Flags, sited at/near frontdoor diminish both.
Flags reeking of cute? Must I go there? A flag with the word 'Welcome'. Oh dear. Your home & garden say 'WELCOME'. Remember, CUTE KILLS.
Good size, weight & depth for this metal house, above/below.
Chinoiserie, below, what will it look like painted your color?
I don't have, below, this shape of cloche. Tempting, but it has plastic panes.
Prices comparable to a nursery. BUT, everything shown is 50% to 66% off. Oddly, most nurseries I go into don't have this merchandise.
Found my quarry, below, a small cloche.
In Italy I saw large urns filled with bronze plants used atop buildings as finials. Wish these metal flowers, below, came in more sizes. 
Smallest tray, below, $5.
3 size terra cotta pots, cheapest I've seen anywhere recently.
Classic pieces. Each will be unique in your garden.
Oakleaf hydrangea bloom late spring, mophead hydrangea bloom early summer & summer, 'Anna Belle' hydrangea bloom summer, 'Tardiva' & 'Pee Gee' hydrangea bloom late summer to frost. Above, lacecap hydrangea.
Southern Indica Azaleas, 'George Tabor', above, bloom in spring. They stand up to drought, bugs, cold. Use Exbury azaleas too, they bloom before 'George Tabor'.
Camellia sasanqua, above, bloom in fall. Camellia japonica bloom in winter.
Landscapes designed with evergreen hedges & entries, cultivate the eye, songbirds, & increase property value. Chinese snowball, above.
Pathways should flow around your entire property, no dead ends. 'Tardiva' hydrangea blooming, above.
Use wit & whimsy in your landscape, above. Beware, CUTE, it's treacherous.
Start your landscape design from inside your home, Vanishing Threshold. Patio, above, viewed from my kitchen sink.
Design your landscape for February. It will be gorgeous all year. View, above, from my living room.
Site deciduous understory trees, crape myrtle, above, to shade your home from summer sun. Window, above, views stone terrace, below. Summer's blanket of rudbeckia gives way to smooth Tennessee gray flagstone the rest of the year.
If you're new to gardening in the South you'll adore, A Southern Garden by Elizabeth Lawrence, and, Hudson's Southern Gardening by Charles Hudson. Use your local Extension Service for specific advice to your county/state. The Garden In Winter, by Rosemary Verey is an incredible garden design book. My 5 books ( 3 on garden design, 2 on plants) are at the right, scroll down.
SLEIGH PORT !!!!!
The oddest rat scurried at my feet. I screamed. Thoughts in chaos. Why? The small black rat was in reality the BROKEN HEAD OF ST. FRANCIS, about 3" & black, rolling quickly by. 
Why?
They have such a Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Donkey picaresque quality.
She pruned the climbing rose, below, in my room. It had grown inside the room to the canopy bed. Why? I would have loved the rose as bunting.
Sunlight on the original plaster ceiling yesterday morning, thru my iron canopy & chandelier.
How did she have time to put roses by my bed? Again the original plaster walls. Delight.
Susanne's chandelier, below, was a bit larger than mine. Hmm.
A girl has to bathe during a work trip doesn't she?
Can you believe the garden view from her landing? 
I felt the freedom of floating in water. With beauty at my toes. Hydrangea 'Penny Mac' from Penny herself. These were Penny's Presbyterian hydrangeas. Given when she downsized her garden. Wickedly, she embarrassed my friend, BIG BILL, who helped dig/transplant that winter day. Penny, aged 76, leaned into BIG BILL's arm and said, I bet you've got lots of women. Quickly redder than a radish, BIG BILL, a wise man, kept digging. But with a smile. 
I'm a woman with a gorgeous dirty cloche, I like that literally & metaphorically. Gray Gardens is quite appealing. The monkeys are dressed for Penny's blossoms. I dallied on the swing twice last year, once the year before. Ridiculous. Will try to do it once a week.
The Lutyen's bench here too. Needing stain, to match the other teak. Can't simply bask must eyeball something to do. 
