Forman Garden
Just beyond the Conservatory is the small but brilliant Forman Garden that demonstrates the endless possibilities for color in the garden every day of the year.
Seasonal Beauty
Throughout the seasons, the Forman Garden’s central beds brim with cheerful annual flowers, setting the stage for a year-round show. Alongside the first heralding blooms of the Japanese apricot tree, flowering snapdragons and pansies take center stage in winter.
Delicate Blooms
Lenten roses and sweet-scented paperbush give way in spring to the bright faces of Icelandic poppies, peonies, and delicate Carolina silverbells. Summer erupts with a chorus of baptisia, cosmos, phlox, impatiens, black-eyed Susans, canna lilies, and daisies, with serviceberry’s vibrant fall leaves offering up a dramatic final act.
Continuing a Legacy
The name Forman honors the late James (Jim) Ross Forman Jr., who was an avid Birmingham gardener. Jim and his wife, Mary, downsized to a townhouse just up Lane Park Road from the Gardens, and with a smaller home came a smaller garden. The couple, though, didn’t let tighter space constrain their passion for gardening, and it didn’t take long for the front garden to become a community favorite. This garden was established to continue the Formans’ legacy of teaching others to create a brilliant display in their own gardens, no matter the season.