Keep It Simple Sweetie

Simplicity, repetition, color, scale, quality, comfort, timeless, flow, destination, garden room, contrast of shapes-materials-foliage, & more.
Posted on La Maison Fou several days ago, this garden room is proof;

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A lot goes into simplicity.

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Choosing to say "No" to things, isn't easy. What you keep out is as important as what you put in.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Scruffed Up Is A Choice

Months of the year my formal stone terrace is, indeed, formal. But I adore Scruffy Landscapes, & meadows. (Lot's of blather, internationally, about how tough meadows are. Ha, it seems I'm a Meadow Whisperer !)

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Yesterday morning, below, annual blue ageratum gracing my stone terrace & Just Touching the variegated Boxwood-In-A-Pot.
Further along the stone terrace, below, Rudbeckia fulgida fulgida, is gracing the other variegated Boxwood-In-A-Pot.
Early this spring, below, English daisies graced the pots &
Scruffed Up my formal stone terrace. How I adore this !!!

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Poppets, Scruffed Up landscapes are a choice! Boxwood-In-A-Pot works most anywhere across time, continents, styles, incomes & etc. Each of the above flowers self-seed, require zero watering and came into my life by serendipity. A bird gave me the 1st English daisy. Ageratum came in the soil with peonies I dug up from Aunt Tilly's garden after she died. Working at a nursery, decades ago, a customer gave me the Rudbeckia fulgida fulgida.

Create Seductive Doorways

Invite people thru your garden with doorways. Use a pair of pots, pair of vertical stones, pair of plinths, pair evergreen shrubs, arbor & etc. Drama of a step, narrowing to the path, above, less than 3' wide, lines of boxwood creating a hallway. Focal point on axis, creating a foyer and

beyond is another fabulous living room.

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Doorway, top pic, leads from the terrace in yesterday's post.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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It is this simple. Doorway, landing, hallway, foyer, living room. Gorgeous & low maintenance too.

Pot Display

When the setting is right a pot display is de rigueur.

Choice morsels to delight the eye and

invite perusal.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Have seen Pot Displays from Italy to Ireland & points between. Here, a delight in the same Italianate garden in Athens, GA as previous posts. This garden is about 1 acre.

Protecting Lemons

In Italy, centuries ago, when a late freeze threatened the lemon crop,

smudge pots were lit.

saving the lemons.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic taken last week in Athens, GA, same garden as the previous post. The gardener purchased these smudge pots in Italy.

Details in Simplicity

Simplicities: trim color is not a bright white, no window screens, interior window treatments are elegant, lights on inside, contrasting foliage textures, contrasting foliage colors, espaliered lushness upon home, well maintained, easy to maintain, urn is fabulous enough to be empty, urn is not hugging wall of home or frontdoor, classic template of centuries copied, design is elegant in winter, makes me want to see the interior, makes me want to see the rest of the garden, the landscape describes the owners. Front of home, above, and its backyard, below.

Shown in yesterday's post too.

A retired couple lives here. They maintain the garden.

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Two important questions to ask yourself about a pic of your home.

1. Is it so wonderful I must see inside?
2. Is it so wonderful I must see the entire landscape?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last week in Athens, GA

Mark Worthington, TV Decorator

"If you have 5 period styles in one room, you're going to have a problem." Mark Worthington says.
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One focal point per area in your landscape. "Colors should match exactly or they should provide enough contrast that the contrasts feels like a conscious decision." Mark Worthington says.
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Drifts of green foliage next to drifts of burgundy foliage next to drifts of variegated foliage & etc.
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"It was one little change, but all of a sudden the whole volume of the space was different." Mark Worthington says.
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When I painted the white trim, of my red brick home, a faded Monet green my house grew taller & sat further back from the street. White jumps forward, darker colors recede in the garden.
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"show the history of how you've developed the space, with individual pieces from different moments of your life." Mark Worthington says.
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Do not buy all your patio furniture & focal points & pots in one afternoon from 1 store.
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You don't want, "a train-wreck look." Mark Worthington says.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken at Atlanta Botanical Garden last week. I'm teaching a 4 week class there this month.
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Mark Worthington is a TV production designer. He was interviewed by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan in yesterday's Wall Street Journal.

Beauty Allowed

Beauty trumps. This gardener knows.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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I think this gardener slowly took over the courtyard. A pot here, a pot there, then bodaciously pot/palm plopped center stage. Voila, gorgeous, and really good sun. Do you do this too, create backstories to gardens without trying?
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Did you notice the pot theme?
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Pic by Shipman taken in Italy last week. He's on a multi-week blow-out cruise.

Ranchburger: Beauty Without Stress

Lining the foundation of this ranch, below, were the obligatory-neatly-in-a-row, evergreen meatballs. Between the house & frontdoor sidewalk I removed the line of meatballs,

put in a flagstone terrace with teak bench/coffee table, low evergreen shrubs, groundcover, understory tree, & pots. Voila, ta-da, but of course.

