Showing posts with label pots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pots. Show all posts

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Things That Inspire

Their home is large, and so are the drives, garages & port cachere.  Beyond the garages, a fenced garbage can area.  
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Really?  Beyond the garages?

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Guess where she keeps a garbage can?
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Of course, near the back door.
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Planter, above, is in my Garden Design.
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Behind the planter, her garbage can.
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Years of ugly, she's excited to see the planter from her kitchen & family room views.  
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic Things That Inspire.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Empty Fabulous Pots

Pots so fabulous they can remain empty are the best pots.
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Why?


What fun to doll-them up for a party.  And that's only reason #5.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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Had the empty pot epiphany at Glamis Castle, and named this garden design rule, The Queen's Pot !  

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

How to Site a Focal Point

Chunky hunka aged concrete, below, is a railroad abutment ca. 1900, found in the garden.


Perfect for a plinth it was easy to place.  It's on perfect axis with the dominate gable of the house, below.


When something requires a Caterpillar to move, perfection is required.
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Driving the Caterpillar he says, Are you really sure?  These moments are amusing.  Of course I'm sure.  His eyes say, Glad I'm not you.  This is my job.  KNOWING where things go.
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Ironically, the urn is temporary.  We are still sourcing the right statue.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic last weekend at the jobsite.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Stephen Sills: On Acquiring Objects

"It's funny with objects.  If you're really passionate, and you really understand your sensibility, and you're patient, they will come to you..."


"That's what I love about the magic of objects.  You never really own anything in this world, but you can be lucky enough to possess something for a time, and enjoy it, and then it goes on to another person to enjoy.",


Stephen Sills in Town & Country, Oct. 2013.
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His simple gardens in the city are caressing arms.
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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Pics via Elle Decor.

Friday, October 11, 2013

How to Get More From Less: Outdoor Rooms

How little can you have and it be a garden?


Remember Gertrude Jekyll's "....the first thing I consider, when planning a garden, is what to put on the house."
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For ease of maintenance I prefer espaliered woody shrubs.  No wires, no trellis.
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House & terrace, above, are vanishing threshold.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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pic via Half Pudding Half Sauce.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

How to Choose & Site Pots in the Landscape

300 acres, 3 'mostly' matching pots totaling 3 centuries of age and no pots placed on the property, yet.  
(Does the pot, below, tell you, "Touch me."?  If it does it means you are an old soul & kindred spirit.)


Pots must be so wonderful they can remain empty, if desired.  Here, they needed to match the history of the home & be within a certain size range.


Perfect, above, they do not draw attention to themselves.  And still allow seating on the low stone-capped columns.


2 men/pot setting them in place.  My general contractor said, as the pot, above, went up, "...That's a ballsy spot."  As if he earned a response.


3 years getting to this layer, placing pots.  Best part?  Looks like they've always been there.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken at jobsite last month.  Found the pots, plus several more, at Scott Antique Market a couple of months ago.
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Did you pick up on the major component of getting the right pot in the right spot in your landscape?  Something few are good at, patience.
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Knowing to choose pots that can remain empty is such an important 'discovery'  I claim it as one of my inventions.  If you think through the carbon footprint of 'annuals & potting soil & fertilizer' for container plantings along with your time & money you'll understand beautiful empty pots.
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Of course planting sublime pots is a layer of fun in the right season of a busy life.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

French Planter: Color

I put these planters across the front of a home last Saturday, though a bit larger.  


However, zero temerity for foundation plantings, plenty of gracious #89 granite gravel.


Not this big, above, but did put in this size for a home needing to hide garbage cans.
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Taxus x media 'Hicksii', pruned similar to Great Dixter's, is the plant choice.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Top pic Old Long Island, bottom pic, Things That Inspire.  .
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Color.  Client house is gray, white trim, black shutters, apple green door.  Planters can be any of those but white.  A nice amount of space but not quite enough to handle the boldness of white.  Apple green is my choice but the gray or black are acceptable too.

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.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Covershot Garden Design

Gardens must have rooms which includes halls, foyers, parlors, and the roundabout, below.


Leaning left, below, at the roundabout.


Leaning right at the roundabout, below.


In the roundabout, below, turned & shooting back.  What is this called?  Double Axis.


