Nashville -- Meldhaven Home and Gardens

Meldhaven Home and Gardens is situated on the 129- acre former H.G. Hill estate located six miles west of downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The property was subdivided in 1995 into estate-sized lots and named Hill Place, leaving the existing Hill home, mature shade trees, white rail fencing, and pastoral land bordering the railroad tracks and Richland Creek. Meldhaven was partially completed in 1998 by the original owner before the current owners purchased the property in 1999. They began remodeling the home and grounds, adding a swimming pool, pool house, brick walls, garden beds, and soil amendments. The gardens feature a number of propagated rare plants, architectural collections, and also contain pollinator, cutting, and vegetable gardens. The entire property incorporates composting and is cultivated using exclusively organic practices. Along the front driveway entrance to the home, mature trees native to the original Hill property divide a canopy for an understory bed filled with perennials. On the driveway to the Northern side of the property, specimen trees like the holly tea olive, dwarf-grafted umbrella catalpa tree, hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa), china firs, and junipers are interspersed. The loss of a large maple tree facilitated the creation of border and island stumpery beds gathered from a collection of stumps found after years of being submerged underwater. The stumps were placed in beds with architectural rocks, specimen Japanese maples, hellebores, an apricot tree, dwarf bamboo, and ferns. One of the bed features wave walls, with a plaque and a quote by G.W. Carver. Along the Eastern woodland border sit three beehives shadowed by brown magnolias. Ferns, mosses, and an assortment of perennials are planted along the border, with stumps and rocks interspersed throughout. A path leads to a large compost pile hidden between the border and brick wall. A fountain repurposed from an antique millstone sits nearby. Another path leads to an 18th century pigeonary filled with ferns. The backyard, swimming pool, pool house, and pergola are enclosed by a brick wall. A sculpture by Tom Rice is surrounded by a bed of shrubs and perennials. White hydrangea blooms near the perennials and shrubs, interspersed with sculptures and architectural pieces. Border beds surrounding the pool include antique planters filled with succulents, a sculpture by Charlie Hunt, a miniature boxwood collection, and containers of exotic plants. The rear wall of the pool house is trellised with mandevilla vines overlooking a pollinator garden. The pergola near the main house shelters a container garden of succulents and cacti during the warmer summer months. During the winter, the greenhouse is used for housing container plants and growing fennel lettuces, fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Persons associated with the garden include: Stephen Wells (landscape architect, 1999); Lisa Z. Manning (current owner and horticulturist, 2000); Charlie Hunt (sculptor); Keith Merry (ironwork); Tom Rice (sculptor).