, 3251 Panthersville Road, Decatur. 678-891-2668, www.gpc.edu/~decbt. More than 4,000 species of rare and endangered plants native to the Southeast; also Ferns of the World exhibit features both sun- and shade-loving varieties.

Hills & Dales Estate, 1916 Hills and Dales Drive, LaGrange. 706-882-3242, www.hillsanddalesestate.org. West Georgia home of Fuller Callaway family. Neel Reid-designed house, formal boxwood gardens sculpted in religious symbols.