Cheekwood Entry Garden
Vernal Greensward
Stroll through a welcoming space dedicated to enchanting everyday life as a grid of clipped conical evergreens forms aisles and allées, pulling you through a handsome English marketplace. This theatrical celebration excites simple routines with a stirring sense of journey and exploration.
Crisp evergreen hedges border a field of sweetly scented daffodils emerging from early spring foliage as floral sheep graze tranquilly amidst the verdant paddock. Matched fountains anchor both ends of the central axis, providing mellifluous sounds and sparkling sights.
Creating an irresistible destination, a fabric pavilion nods to the architectural follies of English landscape gardens. Beautifully upholstered furnishings demand people linger and refresh themselves as only a garden allows.
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With its intact and picturesque vistas, Cheekwood is distinguished as one of the leading Country Place Era estates in the nation. Formerly the family home of Mabel and Leslie Cheek, the 1930s estate, with its 30,000-square-foot mansion and 55 acres of gardens, today serves the public as a botanical garden, arboretum and art museum with furnished period rooms and galleries devoted to American art from the 18th to mid-20th centuries. The property includes 13 distinct gardens, including the Blevins Japanese Garden and the Bracken Foundation Children’s Garden, as well as a 1.5-mile woodland trail featuring outdoor monumental sculpture. Each year, Cheekwood hosts seasonal festivals including Cheekwood in Bloom, Summertime at Cheekwood, Cheekwood Harvest and Holiday LIGHTS. Cheekwood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and nationally as a Level II Arboretum. It has been voted a USA Today Top 10 Botanical Garden three times and in 2021 was recognized by Fodors as one of the 12 Most Beautiful Gardens in the American South. Cheekwood is located 8 miles southwest of downtown Nashville at 1200 Forrest Park Drive. It is open Tuesday through Sunday 9 a.m.–5 p.m., with extended days and hours of operation depending on the season. Visit cheekwood.org for current hours and to purchase advance tickets required for admission.
Tres Fromme
Cheekwood, Designer in Residence
Tres Fromme is currently Cheekwood Estate and Garden’s Designer in Residence where he collaborates closely with staff on master planning, garden design and seasonal displays, including Cheekwood Blooms and Holiday LIGHTS.
Fromme collaborates with public gardens throughout the United States, all of which have unique identities, cultural and ecological contexts, diverse missions, and distinctive horticultural possibilities. Experience includes a full range of project scales, budgets and scopes – master planning, site design, planting design, gardens for children, seasonal displays and holiday light shows.
His work creatively innovates within the diverse traditions, contexts and functions of each project, while exploring and activating the range of possibilities for people of all ages and backgrounds inherent in gardens.
Lewis Miller
artist in residence
Raised in California farm country, Lewis Miller developed a deep appreciation for nature early on. At 18, he moved to Seattle to study horticulture and landscape design, which led to a successful seven-year career in design and event planning. In the early 2000s, Lewis relocated to the East Coast and began working with one of New York City’s premier floral shops. Soon after, he founded his own company, LMD New York, which would go on to become one of the premier floral design houses in the city with a client list featuring
the world’s leading industry professionals in fashion, design, photography, art direction and architecture. Nearly two decades later, LMD has grown into one of the most sought-after and well-respected multi-event production houses in the world. His stand-out projects include designing the iconic 30 Rock Channel Gardens and writing his first book published by Rizzoli New York, titled “Styling Nature: A Masterful Approach to Floral Arrangement,” which received brilliant praise in the New York Times Book Review and Martha Stewart Living. He was also featured in Phaidon’s recently published book “Blooms.” Lewis continues to spread his vision of kindness and floral spectacle through The Flower Flash, an initiative he pioneered to repurpose event flowers into spontaneous floral street art installations that bring joy and beauty to urban spaces and inspire smiles and emotional connections worldwide.
Be sure to see Lewis’ iconic Floral Sheep in the Cheekwood Entry Garden.
Primary Contributors
Special Thanks
Attend A&G 2025
Reserve your tickets to experience the longest-running, largest and most respected event of its kind in the country. Held at the award-winning Music City Center in the epicenter of Nashville’s thriving downtown entertainment district, our Show will once again breathe its warmth, life and style into the heart of winter with the highest-quality antique and horticulture exhibitors, landscaped gardens, a cocktail party or two, and some of the most renowned speakers in the world. Now celebrating our 35th year, this volunteer-managed Show has raised $11 million for Cheekwood and ECON Charities.
