Formalities & Rusticities

A woodland entry was added to their property, alleviating traffic issues at the family entry.  Formal aspects abound elsewhere.  Keeping RUSTICITIES balances the whole.  Don't know about Formalities & Rusticities?  Read your Jane Austen again, she certainly understood.  Her sanctimonious characters were certainly of the formalities-only-school.

 I used cedars, enlarging a natural drift.  Stone from the site & fallen tree debris, above.

 What you won't see along the lovely Woodland Entry, below,

is what I've hidden.  Modern necessities: satellite, power box & etc. 
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Since we've created this entry & completed the Landscape Design, amplifying Rusticities, she told me it's now her favorite way to enter her property.  A new way of seeing her home.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara
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pics taken last month.  This is a large area and I adore using the potency of Rusticities in a manner learned from my mentor Mary Kistner, who said, "It's what we do with what we have."  And thankful for a client trusting me with a few rocks, tree debris & her own wild cedar trees.  Rumpelstiltskin was conjuring the wrong form of gold.  This is the gold.

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.

Creating, & Living, In Still Life

Decades old, below, the Camellia japonica doesn't require care.  Though it does take your energy.

 The energy of appreciating beauty, picking flowers, knowing whether it's native/non-native honey bees at the stamens, giving blossoms away, floating blossoms in water & etc.

People, and plants, are energy in or energy out.
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I choose people to keep in my life who are energy in.  Plants too.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Last week with a client, above.  She chose her trug well knowing it would create a Still Life and be functional.    Notice the leaf litter mulch and a few weeds?  Jane Austen wrote of this type garden, it has RUSTICITIES.  Ironic to write of Landscape Design as Still Life.  They change by the split second.

How To Get It Free

Thrift store yesterday, Donald Pliner shoes, 99 cents.

 Saving, $299.00, minimum, they've bought me

several tons of gravel, stone & a few boxwood.
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Girl math.
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But it really works.  All my dear lady clients get it.  ALL.
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Husbands groan.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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No, this isn't sexist.  I know exactly how boy math works.  Pics from Ann Mashburn's home via Atlanta Homes magazine.

Historically Siting Bulbs

Hillary Clinton had 'intellectual exercise' conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt.  Remember those headlines? 

 Oddly, I got it.  Even then.

Last month I sited thousands of bulbs after "consulting the genius of the place."  I've spoken with landscapes for decades.  
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This garden, above pics, has a historic home with little but its pecan orchard intact.
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Next year anyone seeing the drifts of daffodils will think they've been there a century.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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Many of you have this skill, "consulting the genius of the place", but don't trust it.  It's why I listen so hard to landscape questions.  The answers are already in the question. 
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Yes, Alexander Pope...Consult the genius of the place......

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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Simple With No Styling

Fabulous garden views from every window is Vanishing Threshold, and cat entertainment.

 Yesterday, above/below, at my desk.  Vintage chinoiserie curtains ca. 1970 were hung this summer after decades of being in a box.

These windows are upstairs overlooking the Tea Olive Terrace.  Birds, sky, garden, do you think I see the neighborhood surrounding my home/garden?
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This has taken years, creating garden views from every window.  Creating views into my windows from the garden.  Wanting it all to be simple with no styling.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Laskett, is at left and Laura at right.  I removed the curtains from a house to be torn down.  Free is good.  The lamp was a fun day at the thrift store.

A Gate In Croatia

She is Spomenka.  We call each other 'Sister'.  From Croatia, she has family there.

Sister sent me this last week, from Croatia.
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Sister knows EXACTLY what will pull heartstrings.  What is unique yet timeless.  Simplicity.
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And when we're together again, Sister's porch or my conservatory, she'll describe how this garden smelled, sounded, types of insects, birds, wildflowers,  temperature, humidity, a house nearby & more.  Sister will also tell me I was there with her.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara

Without People & Without Styling

Weaned on cover shots of Smith & Hawken sales catalogues ca. 1980's, and Horticulture magazines of the same era I've never wanted people in my garden shots. Couldn't afford it. (I shouldn't neglect the garden pics in House & Garden magazines of that era too.)My (film) slides, a roll of 36, each had to be beautiful & educational & of use till the end of my days.

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Interesting, I KNEW this in my 20's.

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Without awareness, at the time, I only shot gardens WITHOUT STYLING. Who wants a garden needing a stylist to look good?

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A picture, above, (not needing a stylist) I made in Italy, originally a slide, then a print, now a digital pic of the print made from the slide.

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Seek a garden without styling. It will be a garden of truth.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Landscape Design Zero Plants: Before & After

Landscapes take 3 + years to look good, on average. Most gardens get stuck in the '+'.

Unfinished, this garden is ready for showtime. Those pallets of stone, above, MAKE the garden, below. Ha, no plants, yet a garden is born. Why?

Landscape Design 'listens' to the site.
The biggest focal point in a garden? Your home. Vanishing Threshold.

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Consider: paint colors, light fixtures, shutters, doors, views into windows, turning windows into doors, getting rid of disgusting foundation plantings, pathways to move the eye + foot thru your garden, land stewardship, how to be in the garden for pleasure (tea-wine-canapes-luncheon-reading ipad-etc.), historical concepts of landscape design, thriftiness, no watering once established, no chemicals ever, no fertilizing once organically stabilized, groundcovers instead of mulch, succession planting, something coming into bloom throughout the year, canopy trees, understory trees, evergreen walls, & more.

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Consider all of the above & you won't wait 3 years, or 3 seconds, for a beautiful garden.

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Proof is in the pics above.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Look at the new frontdoor again. See what I did? Took out the transom, replaced with a taller door. Getting rid of that subdivisiony horrendous aspect, ca. 1970's, of windows/door at same height. Guess how we chose the color for the frontdoor? (Another post.)

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Eco Gardening is a SMALL concept. Vanishing Threshold is how I create a garden.

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(Puppet Barbuda has zero attitude, she's all PUPPET'ude !)

Nassim Taleb: 3 Views

From, The Bed of Procrustes, a new book by Nassim Taleb."Education makes the wise slightly wiser, but it makes the fool vastly more dangerous."
"You are only secure if you can lose your fortune without the additional insult of having to become humble."
"You are rich if and only if money you refuse tastes better than money you accept."

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Wesley Yang wrote about Taleb, "He made what he has called his "fuck you" money when his bets against the market made him millions on Black Monday in 1987." "...the content of his next book, Anti-Fragility, ...will be about how we can create systems that mimic the resiliency of nature."

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Taleb also wrote, The Black Swan, and, Fooled by Randomness. Both bestsellers. Both about Wall Street.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken this week, of my month old Conservatory, from my bedroom window. Poppets, you should see my VINTAGE 25 year old linoleum kitchen floor, with battle scars.

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Conservatories are for the soul, kitchen floors a necessity. Younger, I would have done the 'right' thing, the floor. This age is exquisite, bringing me the Conservatory.

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No doubt, fate will bring a new kitchen floor, including, of course, new countertops, backsplash, sink, faucet, stove, refrigerator. Last year in the kitchen was: ceiling reconfiguring, painting, 4 new chandeliers & cabinets. In the interim, I don't look down.

Last Night in the Conservatory

Power, below, arrived yesterday in my conservatory. Lights inside my home, above, seen thru the French doors
Honoring, above, talented hands/minds/hearts building the conservatory. My guys (3 lead men with several more on the team) leverage every idea I have. Humbling & exciting.
Last nite, above, 1st nite with a fire in the stove. Yes, I was given a little lesson in how to use it.
Conservatory is a bit 'CABINESQUE' inside. Tongue/groove walls rescued from a Lake Burton 1908 cottage. Unfinished, above, soon tongue/groove will go to the rafters & to the gravel.
Last night, after taking these pics, I brought a basket to the conservatory with wine, cheese, apples, summer sausage. Fire in the stove kept me toasty. Spent a happy hour calling girlfriends. Susanne Hudson, of course, was 1st she inspired the conservatory.

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Already, joy & laughter in the conservatory. And it's not finished. Exciting to anticipate: lamps, tables, chests & etc.... field gathered & awaiting their new life in the conservatory.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Had thought I would paint the interior of the conservatory. NOT. The sweetly aged tongue/groove is too fabulous. Will paint the windows. Yes, the chairs above look rather dreadful but were closest to the conservatory & I did need to sit. Cannot wait to hang the huge chinoiserie mirror I snagged at my local thrift store for $10. In theory, it will have a table under it made from the ancient iron radiator I rescued.

Squire Mushroom vs Wine Bottle Girl

"James Gillray's etching 'Delicious Weather', 1808, mocks the middle-class villa owner, satirized elsewhere as the newly rich 'Squire Mushroom', for his attempts to make an elegant landscape in a 2-acre garden." J Fearnley-Whittingstall
Who caters to the man, above? TESTOSTERONE ON WHEELS MOW-BLOW-GO & COMMODIFY EVERYTHING I TOUCH IN YOUR LANDSCAPE PHILOSOPHY.

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Poppets, PUPPET BARBUDA, has been buying clothes, before reading/seeing the above, she declared her style: French, early 19th century, white wig, leggings, & dare I say, a bit of modest cleavage.
From the Dining Room, above. Seen only when standing near, not while seated. Solution? A floral arrangement of wine bottles & accouterments, softly lit from below. A cornucopia to Wine Bottle Girl's theme.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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How could I resist mixing these topics? The difference between 'Squire Mushroom' & 'Wine Bottle Girl' ? Wine Bottle Girl lives Cole Porter's, "It must be FUN". Poppets, she has zero time-energy-will to impress. PUPPET BARBUDA finds Squire Mushroom & his minions tiresome, to the point of harmful, to her beloved industry.

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Top pic & quote taken from, THE GARDEN An English Love Affair One Thousand Years of Gardening, by Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Garden Room: 101

Before construction, Susanne Hudson & I knew our Garden Room was fabulous. Understatement yes? We designed architecture & landscape, decorated & styled with only items junked, rescued, borrowed. (Well, we did buy tin roofing, gravel & a few pots.)

