Showing posts with label Susanne Hudson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Susanne Hudson. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Front Porch: A Way to Test Design

Good design is pretty, comfortable, affordable, leverages activities and your spirit.
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Good design is also 'testable'.


With a camera.  Can you take spur-of-the-moment pics and they are worthy of a magazine, catalogue or book cover?
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If you must 'style' your pics so far from how you truly live in the space you're not done designing the space.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pics Susanne Hudson's front porch, last month, which is mere feet from a busy road.
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Last weekend a client showed me a pic of her baby granddaughter in the garden.  It could have been used in a magazine for toddlers. A quick snap without thought of the background beauty.  And that was intentional in the Garden Design.  The client 'got it' after the pic.  Granddaughter, grandma & designer....trinity of happy!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

2 Questions for Patios, Decks, Porches

Graduating with another degree, horticulture, I was fully aware creating the gardens of my soul had yet to be discovered.  


Luckily Penny McHenry came into my life.  She invited me to lunch the first evening we met.  A lecture meeting with packed audience we were in the 3rd row.  I plopped next to her & knew she wasn't amused.  We began talking, garnered a stern glance from the speaker then talked so long the security guard asked us to leave, the building was closing.
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In her garden, the next day, one of the biggest theatrical curtains of Garden Design opened when I saw her back deck.  From the first glance I knew.
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When looking at a patio there are 2 questions.  Is this space so wonderful I must see inside the house?  Is this space so wonderful I must see the garden?
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Ironic.  Patios, porches, decks, & their styling, were not mentioned during my degree program.  Nor any symposium I had ever attended.
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Penny did it from innate talent.
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Innately I knew, copy good ideas.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic Susanne Hudson's front porch last month.

Monday, July 8, 2013

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.    

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Front Porch: Long & Narrow

Placing table + chairs at the 'L' of a porch must be in the helix of our DNA.


The web has enough pictures to fill a seductive hardcover coffee table book.


 At the opposite end of the porch, above, more seduction, below.




Places to read, serve a meal, have conversation a basic trinity for your porch.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pics shot last month on Susanne Hudson's porch.  A field gathered collection of furniture with a tight trinity of color: green, brown, white.  Comfort oozes in her still life's.

Friday, July 5, 2013

Front Porch Plants

Choose pots, containers, plant stands so fabulous they can remain empty, if desired.


It's obvious, below, these plant stands can remain empty or filled easily for a party or whim.


Hydrangeas are in their black plastic container, hidden with erosion control fabric.
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This front porch is meant for reading, I'll give you something worthy: "Wendy (nothing to do with Peter Pan but short for Wendell) Howell was a grand American gone native (How yer dawgs?) whom I prized as a friend because she did not take to just anyone and made an exception for me.  She like whippets and whisky and had too many of both.  Lots of husbands (including a Roosevelt) had come and gone and she eventually settled with a lady vet in one of those Irish cottages which were rare then and now only happen on postcards.  It had an earth floor and stable doors and, in the sitting room, a vast opening for the fireplace where, if you bent down to look up the chimney, you could see a big patch of sky. At the entrance to the cottage was a sculpture of two whippets, old friends to me as they were an echo of a similar model by Gott at Chatsworth.  Wendy held a pilot's licence but luckily never offered to take me for a spin."  Debo Mitford.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pics taken last month Susanne Hudson's front porch.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Curb Appeal Before Entering the Front Porch


Don't tell me 'welcome' with letters on a sign or doormat, show me.


The curb appeal of this tiny frontyard says, "Yes, you want to see the porch, inside the home, and the rest of the garden."


And you're experiencing the potency of the garden's color trinity, without being aware.


Adore the smartness of cast stone urns filled with cast stone flowers & fruits.
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Get the color trinity?  Green, brown & white.  Trinity of the ages.  Low maintenance, serene, elegant.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pics shot in Susanne Hudson's garden last month.  Girlfriend is serious!  Curb appeal + front porch fabulosity.  We are working on a book together and planning another spend-the-night this month.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

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.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Desk in the Garden

Don't you adore hearing a new strange fact, and know it's true immediately?


Every garden needs a desk.


First shared with me by Susanne Hudson.
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Have adored sharing it for years.  Zero dissent.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics in Susanne Hudson's garden last month.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

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.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Big Garden Design Rule

One of the most important things to know in Landscape Design, below.


Know when to leave it alone.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic this month in Susanne Hudson's garden.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

New Use for Erosion Control Fabric

Hanging from a large oak tree, below, chandy stays on 24/7.


