When I was a kid, lawn decor was pretty much limited to pink flamingos, painted-tire planters,
and the occasional gnome.  For the truly sophisticated landscaper (and there were none in my neighborhood), perhaps a cement St. Francis.  Those with lawn decorations were different from the rest of us, and much to my Mother’s dismay, I envied them.

But lately I’ve noticed that yard decor is getting hip.  Fountains and flags and sculptures are cropping up like weeds in neighborhoods everywhere.  It’s not uncommon to peer over a fence and glimpse a genuine one-of-a-kind treasure that transcends the typical.  And that’s just what an everyday diva is looking for - something different, something to set her green space apart from everyone else’s.  Yard Art.

When Tara Dillard married into the Cofer family and moved onto the family estate in Tucker, she didn’t know what a sweetshrub was, let alone its botanical name.

Twenty-five years later, the girl from Texas who had never smelled a sweetshrub loses me as she rattles off the botanica familiaris of the dozens of plants in her own lush landscape. Today, she is a nationally award-winning garden writer who has authored four gardening books and hosted her own television show for CBS. She lectures throughout the Southeast, and teaches regularly at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. She’s toured gardens throughout Europe and all over the US.