Good Night with Habersham

Several fellow Atlantans have blogged about Habersham Gardens before... very cute garden center and gift shop almost in the center of Atlanta.... yet seemingly very far away from it all. Tucked off in a diverse section of town, Habersham has been around since 1978 (I think they need to update their website as they say celebrating 28 years in the garden, but maybe I'm confused).

Hop City. Quick note on Hop City- I had intended on stopping by their store- they house an impressive assortment of beer and wine as well as home brewing equipment (which I actually used to do, years ago in another life). Celine, the wine merchant, was delightful and I'll definitely be popping in.

Celine, Wine Merchant at Hop Season (sorry for the bad picture!)

The gardens were fabulous. One could get lost, in a good way, touring around the different "rooms" set up.

Honestly, I could take their garden center, plop it in my backyard, and be thrilled to pieces. How many garden centers can you say that about?

Love the planters and the way they've fluffed them full of greenery.

The merchandising of the statues and plants is great as well.

I have totally fallen in love with these dogs, and were I not spending so much on real-live needy dogs, might have picked these guys up (more on the real-life dogs soon!).

One of my favorite vignettes- the lookalike ghost chair among the greenery. I overheard a couple whispering to each other, "look- that's the chair we see in all the magazines!" I had to chuckle- but made sure to bring (drag) Mr. Southern over to teach him the importance of the chair.

I'd also love to add an armillary- either outdoors or in- and this seems a perfect steal at $99.

We ended the evening with a very late-night dinner at Alfredo's, virtually across the street. Seemingly an Atlanta Institution, Mr. Southern and I had never heard of the place. But we smelled the garlic. Wait was ridiculously long, but the service was great old-school Italian, food was quite good, and the night was quite entertaining. Alfredo's attracts a rather diverse crowd, but that's a story for another blog.

Hope you're having a fabulous weekend!

-Emmie