Same hydrangea, above/below, a few days apart.


Same roundabout, below, different axis.


See your garden thru the camera.  More, see your garden in February thru the camera.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics this month in Susanne Hudson's garden.
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Where today, in your garden, can you take covershot pics?  No?   Why live that way?  
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Yesterday, late afternoon, fuse to my Conservatory blew.  Tried all the breakers, no go.  Immediate call to 'my guys'.  One will be here today.  It is not too much to ask that Conservatory chandelier & lamps light my days & nites on view from every angle I live. 

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Said Without Words



Simplicity, beauty, easy maintenance, and saying, "Welcome", without words on a stupid sign or flag or doormat.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Susanne Hudson's garden, pic taken earlier this month.

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, May 29, 2013

Mosquito Position

Once established,


your garden shouldn't be in need of watering cans.


Pots, yes.  Shrubs/groundcovers/trees/bulbs?  No.
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Perfect reason to only have the Queens Pot.
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Pots so wonderful they remain empty.
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These watering cans have assumed the mosquito position in my potager.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pics taken in my garden last week.  

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Ping Pong Garden Room

 "But of course!


 Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara
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Pic via internet, saved for a client, no provenance.
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If you want a garden that is a moat of grace around your home & life, contact me.
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Details about online design services.
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Learn action steps to creating your best garden & home when you hire me to speak to your group.
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Details about lecture titles here.
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I've written several garden books available on Amazon.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Design Tools

Trinities are often a good template.


If you don't have matching pots, make sure the rims are each the same height.
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Of course this is also a marvelous display of repetition.  Your most important Garden Design tool.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pic Janelle McCulloch, Country Estates of Australia.  Visit Janelle's Library of Design.
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If you want a garden that is a moat of grace around your home & life, contact me.
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Details about online design services.
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Learn action steps to creating your best garden & home when you hire me to speak to your group.
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Details about lecture titles here.
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I've written several garden books available on Amazon.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Choosing the Best Urns

Urns that don't need planting are the best.


Rustic invitation leading to greater simplicity at the house.  My favorite template.
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What is the USA fascination with lawn to the street?
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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Pic via Old Long Island  
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If you want a garden that is a moat of grace around your home & life, contact me.
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Details about online design services.
.
Learn action steps to creating your best garden & home when you hire me to speak to your group.
.
Details about lecture titles here.
.
I've written several garden books available on Amazon.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Historic Template

Shelf-steps, terra cotta pots, topiaried evergreens.


Big impact in the garden & easy resource for your interior.  A historic template.
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Recognize her?  Bunny Mellon.  I adore everything this woman does in her gardens.
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Garden & Be Well,                XO Tara
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If you want a garden that is a moat of grace around your home & life, contact me.
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Details about online design services.
.
Learn action steps to creating your best garden & home when you hire me to speak to your group.
.
Details about lecture titles here.
.
I've written several garden books available on Amazon.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Exterior Color: White on White

A client's yellow house is going white-on-white.  Cannot wait to see the results.


Pay no mind to the landscaping, above.   Totally subdivision, 1960's brick ranch let's make green foundation meatballs a la testosterone-on-wheels-mow-blow-go-commodify-all-I-touch.  And those pots?  Lipstick on a pig.
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Garden & Be Well,        XO Tara & Puppet Barbuda
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I adore Veranda, and subscribe, but know, too well, gardening is a pitiful stepchild to most editors.  Great exception was House & Garden magazine during the 80's.  See any at the junk shops buy-buy-buy.
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Pic via Veranda.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Large Pots

Something new to desire.

                           
                        And I don't mean man or child.  How did I miss these pots in Paris?



Desire, undervalued & counterintuitive.
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Garden & Be Well,        XO Tara
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Wonder which client past/future will have these in their garden.  Love Magic Man, I know he can make them!  Will have to tack on a pair to an order for me-me-me !
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pics via Paris Through My Lens.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

High, and Large, Foyer Window


A good solution for the multi-story foyer with tall window over the front door.

A ridiculous space, it still needs attention.  Doing nothing looks undone.  Doing something looks forced, and dusty.
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From the garden most views into these windows look 'vacant'.
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Yes, this urn is 'just right'.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic via Belgian Pearls