WICKEDLY WONDERFUL

At the front of her property as she drives in, below, a lovely new stone plinth. As she walks from the back of her property, below, to the front; the same lovely new stone plinth.

One focal point placed on DOUBLE AXIS. Discovered this landscape design trick at Mount Stewart while studying in Ireland.

Perfection, an urn so fabulous it can be planted, OR NOT. Discovered this landscape design trick while studying landscapes in Scotland.

Realized studying landscapes across Europe: The more directions a focal point has the better a focal point is.

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Wickedly wonderful. And EASY.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

ROUNDABOUTS HERE & THERE

Roundabouts, below, get you around a garden.

Roundabouts are a fabulous landscape design tool. Use where 2, or more, paths intersect.

This woman, above, was beyond ready to take her frontyard in hand. Corner lot, too big, unattractive, way too much mowing, little property value, and most importantly, it did not make her happy. (Ha, beware the woman not happy with something.)

Grass was reduced, paths with roundabout designed, groundcovers, evergreen shrubs, & understory trees to survive drought/flood & aging in place. Aging in place? Want to be 88 with weekly garden chores? Ha, didn't think so. It's designing for unskilled labor, tough plants, and timeless beauty on axis from window views.

From the house, above, a stone roundabout anchors the view. Evergreen hollies anchor the entry path, variegated sweetflag (groundcover) surround the roundabout.

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Designed in the grand tradition with a low maintenance theme. Not completed, above, and already showing promise. And her? She's HAPPY.

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Small roundabout, above. Notice something important about the pot, above? It doesn't HAVE to be planted.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics of completed roundabouts I took last January in the botanical garden in Birmingham, England. My client sent the pics of her roundabout.

DESIGNED FRONT GARDEN: BEFORE + AFTER

We began over 2 years ago. He had already begun remodeling their older home. With children & 2 careers in full blossom construction slowed, and the garden almost halted.

Overwhelmed, he hired me to design the landscape. Loving gardens he was doing the work himself. Until,

his wife, in very serious tones, let him know the projects did, INDEED, have a completion date.Do you know what love is? He hired a personal organizer. He also began subcontracting some of the landscape labor. Another gift of love for his wife; working in his garden is a joy to him, not labor. Alas, time.

Instead of an arbor for shade, crape myrtle's will soon cover the terrace. Flow & axis dictated the terrace have 2 entries.

A GARDEN PACK RAT he had a stash of Stone Mountain granite curbstones. They now step you down into a woodland garden, on axis from the stone terrace.

The garden is young and all areas are not this far along. Yes, I'll post more about this garden in the future.

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In a note, sent with these pictures, he wrote: A family that gardens together, grows together.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

THE SECRET OF GARDEN ENTRIES & HALLWAYS

Did you know, the more entries a garden has the better a garden is? Why?
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Garden Entries are focal points drawing the eye, foot, imagination. Leading to foyers, hallways & living rooms. If you can do it inside, dahlings, you can do it outside.
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Above, Garden Entry with tiny landing leading directly into a hallway. See it? Can you label each section? Spread it farther. See the walls? See the ceiling?
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Creating a garden is no more than creating outdoor rooms.
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My favorite garden hallway is above. I took the pic in the Cotswolds. Don't you want to see where the hallway leads?
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How important are Garden Entries & Garden Hallways????????? Today, I'm off to finish a landscape design for a garden full of living rooms. I will add Entries & Hallways connecting them. La-Ti-Da. One of my favorite things to do.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

FEEDING THE MUSE

Designing landscapes is science & art. With a degree in engineering & horticulture the science is easy. The art? I've learned it's something to be nurtured & honored.

Speed walking 5miles, 3-5x's/week, at Stone Mountain, GA, feeds my muse. Doing my best thinking while sweating.

Being in nature to feed the left brain/right brain thing.

A potager? Perennial border? Choosing paint colors for a house & patio furnishings? Nature, consistently enriching my creative muse.

Understanding forms, patterns, silhouettes, plant drifts? Color? Nature has it all, and more.

How a body relates in scale to its surroundings?

Creating enfilades thru paths, rectangular stone terraces edged with brick, over a fountain, between pairs of boxwood, caressed by flowering shrub borders sprinkled with a few tough perennials, and finally landing the eye/foot on a bench. Nature? Hardly.

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But it's nature feeding the creative muse, a tool box for designing landscapes.

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What else feeds my creative muse? Music, pets, books, friends, movies...

