Showing posts with label Doorstep Gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doorstep Gardening. Show all posts

Friday, March 22, 2013

Japanese

Invitation.  




 "...eternals as applicable in the smallest of spaces as in the vast acres of a country house garden." Sir Roy Strong.  Above, vast as a mountain range.


Water Mirror, miroir d'eau, above.




Water breaks the footprint of the Tea House, above.  Small touch, huge impact.


Looking outward, above, from the bamboo window seen coming in the entry, top pic.


Framing the view, above, for centuries this has been done.  Is a brick ca. 1960 ranch less worthy?


Hidden, then meandering, above, then spilling into the pond, below.


Why, above, do we like walking on water?

 At the minimum, 2 stones.  Male & female.  Earth & sky.  Ying & yang.  Even the shadows are benevolent.


Leaving the Japanese garden from its other side, above, into a pecan orchard.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pics taken Massee Lane Garden last weekend.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Front Door Pendant Light

Endangered object, below.


Sweetly scaled pendant light.
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A front door is always a focal point.  When architecture & materials are already good why compete?  Beware 'too large' exterior lighting at your front door.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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pic via DIY Home Staging Tips.  You'll love the link, it's the best tips of Home Staging for 2012.  Of course, too many decades of USA homes lack good materials/architecture, mine is one, so you want to consider the possibility of large exterior lighting.  Then, beware of lipstick-on-a-pig.
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If you want a garden that is a moat of grace around your home & life, contact me.
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Details about online design services.
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Learn action steps to creating your best garden & home when you hire me to speak to your group.
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Details about lecture titles here.
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I've written several garden books available on Amazon.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Color in the Garden

Which part of this doesn't speak?

A full narrative.
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Great metaphor.  It's more important what we say 'no' to in the landscape.  And life.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic via Slim Paley - A Classic Combo

Friday, November 2, 2012

Lost Garden


Client recently decided to rent The Cottage this plan was designed for.
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Inspiration for another day!
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Still pouting since I received the call a few weeks ago.  Pic, lost provenance.  If you know I'll credit.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Creating Layers

View into the garden, below.  Pic taken at jobsite last week.


 Not mature yet, above, but doing its job.  You don't know what that job was.  Means the job was done right.


My job?  Hide the view (pic taken 2 years ago) of the dependencies, above, create mystery, pull your feet to investigate, be a proscenium for all weathers, fill the spirit of any mood, provide entertainments for small groups, large gatherings & yet be easy to maintain while providing maximum pollinator habitat for potager, bees, & yet more.  Now we're in the realm of my Landscape Design classes.
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Every step in Landscape Design is counterintuitively simple.  
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Garden & Be Well,           XO Tara
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My basket is in yet another pic.  It was a 2 basket day.  Did you know I rate my days by how many baskets are needed?  The best days are 4 basket days.  Means I've been designing & lecturing & overseeing an installation.
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Last visit home my sister told me it was infantile and not appropriate for a woman my age to use baskets.  In fact, the little basket I was using embarrassed her.  We were having Sunday lunch at the club with mom.  It's a joy to irritate her without trying.  When the server was clearing away she told me how cute my basket was & what a great idea to use it.  Sensing the Cheshire smile my sister received from me?  Obvious I'm the younger sister.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Checkerboard: Before & After

Exploded brick ranch, below, before their checkerboard this week.  Water issues where the lawn won't grow.  And an entertaining area, go figure, at the bare dirt & low wall.  This neighborhood is thick with children and the parents have earned their margaritas & canapes set up on the low wall while their progeny go wild on the lawn.


Mr. CDC  cut 48 paper squares for the trial run of the checkerboard, below.  My contractor watched, amused, as we spread them out.  Of course, totally confident, he only purchased 48  18" x 18" bluestones.


Do you know the 1st, and most important bluestone, below, to be laid?  The rest of the Checkerboard relied upon this beginning.


Dead center, above/below,  at the entry from the carport.


The Caterpillar was used to contour the land for drainage.


New sod up to the low wall AND the steps of the porch.  Simple, potent, functional.
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Garden & Be Well,                XO Tara
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Pics taken at jobsite this week.  Cannot wait for the sod to root & a party to take place.  I want to walk slowly by (incognito stranger) & see if my visions for the space are correct!  Several young children accumulated on the wall while Mr. CDC & I were placing the paper squares.  They were speechless & still, sitting on the low wall, with staring eyes at what the strange adults were doing.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Stone Wall Needs to be Seen

A well maintained century, below, at this home.

