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Wills Perennial Garden
Marsh Spurge
Euphorbia palustris
Beautifully sculptural and semi-evergreen herbaceous perennial that grows up to 48″ tall and wide. The milky sap is toxic to the skin and also creates rabbit and deer resistance. Native to Europe and Western Asia, and cold hardy in zones 5 to 8. Does not like to be transplanted, but prefers to find its own place in the garden by seeding out.

Carell Woodland Sculpture Trail
Frostweed
Verbesina virginica
Common wing-stemmed wildflower with a unique winter characteristic. During freezing temperatures, water in the stem freezes and expands, rupturing the stems. The expanding ice forms long thin ribbons that take unique and interesting form. During the warm season, frostweed is an essential source of nectar for many species of insects.

Photos by Andrew Bruckse Photography
Shomu-en, Japanese Garden
Zoysia Grass
Zoysia japonica
A dense, creeping warm-season grass that turns a calming straw color when dormant. Native to the coastal regions of Asia, Australia and various island throughout the pacific. Also referred to as Japanese carpet grass. Very tolerant of heat and high traffic.

Burr Terrace Garden
Bloodtwig Dogwood
Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’
Multi-stemmed and spreading shrub with intense winter color is spectacular when featured with an evergreen backdrop, as it is planted in front of the Cryptomeria in the Burr Garden. Smooth yellow stems topped with red twigs grow to 5-6′ in height. Prefers full sun to part shade.

Robinson Family Water Garden
European Filbert
Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’
Also called Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick, this deciduous shrub is a point of striking winter interest with its contorted, spiraling branches and long, dangling catkins.Carell Dogwood Garden
Fragrant Wintersweet
Chimonanthus praecox
Medium to large, vase-shaped shrub featuring fragrant, clear yellow flowers 1” in diameter from December through January. Grows in Zones 7-9 and prefers full sun to part shade.

Herb Study Garden
Atlas Cedar
Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca Pendula’
Columnar, weeping form of this garden favorite. Pendulous branches are clad in clusters of bluish green needles and bear upright barrel-shaped cones.  Grows to 3-12’ tall and wide. Prefers full sun.It may be January, but there is much to see in the gardens this time of year! Read all about this month’s featured plants, and be sure to keep an eye out for the labels throughout the gardens to see if you can find them.

Howe Garden
Sweetbay Magnolia
Magnolia virginiana var. australis “Green Shadow”
Graceful evergreen to semi-evergreen tree that tolerates wet feet and clay soil. Features cup-shaped, sweetly fragrant white flowers in mid-spring. Grows to 35 feet tall.

Martin Boxwood Gardens
American Boxwood
Buxus sempervirens
Evergreen shrub used as a hedge or landscape specimen, growing to 15 feet tall and wide. Prefers evenly moist, well-drained loams and full sun to part shade. A true workhorse in the winter landscape.

Bradford Robertson Color Garden (Arches)
Fountain Grass
Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘National Arboretum’
Ornamental grass with graceful form that adds winter interest in its structure, movement and sound. Features attractive bottle-brush style blooms that persist as seed heads.

In her new role here at Cheekwood, Gina will serve on our six-person senior leadership team and will be responsible for ensuring excellence in the museum and education fields. She will oversee all curatorial programs, including the care and enhancement of the Cheekwood Permanent Collection and the historically furnished rooms and galleries in the Cheekwood Mansion.

She will develop, monitor and supervise the curatorial team’s implementation of strategic art and history initiatives, and will work to research, identify and secure exhibitions while serving as the spokesperson on behalf of all the collections.

Additionally, she will oversee the education department to develop content-rich tour information, programs and lectures, and will actively seek partnerships with peer institutions, artists, galleries, auction houses, conferences and activities.

Gina is an individual member of the Association of Art Museum Curators, College Art Association and the American Alliance of Museums.

Gina’s first day in her new role was January 2, 2018. She can be reached at gwouters@cheekwood.local.We are thrilled to welcome Gina Wouters as our new Vice President of Museum Affairs and Chief Curator. Gina comes to Cheekwood from Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami, Fla., where she has held several roles since 2007— most recently, curator, directing the institution’s Contemporary Arts Program (CAP) for the last five years.