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My Dear Lady has been slowed by multiple health issues for over a year. Yet her garden has never been a worry for maintenance, even during this 5 weeks without rain.

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This is the point of good Landscape Design: can you work a million hours, travel, caretake a loved one, or have health issues & still maintain a beautiful landscape?

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A beautiul landscape not allowing for real-life is not a beautiful landscape, it's stress.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken earlier this week in the same garden as previous blog post. Poppets, "I" did not literally perform labor in this sweet garden my contractor did. Wish I could rip out mature shrubs, install flagstone terraces & etc.... !

Doormat

I first saw this type of doormat, below, in a centuries old French garden (cobblestones set in gravel). As perfect as this entry, below, is I want to take it back

further. Do you know what I mean?

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Do you know how?

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The container. Fabulous, but too new for this landscape.

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We have already sourced a new container, almost a century old, in Birmingham, AL.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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When the new container arrives the current era will be blended across the past.

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Timelessness, a grace in every landscape fortunate enough to wear it.

Tasha Tudor's GARDEN

House, garden, life, it's all in Tasha Tudor's Garden, Tovah Martin author & Richard W. Brown photography. This book continues to inspire over a decade after discovery. Tasha's cache pots & how she used them were 1 take away from the book I knew I had to copy.

Finally found one, top pic, this spring while lecturing in Richmond, VA. Three Swallows Antiques had a booth at the Flower Show.

Can you believe Richard W. Brown's photography, above? Looks like a painting.

"I don't make proper flower arrangements; mine just grow, like the garden." Tovah Martin's writing invites you to tea with Tasha Tudor.

I have yet to create a floral arrangement in my cache pot. Cat's are one excuse but, mostly, it's selfishness. Not wanting to take so much from my garden.

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Soon, especially with this 4 week + drought & heatwave, it's time to prune the espalier oakleaf hydrangea. Yes, that will be the 1st arrangement in my cache pot.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Laskett, top pic, isn't he a grand cat!!! Don't have this book? Order today.

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2nd pic, a little of my fabulous desk, an old door rescued when they tore down College Boy's grandmother's home. After she died we lived there a couple of years. It was the 1st brick house in Tucker, GA. Miss Louise had a 3 acre garden with something new coming into bloom every 2 weeks. 50 acres of wooded pasture with horses was behind the house. And.................

Overdose Your Theme

Contemporary home? Contemporary rails.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Atlanta numbers few contemporary style homes, yet can claim to be the capital of contemporary homes with colonial rails. PUPPET BARBUDA wonders, is that disgusting, embarrassing, or both?

Functional

Furniture on gravel? Easy. Discovered Italian heavy-weight terra cotta pots/saucers at the Ace Hardware in Douglasville, GA. Saw the 'same' pots at Wal-Mart yesterday. Tags said, Made In America. They were sooooooo lightweight.
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Terra Cotta with fine particles is heavier and less prone to freeze damage. Not immune, but lasts much longer.
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Douglasville Ace? Bought dozens of terra cotta pots/saucers at their 1/2 price sale.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken in Susanne Hudson's conservatory last month.

An Exception

Landscape Design Rule: 1 Focal Point per Area Faux bois bench.
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Oversized hanging candle lantern.
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Blooming Hydrangea in a pot.
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Gravel path.
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Breaking Landscape Design Rules creates fabulous landscapes.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken almost 2 weeks ago in Susanne Hudson's garden. I spent 5 nites with her while creating our garden for the annual Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival. Oh yes, dahlings, will be posting those pics soon.
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I've taken dozens of pics of this gorgeous faux bois bench. Each awful. Finally. Ah, finally. Got it !!
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Yes, broken landscape design rule, above, but don't overlook the fabulous landscape design: canopy trees, understory trees, walls of shrubs, color theme, sense of mystery, sense of surprise.

The Queen's Pot

The best containers in your garden? So wonderful they can remain empty.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken in the Bay Terrace, my front yard, from the living room. When I saw a particularly fine empty pot at Glamis Castle, one of the Queen's homes, epiphany ! Some of my pots are fabulously empty and some are planted. Please, get yourself at least one Queen's Pot.
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Garden Designers Roundtable: Containers
More !! More !!! More !!!!

This month’s bloggers on the Gardeners Roundtable!

Christina Salwitz : Personal Garden Coach : Renton, WA

Debbie Roberts : A Garden of Possibilities : Stamford, CT

Jenny Petersen: J Petersen Garden Design : Austin TX

Jocelyn Chilvers : The Art Garden : Denver, CO

Laura Livengood Schaub : Interleafings : San Jose, CA

Rebecca Sweet : Gossip In the Garden : Los Altos, CA

Rochelle Greayer : Studio “G” : Boston, MA

Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK

Scott Hokunson : Blue Heron Landscapes : Granby, CT

Shirley Bovshow : Eden Makers : Los Angeles, CA
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Apologies, I can't get the links to go thru.....at the moment. All of the fabulous landscape designers, from many states & zones, above, are also writing about containers today at: Garden Designers Roundtable.

