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?'

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.

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?

Door Statement

Over a decade ago I designed a garden for a town home in Ansley Park.

Doors, almost exactly as above, led into a tiny bricked back garden.
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All of the town homes had the same back doors into their garden.
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Most owners removed their gorgeous doors to renovate & 'update'.
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My client had her fabulous doors.  Yes, we commiserated over the loss of the other doors.  How the 'updated' doors ruined the entire look of the small, but choice, town home community.  How we really didn't like 'those' people.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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A delight to be be reminded of the Ansley Park doors with this image via pinterest.

Moody Water

Near their kitchen door, in a courtyard, on axis with window views, below.

 Subtle, quiet, good.  I delight in the green slime & hear nature's song in these drops.

 I knew the pump was adjusted, 'just so'.  Laughing with knowing eyes, they said it was.

 Often the biggest gestures are simple.

 Their moody water taking the courtyard for its own.  Redolent of the lion

in Cinema Paradiso.
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Garden & Be Well,              XO Tara
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Water in a garden can be this diminutive yet take your heart in metaphor.  Don't overlook simplicity.  Top pics I took in a client garden.  Bottom 2 pics I copied from the movie, Cinema Paradiso.
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Garden Designers Round Table is all about water today.
Read More !!!

Water!

July 26, 2011 by Jocelyn H. Chilvers

Water; water everywhere…or not enough at all!  Water is the lifeblood of every living thing, and yet it can be destructive in its extremes.  It’s a resource that is ephemeral and unpredictable – be it by natures’ vagaries or politicians’ whims.  The partnering of thoughtful water management with appropriate plant selection is crucial to any garden design. Today the Garden Designers Roundtable presents the topic of water.

We are delighted to introduce Debra Lee Baldwin as our guest blogger this month.  Award-winning garden photojournalist Debra Lee Baldwin lives in the drought-parched Southwest, near San Diego. “Water?” she asks. “Ha! I wish.” Debra authored the Timber Press bestsellers Designing with Succulentsand Succulent Container Gardens.   As a renowned authority on these elegant, easy-care and waterwise plants, Debra shares her expertise in print and online, via radio and TV, and at horticultural venues nationwide. She is one of several acclaimed authors and photographers who share the blog www.gardeninggonewild.com. More info: www.debraleebaldwin.com.

Now, please follow the links below, joining our special guest and members of the Roundtable, as we write about water.

Debra Lee Baldwin : Gardening Gone Wild : Escondido, CA

Tara Dillard : Vanishing Threshold : Atlanta, GA

Rochelle Greayer : Studio G : Boston, MA

Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK

Jenny Peterson : J Peterson Garden Design : Austin TX

Douglas Owens-Pike : Energyscapes : Minneapolis, MN

Christina Salwitz : Personal Garden Coach : Renton, WA

Hydrangeas On Speed

At my back door, below, this week.

 Potted hydrangea & a potted variegated boxwood.  Last year this hydrangea was a cutting in a 4" pot.

 Susanne Hudson has phenomenal growth planting 4" potted hydrangeas in large terra cotta pots.  Phenomenal.  Of course I copied her.  It worked.

Aaron Copland anticipated my arrival, writing Appalachian Spring for my garden & for me.  I hear it in my garden & looking at the pics.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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Pics from my garden during days of great drought, heat, humidity & zero maintenance or watering.  This is why I've taken you around my garden the past few days. You must know how easy it is to have a garden.    

Underestimate A Frontdoor?

A front door is the focal point in the front yard.  The house & views into windows also.  Before ANYONE comes thru your front door their opinion is influenced.  

Door, hardware, windows are original to this early 20th century home.
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Paint colors, height of knocker, paneling of door, which side the door opens, wooden grid of sidelights & transom, type of hardware metal, scale of door & windows.  A lot of creativity, work, aesthetics, historical consideration & more is understood in the 'conversation' creating this door.
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Is your front door a focal point?
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Is your front door so fabulous future owners, in another century, will decide to keep all of your choices?
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic from the same house, with the metal flowers, as previous post.

Faces Vs. Words

I don't like 'words' in a garden. Too 'fixed'. Limiting. Why look at a stupid doormat that says 'welcome'? Your home, frontdoor, colors, plantings, focal points, lights, knocker, views into windows & etc. each say 'welcome'.At my backdoor, above, a Christine Sibley piece. Bought from her 2nd's table, the only way I could afford her things.

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I've never tired of her face; through the years she's spoken volumes.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Christine Sibley, artist-gardener-business woman. She left this world too soon.

Chinoiserie & Design

Wisteria 'Amethyst Falls' at my front door today. A tiny area, yet interesting, and welcoming. (Without moving my feet these pics are a scan from left to right.) Peeking beyond the Wisteria, below, urn/plinth on axis with my bay window.
Filtered thru Wisteria foliage, above, the gravel terrace with large flagstones leading to the frontdoor.
The little Pot Cluster, above, and adirondack chair.
Classic Landscape Design, above, and pollinator habitat. (High & low density, canopy/understory, walls, floor, contrasting foliage textures/colors.)
Landscape Design's Pulitzer Prize, above. Beauty, privacy, low maintenance, organic, all season interest, pollinator habitat, fragrance, fantasy within reality, a place to sit, a spot viewed on axis from within the house.

