Tour Juniper Green's Kitchen Garden/Event Space

In spring of 2023, I had the privilege of designing a garden event space for Juniper Green Kitchen and their charming venue at Old School Farm.

I'd love to walk you through the vision behind the garden design and then show you pictures of how the garden's growing through the seasons.

Juniper Green Kitchen

Juniper Green is a garden-to-table culinary company located at Old School Farm, just outside of Nashville, TN. There used to be a restaurant in the space, but unfortunately, it had to shut down during Covid. The restaurant had several weddings booked in the open-air pavilion (pictured below), so the farm reached out to Molly Martin, founder and CEO of Juniper Green, to see if they could take over the farm-to-table catering for those clients.

As it so happened, Juniper Green had been looking for a private dining space where they could put down roots after five years of being in business. They just hadn't found the right spot... yet.

When they learned more about the shared mission on the farm, it felt like kismet. They pounced on the opportunity.

Juniper Green's Vision for the Garden Party Space

There had previously been a memorial butterfly garden between the guest parking lot and the pavilion at Old School Farm. Even though the space had been underutilized and was now neglected, Molly wanted to preserve the original intent of the garden by planting lots of things for pollinators.

She also wanted a community space that could serve as both a showcase piece and a functioning kitchen garden that she could harvest from for special events. Guests should be able to spend time here—perhaps for cocktail hour before a reception in the pavilion—and have as full of an experience as possible. In that way, the garden would basically be another room for her business.

The garden also needed to be photo shoot ready. "Every event is telling a story," Molly told me. "The more we can anticipate that and offer ways of doing that in a unique way, the better."

Looking around at other event spaces, Molly realized she'd never be able to compete with huge venues that have different-size rooms available for every possible celebration and ceremony, complete with luxury getting-ready suites. What they could offer instead was a true garden-to-table experience.

As part of that experience, they needed an open area where different designers and event planners could step in and create infrastructure for their event, whether that meant setting up a 12-seater or several little cocktail tables.

My Garden Design for Juniper Green

The space is basically a large triangle. My first thought was to make one side of the triangle a barrier to hide the guest parking lot from view. I decided to use a row of steel raised beds with panel trellises in the back. The idea is that vining plants will cover the trellises so that guests can't really see cars, just garden.

I also envisioned surrounding two sides of the triangle with native plants and pollinator-friendly plants to pay tribute to the original butterfly garden. There were already three existing trees that we would plant perennials around.

I planned to split the triangle right down the middle with a row of tunnel arch trellises. The top point of the triangle would serve as the main entrance to the garden. You would walk through three more trellises, along a gravel path, to reach the open lawn.

Beside the tunnel arch trellises, we would plant native grasses to add tons of texture and movement.

There would also be two large open areas for seating. Guests could meander along different routes from here, which is, to me, part of what makes being inside a large garden so peaceful. I really wanted to create movement in the garden, so that guests don't just stand in one place.

For commercial sites, I recommend growing a lot of things that people can touch and enjoy, like culinary herbs. I planned to fill the raised beds with herbs and leafy greens that Juniper Green could cut again and again and again. The staff uses herbs in every dish they make, and they also got excited about growing their own edible flowers.

Installing the Kitchen Garden

Installation was a heroic effort by the dozens of people who made this garden happen. In total, it was a nine-day process to transform the dilapidated butterfly garden into a gorgeous kitchen garden and native plant habitat.

Our crew had to level the space, install steel edging to contain the gravel and mulch, cement the tunnel trellises in place, plant native plants, add irrigation, assemble the raised beds, and more.

Tunnel Arch Trellises

We built four tunnel trellises from the Gardenary shop. We planted trumpet vine and honeysuckle on the outside of the trellises so that they would quickly be covered in growth. We also planted some blackberries and raspberries along the middle of the trellises, as well.

Since installation, I've hosted several workshops and events in this space. Guests often gather near the tunnel arches to chat as they snack on appetizers.

We planted native grasses and echinacea along the sides of the tunnel trellises. We kept the same planting pattern for the entirety of the tunnel pathway. Here's the view of the pathway from the lawn.

Native Plant Space

We filled the in-ground beds with native plants and pollinator-friendly plants. Plants include nepeta, bee blossom, blazing star, yarrow, bee balm, native grasses, sedum, echinacea, coreopsis, rudbeckia, and cosmos. The farm already had some gorgeous fruit trees that were just starting to produce. The trees look so beautiful surrounded by all these flowers and shrubs.

My favorite plant in this space ended up being the bee blossom, also called gaura. It's so whimsical and beautiful. The flowering plants certainly keep the bees and butterflies busy during the growing season.

We added some obelisk trellises to the native plant space to support flowering vines.

Kitchen Garden

We installed four of our Gardenary cedar beds. Each side of the main pathway has one 4x8 bed and a smaller 4x6 bed. These beds are only 12 inches tall so that they don't block the view of the kitchen garden or the native plant space. These beds are filled with herbs and leafy greens. Year round, there are chives, sage, oregano, lavender, and rosemary. In the summer, there's basil. In the cooler months, there's cilantro and dill.

I used our border Corten steel beds and Nicole panel trellises to create the wall between the garden and the parking lot. These beds have already grown watermelons, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, bok choy, cabbage, lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, and so much more.

In the two pictures below, you can see how the Corten steel completed the weathering process after being installed.

It's been so much fun to come out to Juniper Green to host workshops and events and see how the garden is changing throughout the year.

Here's the garden in summer of 2023.

You can see the trumpet vine is really filling in on the arch trellises.

Here's the garden in November of 2023, after Nashville had its first frost. The native grasses have turned brown and died off, but their foliage and plumes still provided a beautiful backdrop.

Here's the garden in spring of 2024. You can see the native grasses were pruned back, and the perennial herbs popped back up after winter.

Does This Garden Make You Want Your Own Garden Party Space?

Just two days after we completed this garden event space, I got to host a workshop there. Since then, I've hosted a summit for fellow garden consultants and numerous workshops.

It's been such a treat to revisit this huge project with you. Hopefully this inspires you to create a space for garden parties in your backyard. Even if you add just one raised bed, you can still grow so much of your own delicious food and have a peaceful little place to bring guests.

Thank you to Juniper Green for letting us create this inspiring space for so many people to see. We love it and we love you even more. Thank you to Victoria Quirk for the beautiful photos. And thank you for going on this tour with me!