Simple Complexities

More than pretty, easy to maintain.

This is great pollinator habitat.  High density mixed with low density.
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Focal point on axis with the front door is also on view from every front window of the home.
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The more axis a focal point has the better the design.
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 Sir Roy Strong says gardens must have a sky mirror.
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Of course there is more detail, it's almost a Landscape Design course in a single pic.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic I Love Your Style.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.
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Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Double Axis: Consider Both Directions

Outside, at the tiered fountain looking into the window, I wonder if the wreath is double sided.

Double Axis, if a view is pretty in 1 direction it must be pretty in the opposite direction.

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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

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Pic Habitually Chic.

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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.
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Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

How to Design a Grill so it's not an Eyesore

Movable grills are awkward, not aesthetic, & do not 'fade away' into the backdrop.  Mostly, movable grills are an eyesore.  

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If a movable grill is on your buy-list study the exterior design, above.

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This is an expertly executed exterior design.  

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Obviously a styled photo I can still smell what's cooking.  And we 'know' there was no cooking going-on for the shoot !

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Why does this movable grill look good?  Props: comfort chairs-pillows-table-umbrella-mood, a color trinity was chosen/green-gray-stainless, simplicity, focal point (if you have an eyesore place a focal point nearby), contrast of many square shapes vs. round armillary sundial, formal landscape choices contrasted with informal plantings, repetition of flooring from dining area to garden area, an easy to maintain garden lets you focus on LIVING in the garden.  Simply.

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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara

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Pic via 5th and State.  No excuses about the house, above.  If it's beautiful at a historic estate, it will be beautiful in your landscape.

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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group local or out-of-state.
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Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Garden Design: Bedroom Axis

Try this for your interior tabletop design.  The largest piece...outside.

If there is another window in the room, I swoon.
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You do know about rooms with windows on 2 walls?  We are hardwired for them in our DNA.  Christopher Alexander,    A Pattern Language, describes the architecture our souls desire & thrive best with.  
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Ginger Barber, above, decorating.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic Ginger Barber found at Cote de Texas.

Where to Site a Garden Focal Point

In the garden, your house is the main focal point.

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For centuries, this, below, has worked.

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If something has worked for centuries, there is a reason.

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And, it will work for you.

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Urn on plinth.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Never had a college instructor or seminar speaker say, In the garden your home is the focal point.

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Why?

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What did those 'experts' miss?  Paint colors on the home, lighting, hardware, views into windows, style choices, where to correctly site exterior focal points.  For starters.

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Most common question I receive, Where should I put this plant?

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If only that were the question.

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Garden design is about where to put a plant?

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Hardly.

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Pic via Jennings & Gates: Notes from a Virginia Country House.  

Pot + Plinth: Making the New Timeless

From the 1st appointment earlier this year I KNEW a focal point should be on axis with the front door.

Earlier this week, above/below.

A few minutes old, above, this urn looks as if she's been reigning at least a century.
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She's designed empty, with a floral designer brought in for catered events.  Remember, a pot must be so fabulous it can stay empty.
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Found the pot/plinth resourcing materials at the Americas Mart with client.  A great 1/2 day.  Would have taken a decade, at least, to hunt/gather what we found !
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pics taken earlier this week at jobsite.  Shovels, 5 men, a level, were involved getting this beauty 'right' !

Port Cachere: Before + After

I was hired to 'refresh' the landscape.

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Leaving the port cachere as-is was not an option.  This is their main family door.  

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We went shopping at the Americas Mart in downtown Atlanta last month sourcing merchandise.  Not everything had arrived by this week but enough to get started, below.

This table is temporary, above-below, a very nice temporary.  Soon, once a vintage large French buffet is sourced I'll get you more pics.

I made do with the few pots/flowers she had last Monday, above/below.

Small moments of beauty, above.
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As she gets into her car to leave, and then returns, her port cachere is embracing arms for going into the world & returning from the world.  A matriarch in every layer of her life, she has a lot going on and appreciates all Providence provides.  It's in the small moment thanks are deeply felt.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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pics taken at jobsite last Monday.

How to Site a Focal Point

Chunky hunka aged concrete, below, is a railroad abutment ca. 1900, found in the garden.

Perfect for a plinth it was easy to place.  It's on perfect axis with the dominate gable of the house, below.

