We're featured in UAC professional journal

Interview with Danna about her background and interests.

Every month the Urban Ag Council selects a member to feature in their journal. We're honored to have been the one selected for the December 2013 issue.

Landscape consultation donated to GLA

Georgia Lawyers for the Arts fundraiser

HGD supports Georgia Lawyers for the Arts by making a donation to their 38th annual Gala's silent auction. The winning bidder received a landscape consultation & design with Danna Cain, our landscape architect.

5 Modern Fire Ideas for outdoor living areas … think outside the circle.

Photo by Terraflamehome.com

Low maintenance fire features in the landscape

I’m loving these contemporary and low maintenance ways to add the warmth and glow of fire to the landscape. Think outside the circular fire pit and imagine linear fire! Here’s some examples I’ve found that introduce strong horizontal and vertical design elements. These are all easy to use and clean to use because they don’t require firewood. These modern fire features use either gels, propane or natural gas.The torches shown above are odorless, smokeless and portable. I can imagine so many ways to use this idea: scattered thru plantings, outlining a path, clustered as a focal point or anchoring the 4 corners of an outdoor dining area. These deliver the warmth and glow of a fireplace in a small space that will get people talking around your fire and about your fire.

New walkway and interesting plants transform curb appeal at this John’s Creek home

After

Soft textured plants and meandering walkway create a welcoming entrance

There are many things to consider when designing a new entrance walkway. Orienting guests, slope of the land, ease of use and architectural style are all very important. The most special entrances, however, are the ones that create an ambiance that reflects the owner's personality thus truly welcomes guests to the home. Given the style of the house, the walk could have been very linear and formal however we chose a more informal design. The owner wanted a much softer and more welcoming look that would incorporate low maintenance Southern color and texture. Tops on her list were old fashioned favorites such as forsythia, gardenia and daylilies.

On my first visit to this home, I was shocked to see that the builder had provided only a stepping stone path to the front door. It was difficult to walk on and completely too small as the approach to this huge front porch. The landing that made the transition between the path and porch was settling and of mismatched materials. This all needed to be replaced.

Transform your holly bushes

These holly trees have been "limbed up" into tree form
plus new, more interesting plants added around
for color, texture and an Italian flair

Morphing a holly hedge into an award winning statement

Here's an idea you can use! When faced with a huge, boring hedge, consider "limbing it up" to morph it into a row of trees. That was our solution when the City of Atlanta arborist would not allow us to remove these Virginia Highland hollies. The raised canopy gave us space and sun to plant the herb and perennial garden that the client desired. This idea won the 2013 Atlanta Home Improvement, Best Before/After Makeover contest in the landscape division.

Good Housekeeping features our organic vegetable garden

"Creating an Outdoor Oasis" article about HGD

Good Housekeeping's official website has selected one of our projects to feature in an article about "Creating an Outdoor Oasis". Here, you'll see an interesting oasis in a front yard landscape that just so happens to be a beautiful organic vegetable and herb garden. We're excited to be picked up by this well respected national magazine.

More about this project ...
In Good Housekeeping
In UAC journal

Atlanta Home Improvement magazine chooses Hoover project as Best Before/After

HGD wins 1st Place Landscape in Before/After Contest

This contest was sponsored by Atlanta Home Improvement magazine. They asked local professionals to submit before and after photos of renovation projects in categories ranging from interior design to landscape. We won 1st Place in the landscape category for Hoover's front yard makeover in the Virginia Highlands area. We were not only given a lovely plaque .... we were featured on this beautiful 2 page spread in the April 2013 issue of the magazine!

See more about this project!

Magazine article

Atlanta InTown features HGD's Buckhead play garden

Before & After section features the Starr project

This kid friendly back yard design for a Buckhead home was featured in the April 2013 issue of Atlanta Intown. This client wanted an attractive play area that could easily be converted to more garden space when the kid grew older.

On the cover of the AJC Homefinder!

"Outdoor Activity Havens" article 

What a thrill to open the Sunday paper and see one of our projects on the cover! The custom play set that we designed as a part of the Urquhart discovery play garden gets center stage.