Tiny, potent. Peek thru, below, see our potting table?

Alone, or with girlfriends, this Garden Room is a life changer. Virginia Woolf territory.

Delightfully different views into each side.

Leftover pavers from edging the gravel. Voila, a table. And a meadow, does it get any better? Yes, hearing the crunch of gravel, smelling the fragrance of meadow & woodland, sound of rain on tin, seeing the chandelier & lamps on at nite. Knowing you have a bolt hole.

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My favorite part? Building the garden & Garden Room with Susanne. And this was work?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Built for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival, on site at Le Jardin Blanc in Douglasville, GA. Poppets, I had to spend several nites with Susanne while we created this Garden Room. Attended a Gala 1 evening. Progressive dinner another nite. Behind the scenes for a huge wedding at Le Jardin Blanc another nite. Mexican & margaritas another nite. Garden tour & Thai food 1 nite. Oh my, FUN.

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Want a Garden Room? Susanne & I can create one for you, contact here.

Details of a Garden Room

Rescued sink, "champagne is on ice in the conservatory", & stand made from leftover structural pieces, century old rescued pine. Rescued culvert, above, has a new life, & the rescued chest, windows, shutter.

How calm the shutter looks, above, hiding the sink. Carpet, #89 granite gravel.

Nap, above, on the daybed in the Garden Room? Notice its pot feet? Having a chandelier & lamps is of utter importance.

Chandelier, for sale, alas borrowed from Le Jardin Blanc, hanging from the tin roof. Ugh, we had to buy the roof. Curtains? Jute erosion control fabric. Bedding borrowed from Susanne Hudson's home, & mine.

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Hydrangea welcome, above. After all it's the garden Susanne Hudson & I created for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival on the grounds of Le Jardin Blanc.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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You will not believe what this Garden Room looks like. Can't wait to show you the money shot, soon poppets ! Alert, this garden room built solely with the labor of 1 man & 2 women. None labeled 'young' in contemporary culture. Ha, young in what we create. Please, let us create a Garden Room for YOU. It's all we wanna do. Oh dear, this snippet is turning into the lines of a country song......... ta-ta before it gets worse.

Repetition

Puppet Barbuda took awhile to trust repetition, a landscape design tool. Wasted years. Puppet Barbuda was stubborn. Still is.

Puppet Barbuda was too smart to COPY !!!!!

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Alas, years in the wilderness, and Puppet Barbuda DID NOT recreate a new wheel.

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REPETITION, if it works in one landscape it will work in your landscape. Each time repetition repeats....................IT'S NEW & UNIQUE at each repeat.

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Of course poppets you must adjust for plant zone, money, maintenance, & time. Ironically, copying $$$ landscapes rewards you, often, with better results than the original.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics from Susanne Hudson's garden last month.

Draperies in the Landscape

Last Sunday, below. Considered draperies for your landscape?
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Took the pic in Susanne Hudson's garden.

DO IT YOURSELF & WOMEN

Often I will look deeply into my client's eyes, and say, "YOU do this, don't let the crew do it."

Picking up acorns, pulling branches together after a storm to use in a wattle, planting a pot or a few perennials & etc.

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One client's husband refuses to let her garden in the frontyard. He thinks it looks, "low class."
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How could society create such a man? Gardening is luxury. For women wanting to garden.

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Manly help is hired, above, for things I cannot do.

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Why is gardening potent to gardeners? Oxytocin & endorphins.

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Yesterday I stained a pair of cedar adirondack chairs bought at the Smith/Hawken going-out-of-business sale last fall. Several hours on a sunny, warm winter's day.

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Ha, got my oxytocin & endorphins along with a pair of newly stained adirondacks.

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This is exactly why I tell my women clients, new to gardening, DO IT YOURSELF. Not an admonishment, A GIFT.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Top pic, taken in January while hammering, with a spot of tea, the tile around my old tub. Theories about what was behind the tile wall & under the tub were discarded once I began hammering. Yes, called a man. Bottom pic, taken in December when my frontyard became a gravel terrace.

SMALL CONTENTMENTS

Wallpaper, 24 years old & still adored.The urge, energy & creativity to bring flowers inside, below, was absent for years. Blooms outside these windows every day, all year, no effort. Of course I must tolerate birds, butterflies or honeybees everyday too. Camellias, blooming outside, below. The brown? Dormant hydrangeas. The green? Azaleas. (Tara's Trinity of the Southern Garden: Azaleas, Camellias & Hydrangeas.)

Old wicker from an estate sale around the corner 3 years ago.

The cloche had been in the garden over 5 years, until hellebores were cut last week.

After 20 years, my house was painted. A decorator, Susanne Hudson, hired to help with colors & interior design.

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I'm basking in the joy, serenity & energy my new spaces are giving me.

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Above, When stamens drop, I'm taken out of time. (Lucky me, I think some people need cocaine to feel like this. As the Sea Witch in Little Mermaid says, "...Poor unfortunate souls........")

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What mentors have shared with me the most? Small contentments.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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That fabulous cloche? TJMaxx, $9.99!