Little Rock -- Gornatti Garden

A 1.5 acre hillside triangular plot filled with privet and poison ivy was cleared beginning in 1990, planted with one hundred gallon-size azaleas and another one hundred weeping forsythia, and eventually a colorful garden of native trees, flowering shrubs, perennials and annuals has been created. Native trees including redbuds, oaks, hickories, and sweet gum shade the woodland garden beds that are edged with rocks found on the property and mulched with ground up leaves and clippings. In a sunnier location there is a long border filled with roses, irises, clematis, echinacia, rudbeckia, peonies, Japanese maples and redbuds, with annuals including cleome in summer and pansies in fall adding more color. An arched metal trellis with sweet autumn clematis marks the entry into the main garden whose meandering paths are covered with flagstones or grass clippings, since nothing from this garden is wasted. The centerpiece of the woodland garden is a rock waterfall that was shaded by a mature oak tree until it was brought down in an ice storm in 2007, which meant new plantings of shrubs, perennials and ground covers that prefer more sun than the original ferns. Another feature in a raised bed between the house and the garage is a brugmansia that is cut down each fall and heavily mulched.

Persons associated with the garden include Mark Horn (gardener, 2002-present); Connie Hollenberg (garden designer, 2003).