Gina has a Bachelor’s Degree of Fine Arts in Photography from Barry University, a Master’s of Arts Degree in Seventeenth-Century Art History from the Universiteit van Amsterdam in her native country, the Netherlands. She is currently working on her Doctorate Degree in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester, where her studies focus on situating the global phenomenon of historic sites engaging contemporary art within a broader context of museological practice. By merging practice and theory, Wouters has become a key scholar and curator in this emerging phenomenon.

She has served as editor of many published works and written numerous curatorial essays, having recently published Lost Spaces and Stories of Vizcaya: 10 years of CAP and 100 years of Contemporary Art in May 2017 to accompany the Lost Spaces and Stories of Vizcaya centennial exhibition. She also served as editor and contributing author to Robert Winthrop Chanler: Discovering the Fantastic published with The Monacelli Press in May 2016, which was shortlisted for the 2017 Alice Award. She has been recognized with multiple awards regarding her dedication and excellence within the professional field of the arts.

 

For more information about Cheekwood’s gardens, visit https://cheekwood.local/explore/gardens/.

 

Photos courtesy of Andrew Bruckse Photography. The weather may be cooling down, but there are plenty of things to see in our gardens this time of year! From pansies to winterberry holly, there is something for every garden lover to see and enjoy. Be sure to keep an eye out for the labels throughout the gardens, and see if you can find all of our featured plants this month.Robinson Family Water Garden
Japanese Plum Yew
Cephalotaxus harringtonia
A coniferous, low-growing, evergreen shrub with attractive foliage. Prefers partial shade and moist soil, but able to tolerate full sun or full shade.

Wills Perennial Garden
Pampas Grass
Cortaderia selloana
Native to South and Central America, this tall, stately and showy grass can grow up to an imposing nine feet in height. Prefers full sun.

Turner Seasons Garden
Yellowberry Nandina
Nandina domestica
Small to medium, evergreen shrub with elegant, sharp foliage often described as heavenly bamboo, although totally unrelated to the prolific Asian grass species. Graced with bunches of berries that are sometimes white, but more consistently yellow here in the Seasons Garden.Shomu-en, Japanese Garden
Japanese Black Pine
Pinus thunbergii
A two- needle pine native to the coastal regions of Japan known to reach heights of up to 100 feet, but are often sculpted by pruning to be kept small. In Japanese they call this term Niwaki meaning ‘garden trees’, also referred to as ‘the king of bonsai’.

Burr Terrace Garden
Sunshine Daydream™ Abelia
Abelia x grandiflora ‘Abelops’
Mounding evergreen shrub noted for its tri-colored foliage and featuring white blooms from spring to fall. Prefers at least six hours of full-sun exposure and hardy in Zones 6 through 9.

Howe Garden
Winterberry Holly
Ilex verticillata ‘Golden Verboom’
Mid-sized deciduous shrub that enjoys full sun and rich, moist, acidic soil. Produces yellow berries in late fall.Carell Dogwood Garden
Persian Ironwood
Parrotia persica
Medium-sized tree that can grow to 20 – 40 feet in height and 20 – 30 feet wide. Noted for its excellent fall color with leaves turning yellow, orange and red. The exfoliating bark also provides winter interest. Prefers full sun.

Herb Study Garden
Sasanqua Camellia
Camellia sasanqua ‘Rose of Autumn’
Medium to large evergreen shrub featuring semi-double flowers of rose-pink. Prefers shade to partial sun and cold-hardy up to Zone 6.Martin Boxwood Gardens
Bald Cypress
Taxodium distichum ‘Peve Minaret’
A pyramidal deciduous conifer with fern-like foliage that turns an attractive orange to cinnamon-brown color in the fall. Tolerates wet soils.

Bradford Robertson Color Garden (Arches)
Matrix Rose Blotch Pansy
Viola x wittrockiana ‘Matrix Rose Blotch’
Winter annual with large, cheerful flowers from fall through winter. Adds winter interest to the garden space with subtle pink and purple rose tones.