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Take the camera view a bit to the right you'll see neighbor's homes, their cars, their landscaping, the street. Honestly, who wants to live that way? Seeing neighbor's stuff? It's not my realm. The pics above ARE my realm.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Puppet Barbuda apologizes for bluntness in her captions today. Puppet Barbuda is zealous in details of landscape design/pollinator habitat. Puppet Barbuda disdains the ridiculosity of pretty garden pictures focusing on 'a plant', 'how to dig a hole', 'plant them 2.5432" apart'. Information providing you nothing about putting a beautiful garden together. When Puppet Barbuda reads interior design books/blogs/magazines they don't tell her how to produce the fabric on the couch, how to dye it, cut it, sew it, staple it & etc.....they appreciate she has a BRAIN.

Don't Let This Be You

Too small, not centered, typically rotting; at least this doormat, below, isn't rotting.BAD doormats set me off. Disrespect.

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Is your foyer beautiful? Is the doormat outside disgusting?

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A stupid or ugly doormat makes the 1st impression, not a gorgeous foyer.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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You have no idea how many times I arrive at a 1st time client & they open their front door to see me holding their disgusting doormat between 2 fingers like rotting fish.

No Date In The Garden

My garden pics tell me the season. They date themselves.
At this angle, below, it doesn't matter the flowers are in plastic pots. They aren't visible.
At terrace level, below, there was a pond. I moved it.
Dwarf mondo will be planted between the stones, matching the rest of the terrace.
Duck Foot ivy will be planted on the riser to the greenhouse, hiding the timber & adding lushness. (Lushosity?)

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Soon, French doors will be painted BM-HC- 77. Didn't realize I was building a space for the pot cluster with the Conservatory. Adore happy surprises.

How To Add Depth In A Narrow Space

The long brick walk was already installed before I designed this project. My design added to its length, literally & metaphorically.Instead of bringing the brick 'straight' to the curb I flared it slightly.
A common technique for painting on canvas; transition from wider to narrower for creating the illusion of greater depth.
Can you believe the timing of the shadow? Ugh!

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken at a recent project.

Choosing Exterior Color

Your front door does not have to be black. Nor does it need to be the color of your shutters. Choose a color threading thru your interior art/wallpaper/couch. I cannot design a landscape without seeing interiors.
Look at color choices in sun & shade, morning, evening, rainy days.
Beware of colors that are too alive. They steal attention. White is the worst offender. No worries, there are plenty of calm whites.
A color looking (for example) grey/green in shade, and at the same time looking green/blue in sun is fabulous.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Colour Me Happy is a dedicated COLOR EXPERT. I love everything written & photographed at Colour Me Happy. I like using Benjamin Moore Historic Colors. There is a reason they are historic !

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Pics taken at a client's last week.

Turning Windows Into Doors

Doors, below, were originally windows.Standing at the French doors, above, I shot across the covered patio, below.

The coffee table, below, still filled with the debris of our gardening conversations which meandered to the dinner table & thru a dinner of fresh crabcakes & ....
Window, below, had been the back door.
New back door (seen in the top pic) flows onto patio to the left of the downstairs window, above.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Yes, that's our fabulous breakfast, top pic, after the fabulous dinner. Pics from the same garden as yesterday's post. Please know, Poppets, none of these pics are STYLED. I don't believe in styled pics. I believe in life beautifully lived and design accordingly. SIMPLY. CLASSICALLY.

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If you've got to WORK AT IT to get these types of pics. You're doing something wrong.

Dogs in the Landscape

Scale, age, patina, quality, & placement; these dogs have IT.Just Let It Touch, above. The Tara Rule, foliage & focal points just touching, a winning combination.
Quiet elegance.
Lamp, shutters, leaded glass, stucco color, plantings, & dog, above, great simplicity. Simplicity so great Puppet Barbuda imagines a Jane Austen novel written/lived here.
Seeing, above, Puppet Barbuda KNOWs it wasn't done by a landscape company (you know, Poppets, mow-blow-go-testosterone-on-wheels). It reeks of Hand-Heart-Eye. AKA: charm, passion, spirit, desire, intent, choices, joy, love, intellect.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken in Macon, GA at a jobsite over the weekend. YES, more coming!

Chinoiserie

Screen door, below, had a horrendous 'colonial' motif. Hired a carpenter to put in the Chinoiserie.Plant foxglove, above, they ALWAYS make you look like you know how to garden !
My front door, above, is Chinoiserie too. The painted pattern copied from artwork in a calendar I had moons ago.

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OVERDOSE YOUR THEME. French, Italian, Chinoiserie & etc. doesn't matter Poppets, overdose it.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics from my garden. Love the blog, Chinoiserie Chic.

On The Porch

Everything on her porch told me I adored her, & we hadn't met yet.

Intuitively knowing she did the decorating for interior/exterior.

By the time a woman uses Kimberly Queen ferns, she KNOWS what she's about.

Vanishing Theshold, combining home/garden were a given, before I went into her home. I KNEW it.

Sherman, blessedly, didn't burn this antebellum home. Poppets, as Anne Shirley said in Anne of Green Gables, 'There is so much scope for the imagination..."

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken in Athens, GA, last month, same afternoon as the previous 2 gardens posted. I was in Girl Crush the moment we stopped at the curb. Had to know the woman creating the magic....