On Thursday morning at Scottsdale Farms near Crabapple, manager Dianna Allstadt explained to a customer with a Northern lilt that the plants she really wanted wouldn’t work in her yard here, and steered her toward similar Southern-garden-tested varieties. About a half acre over, a volunteer was planting spinach and bok choy in the new vegetable garden, while young children and dogs romped around the inviting and unusual place.
Luca Gianturco started selling Christmas trees to pay his way through college in 1982. He and his wife, Kathy, likely never imagined that what started as a side project would grow into a sprawling garden center that brings families from three surrounding counties (Cherokee, Fulton and Forsyth) together for more than just plants.
The building at the center of the property is a warm and welcoming structure inspired by New England barn design. Two craftsmen from rural Vermont helped raise the wooden frame, and the building, which opened in March of 2000, is held together with pegs instead of nails and accented with reclaimed metals from other barns.
“When we were building, people thought we’d be boarding horses here,” Kathy Gianturco said. “It was important to us that the look of this building lend itself to the way the community looks.”
Every other aspect of the business has been tailored with just as much care and attention to homespun detail. The thoughtfully curated selection of gifts reflects area residents’ interest in birding, wine connoisseurship and even locals’ sense of fashion.
Many of the plants, flowers, shrubs and trees for sale begin their lives at the garden center’s farm in Dawsonville or from the fields of growers within a 20-mile radius. They are selected with an eye toward what’s permissible and deer-resistant for residents to plant in nearby Big Canoe.
Kathy Gianturco says a vast majority of the center’s customers are women aged 35 to 55 who aren’t die-hard gardeners. If you wanted a new purse, you’d have to drive to Roswell for a similar boutique type selection of items. In addition to shopping, the garden center’s turning into a popular place for cooking and gardening seminars, hayrides for kids, live music and more. It’s also getting a reputation for a unique place for breakfast, lunch and coffee.
Luca Gianturco traveled to Italy for inspiration to design the café menu that includes a seafood bisque customers rave about, paninis starring Parma prosciutto and garden tomatoes and a large selection of desserts, coffees and teas.
“We think of it as a neighborhood store, but now people are calling us a destination,” Allstadt said.
On Oct. 8, Scottsdale Farms is hosting a petting zoo from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; hayrides and face painting in the pumpkin patch 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and a performance by the Loose Shoes Band in the facility’s Enchanted Forest from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. All events are free.
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