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What feeds your creative muse?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken at Stone Mountain Park, 2.96 miles from my garden.

OPENING A RANCH

"When a culture is self-confident, it can translate what the rest of the world wants." John Hooks, Deputy General Manager of Giorgio Armani. Ranch Burgers wish to be opened. BONO GIRL was remodeling a ranch gettaway in Athens, GA when she asked for landscape help. Designing from Atlanta I knew to open her ranch. HOW? Use a round column + have a path to both sides of the landing + punctuate the stone wall with a low column + low iron urn with curves on column (not sourced yet) + curve the turf.
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The bold curving line between turf + bed is critical. THE CURVES: Column & turf, constrast fabulously with the myriad squares of the house. New plantngs were added, many existing were kept.
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Do you see how the entry of the house is brought forward several feet? Instead of hugging the front facade it begins at the low stone column. Adding depth added drama. Remember, "dinky is stinky."
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Many RANCH BURGERS lend themselves to my French Caretakers Cottage fantasy. Replace front windows with French doors, paint the brick, rip out the foundation plantings & etc. But that is another posting!

Vanishing Threshold, above. Can't wait for the plants to fill-in between the paths.

BONO GIRL invited me to her gettaway. Forget the landscape, her dogs were the focal point.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

FRONTYARD: NO GRASS

LOVE BOAT said, "I don't want any grass, frontyard or backyard, we need places to entertain & play, and flowers & fragrance, but most importantly, there is no time to take care of anything." A Craftsman bungalow, frontyard & backyard, are both blessedly small.

LOVE BOAT significantly enlarged their original Craftsman bungalow keeping the front architecture intact. He, of LOVE BOAT, grew up in this home. His parents, from Cuba, still live here. He & She of LOVE BOAT are in food sales, working from a home office.

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He & She of LOVE BOAT have adopted several children. Children truly needing a home. Nanny lives with LOVE BOAT too. With her child. Can you believe the layers of love here?

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A friend of LOVE BOAT gave me to them as a gift. Yes, more love.

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LOVE BOAT used their home contractor to build their stone terraces. And the plantings? The friend hiring me worked with LOVE BOAT sourcing plants, digging, planting, mulching, watering. More love. (For low maintenance I used only shrubs, trees, groundcovers. No perennials, annuals.)

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Now you know why I call this home the LOVE BOAT.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

VERTICAL STONES DEFINE ENTRY

This had been lawn, below, until I realized I deserved a garden when pulling into my tiny drive. The more entryways a landscape has the better a landscape is.

Low maintenance was a given, drought tolerant too, and NO MORE LAWN !

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Enter my garden here, along a flagstone path flanked with a pair of huge quartz stones, placed vertically for added heft & drama. Dwarf Indian hawthorn & roses caress the path. Contrasting foliage sizes & colors are easy drama. Why don't more people do it?

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The Chinese snowball tree and weeping red cut-leaf Japanese maple block views of neighbor's homes. And add repetition from other parts of my landscape. Ooh-la-la I love to show off with Chinese snowballs.
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A dear friend carried those stones home from camping trips in north Georgia. Turning 40 he sold every possession and moved north to be with family. A disconcerting estate sale but I came home with books & stones. He wouldn't let me pay for the stones. Two months later, my dear friend moved back to Georgia. Enough family, I suppose. Over a decade later Georgia is where he remains.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

MAINTAINING GRAVEL

Wanting gravel. Needing gravel. Got gravel!! Why? Oooooh, that crunch. #89 granite gravel, above, in Susanne Hudson's landscape.

Shot gravel, above, in my garden.

In my potager, above.

This path, above, was bermuda lawn. With wheelbarrows, me & beloved Suzy, my chocolate lab, it became compacted. What to do?

Gravel.

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How it was done? Removed bermuda lawn with sod cutter. Loaded 1 ton of shot gravel in my pick-up truck. Shoveled gravel to wheelbarrow then to path. 1 hour to shovel. Total girl power.

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Used no liner, gravel dumped straight on soil. Dust, debris accumulates within 1 year on top of any liner allowing weed seeds to germinate. Why line?

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MAINTENANCE NEEDS: I blow gravel paths 1/month for 4 months each year; 2/month for 6 months each year; 4/month for 2 months each year. Every 8-9 months I sweep gravel, with a broom, up hill. Accumulated weeding time/year? 1.5 hours.

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Per square foot gravel is less maintenance than lawn.

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Gravel compacts after 1 year & needs replenishing.

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Per square foot gravel is cheaper than lawn.

