Sign Up Form for the Ceres Society’s Garden Visits
Garden Visits are open to residents of Belle Meade and their guests. A donation of $50 per person per event date is required with each registration. After you submit your registration form, you will be taken to the payment portal and please select “Ceres Society – Garden Tour” to make your donation online.
April 25, 2026 Gardens:
Garden of Leslie and Gus Grote at 108 Clarendon Avenue
Native Nashvillians, Leslie and Gus Grote and their three children moved to 108 Clarendon Avenue in 2002. The house was built in the late 1920’s. Outdoor entertaining is an important aspect of the Grote lifestyle. The original backyard featured a guesthouse, a non-functioning greenhouse and a small brick patio surrounded by a beautiful brick wall.The current backyard has evolved over the past 24 years. Leslie and Gus have hosted countless gatherings, from impromptu pool parties to wedding receptions for two of their children. They love open lawn and the blooming progression, beginning with early spring bulbs and wildflowers (transplanted from their farm). Later spring brings dogwoods, azaleas, peonies (many transplanted from Gus’s mother’s yard), hydrangeas and roses that bloom through October. Leslie says, “you need enough roses to look pretty in the yard, to have in your house and most importantly, to give away!” A front porch and new sidewalk were added in 2024 to welcome all to the Grote home. This welcome extends to the back area as a whole – the patio, dining areas, pool, pool house for grandchildren and lawn for playing.
“Home is where love resides, memories are created, friends always belong and laughter never ends.”
– unknown
Garden of Elizabeth and Jack Wallace at 211 Lynnwood Terrace
From the beginning of our time here on Lynnwood Terrace (1992), my desire has been to recreate the wonder of the garden of my grandmother who lived across the street from me growing up. I want my own children and grandchildren to experience the magic of a garden, and I have tried to incorporate those elements of her garden that enchanted me as a child. I, too, have brick paths for wandering and riding tricycles, arched hedges, fountains, wrought-iron furniture, and a greenhouse. I have her favorite roses, quince, camellias, and violets, and flowers and shrubs for cutting and arranging. I love plants too much to practice any sort of restraint and am very much a see it – buy it – plunk it sort of gardener. My garden is constantly evolving and I am always trying to simplify (against my very nature!). The past few years have taken a toll on my boxwood and roses, not to mention my trees and greenhouse treasures; but gardens are just like life – full of wonderful surprises and real heartbreak. I suppose the goal of all my endeavors has been to evoke in my children and grandchildren the same longing for the beauty of a garden which is really the longing for the beauty of the first garden – Eden.
Garden Visits are open to Belle Meade residents and their guests.
Questions? Contact Lisa Ellis at lemailtn@comcast.net