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Putting down roots
Beloved plants find new home at historic Oakland Cemetery

By DANNY C. FLANDERS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on June 30, 2005

Like Gloria Patterson, her big old camellia bush has found a new home.

When she and other residents were forced to move from Grady Homes — in her case, after 37 years — to make way for redevelopment of the Atlanta public housing community, they left behind most of their cherished plants. Many of the shrubs, perennials and bulbs had been passed along through generations, swapped among neighbors or retrieved from trash heaps because most residents couldn't afford to shop at nurseries.

Now, as housing communities increasingly are replaced by mixed-income developments, gardens of African-American residents are feeling the heat of the bulldozer.

Yet at Grady, one of the city's last housing projects, a group of unlikely heroes has come to the rescue. With the buildings set to be demolished in a few weeks, volunteers are transplanting hundreds of roses, irises, hydrangeas, yuccas, crinums and cannas — even Patterson's camellia — to nearby Oakland Cemetery, where they'll be given new life in its historic black section. The rescued plants, representing 60 years of gardening, not only will help preserve a culture, but also aid the ongoing restoration of Oakland to its Victorian heyday.

"This project will keep the plants not only in the neighborhood but in the black community," said Kevin Kuharic, restoration and landscape manager for Historic Oakland Foundation. "Oakland is the municipal burying ground, open to all races, religions and all financial backgrounds. It seems only appropriate that these plants find their new home here."

Atlanta's historic cemetery — where author Margaret Mitchell, golf great Bobby Jones, six governors and the city's most prominent families are buried — is in the early stages of a campaign to restore its masonry, roads and landscaping after decades of neglect and decay. With a fund-raising goal of $25 million — $15 million for the restoration and $10 million for maintenance — its foundation aims to make each section historically accurate, including its plants.

In an era when blacks and whites remained segregated even at death, many African-American families couldn't afford tombstones. As a tribute to loved ones, they planted flowers on gravesites. Roses, cannas and daffodils were common markers. Yucca and cacti were especially popular because their deadly sharp thorns were believed to ward off evil spirits.

So when Kuharic, who had been developing a plant wish list for Oakland's black section, heard that Grady had some pretty showy plants, he was eager to retrieve them. After 63 years, the Decatur Street community, to be replaced with mixed-income housing, sits vacant behind a high chain-link fence awaiting the wrecking ball, so time was of the essence.

"We thought the plant rescue was a great idea, and as far as we can tell, it's the first time we've been done this," said Keith Morton, intergovernmental relations director for the Atlanta Housing Authority.

Last weekend, developer Integral Properties unlocked Grady's gates for four hours to allow volunteers, including Georgia Perennial Plant Association members, to dig up the plants. A few blocks away, they're being replanted among the graves sandwiched between the Confederate memorial grounds and potter's field.

"What amazes me is what these families were able to grow when you consider the residents' needs," says Barney Simms, who oversees the housing authority's resident services. "Grady was all into plants, with all kinds of gardeners who loved to share. They not only would exchange plants and bulbs with their neighbors but plant them for them as well."

Delores White, the residents' president, said that's because many took as much pride in the housing as they would their own homes.

"When Good Friday came, they were out there planting," she recalled. "If someone saw a plant someone else had and liked it, they'd ask to cut a piece and root it. We were all just like family, really close-knit."

A chore most homeowners take for granted — mowing — was met with pride when crews showed up to cut the grass, Patterson said.

After relocating, the 60-year-old found she missed the old camellia that had been a gift to her when her grandson was born 16 years ago. "I hated to leave it. It had these big old beautiful flowers," said Patterson, relieved to learn the plant's been moved nearby.

Because of the heat, summer is the worst time to move large shrubs, but Kuharic figured he had nothing to lose. At the 88-acre Oakland, considered a prime example of the 19th-century rural garden cemetery — a park where visitors once picnicked, walked dogs and gardened — the plants will become more than just memorials.

"Most of the original plants at Oakland have been lost to time," said Sara Henderson, president of the Georgia Perennial Plant Association, "so the rescued plants will start the process of replanting and restoration that will bring back the original beauty to this area."

Plans even call for some of the plants to be returned to the Grady site in several years when it's redeveloped and some of its residents return.

After all, Grady's green thumbs are known for bringing plants back from the dead.

Copyright 2005 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Reprinted with permission from The Atlanta Journal-constitution. Further reproduction, retransmission or distribution of these materials without the prior written consent of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and any copyright holder identified in the material's copyright notice, is prohibited.

PLANT RESIDENTS RESCUED FROM
BULLDOZERS AT GRADY HOMES

On Saturday, June 25, from 9am to 1pm, volunteers from the Georgia Perennial Plant Association, along with volunteers from several other groups, assisted the Historic Oakland Foundation in a plant rescue at Grady Homes. Our volunteers spent the morning digging iris, amaryllis, chrysanthemums and a large variety of beautiful cannas along with hydrangea, forsythia and camellias to name a few. All will be relocated to nearby Oakland Cemetery where they will be planted in the historically African-American section. After the redevelopment at Grady Homes is completed, many of these plants will be returned to a garden there.

Grady Homes, just east of downtown Atlanta, is one of the last remaining public housing projects under the care of the Atlanta Housing Authority. It’s being demolished in the next few weeks to make way for a new mixed income housing development. Grady Homes was built in 1942, and the plants on the property represent over sixty years of gardening by the residents. They include many flowering shrubs, perennials, and bulbs that are a part of African-American culture. Keith Morton, Director of Intergovernmental Relations for Atlanta Housing Authority noted, “Many of these plants passed from resident to resident within the Grady Homes community. What a wonderful opportunity to do the same thing for these plants that we are doing with our residents: carefully uproot them and then bring back those that wish to return.”

”It’s exciting to be able to rescue these plants that have spent considerable time in that community,” says Kevin Kuharic, Restoration & Landscape Manager for Historic Oakland Foundation, shown here with our member John Wolfinger. “Moving the plants to our African-American section at Historic Oakland Cemetery keeps the continuity for the gardeners who lovingly tended these plants. Oakland is the municipal burying ground, open to all races, religions, and all financial backgrounds. It seems only appropriate that these plants find their new home here.“

John not only coordinated our volunteers but he was also responsible for the removal of many plants. His knowledge of plants allowed him to spot some hidden jewels and his hard work delivered many wheelbarrows worth of material to the trailers. He is seen here with a variegated hydrangea that had been a special challenge to extricate from a large group of foundation shrubs.

Most of these plants would be considered to be “pass-along” plants and are tough enough to survive a move during the summer. They were originally shared throughout the community by residents who loved to garden. If someone admired a neighbor’s plant, they would likely go home with a start for their own garden. Our volunteers only had four hours to rescue what they could so the goal was to rescue at least some of each variety found and then rely on the plants’ nature to build up a larger stock over time.

These plants will forge a link from the lives of the many African-Americans who lived in Grady Homes with the historically African-American section of Historic Oakland Cemetery, where plants were the traditional monuments placed on graves. Most of the original plants there have been lost to time, so the rescued plants will start the process of replanting and restoration that will bring back the original beauty to this area.

GPPA member Libba Grace stands with Henry Grady. Henry is a member of the Oakland Advisory Board. His great-great-grandfather was Henry Grady, the gentleman that Grady Hospital and Grady Homes were named after. He is a member of the Oakland Historic Foundation Advisory Board.