All of these exciting developments and corresponding changes are part of the Cheekwood Board-approved long-term Master Site Plan conducted by Reed Hilderbrand and completed in 2016, and our current five-year strategic plan, aptly titled, FAST FORWARD: Cheekwood in Pursuit of National Preeminence (Part II: 2017 -2021).

Cheekwood’s momentum remains strong as funds raised through The Cheekwood Campaign and the support of members, donors, and friends like you help to preserve and enhance this extraordinary cultural treasure! Should you have any questions or concerns, or are interested in continuing the momentum at Cheekwood through a gift to The Cheekwood Campaign, please direct those to 

TheCampaign@cheekwood.local.

Sincerely,

Jane O. MacLeod
President/CEOPrior to its closing on January 1, we invite you to enjoy lunch in the Pineapple Room Tuesday through Sunday, 11 am to 2 pm through November 23. During Holiday and Holiday LIGHTS festivals beginning November 24, we will offer the following days and hours in the Pineapple Room and Gift Shop:

• Dinner available Tuesday through Sunday, 5 to 9 pm
• Holiday Tea available Thursday and Friday at 2 pm (reservations required)
• Lunch available Saturday and Sunday, 11 am to 2 pm

Cheekwood will not offer food service onsite during January and February 2018. Beginning in March, a variety of food truck vendors will be onsite daily during the Cheekwood in Bloom festival, and on select days throughout the summer and fall, after the Courtyard Café is open to the public.

Cheekwood’s long-term Master Plan calls for a Visitor Center & Conservatory that will provide space for an additional full-service restaurant in future years. In the interim, the Courtyard Café will serve as Cheekwood’s food services venue. Plans are currently in development for a future outdoor amphitheater that will encompass the site of the current Pineapple Room and Gift Shop building and augment the redesigned Carell Woodland Sculpture Trail, scheduled to debut in 2020.

The Cheekwood Mansion Gift Shop that opened as part of the 2017 
refurnishing project will remain open, and the Frist Learning Center renovation will provide for a second retail site, featuring gardening and garden accessories as well as children’s items to complement the 2019 opening of the Bracken Foundation Children’s Garden, directly across from the Frist Learning Center.The current renovation will include the creation of a new café, additional meeting and retail space, refurbished art studios and classrooms as well as new interpretative areas that extend upon this summer’s 1930s era refurnishing of the Cheekwood Mansion.

While progress ensues, the Frist Learning Center will be temporarily closed during the renovation, and programs normally held in the Center, including Tuesdays for Tots, will be suspended until the Center reopens in April 2018. Plans for a Grand Reopening celebration are underway!

Among the many enhancements of the renovation, we are especially excited about the new Courtyard Café that will feature expanded hours from 9 am to 3 pm and a quick casual menu of soups, sandwiches, salads, baked goods, coffee selections and alcoholic beverages.

The new Courtyard Café is much needed as it has become cost prohibitive to continue operating the aging building which currently houses the Pineapple Room Restaurant and adjacent Gift Shop, both of which will close to the public permanently in January 2018. The building will be removed shortly thereafter. We are grateful to Cheekwood members and visitors who have frequented the Pineapple Room over the years to enjoy its ambiance and garden views, and know it will be greatly missed.Cheekwood’s momentum continues with this month’s much-anticipated 
renovation of the Frist Learning Center, our hub of education, exploration, and discovery. This exciting renovation and accompanying enhancements have been made possible by a very generous $4 million gift from The Frist Foundation to The Cheekwood Campaign, our first major fundraising initiative in nearly 20 years. To date, over $22 million has been raised toward this unprecedented effort to fund endowment, restoration, capital reserves and revenue initiatives integral to Cheekwood’s long-term Master Site Plan.

Located in the building which originally served as the Cheek family’s horse stables and garages, the Frist Learning Center was created in the late 1990s with support from the Frist Foundation to accommodate Cheekwood’s year-round educational and public programming, including art activities and demonstrations, classes and camps, workshops and exhibitions and, most recently, the Martin Shallenberger Artist in Residence.

