Working in the shed behind the greenhouse I had to be careful of spiders, snakes, rats & stacks of collapsing merchandise. I loved it!! The oddest rat scurried at my feet. I screamed. Thoughts in chaos. Why? The small black rat was in reality the BROKEN HEAD OF ST. FRANCIS, about 3" & black, rolling quickly by.
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Brain thought, RAT. Eyes saw a face.
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That began my BROKEN HEADS collection.
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Girlie, above, is about 4". She cost a $1 at some nursery. Another joy of my BROKEN HEAD collection? Cheap. One nursery tried to charge me $12 for a BROKEN HEAD, ha, I walked.
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Only the observant will discover my BROKEN HEADS collection in the garden.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
Showing posts with label subsidiary focal points. Show all posts
Showing posts with label subsidiary focal points. Show all posts
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
YELLOWBOOK IS A SMASHER
Returning home to my garden yesterday wasn't pleasant. Yellowbook threw their newest edition at my front door. It smashed onto the birdhouse, above, knocking it to the ground. Destroying sections of roof, perches and lovely curved wall.
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For over a decade, this house has raised 1-2 nests of wrens, and the unfortunate cowbirds, each spring.
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Thankfully, birds were safely fledged before CSI: Birdhouse.
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Wisteria 'Amethyst Falls' is the vine.
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Garden & Be Well, XO T
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For over a decade, this house has raised 1-2 nests of wrens, and the unfortunate cowbirds, each spring.
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Thankfully, birds were safely fledged before CSI: Birdhouse.
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Wisteria 'Amethyst Falls' is the vine.
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Garden & Be Well, XO T
Sunday, July 5, 2009
TOUGH ON BUNNIES
The bunny on the right, below, is a finial on the arbor. A squirrel jumped from the crape myrtle, onto his head, and he crashed to earth. Losing an ear & a foot. Bunny on the left, below, is a finial on the front gate post. A bird landed upon his head, sending him to earth and he lost an ear & foot.
And I proclaim, I don't like to collect things. This is a tough garden for bunnies.
Penny, my late mentor, had a porcelain bunny with a dried hydrangea blossom hat. Instead, I found a dog, above.
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I can still hear Penny, You're no bunny till some bunny loves you.
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Hence the bunnies in my garden. They're passing along Penny's voice, and laughter, in my garden.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
Thursday, July 2, 2009
SUBSIDIARY FOCAL POINTS
The rule is, ONE FOCAL POINT/AREA. Subsidiary focal points are allowed. And desired. I found this heavy rusted iron greenhouse junking in Augusta, GA a couple of years ago.
All of the iron in my garden is robins egg blue.
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Guess what I discovered yesterday? Kit-Kit, my other garden cat, has begun sleeping in the greenhouse. Cat-Cat was the alpha cat but who knew Kit-Kit was hankering to sleep in the greenhouse!! Both cats were left by neighbors moving away.
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I bought the greenhouse because it made me happy to look at. With the garden cats choosing it for their bed this subsidiary focal point exceeds expectation.
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Choices you make in the garden, if they are the right choices, will exceed expectation.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
CLOCHE SALE
Friday, April 3, 2009
FOCAL POINT: CATS IN A TREE
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
ROSES: COMPANIONS & DOUBLE AXIS
This isn't the first famous landscape for ROSE. Downsizing house & garden, ROSE again hit it out of the park. Speeding up the process she knew to hire a designer, Brooks Garcia. ROSE mentored others by example. She could have done it on her own but it would have taken longer.
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Below, a narrow sideyard is made wider with stepping stones set on diagonal. The gate says, Welcome. ROSE came to gardening through a love of roses. Her beautiful landscape is merely a setting to show them off. A Southern matriarch in every good sense of the phrase, ROSE was nudged by her landscape into lecturing and opening her garden for tours.
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Below, a narrow sideyard is made wider with stepping stones set on diagonal. The gate says, Welcome. ROSE came to gardening through a love of roses. Her beautiful landscape is merely a setting to show them off. A Southern matriarch in every good sense of the phrase, ROSE was nudged by her landscape into lecturing and opening her garden for tours.
Above & below, two views of the same narrow path. A double axis pair of pics.
Above, a child's sized bench enlarges the scale of the tiny foyer between frontdoor & sideyard.
Above & below, backyard pic looking left & looking right. Another double axis. ROSE lives in a cluster home neighborhood. Her landscape denies reality.
Above, it's no accident the benches have a curved back. The curve softens rectangular landscape design lines and reinforces a French essence.
Above, ROSE's family room window with sundial on axis and enfilade. Roses's over the window make the tiny area lush.
ROSE threaded many clematis, below, through her roses.
Above, a child's sized bench enlarges the scale of the tiny foyer between frontdoor & sideyard.
Above & below, backyard pic looking left & looking right. Another double axis. ROSE lives in a cluster home neighborhood. Her landscape denies reality.
Above, it's no accident the benches have a curved back. The curve softens rectangular landscape design lines and reinforces a French essence.
Above, ROSE's family room window with sundial on axis and enfilade. Roses's over the window make the tiny area lush.
