June 24, 2025
Yesterday I showed you a blue-hued garden from the Memphis Fling. Today I give you pink! Casa Rosa, the home and garden of Margot McNeely and Gary Backaus, lives up to its romantic name. Pink flowers and wine-red foliage play off the soft terracotta stucco of the house, creating a warm, welcoming vibe, even in the rain.
The Mediterranean-style home sits on a 1-acre lot. Out front, a lawn segues into curvy swaths of purple coneflower, canna, and other flowering plants.
Pollinator garden
Despite the rain that chased us back to our bus at the end of the visit, this was one of my favorite gardens on the tour. I like how the meadowy coneflowers are corralled by wide gravel paths befitting the approach to the front door. Pretty ornamental trees frame glimpses of the house.
Purple coneflowers — both white and pink ones — offer up their orange cones for bees and butterflies.
The coneflowers provide a bit of meadow along the foundation too — a nice change from the typical house-hugging evergreen foundation shrub.
A closer look
More coneflowers, plus a matching pink hydrangea in back
Pink flowers on display on the front patio
A horse head sculpture too
A pair of them flank a brick patio at the front of the house.
The patio overlooks a splashing tiered fountain set in the gravel path.
Coneflowers galore
How the butterflies must flock to this garden on drier days.
Fountain garden
A tiered fountain is a classic Southern choice for a water feature, and this one is perfection. The dripping water, in strands of clear beads, gently rains into each pool.
Just as pretty from a distance
Along the gravel path, one flat stone, slicked with rain, offers a Zen-like moment near a solitary birdbath. I was a little surprised to see a thicket of yucca in a Tennessee garden, but they do complement the Mediterranean house.
Memphis gardens have spectacular Japanese maples, like this shaggy beast beyond the birdbath.
Another view of the house opens up along the path…
…as well as a small oval lawn edged by bananas and the Japanese maple.
Canna provides more burgundy foliage, echoing a contemporary bronze sculpture.
More yuccas against a gorgeous backdrop of silvery green foliage.
A smaller bronze sculpture rises from a mass of red and orange daylilies.
Gravel garden
Passing a swimming pool, I turned a corner into the backyard and found my rain-slickered travel companions. Also, an impressive Chinese elm holding court on a large gravel patio.
The back of the house is charming with lanterns glowing, tile roof shining in the rain, and blue doors beckoning.
The expanse of gravel, with an outdoor table and chairs shaded by the elm, makes a natural gathering place.
Potted plants dress up the door steps.
Romantic lighting
Lovely door color
In a small passageway between the house and a screened porch, a built-up plinth displays potted plants and statuary. Wall trellises encourage potted vines to climb.
A beautiful niche and St. Francis of carved stone is the centerpiece. I’d love to know the story behind this piece and where it was found.
It’s all very San Miguel de Allende.
The queenly Chinese elm and more seating
I peeked inside the handsome screened porch…
…and found Rachel sketching there, as she did in every garden we visited.
Danniel was smiling in her umbrella-style Tula hat.
Frank and Theo weren’t letting the rain get them down either.
I found Kimberley out front, her pink rain jacket a perfect color match for Casa Rosa.
A last look at the tiered fountain on the way out.
One more
Japanese maple, hosta, and black-eyed Susan along the drive
And a last hit of orange and lime green at the gate, where cannas bid a tropicalesque farewell.
Up next: A secret garden with a tree spirit at Chip Morrison’s house. For a look back at Linda Pittman’s blue-accented shade garden, click here.
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