When something requires a Caterpillar to move, perfection is required.
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Driving the Caterpillar he says, Are you really sure?  These moments are amusing.  Of course I'm sure.  His eyes say, Glad I'm not you.  This is my job.  KNOWING where things go.
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Ironically, the urn is temporary.  We are still sourcing the right statue.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic last weekend at the jobsite.

Designing Redolence

Not only historic, I want my garden designs to be redolent of having read, and adored, E.M.Forster.  Jane Austen, Wendell Berry, my grandmother, you get the message.

A garden must be more than 'there', it must take me somewhere.
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For decades I've known, I travel farthest in my garden.
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The owner of this garden, above, discovered me in my gown getting pics at 6am.  I knew it was she who created the magic.  As I walked barefoot in the dewy grass we meandered while she told me her garden's story.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic Piper's Cove, Jamaica.  The resort was built in the early 90's and she could only afford tiny plants.  I know exactly how she feels about each one.

Historic World Pivot Point: Rarely Captured in a Garden

Remnants of historic gardens, from garden design studies across the globe for decades, create a trinity: woodland, low meadow, stone focal point.

You are looking at, above, when-the-music-stopped.
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A concrete terrace built during the 20's for evening dances, think Gatsby, was topped with a stone fountain during the 30's.
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It is rare to see, in concrete, when the world shifted.
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Garden & Be Well,       XO Tara
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Pic Shaw Gardens, Jamaica.  Had quite a 'moment' when I saw this, of course my friends were happily obliviously walking past fast, before I told yet another garden 'thang'.  Poor dears, they had to tolerate my 1 track mind.
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Know what else you are seeing above?  Maximum pollinator habitat: high density with low density + water.

How to Choose & Site Pots in the Landscape

300 acres, 3 'mostly' matching pots totaling 3 centuries of age and no pots placed on the property, yet.  

(Does the pot, below, tell you, "Touch me."?  If it does it means you are an old soul & kindred spirit.)

Pots must be so wonderful they can remain empty, if desired.  Here, they needed to match the history of the home & be within a certain size range.

Perfect, above, they do not draw attention to themselves.  And still allow seating on the low stone-capped columns.

2 men/pot setting them in place.  My general contractor said, as the pot, above, went up, "...That's a ballsy spot."  As if he earned a response.

3 years getting to this layer, placing pots.  Best part?  Looks like they've always been there.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken at jobsite last month.  Found the pots, plus several more, at Scott Antique Market a couple of months ago.
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Did you pick up on the major component of getting the right pot in the right spot in your landscape?  Something few are good at, patience.
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Knowing to choose pots that can remain empty is such an important 'discovery'  I claim it as one of my inventions.  If you think through the carbon footprint of 'annuals & potting soil & fertilizer' for container plantings along with your time & money you'll understand beautiful empty pots.
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Of course planting sublime pots is a layer of fun in the right season of a busy life.

Garden Jewelry: Windows

This kitchen was a 1980's time capsule at my first visit earlier this year.

With kitchen & house renovations complete I was back at the jobsite this month to fine tune garden plans.

The kitchen window is new too.

From the garden, below, the window is pure jewelry.

The bricks were saw cut to enlarge the opening, barely visible, and soon the bricks will be lime washed.
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Exciting times, I've never worked with a window so stunning.  Sure, we'll have cobblestone edging & a stone terrace but the window will still be the focal point.
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Have known for years exterior lighting is jewelry for the garden, now windows are added to the list of jewels.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pics taken at jobsite this month.

What Can You Do With a Blank Wall?

Along the side of her home she wanted to know about plant spacing.  Move them closer, prune larger, replace?  Perhaps none of those I said.  It's easy spacing for routine maintenance,  pressure washing or painting.

We decided leave-well-enough-alone!

Next.  What to do about the blank wall?  Espalier a shrub, plant a small tree?

Yes, the wall needs something but let's keep it simpler.

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Her home is historic Williamsburg, we are sourcing a reproduction wall mounted sundial now.  Of course it can't be too small.  Scale matters here.

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Fun, the hunt is on.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken at jobsite this month.

Before + After: Path & Hedges

Hedges + paths are designed, and installed, before the borders.  Hedges + paths are the backbone-skeleton-workhorses of the garden.

Hedges + paths, above, 2 years ago.

Yesterday, above/below, with borders filled-in.

Follow this garden design rule and you'll save labor-money-time.