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Below, view from ROSE's family room window with Dancing Girl on axis and enfilade.
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Above & below are yet another double axis.
ROSE threaded many clematis, below, through her roses.
Above & below, clematis.
Below, subsidiary focal point. Remember 1 focal point per area.
Walls with 3D are more interesting, below.
This hand, below, charms me each time I look at it. So many metaphors and it follows the 3D landscape design rule for walls. Which metaphors do you see?
The first time I met ROSE was through an invitation to see her garden, with Penny. Of course it was a hot, humid summer day. We began inside ROSE's home. Three steps inside the frondoor I felt like I'd known ROSE always. Delighting upon antiques, art, books, garden views, & stories. ROSE invited us to refreshments at the breakfast room table overlooking the back garden through French doors. Icy cool water, tea, soda, and pound cake left from a recent lecture program. Remembering, especially, the antique silver pitcher of icy water covered in beads of condensation.
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Conversation, laughter and anticipation of soon seeing ROSE's garden.
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The garden didn't disappoint.
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More pictures of ROSE's garden are in my book, Beautiful by Design.
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XO Tara
Saturday, February 21, 2009
CLASSIC FOCAL POINTS
A postcard yesterday. Four delightful things.
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Statue: hints of Italian & French landscapes. Garden: impatiens, astilbe and the flower brushed behind the child's right leg. Simplicity has the greatest impact in a landscape. Photographer: portrait shot, framing, lighting, ahhhh. Marketer: you understand gardens are seductive, joyful, easy. This business knows landscapes are art. How many times have I designed the finial below?
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Statue: hints of Italian & French landscapes. Garden: impatiens, astilbe and the flower brushed behind the child's right leg. Simplicity has the greatest impact in a landscape. Photographer: portrait shot, framing, lighting, ahhhh. Marketer: you understand gardens are seductive, joyful, easy. This business knows landscapes are art. How many times have I designed the finial below?
More times I've designed this focal point urn, below. Every urn in your landscape must be so wonderful it can remain unplanted. How do your urns look empty?
I have a pair of these urns, below. The lid comes off. Why should it? They do their job without soil, plants, water, fertilizer. Intelligent Design takes on new meaning in the landscape.
Place this French planter, below, contrasting with a curving terrace, step or lawn.
A wall fountain with depth, below. I like to put these on walls with a demilune or sofa table underneath. Add an evergreen vine to the wall.
KISS (keep it simple sweetie), below. The lines on this birdbath are of the ages. Do you know why this is a true birdbath? It's shallow. Birds don't like water more than 1" deep.
A great sibsidiary focal point, below. Place under a bush at the dripline. Site where you can see it from the house.
I have a pair of these urns, below. The lid comes off. Why should it? They do their job without soil, plants, water, fertilizer. Intelligent Design takes on new meaning in the landscape.
Place this French planter, below, contrasting with a curving terrace, step or lawn.
A wall fountain with depth, below. I like to put these on walls with a demilune or sofa table underneath. Add an evergreen vine to the wall.
KISS (keep it simple sweetie), below. The lines on this birdbath are of the ages. Do you know why this is a true birdbath? It's shallow. Birds don't like water more than 1" deep.
A great sibsidiary focal point, below. Place under a bush at the dripline. Site where you can see it from the house.
The pieces, above, fit most landscapes. Why? They've been proven thru the centuries to accent a landscape and not diminish it. Understatement is their shout.
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Tara's Focal Point Question:
Will your focal points be fought over at your estate sale?
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics via Florentine Craftsmen
Thursday, February 19, 2009
LANDSCAPE CAUGHT MY IMAGINATION
This little garden found on Aesthetes Lament stole my heart. A centuries old style. Do you see only a woman standing in gravel? Ha!
Gravel is cheaper than stone, doesn't require skilled labor and lasts as long as a stone terrace. Creating a planting bed in gravel is simple, place cobblestones as edging and presto---a planting bed.
The bed, below, is lush and has stakes ready for tall blooms and twine ready for, most likely, clematis.
A solid urn is a wise choice atop the brick column. Who wants to water a pot that high? Do you want to climb a ladder and replant a pot up there?
An iron gate contrasts materials, shapes and has a keyhole view to another garden room. Ooooooh mystery, I must go thru that gate. Does your garden have mystery? No disgusting foundation planting ruins the front of this home. Obama should have included, Americans cling to their foundation plantings as a source of security. Lushness is espaliered on the house. Easier to maintain espalier 'whatever' than foundation plantings.
A pair of iron clamming baskets frame the sitting man. (Made that up, don't know what those iron baskets are.) Without plants they will hold the design-decorating together.
I want to smell this garden, hear the gravel crunch, meander thru the gate and ask to use the toilet (the English look at you funny when you ask for the restroom) then I can see inside the house. Assuming I'm on a garden tour of course.
Cecil Beaton's eye, the photographer, is knowing. Movie-set designer, gardener and writer he adored decadent amounts of fresh flowers in his home, cut from his garden.