 Stone accent wall near the entry, above, is obscured by a gorgeous Japanese maple, below.
Have asked the pruner to create tiny views thru the Japanese maple  to the stone wall.  Yet keep the Japanese maple gorgeous too.
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Garden & Be Well,          X O Tara
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Same house as previous post.  Pics taken with my phone & you see my little work basket.  It holds pencils, circle templates, erasers, keys, phone.....and shouldn't be in the pic.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

How To Make These Windows More Fabulous

At her bluestone terrace, below.  Inside is the kitchen.

Soon, French doors will open onto the bluestone terrace.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken yesterday at a jobsite.  Notice the gap in the ferns?  Saw the culprit eating them.  Her dog!  Unrepentant.
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When I told her the windows HAD to be French doors she smiled and said it was validation.  Her thoughts exactly.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Pot Planting

A bit of clipping, drip irrigation, enjoy.


                               Oh my, the dappled light.
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I haven't put an annual in my pots for decades.  Magazines & nurseries push-push-push annuals.  And I listen to what I'm asked for EVERY design, 'my landscape must be low maintenance & not expensive.'
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Gravel to the house, bushes in pots, necessity furnishings for meals, entertaining, relaxing.  Why are so many Americans afraid, above, of this?  "Let's build a deck, make it too small, add built-in seating with the rail which won't ever see use......"  "We'll pour a cement patio barely big enough for a mop, Weber grill, round table + 4 chairs."
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Pic via Desde My Ventana

Monday, September 24, 2012

John Rosselli Garden Room


Two years junking & thrifting and most everything, below, should be found in-some-variation.

John Rosselli's magic.  Pretty, charming, welcoming, color, light & etc.
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This is the perfect room to come in from the garden with dirty shoes, tools, leaves in my hair & a few bugs falling off my clothes.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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Pic via Veranda on John Rosselli Antiques.  The more I scratch the surface of John Rosselli I know why Bunny Williams married him.  Did you see Garden & Gun was hosted by Bunny at Treillage?

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Front Door Ideas

Puppet Barbuda's wicked eye.  


Boxwood disgracefully pruned into helmet hair, and wider at the top creating leggy hags with pockets of space at the bottom.
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Coiled hose lingering for pride of place.
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Blocks of wood anchoring exterior lights? Oh dear, at least stain them the color of the siding.
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The delight of the sweet round doormat.   A great touch.
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Charming vernacular baskets over the front door.
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Adore the shutters open in welcome.
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Why mulch when a groundcover is less maintenance & more lush?
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Elegantly shabby seeing money stretched.  The steps/rails are solidly good and tell a story.  Windows are at a crossroads of rotting but surviving with storm windows attached. 
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The window box & front door paint color tell Puppet Barbuda she wants inside this sweet cottage.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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A Cousin Cathy pic from Nantucket this summer.  This cottage reminds me of Aunt Tillie in her 80's, widowed & easily taking care of her brick cottage & garden.  Plenty of money but not one red cent to replace the furnace.  Smiling with a glint in her eye, "Let the next owner pay for it!"  Blessedly several of her antiques are now in my home & garden.  
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Who is Puppet Barbuda?  Landscape Design Critic of course.  

Monday, September 17, 2012

Gravel To The Foundation

 
What is the incessant USA love affair with foundation plantings about? 
Bushes are either leggy hags or green meatballs.
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Ugly, requires maintenance, depreciates the value of a home.
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Garden & Be Well,         XO Tara
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Adore the gravel solution, above.  Pic from Deborah Silver who owns Detroit Garden Works.
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I left USA for Europe to study gardens once horticulture degree was firmly in hand.  Was taught how to be a guy with a truck mow-blow-go.  Worse, they taught  how to landscape design from the street looking at the house.  Europe was a grand teacher.  Will never forget the first time I saw gravel to the house foundation.  GOT IT.  Love moments of epiphany.

Friday, May 25, 2012

How To Increase The Drama

Subtle drama, ego in check.  Pair of stone columns, iron gate, half-round stone steps & on axis a Japanese maple.  Not a gaudy statue or etc.
 Do you see the opportunity to increase the subtle drama, below?
Remove the pinestraw bed & let the turf flow to the stone wall.
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Small tweek HUGE impact.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara
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Pic taken last weekend at my lecture venue.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Simplicity


Dare you?  This simple?
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Yes.
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Gravel to the walls, color theme, mix of stone-wood-iron, vine-on-house, evergreen cones in pots, round downspouts, beautiful views into the home, finials on the roof, custom shutters, 3-d lite over door.
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If you like it, break down the reasons.  Beauty in one spot can be translated into yours.
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House is the focal point.  House is the backdrop to the landscape.  Specifically, the front door.
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It's brutal to be this simple.  But POTENT.
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And low maintenance.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara
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pic via Things That Inspire .  Even a disastrous brick ranch ca. 1963 can be turned into a historic caretakers cottage.  This house , above, tells you how.  Have fun.  If you, indeed, live in the disaster.  Of course I can be this blunt.  Living in a brick 1986 box.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Copy. Price Is No Excuse.

Copy, it's one of the 1st & best rules of Landscape Design.
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It's not the price point, alone, creating this welcome.
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What can you copy?
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Lights on inside, door/walls with confidently chosen colors, urn on plinth so fabulous it can remain empty & a confidently chosen color, welcoming bench, fabulous light in maximum-3D over the door, metal boot scrape, wood mat, scoring of stone.
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Not having a welcoming entry because you don't have the money is not an excuse.
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Much to be rescued on garbage day, returned paint found cheaply at hardware store or really cheap at a thrift store, cheap pot with good shape smothered in ivy, faux paint scoring, and etc.
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Desire & intellect will provide your beautiful entry. 
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Don't have the courage to post drive-by-shootings of hi-end properties with ridiculous front door areas.
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You know, champagne budget , beer taste.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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Pic via Belgian Pearls.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

5th & State On Mary Bairstow

 5th & State came to Atlanta recently to visit her friend Mary Bairstow, interior decorator. 
 You'll like Mary's interiors but I fixate on her exterior.  The woman has Vanishing Threshold.
 I swoon, above, at the diminutiveness of these steps & matched in scale boxwood and asymmetry.
 A taste of Mary's interior, above. 
Is there any doubt, above, you are about to enter a fabulous home/garden?  None.  When every element of simplicity/function are achieved you know you are looking at the work of a master.
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Garden & Be Well,            XO Tara
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5th & State took the pics.  Still pouting I didn't know she was in Atlanta, I would have invited myself along on this visit to Mary's magical home/garden.
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Did you notice the layers of green Mary uses in her garden?  Layers of green give you serenity & calm.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Small Lives Large With Axis + Focal Point

On axis with the doors, below, this tiny space lives large.  It has the potential for 3 more potent axis.
Purring at the formal lines + rusticity of plantings.
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At first I looked too quickly, thinking it was metal chairs.  No.  It's a bike & chair. 
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Don't you want to go inside? 
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That is Vanishing Threshold!
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Don't forget the Landscape Design rule: COPY
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Pics via Modern Country, taken by Shootfactory

Monday, March 19, 2012

Front Porch: Before & After

 Landscape Design after, above.  A bit of work so obvious no one thinks a Landscape Designer is needed.  Afterall, the builder & previous Landscape Designer missed it, below.

Did you notice a pendant light was added too?  Top pic. 
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pics sent by the client from a jobsite last week.  She wanted to do this for years.  Her husband said, 'why do we need to do this?'

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Penelope Bianchi

Penelope Bianchi, below, is brave.  She didn't 'think' about growing a vine inside.  She did!



 She's timeless.  There's always comfort, & a garden.
 Her sense of flow, scale, comfort, history, fun,
 are direct from her muse.
And her home has been chosen for the top 10 romantic homes.
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I learn everytime I see pics of her home.  Didn't want you to miss seeing some.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pics from Penelope here.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Put The Shutter Inside

At the frontdoor, below.  
 Don't know why I bought the old shutter-dog, don't know why I kept the old shutters in my garage for almost 2 decades.
Susanne Hudson made the brilliant suggestion, put the shutter inside.
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Kept the original color on the shutter & haven't touched the original rust on the shutter-dog.
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It doesn't fit accurately and I adore the entire idea.  And opening/closing it each day.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Yes, I'm this easily amused.  Better than street drugs yes?