Burr Terrace GardenArkansas Blue Star
Amsonia hubrichtii
A clump-forming perennial that grows up to 3’ high and wide.  Has blue flowers in spring, and needle-like leaves that turn bright gold in autumn. Native to the Ouachita Mountains in central Arkansas.

Turner Seasons GardenWhite Beautyberry
Callicarpa americana
Medium-sized shrub with light green foliage contrasted by striking bunches of white berries.

Wills Perennial Garden


Tartarian aster
Aster tartaricus
Tall, trouble-free perennial that grows 3-6′ in height and features glowing violet-blue flowers that attract butterflies. Prefers full sun, but tolerates shade.Carell Dogwood GardenIvy Leaf Cyclamen
Cyclamen hederifolium
Tuberous perennial with variably shaped leaves that range in color between green and silver.  Flowers from late summer to autumn with pink, purple or white flowers.

Herb Study GardenPolyantha Rose
Rosa x polythantha ‘Marie Pavie’
An antique rose noted for its compact size (3-4’) and nearly thornless canes.  A repeat bloomer with pale pink buds that open to white flowers.

Robinson Family Water GardenCommon Winterberry

Ilex verticillata ‘Winter Gold’

A deciduous holly that produces beautiful orange-yellow berries beginning in early autumn and persisting throughout the winter.Howe GardenBushy Bluestem
Andropogon glomeratus
Large ornamental grass featuring branched inflorescences shaped like a turkey foot. The foliage turns a copper color after frost.

Martin Boxwood GardensBlack Tupelo
Nyssa sylvatica
Beautiful, medium-sized shade tree with wonderful yellow to orange fall color. Tolerates poorly-draining soil.

Bradford Robertson Color Garden (Arches)Climbing Aster
Ampelaster carolinianus
Fine-textured perennial with a climbing, vining growth habit and delicate lavender flowers.November is a beautiful time of year to stroll the grounds at Cheekwood. With 55 acres of rolling hills and pristine gardens, there is something for everyone to see, including our mile-long Carell Woodland Sculpture Trail.

As we countdown the final weeks until Holiday LIGHTS, take a look at what’s in store for you in the gardens.

Join Cheekwood today and experience the unparalleled beauty of Nashville’s landmark country estate.

Join, Renew or Give the Gift of Membership

“Coming from New York City, Cheekwood is the closest thing to Central Park we have. It’s so pretty and we especially love the seasonal events like El Dia de los Muertos. As new members, we’re looking forward to being able to bring family out for all of the wonderful educational programs.”

            – Grace and daughters, Aniaya and Tinerra

“We love gardening, so for us it’s a wonderful place to come and see what’s blooming in the gardens and get inspiration. We especially love coming during Cheekwood in Bloom to see the tulips. Our daughter loves coming to see the turtles and ducks in the ponds. It’s just wonderful place to be able to come and spend time outdoors.”

     -Tu, Van and daughter, Nguyen

“For us it’s a nice quiet place to pack a picnic and get out and enjoy the day. We love the wide variety of events that are offered. Fall is one of our favorite seasons because of all of the weekend activities.”

                 – April, Nate and daughter, Lilly

“I like having a beautiful, different environment to escape to… to be able to come walk around with my son. He loves the trains. Fall is our absolute favorite season at Cheekwood because of all of the programming like El Dia de los Muertos and the Pooch Parade.”

                     – Rachel and son, Everett

On Monday, October 2, we hosted Member Appreciation Day. Twice a year, we open the grounds especially for a day of celebration of our members. We offer mansion and garden tours, live music, refreshments and special programming all day long.

Cheekwood members have the benefit of unlimited access to the grounds, free parking, sneak peek previews of festivals and exhibitions, priority access to special event tickets and reciprocal admission to nearly 200 botanical gardens, arboreta and conservatories nationwide, and over 60 museums in the Southeast.

What else is there to love about being a Cheekwood member? We asked a few families what they enjoyed most about their memberships.