Fine Gardens, Inc.
The Garden of Saint Fiacre
The Garden of Saint Fiacre is a classic, French, monastic garden based on the legends of Saint Fiacre, patron saint of gardeners. This is an enchanting potagere filled to over flowing with vegetables, culinary and medicinal herbs. It has everything from the ordinary and interesting to the extraordinary. The garden includes a monk's cell, vegetable and herb beds edged in wattle, a chamomile and thyme seat and a shrine to the Virgin Mary.
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Fine Gardens, Inc. |
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| Fine Gardens, Inc. |
Personal Biography of Brooks Garcia
For some people gardening is a hobby, for others a passion and for some it is a lifelong pursuit. For Brooks Garcia, it is the latter. Brooks was exposed to gardening all during his youth from various sides of the family. As he says, “I couldn’t escape being a gardener if I wanted to”. Brooks has been gardening for almost 35 years and is a native of Atlanta. After completing a Bachelors of Landscape Architecture, Brooks traveled to England, France and Italy to study classical garden design. Brooks is the principal designer or Fine Gardens, a garden design firm established in 1989 that specializes in custom residential gardens.
Brooks’ accomplishments are many. His personal garden as well as those of several clients, have appeared in many local and national periodicals, including
Veranda, Atlanta Magazine, Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles, Style, Metropolitan Homes, Country Gardens, Fine Gardening, Country Homes, and Better Homes and Gardens. His own garden has been featured in Garden Design and Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles. In addition it was filmed for an episode of ‘A Gardener’s Diary’ with Erica Glasner and shown on Home and Garden Television (HGTV).
Brooks is an avid supporter of the Southeastern Flower Show and has received many awards, including Best in Show, the Mayor’s Trophy for best garden selected by the public, the Harper Trophy, and numerous other horticultural awards. In 2003, ‘Suddenly Last Summer: Laughing at the Cold’, was the recipient of several awards including the Governor's Trophy, the Ardmore Publishing Garden in Literature Award, the Chicago Horticultural Society Medal and the Bulkley Medal. In 2005, again he won the Governor's Trophy, The Ardmore Publishing Award and the American Horticultural Society Environmental Trophy for his display for Hills and Dales Estate. Brooks has served on the Hills and Dales Advisory Board for 5 years.
Brooks exhibited in the inaugural Foxhall Flower Show in partnership with Hines Nursery in 2002 to create a formal garden that showcased Hines’ extraordinary plants. The next year, ‘Circle Round’, was awarded the gold medal in the Large Show Garden Category at the Foxhall Flower Show.
Brooks has also participated in many local charity and fundraising events including the annual Elle Décor Dining by Design fundraising event
for DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS).
Brooks will once again be joining his good friend Marney Hall of the Marney Hall Consultancy, as they go for the elusive gold medal at the world famous, Chelsea Flower Show in London in May 2006. He has helped Marney on many award winning show gardens: ‘The Potters Garden’ at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show June 2002 (Silver Gilt), the Hasmead : ‘Octopus Garden’ at Chelsea in 2003 (Silver), 4Head Garden: ‘From Merlin to Medicine’ Chelsea 2004(Silver Gilt), 4Head Garden: 'Natural Break Through' Chelsea 2005 (Bronze) and the 4Head Garden: 'Garden of Dreams' Chelsea 2006 (Silver Gilt).
Brooks designs gardens based on several criteria: the client’s desires, the client’s lifestyle and personal tastes, and lastly the style of the client’s home. Many of Brooks’ commissions are here in Atlanta but he has also done work all over the southeast as well as in Provence, France, London, and Tuscany. No commission is too large or too small. The only requirements are a genuine desire for a garden, a dedication to the project, and an active participation in the process.