Recognize the tablecloth?  Erosion control fabric.  Bought in huge rolls.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pic this month from Susanne Hudson's garden.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

How to Place Sofa Table


Sofa table, below, rather formulaic with pair of lamps & table toppers.


Laughably obvious!  Yes, put the sofa table outside.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken this month in Susanne Hudson's garden.  She has a totally warped way of looking at & doing the obvious.  Lamps on 24/7.   Don't know where to start furnishing your garden?  Sofa table seems easy.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Double Axis & Before/After

With a view, below, you must be able to turn around


and have an equally fabulous view, below.  Double Axis.



Had the good fortune to visit Susanne Hudson's garden again a few days after this pic, below, was shot.


Without the roses peaking, below, the arbor resumed its status as Focal Point.


Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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All pics shot this month.  Created a garden this weekend and put in one of these arbors, above.  With pendant lite.  We'll use a historic fence template too but one with a bit more privacy.  We won't use white, they already have a delicious dark putty color on their home.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Accessorize

Accessorize.


Focal points are macro garden design.


Accessories are subsidiary focal points.


The micro garden design.
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Perhaps the strongest tool in Garden Design, micro garden design, making your garden MORE you.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Susanne Hudson's garden, pics taken earlier this month.  I laughed out loud when I saw this pair, had been in the garden days earlier and did not see them.
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Remember this garden design rule at the antique shops, art shows, garage sales, junk stores, it's your permission to buy!

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Conservatory: Multiple Axis

Near the door of Susanne Hudson's conservatory, below.


And her great garden pun, below.  A plant in the conservatory!  As if.  What?  As if the Conservatory were for plants.  Ridiculous.


The same lamp, below, from a different axis.


Another axis, below.


Same hydrangea, below, different day.  Heavy rains in the interim.


The more axis a focal point has the more successful the Garden Design.
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One of the best arrows in your quiver.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken in Susanne Hudson's garden this month.

Monday, June 17, 2013

The Table You Want on Your Porch

Rescued: door, windows, stool.  


Love the sexy lines of this stool, we chose it first so more galvanized accouterments placed for balance.  
    



 Dinner table, floral arranging table, potting table, styled table.  Whatever, they're FREE.




During the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival we caught many pairs of friends sitting, visiting, enjoying the breeze, loving the views.
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Susanne Hudson & I sat in the chairs admiring our work.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken earlier this month at the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival.  The porch got bigger with the furniture added.  Why?  More function added along with the beautiful forms.   How did Susanne & I get the porch done, we schlepped everything you see into place.  
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No magic minions.
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Passion is the magic.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Garden Path: Before & After

Leading to our porch garden, below.  Iron gates roped to the trees.  
Yes, horrendous security gates reborn with grace.


After the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival, below.  Hard to imagine the gates were ever there.


Terra cotta pots, top pic, are Cinderella-after-the-ball, below.


In my garden, above, the pots are still where I unloaded them.
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"Scope for the imagination", as Anne of Green Gables would say.
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Garden & Be Well,        XO Tara
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More of the garden Susanne Hudson & I created for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival.
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Taking down a display garden is quite depressing.  It feels like the killing of a soul.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Air Conditioners: Before & After

If you have an eyesore put a focal point nearby.  


2 weeks ago Susanne Hudson & I created a garden/porch for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival.


Our garden beliefs: simple, historic, focal points, axis, comfort, beauty & simplest.


 We pride ourselves on how little we can put in a garden.


We bought very little for our display garden.  Breezing thru with what we already own.  Proving our beliefs in what we created.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pics taken earlier this month.  Hydrangea 'Blushing Bride' in the galvanized tubs.
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Nurseries don't like Susanne or me.  They want to sell you annuals & perennials, mostly.  Many independent garden centers have been slammed in this economy and are gone.   I know why.  They forgot gardens are what people want intuitively, from their soul.  Without knowing it, most people are intuitive gardeners/designers.  What they don't trust, within themselves, is the counterintuitive skillset garden design demands. 

Friday, June 7, 2013

Covered Screened Porch

Garden view, daybed, lamps, table w/chairs, blue/white, cozy, stuffed with amenities.  Staycation is too small of an idea for this room.


Flowing from garden to kitchen with doors, & views from master bedroom and living room.


This couple is always doing something with their grown children & spouses with grands.




Tipping point for the TV is obviously the grands.


Daybed, slounging chairs + a table with chairs for projects/computer?  Perfect trinity.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara
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Pics same house/garden as previous post.  It's obvious Susanne Hudson has put her skills here.   I have a strong weakness for grandparent/grandchild relationships.  Mine still fills me with incredible strengths.