He wrote, Here was the garden at its best & I lay in bed & saw the Picasso & Hockney engravings framed on my side wall, & the pictures were alliterated with the reflections from outside the window of roses blowing in the breeze, & the green marvel of the garden beyond."
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Photo from National Portrait Gallery
Gravel is cheaper than stone, doesn't require skilled labor and lasts as long as a stone terrace. Creating a planting bed in gravel is simple, place cobblestones as edging and presto---a planting bed.
The bed, below, is lush and has stakes ready for tall blooms and twine ready for, most likely, clematis.
A solid urn is a wise choice atop the brick column. Who wants to water a pot that high? Do you want to climb a ladder and replant a pot up there?
An iron gate contrasts materials, shapes and has a keyhole view to another garden room. Ooooooh mystery, I must go thru that gate. Does your garden have mystery? No disgusting foundation planting ruins the front of this home. Obama should have included, Americans cling to their foundation plantings as a source of security. Lushness is espaliered on the house. Easier to maintain espalier 'whatever' than foundation plantings.
A pair of iron clamming baskets frame the sitting man. (Made that up, don't know what those iron baskets are.) Without plants they will hold the design-decorating together.
I want to smell this garden, hear the gravel crunch, meander thru the gate and ask to use the toilet (the English look at you funny when you ask for the restroom) then I can see inside the house. Assuming I'm on a garden tour of course.
Cecil Beaton's eye, the photographer, is knowing. Movie-set designer, gardener and writer he adored decadent amounts of fresh flowers in his home, cut from his garden.
He wrote, Here was the garden at its best & I lay in bed & saw the Picasso & Hockney engravings framed on my side wall, & the pictures were alliterated with the reflections from outside the window of roses blowing in the breeze, & the green marvel of the garden beyond."
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Photo from National Portrait Gallery
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
MRS. POWERS GARDEN GATE
Mrs. Powers garden gate at Mackenzie-Childs has charmed me. No fence? Don't worry, set it into a hedge or hang it.I've always said, CHOOSE A THEME & OVERDOSE ON IT. Mrs. Powers door knocker, below, matching the gate. Ship Men already gave me a charming door knocker from Malta but this is tempting.
MacKenzie-Childs is a kindred spirit. Mrs. Powers door bell.
I have Mrs. Powers Door Bell and am still deciding where to place it. Until then it's in my office where I can see it.
pics above via MacKenzie-Childs
Sunday, February 15, 2009
SUBSIDIARY FOCAL POINTS
I spoke in Augusta, GA at the Sacred Heart Cultural Center a couple of years ago. Display gardens in a cathedral, speakers, food, booths. It's exciting to be in another city. Knowing I'll find something unique, a new person entering my life, new ideas & something to buy for my garden.
Choosing a private home vs. an offered hotel. Saving money isn't the noble reason, pure selfishness. Curiosity about the garden, interior, cooking, lifestyle of those choosing to share their time, home and garden with me.
Often, hosts have a dinner party and I meet their friends-family. Always, a tour of gardens. Lunch at a delightful spot, the gardens chosen with care & pride. Usually it's 2 cars of serious gardeners.
Sharing on these trips has shaped my life. Lives laid bare. Decorating, good food, a child's drug use, shoes, a spouse's drinking, hats, vacations, the sister with breast cancer, divorce, sex, a parent's alzheimer's, new books, the latest movie, great bras, antiques, pets, travel & more mingle with hydrangeas, manure, granite grit and water use.
Hydrangea 'Penny Mac' above. Birdhouse, behind, bought while at the Sacred Heart lecture. Reminding me of a special time with new friends, gardens, food and conversations.
Larry Smith, 706-894-1737, thebirds@hemc.net, made the birdhouse,
"ARCHITECTURAL BIRD HOMES! Scale models of authentic historical homes and buildings throughout America. Each home is one of a kind."
My birdhouse is a replica of the Jonathan Edwards Home, circa 1760.
Choosing a private home vs. an offered hotel. Saving money isn't the noble reason, pure selfishness. Curiosity about the garden, interior, cooking, lifestyle of those choosing to share their time, home and garden with me.
Often, hosts have a dinner party and I meet their friends-family. Always, a tour of gardens. Lunch at a delightful spot, the gardens chosen with care & pride. Usually it's 2 cars of serious gardeners.
Sharing on these trips has shaped my life. Lives laid bare. Decorating, good food, a child's drug use, shoes, a spouse's drinking, hats, vacations, the sister with breast cancer, divorce, sex, a parent's alzheimer's, new books, the latest movie, great bras, antiques, pets, travel & more mingle with hydrangeas, manure, granite grit and water use.
Hydrangea 'Penny Mac' above. Birdhouse, behind, bought while at the Sacred Heart lecture. Reminding me of a special time with new friends, gardens, food and conversations.
Larry Smith, 706-894-1737, thebirds@hemc.net, made the birdhouse,
"ARCHITECTURAL BIRD HOMES! Scale models of authentic historical homes and buildings throughout America. Each home is one of a kind."
My birdhouse is a replica of the Jonathan Edwards Home, circa 1760.
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