Don't Overbuild II

Same slope/drainage issue, different garden, as the last post, below. I created this path, above, over 20 years ago. Stone & gravel were under $150.00 and all the labor was done by ME!
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The day I created this path COLLEGE BOY said, "All the gravel is going to wash across the garden with the first rain."
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Hey COLLEGE BOY, "2 decades & counting, when exactly is the gravel going to wash away?"
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Gravel path with slight slope, drainage issue. Path terraced, shot pea gravel poured, stones dug into slope with 2" buried in soil, stones angled slightly into slope.
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Shot pea gravel loaded at quarry into the back of my pick-up truck. Parked at the curb & shoveled gravel into my double-wheeled wheelbarrow.

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Stepped off the length of this path, counting steps, and bought chunky field stone to match number of steps. Chose only stones I could carry in my arms. Each of the stones you see, above, I carried one-by-one from my truck at the curb to the backyard (easier than the wheelbarrow routine) & dug into the slope.

Don't Overbuild

Solving a slight drainage issue easily, affordably, without pooling water, without breeding mosquitoes & will last over a century, below. Path was terraced, #89 granite gravel poured, slope dug into with stone laid (dug in about 1"-2" at each base) angled into the slope.
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Unskilled labor required at each phase, above. Easily woman powered, or man.
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Water, now, follows the path. As does the eye & foot.
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Too often I am at a new client's landscape and discover French drains already installed. And already NOT WORKING. Excepting mosquito production. And They Are UGLY & Expensive.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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New path, above, in Jeri Farmer's garden. Not all areas, obviously, can be solved with the method above. Some areas, alas, do need a French drain. Dahlings, I don't want you oversold by a contractor wanting your money instead of the right thing for your landscape. Studying gardens in Europe I saw this same method used countless times in many countries. Built one in my garden 2 decades ago. Will find pic and post it soon. It's fabulous!!!

A Landscape Design

Think this is unkempt? A landscape design, above, an illusion of country. Nature. Not one leaf is unconsidered. The dirt path? Part of the landscape design.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Took pic in England.
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Living with a manicured lawn yet love the garden above? Yes? Life is too short not to have a garden nurturing your spirit.

Foundation Plantings are Ridiculous

Why a stupid row of evergreen meatballs when you, below, can have this? Why give away your real estate? Foundation plantings are a tired concept.

One espaliered shrub adds a lushness legions of sheared green meatballs will never approach.

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In your mind, at this moment, take away your foundation plantings. Good, have fun destroying a landscape and creating your garden. One matching your interiors, architecture, intellect & spirit.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken when I was in England. Got rid of my foundation plantings over 15 years ago, la-ti-da.

A Few Good Things

Window box, below, fake stone, below,

terra cotta feet, below,

were a few good things I saw last month at Lowe's.

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Remember when fake stone was ridiculously stupidly ugly?

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The window box is lovely but underscaled for the average window. Buy 2, get it right.

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Loved the price on those terra cotta feet, 3/set for $3.99.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

JOHN SALADINO

Saladino's work is in full measure. Garden & house. Vanishing Threshold. The pruning of his canopy & understory trees, above, tell me more about the man than his interiors.

His VERTICAL LAWN (vine on wall) & lidded urn on the shelf melt my heart.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Found the pics yesterday via Period Homes.

LANDSCAPE TRANSITIONS

TRACTOR CHICK hired me for her new home, below, enveloped by bare red clay. Her mission statement was clear. A challenge, and fun to work with. In a few days the new landscape will be complete. AND HERS. Odd feelings are erupting.

One of several hallways, above, in her new garden. A Crape Myrtle 'Natchez' allee.

My garden, above. No need to feel I'm doing without.

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Bittersweet to hand over TRACTOR CHICK's landscape. It's already a life force. Her life force. I merely chiseled a statue from stone. It was there all along. Oh my, this must be a form of separation anxiety!! Intellectually I know the garden will only get better as TRACTOR CHICK takes over.

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So why am I pouting?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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