Friday, October 24, 2014

Most Important Design Element?

With the might of my (perceived) intelligence, 3 decades later, do you see the work, below, I'm most proud of?
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Designed/planted 3 years ago.
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My present self says to my younger self, "Oh, girlie, you are pitiful.  Really?  Step it up, you've done nothing.  A holly hedge.  Pedestrian.  Ridiculous girl."  
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When Vita Sackville-West & Harold Nicolson's head gardener marched off to war, one of his first letters admonished them, "Whatever you do, maintain the hedges."
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Last weekend, in this client garden, above, they had a ceremony unveiling a historical marker.  Quietude reigns, above.


Yet, on the other side of the hedge, the ceremony is underway.
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How little can you do in a garden, for the greatest impact, with the least amount of ongoing maintenance, maximum pollinator habitat, beautiful views in the garden and beautiful views of the garden from inside the home?
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FYI, the habitat, above, is maximum pollinator habitat.  Do you know why?  High density meets low density.  Woodland with meadow.
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Few are brave enough to be this simple.  Lucky me.  I get paid to be simple.  More, my type of simplicity pays money into the future.  Higher property value, lower HVAC & maintenance costs.  Once established no irrigation, no chemicals, no fertilizer.
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Perhaps the best reason to pay attention!
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This is the most important design element.  All of the, above.  With curiosity I want to know what your takeaway/s are.  Please.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara

For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.
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Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.
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Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon
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Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.
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Construction by Award Winning
Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.
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NOTE to my gardening friends... look for changes to come. 
Knew before computers/cell phones, sitting in Atlanta traffic on way to a client, 'I must reach a larger audience with the same amount of effort.'   Soon after that epiphany I signed my CBS-TV, and, books contracts on the same day.
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Then I read an article in the NYTimes about something called 'blogging'.  Saved the article for a year before reading it.  Studied all the blogs they mentioned, hired a computer expert they quoted, and attended a blogging seminar.
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Blogging 2.0 has arrived, my knowledge is 1.0.  A believer in copying the best historic gardens across the globe it flows into every arena of life.  Watching Maria Killam grow her career/blog/life over the past 3 years made its impact.  Signed up  for a year's course with her blogging expert, Jon Morrow
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Changes will be slow, plodding is my adored method.  Pulling triggers here/there is spice in the mix.
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What do YOU want?
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Nothing is too small, too big, or too ego crushing to mention.
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Passion lies in sharing what has filled me to the depths of grace, joy & atonement, the best landscapes created over the last 2,000+ years.

Just so you know... 

 I  welcome your input.

4 comments:

LPC said...

I take away that I'd like to see the more of the space to fully understand the impact of the simple hedge. :)

Jacinta Arnold said...

Agree with you. Driving my parents in law from Heathrow in 1990 to our temporary home in Cambridge my MIL exclaimed " Look Bazil, there's a hedge!" Much merriment but she knows a good garden!

Anonymous said...

That's my kind of simple, too. So many people are under the notion only visually busy, high maintenance plantings benefit wildlife...so much so, they continue how they are not busy or high maintenance. Well-said, classic style and appealing to non-human and human wildlife!

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