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Gravel needs replenishing after 4-5 years too.

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I discovered the delights of gravel while touring the old landscapes of Europe. Late this fall a new gravel terrace is being added to my frontyard and a new gravel terrace beside the Texas Terrace for a tiny dining area.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Stone Forest has good close-up pics of different gravels, and stone too.

SEASONS IN A GARDEN ROOM

Her voice, You must have Rudbeckia fulgida fulgida. Standing in the aisle layed with old roof shingles in the perennials greenhouse. I worked propagation, professionally, moons ago. (Moons ago is less aging than 'decades' ago, yes?) Her gold Rudbeckia fulgida fulgida has been blooming July-Dec. ever since, in my garden, above.

A bird planted the spring English daisy, above. Recognizing a true landscape designer, I kept it.

Same chair, above, fall view from my office.

Early summer, above, hydrangeas start and Rudbeckia fulgida fulgida are 1' high.

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A supporting tapestry to my days, for many years, I realized I should gather pics of my formal stone terrace & part-time meadow. Threads aren't finished, will get you a pic of the blue ageratum blooming in Sept.

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This terrace is a nurturing friend.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

PLINTH, TALL & BOLD

Tall plinths are uncommon in gardens. Even less common for purchase. Do you know what a plinth is? Pedastals are plinths. I shot these in a private garden in England. Plinth, above, is a repurposed column. What a fun day it was capping the column with its focal point. Wish I had been there for the excitement.

In comparison to the first pic, not tall, but this plinth is taller than the average plinth in America.

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No budget for a plinth? Stack stones or bricks and make your own.

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My eyes are forever scouring junk piles for treasures. I rescued a plinth once, regrettably not tall but it is late Victorian and quite heavy, made of iron.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

SPO: HOME, GARDEN, TEA

SPO's home was under construction when I drew her landscape design several months ago. I knew from descriptions it was going to be scrumptious. A small house is what she, & her husband CAPE COD, wanted with great details, antiques, art, books and a garden. Look at the tea she served. Cava, ha, isn't she wonderful? County restrictions & certificate of occupancy played a role in the initial landscape. A dastardly lawn HAD to go in. Soon much of the lawn will be flowering shrubs, groundcovers, understory blooming trees, paths, rosemary, lavender & more wildflowers.

SPO's first wildflower meadow, above.

Lawn now but just you wait, hydrangeas, azaleas, viburnum, mondo, jasmine, tea olive, cryptomeria, gardenia, camellia, forsythia, & etc......

SPO sourced most of the materials for the house. The working shutters are on all sides of the house. The living room, above, with 2 pair French doors leading to the back porch and, below, a door from the master bedroom to the back porch.

Well chosen downspout, below, it's round. The stones are faux. On site, from 3', you can't tell they are faux.

The kitchen, family room, master bedroom, upstairs office, & porch, below, overlook an amphitheater with a mature woodland backdrop. You would not believe the birdsong.

Natural terracing, below, forms the amphitheatre. Faux stone tops the retaining walls.

Textured blocks, below, even cheaper than the faux stone, comprise the retaining walls. Not seen, why spend more?

A delight in the carriage house, the Cadillac. SPO & CAPE COD drive for pancakes each Saturday in the Caddy. Yes, I've asked them to stop by & pick me up some Saturday.

SPO adores cooking and found her kitchen online at Yestertec Kitchen Works. Simple, compact, functional and charming.

The oven, below, is in the cabinet under the stove.

And the armoir, below, is not a pantry.

It's a cooking center, below. Delightful, just close the doors and it's a clean look.

In the library, below. Moving into this house they decided to forgo cable. And are loving the change in their lives.

Between kitchen and living room, below, the desk. The house is one room deep in these rooms and full of natural light. And views, views, views.

Keeping it small, below, SPO knew to go high with the living room ceiling.

SPO & I dreamed, before she moved in, about having a tea party on the back porch, below. Alas, dear ones, we were weak. Do you know how forsakenly hot/humid it was?

SPO & CAPE COD have successfully down-sized from their large home yet already feel the difference in living larger, richer, simpler, lives.

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Enjoying the cava, conversation, house, garden and scones with fresh fruit/jam it was difficult to comprehend they have only been in their home for 3 months. It felt like E. M. Forster. The solidness of Howard's End. A place to fill the spirit.

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You'll be getting more of SPO & CAPE COD because I didn't get any pics of their corgi, who really owns the place. And of course, as the garden goes in.

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Garden & Be Well, XO T