The Dunwody family had an ornamental flower garden on what is now the open lawn directly west of the house. When Neel Reid redesigned the property in the early 1920s, he moved the focus of the gardens to the north side of the property, behind the house, although he also kept some basic elements of the original garden design in place. No traces of the original garden remain today, although lily of the valley occasionally sprouted on the lawn as late as the 2000s.
West of the house, you can see one possibly historic tree, the osage orange tree, just northwest of the house. Osage orange trees bear large green fruit, sometimes called “monkey brains.” These fruit are so big and heavy that they can be somewhat hazardous when they start to fall in late summer! Osage trees were often planted next to the home because the fruit was thought to ward off insects. Bulloch Hall still has several osage orange trees that were originally planted in the 1840s.
The reflecting pool garden was designed by Neel Reid in the early 1920s. Although now only frogs live in the water, the Hansell family tended to goldfish and koi in the pool for many years. The flower beds surrounding the brick walkway hold daylilies and the beds lining the pool hold azaleas, making this garden especially spectacular in the springtime. This garden was restored by Friends of Mimosa in Spring 2019 with a grant from the Garden Club of Georgia. Caldwell Tree Company restored the boxwood and the Roswell Garden Club weeded and mulched the flowerbeds. In 2020, the City of Roswell repaved the walkway using bricks made by a brick company known for preservation and historic production methods. The replacement bricks were molded by wood frames to mimic the style, type, and color of the replaced bricks.
