The Gardens
at Lithia Springs

The dream of this country inn always included gardens and some of you will remember the planting of the lawns and first trees after we opened, 17 years ago. Slowly the gardens took shape, but never really took
on a life of it’s own until Jan Cunningham and her father John Gorham came to Lithia Springs. I met Jan when she was corporate gardener for Jackson & Perkins and Harry
& David. I tried to hire her the first time I saw her work, but she wasn’t ready to leave her job just yet.

Jan Cunningham

Several years later she showed up at the inn and told me of her dream of cutting back with Jackson & Perkins and gardening with her father. Since he was an \accomplished estate gardener, long since retired, we soon had a deal. Since he had taught Jan most of what she knew, how could I go wrong? In addition, Jackson & Perkins was looking for a garden to serve as a repository of the flowers to be photograph and featured for their catalogs. They furnish them, Jan and John grow them and we all enjoy them.

John Cunningham

Soon I realized that this was an incredible team, as one of John’s early projects was to create the Koi pond, water feature and bridge. He did it almost single handed, as Jan began to work her own magic on the rest of the garden. So, if you appreciate what John and Jan do, tell them the next time you see them in the garden.