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TIME, more important than labor-money.  No person can manufacture more time.

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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara

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Bottom 2 pics taken at jobsite yesterday, top pic taken 2 years ago.

Subsidiary Focal Point

Tucked in 'as if' it were being worked.

Subsidiary focal point.

Yes, this client is waltzing with her garden now.  Leading too.
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She surprised me with this little cart.  And was correct, never seen one before.  Years of fun ahead with this cutie.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pics taken this month in client garden.  We've worked almost 3 years to get to this point.  Pure play.  Of course plantings still arriving in layers too.

Quaint Trick to Nestle Your Focal Points

Why do most focal points look like projectiles from Mars that burned thru the atmosphere and landed  in someones yard?

Studying the best focal points in historic gardens across Europe for 20+ decades I noticed a quaint trick to nestle focal points into a garden.  I call it the rule of, just-let-it-touch.
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Had to smile when I discovered Martha Stewart doing it, above.
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Her pruner knows EXACTLY how to just-let-it-touch.
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Martha's blog has numerous slides with most posts that load quickly.  If you loved a good slide show, back in the day, her presentations are the closest I've seen.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic via Martha Stewart.   Heads-up to the 'bench' focal point.  Is it not level and facing traffic?  Obviously a pet p-e-a-v-e.

French Planter: Color

I put these planters across the front of a home last Saturday, though a bit larger.  

However, zero temerity for foundation plantings, plenty of gracious #89 granite gravel.

Not this big, above, but did put in this size for a home needing to hide garbage cans.
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Taxus x media 'Hicksii', pruned similar to Great Dixter's, is the plant choice.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Top pic Old Long Island, bottom pic, Things That Inspire.  .
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Color.  Client house is gray, white trim, black shutters, apple green door.  Planters can be any of those but white.  A nice amount of space but not quite enough to handle the boldness of white.  Apple green is my choice but the gray or black are acceptable too.

Outdoor Kitchen

A friend gave Susanne Hudson this Hoosier cabinet a couple of years ago.

Until recently it sat gaining more rust behind her carriage house.
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She realized it fit perfectly with her color theme: green, brown, white.  Into the garden it arrived.
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Garden & Be Well, XO   Tara
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Perhap this should be done in aluminum for gardens.....  Metal Outdoor Hoosier Cabinet with gas grill, the sales slip should read.  Perfect for those not wanting the huge stone aka "I've tumbled from Mars out of the last surviving Apollo Soyuz rocket payload" outdoor kitchen.
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I was hired as the 2nd garden designer for a project because things weren't 'quite right'.  Their outdoor kitchen had been placed on perfect axis with the family room.  What a view,  stove-fridge-counter-cabinets.  Not!  It was moved to the side, which was much more convenient, and the garden became the focal point.
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Remember well when the Russians arrived for Apollo Soyuz, they clogged up the grocery store lines when  they did not want to pay USA taxes on their purchases.  Trinkety things, lots of lipstick etc....  Of course they used USA roads, police protection, & more provided with USA tax dollars.  Even as a young teen I knew something was 'wrong'.  Their clothes could have been in a period drama from the poverty 1930's.  They moved as a pod, or school of fish,  fearful of their surroundings.  Their skin was pasty white, their hair was flat, and all eyes were huge, darting quickly, never settling, no smiles.    Many of the engineers at NASA were against this mission.  Why hand over engineering know-how?  This is obviously a Cold War memory.  The worst part was their own security detail.  Wanting to prevent defections during their stay.    

Old Tool Bouquet a la Toile

Start collecting now.

You've seen dozens of old tool bouquets on toiles across the span of your life.

Old tools in my garage are ladies-in-waiting.

Think this bit of garden is serendipitous?  Unplanned?  Needs weeding?  A trinity of wrong.  This garden room is rustic balance with its formal companions nearby.
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Garden Design is all about contrasts.  And finding a way to hang lovely old tools.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pics shot in Susanne Hudson's garden last month.  Seems old tools, old terra cotta & old tin are a new trinity.

Contorted & Twisted

Take advantage of contorted & twisted.  Honor them.

No lawn, no mulch, above.
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Yet elegance reigns.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic Susanne Hudson's garden this month.  Had the good fortune to spend the nite when the crabapple was blooming.  In the morning we had coffee in the library with the crabapple blossoms filling the horizon, backlit by the morning sun.  An unexpected 'life' moment.