GRAVEL AT THE DOOR

The sound, view, warmth, welcome, ease, history, joy, affordability, aesthetics. Gravel at the door.
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"He who is born with a silver spoon in his mouth is generally considered a fortunate person, but his good fortune is small compared to that of the happy mortal who enters this world with a passion for flowers in his soul." Celia Thaxter, in, An Island Garden.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic via Greige Design. Pics soon of my new chandelier in the Butler's Pantry (aka mudroom) & gravel to my front door.

CHEAP vs. GOOD vs. TIME

Gardening in my 20's - 30's meant cheap terra cotta, vs. quality terra cotta, & mostly 1 gallon plants. Cheap pots WILL break. No time for cheap. Anymore.

What's not to like about aging? Buying quality terra cotta pots, above, requiring a man & forklift.

Choosing specimen plants

vs. 1 gallon plants.

OK, so I got the 3 gallons not these balled/burlap beauties.

Money for this? Not really. But I've aged out of cheap terra cotta & 1 gallons.

I could supply studies of: landscaping, property value, curb appeal, heating/cooling savings, mental health, longevity, wildlife & eco babble.

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But there is something I know for sure about spending my money (none of the above of course). I've never regretted a dime spent on my garden or my pets.

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Because It Makes Me Happy.

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COLLEGE BOY rarely asks "why" questions about what I do anymore. He knows, when the answer is, "Because It Makes Me Happy.", his cause is toast.

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Last time COLLEGE BOY had an opinion about my garden, that I didn't care for, I quoted him A.S. Byatt, "Your words are harmful to my spirit."

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Another thing I did in my 20's-30's, not listening to my spirit. Life is better when I listen.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Good quality terra cotta pots came from AW Pottery in Chamblee, GA. Made of finely particulated clay from Asia, creating highly frost resistant pots. Plants, alas, are from a wholesale resource only.

WHICH DIRECTION?

This crabapple, below, doesn't have a bad direction. Here, above/below, in Susanne Hudson's backyard.

Looking thru the gate, below, is a view from the frontyard.

Blossoms, below, each had honeybees. Wish you could hear this tree.

Classic Design Recipe, below. Path, gate, arbor, light, picket fence, color theme, bench, potted boxwood, leaf litter mulch, Tara Turf, focal point on axis. (Note: treat this as any good recipe. It works everytime & is unique everytime.)

Crabapple viewed, below, from the front porch. She fills the horizon.

Notice winter's bare branches? I adore the frisson.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last Friday. My favorite direction is from the library, early morning. Alas, we were hard at work on our book project.

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.

A NEW GARDEN ROOM: ROSE TERRACE

ROSE TERRACE, unfinished & already a dowager, hosted me Saturday. Shirt sleeves, wine, book.

Incomplete, ha, the charms of ROSE TERRACE are prodigeous.

ROSE TERRACE is under the crape myrtles, below, and my office window.

ROSE TERRACE, below, last month. Delightful, the potency of shirt sleeves Saturday.

Of course, below, I was in the chaise, circa 1930, taking pic of the teak adirondack with fallen camellia blossoms, C. 'White By The Gate'.

Antique roses weave into crape myrtles shading house & ROSE TERRACE. That idea came in Claude Monet's garden, circa 1990. Couldn't get home fast enough to order the roses. Today's era? Order via cell phone from Claude's garden. "Claude', one of the dead men I have a THING for.

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Prior to being the ROSE TERRACE this was a hydrangea patch.

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Prior to being a hydrangea patch this was an herbaceous border.

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Prior to being an herbaceous border this was ---can't believe I'm admitting to this --- otto luyken laurels I planted before I knew a thing about gardening.

Hydrangeas repurposed, below, at the border of ROSE TERRACE. Shot pea gravel, 3" deep -- no landscape fabric, with stone & brick for edging.

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New Camellias, Tea Olives & Gardenias are espaliered against the wall of ROSE TERRACE.

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Lanterns + Candles await to be hung from the Crape Myrtles.

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Terra cotta pots await my luncheon appointment with a topiary wholesale nursery next week. Honestly, it would be impossible to make this stuff up. AND it's work. My career.

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(Of course no one wants my job when it's hot/humid & blood is trickling down my neck from mosquito bites or I'm picking up dog s---t in a client's garden so they'll only see my contractor's beautiful installation of my design. Oh, lest I forget, falling off the second story of my home before a winter open garden & getting up and working more while it's still dark outside so the 10am start time is EFFORTLESS. Ha!!!!!!!!!)

Dowager? Incomplete, ROSE TERRACE is already gorgeous & functioning.
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NOTE: Adirondack on flagstones, prevents irratic sinking. For proper photography & when guests are present hide flagstones under shot pea gravel.

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Inspiration? Enjoying wine/canapes at a girlfriend's, realizing I didn't have a similar spot.

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Can't wait for warmer days ahead, girlfriends & ROSE TERRACE.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara