Double Axis: House of Turquoise

Sandra Espinet, designed a perfect Double Axis.  From inside the living room, below, looking out to the pavilion.

 From the garden, below, looking into the pavilion.

 In the pavilion, below,

looking into the living room.
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Sandra owns the interior & exterior.  A rare interior decorator knowing her work ends at the property line not the walls of the house.
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Double Axis is an easy concept.  Quit reading this and figure yours out !
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Garden & Be Well,               XO Tara
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Penelope Bianchi is the rarest.  Interior Decorator doing Vanishing Threshold, Double Axis & la-ti-da multiple axis to a single focal point & etc....
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When you realize these concepts are easy, historically correct, necessary to happiness/joy/grace, & affordable you will stop thinking in terms of what Garden Centers & Testosterone-On-Wheels-Mow-Blow-Go want to SELL you.  Foundation plantings & lawn & seasonal annuals?  OMG, worse than boring.  Stupid, environmentally harmful, terrible for property value, & worst of all devastating to your inner muse.  No, don't ask me what I really think, because I can go there too.  And there waits the fabulous Puppet Barbuda.
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Pics via House of Turquoise with more about Sandra Espinet, here.

A Garden View From Her Kitchen

Inimitably her own style, in all she does.  A bit of her kitchen, below.

Before she bought her, ca. 1940, home it had a garden, obviously lovely at one point, but tired.  She hired me to tweak it several years ago.  Axis & entries were boldened, paths redefined, focal points placed, hedges tightened & etc.

She, & her Man, have had time to do their own tweaking.  Adding layers to their garden, listening to their muse within.
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This is their garden.  All theirs.
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We talked of this magic, the garden transitioning from my input and the previous owners.  Their tweaking.  Yet, somehow, it's the garden doing the magic.
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Lunch was served outside overlooking the garden.  Salmon salad over mixed greens, wine.  We would talk, but mostly were silent.  Looking at the garden.  Then ridiculously, like teenagers, laugh in joy. 
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara 
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Told her I was stopping by the thrift store on the way home.  Ha, she came with me and we went to the antique mall too.  Love a good Saturday !!  Her garden is on tour in May.

A New Carriage House

Her color theme was chosen long ago.

 Finally, her carriage house is being built. 

 Her dream is a garden seen throughout the years in magazines.

 Love that, easy for me to copy, below.

First day of digging they found a spring.  The elevation changed a bit.  Had to come back and tweak a short & low stone wall. 
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Using evergreens, tea olive & wax leaf ligustrum, to block the neighbor's house, 2nd pic. 
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Sent her an email every 6-8 months asking, "Started your carriage house yet?"  Honestly, you should have seen the Sanford & Son shed she was living with.  Past its prime, rotting, stuffed & with stuff sitting all around it. 
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Their home is historic & it was important to site the new carriage house 'as if' it had always been there.  I lined it exactly parallel with the house.  As they did centuries ago.  And, not too far or too close to her home.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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Pics take earlier this month.  Her other color is black. 

Blossom Boxes By Steve Eaton

She needed something at her gravel parking court.  (Tara Dillard's, Queen's Pot, of course.  A pot so fabulous it can remain empty.  Do all of your pots pass this test?)

Mostly, she has Steve Eaton of Blossom Boxes plant her urns.

 She wanted a gate leading into her woodland, fabulous.  But it needed another Queen's Pot, this time on a taller plinth, above.  And, it's on double axis.  More another time, (miss priss) forgot to get the other axis pic.

 No sun reaches her front door, Blossom Boxes keeps her pots always lush & green. 

Another pot, in her backyard, above.  Blossom Boxes stayed true to his name: pansies, violas & dwarf snapdragons.
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Met Steve Eaton over 20 years ago.  Have seen him in gardens & flower shows ever since.  Had him in an episode on my TV show. 
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I thought you should know such a man, Steve Eaton of Blossom Boxes, exists.  That there is a world where men plant flowers & girls design gardens for their daily bread.  A world, they know, is their own Camelot.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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Pics taken in a client garden last week.  Steve Eaton, Blossom Boxes,  770-337-8840, sceaton3@yahoo.com.  

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

Kitchen Lighting

Leaving at dusk last month I could see, from beyond the Ancient Orhcard, these lights, below, on.

 Retro fitted lighting ca. 1880.  The light bulbs mimic gas.

I'm a Landscape Designer & demand every view into your home be fabulous.
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Lighting, window treatments, furniture, art & etc.
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If I can see it from the garden it is within my domain.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pic taken at a jobsite last month.  The primitive piece next to the marble island is called a biscuit board.  Never seen one till here.  Wish I had the type of camera to have shot from the garden, past the Ancient Orchard, across the Lawn & into her windows.  Susanne Hudson is helping with interiors.

Historicly Sighting Bulbs

 Planted last month, below, daffodils.  I hope you think they've been there a century.

They arise from Tara Turf, above, more history.

 Landscape Design is not hard, it is a lot of easy layers.  From a side window at the front door, above.
More than historical, I had to site the daffodils to be ENJOYED by a family.  Every member, a wide age range. 

From the music room, above.
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Garden & Be Well,   Tara
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Pics taken last Thursday.  Exciting times here, a son is to be married.   Have felt strongly throughout this project there would be babies/children.  First, of course, I will let them get married !  Better than babies they are grandbabies.  Have a strong bias toward grandbabies because of my own incredible grandparents.    It's odd having infertility, I don't miss having my own children but I ache for grandchildren.
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New note, 3-12-12, about daffodil details, quoted from my client, above, " Those bulbs sat in the garden shed for months waiting to be
planted.  and it's been a mild winter.  never could have fit 2000 bulbs in refrigerator!  and they are Divison II Narcissus which do better in the south than Division I.
Carltons (but I don't want a "run" on Carltons!).  selfish of me, I guess.

it was an amazing work of planting them in groups like this.  and you really don't know how long they've been there.  we sit on front porch more often these days, both days and nights to enjoy them.  yellow blooms show up well in the evening, almost as well as the white blooms of flowers. 

daffodil season is influencing where we sit and talk.  I love it."

Hammock Humor

Perusing last night, above.  Laughter, amusement, delighted arrogance Puppet Barbuda style.  In reality the hammocks I see are hanging from rusted metal frames, in landscapes devoid of charm, a bare patch of earth below with weeds spreading from the muck, no fringe, a mildew factory, on view from windows inside the home, with not a table in sight for a book & glass of wine, and every mosquito from miles around just waiting for you to alight to gorge on your blood and give you the disease of the day.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic from Janelle McCulloch, & thank you for picturing the answer, "What were they thinking?"

Richness In Simplicity

Simplicities in my house, below, intensify

 my garden view.

Landscapes & interiors are double axis.
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How does your landscape look from inside your home?  It is art on the wall at every window.  Whether you think so or not.
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How does your home look from your landscape?  It is the focal point of your landscape.  Whether you think so or not.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pics taken yesterday, a gray day with rain.  No flash for the pics.  Light streaming in, indirectly, from the garden.  My floor, banister, stairs, and me, each bathed in garden light.

Landscape Design: What Era Will You Choose?

Whitlow House ca. 1830.  Keeping the views,

 and the house rustic are intentional.  Wanting places of repose,

outside of time.

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Garden & Be Well,          XO Tara

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Pics taken at a project last week.  Landscape Design is about designing elements of TIME & PLACE.  Received a delightful comment about my home/garden this month, "You've really created your own little world, haven't you?"

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Collections During Renovation

A few days ago, at The Old Post Office, in Stone Mountain, Ga Village, I found this painting.  

It has a few issues, easily overcome by the $15 tag.

On the back, interesting scrawl,  "Dec. 26, 1930, Friday Nite, JGB"
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A story I would like to know.
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Now, it's leaning on a table with lamps, bowls, flotsam-jetsom, awaiting it's debut.  A bit of construction in my house this Christmas.  Men, machines, materials, saw dust.  Cats safely tucked into their new room upstairs, unamused.
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Excited about the new year, construction complete, things placed properly, and a decrease in quantity.  Editing. 
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Framing garden views from every interior window.  Looking into every window, from the garden, making sure it's worthy of being a backdrop for my garden.  Double axis.  Vanishing Threshold.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara

Cotton In The Conservatory

In the garden, below, 2 days ago, looking into my Conservatory thru the century old French door.

 It's an arcane delight, looking into windows.  Seeing cotton (or anything pretty) already 'painted', not real, in the past.

This is my first high cotton.  Literally, this year, in-high-cotton.  Inside Conservatory, above, looking into my tiny back garden.
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The old pottery jug, above, with broken handle, was a very good day at the thrift store, $2.94.
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From the house seeing this jug of cotton has been a joy.  A garden view, it's why I garden.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara

Focal Point: Double Axis

North of the cabin, below, is the old farm building in yesterday's post.

 Cabin, above/below, is due south.  A focal point at north & south, Double Axis.

Cabin is almost a century old.  Mulch, above, won't be needed when plantings mature.
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Laying in bed last night realizing this spot is a Quatra Axis.  Can't wait till the East/West portions are ready for their pics.
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Exciting events.  3 of the axis points were already there.  The 4th pulled the landscape together.
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More than a little pleased !!  (Think of Miss Piggy Dancing, flipping her hair a few times.)
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Have zero idea what other people think about in bed at night.
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Garden & Be Well, XO T
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pics taken last week.

Atlanta Botanical Garden

Mershon Hall, below, site of class I'm teaching at Atlanta Botanical Garden.

Magic-be-in-this-garden.
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You must understand it's a full sun landscape, hi humidity, hi temps, unbearable to body/mind.
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 Yet the eyes take in: pretty, perky, cool, happy, comfortable, rushing water, a Chihuly & etc.
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Somehow, the designer, made old-fashioned annuals look new & exciting.  Then I have to smile at the landscape design rules followed.  Spikey flowers next to round, a color theme, contrasting foliage colors/sizes,  multiple axis, focal point, enfilades, hi density & low density.
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I MUST find out who designed the plantings !!
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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took the pic last Tuesday nite at ABG
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UPDATE: garden planning by members of the horticulture department  ABG.....wasn't given their names but they are a dream team!

Color On The Front Porch

Plates change, colors change, Mary's front porch always delights.

 Mary grew up in this tiny cottage.

 Love this type of caress, below.

 Porch & front door face a side, not the front of the cottage.

 Not quite an acre, it lives bigger, having mature canopy hardwoods & understory trees.

 Love her blacktop.

A view from the front porch into the garden, above.
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After decades away, in much larger homes, life conspired for Mary to live in her tiny cottage again.  I know it's a blessing in my life.  She's around the corner from my garden.
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Garden & Be Well,         XO Tara

Checkerboard In Tara Turf

Pair of conifers at the entry, a pencil shaped evergreen on axis, and a checkerboard path in Tara Turf leveraging the drama.

 Pink Crape Myrtle adding seasonal drama.

Mary is the queen, designing this garden room, it's adjacent to her parking court, and acquiring most of the contents FREE.  She did the work herself.
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 Since starting to post about Mary's garden, a few days ago, her age has gone up daily.  I said she was 60's.  Nope, she sent a note, she's 71.  Well, a day after that she sent an email saying she was embarrassed at her math skills, she's happily 73.
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Are you getting my point?
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Garden & Be Well,                  XO Tara

When A Window Becomes A Door

The engraved invitation to Tea arrived last winter.  Didn't know her but you know I wasn't going to miss fresh tea & homemade cookies & sandwiches.  What's not to love about a crowd of ladies?

 I sat in her kitchen, above, and said the baywindow should become a French door and the deck should be extended to include it.  Of course I proceeded to point out why her existing backdoor did not work functionally or aesthetically.

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You would have thought White Lightening was in my tea.  Horrified in hindsight, at my conversation, at the time it was normal Tara Talk.
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Did I mention the bit about property value?  Flow?  Feng shui?  Removing her valences?  It would really open up the view.  You are wasting your lake view.
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Upon leaving I said her frontdoor needed replacing; why & what should replace it and the color needed changing.
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Cannot believe I'm telling you all of this.  Indeed it's a true story.
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The new frontdoor has arrived, it's on its side in her garage.  Awaiting installation.  And we're changing the direction the door opens into the foyer along with the color.
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She loves to cook & always sends me home with homemade delights.
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Garden & Be Well,                XO Tara
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Same garden as yesterday's post.  Can't wait to show you the perennial garden she created.  But, of course, the new deck must have steps leading from its side into her fabulous perennial garden room.

Faux Bois Bench: Well Sited

A lovely incident along the gravel path, below.
(Notice stone edged gravel, decrepit terra cotta, leaf litter mulch? Melts my heart.)
Same bench, same path, from opposite direction.

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Thus, a good garden. It could be 2 different paths, 2 different benches or 2 different gardens.

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How to create Double Axis. A class by itself.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last week in Susanne Hudson's garden.

How To Hide A Fence

Asked to hide a fence at the back of their garden in a tiny, dingy corner,

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the MUSE said, "Put in an 'L' shaped Conservatory, gravel terrace, chandelier from the oak tree, a dining table underneath & build it from rescued parts."
It wasn't an option, below, to see the ugly fence from all these windows.
Recently completed, below, on a garden tour for Hay House, in Macon, GA. (These are smart people, create a BIG deadline!)
Artist in residence for the garden tour R. Scott Coleman, here, watercolors.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Since I designed this garden missives have been sent showing the progress. Many building parts are ca. 1870. Did you see the fence? Love my MUSE. Puppet Barbuda cringes thinking how Mr. Testosterone-On-Wheels-Mow-Blow-Go would have designed this dark little corner.

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Pics from The Daily Landscape.

How To Place Beautiful Things

My beautiful pot on plinth, below, placed on axis with the middle window pane of my bay window at the drawing room. Thus sited, it's part of my drawing room. Not separate.How to place, below, a beautiful summer house?
On axis with a main pair of windows from the home, of course !

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Oops. No pic of the view seen while in the summerhouse above. Ha, must get back to the Cotswolds for it.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Top pic in my sweet garden, in the Bay Terrace, aka front yard. I took the bottom pic in the Cotswolds at Sir Hardy Amies garden.