William Morris: Nuance of Beautiful & Useful

At a jobsite last week, below, a stone path on a slight slope with a slight curve.

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The man creating this path is a stone whisperer.

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His lead stone says, 'Welcome.', with, secondary stone saying, with great nuance, 'Turn this way.'

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Stones are not set in mortar.  Yet, solid, stable, and rank as art.  William Morris, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

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In nuance is the metaphor.

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The fallen branch, below, Nature hard at work, boldly flinging bright white, fungi.  Most people never achieve the beauty of this fungi, nor courage in mission.  Doing the next-right-thing is, too often, hard, until it's the easiest choice available.  My best teachers are in my garden, the nuance of allowing Nature to speak. 

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Did you know the forests around Chernobyl are not decaying?

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Cannot imagine my tiny cottage garden without it's formal stone terraces, clipped boxwood, conservatory, and more, not having its Wildwood.  Earth's path with Providence playing the leading role.  

Michael Dirr said, "Of all the trees in the forest, oaks have the wildest sex."

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Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn."

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Oak seedling, below.

 I specialize in Le Jardin Rustique.  More than nuance, they are gardens giving far more than they ever demand.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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All pics taken last week.  No idea how the bottom pic did the 'swirl thing', nor why it perfectly targets the oak seedling.  Providence or accident?  You know my answer !
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For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

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Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.

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Construction by Award Winning

Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

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NOTE to my gardening friends... look for changes to come. 

Knew before computers/cell phones, sitting in Atlanta traffic on way to a client, 'I must reach a larger audience with the same amount of effort.'   Soon after that epiphany I signed my CBS-TV, and, books contracts on the same day.

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Then I read an article in the NYTimes about something called 'blogging'.  Saved the article for a year before reading it.  Studied all the blogs they mentioned, hired a computer expert they quoted, and attended a blogging seminar.

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Blogging 2.0 has arrived, my knowledge is 1.0.  A believer in copying the best historic gardens across the globe it flows into every arena of life.  Watching Maria Killam grow her career/blog/life over the past 3 years made its impact.  Signed up  for a year's course with her blogging expert, Jon Morrow. 

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Changes will be slow, plodding is my adored method.  Pulling triggers here/there is spice in the mix.
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What do YOU want?

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Nothing is too small, too big, or too ego crushing to mention.

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Passion lies in sharing what has filled me to the depths of grace, joy & atonement, the best landscapes created over the last 2,000+ years.

Just so you know... 
 I  welcome your input.

Gravel Path: Before + After

Garden path, a few minutes old, below.

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Their back yard, thankfully, a quagmire.  In addition to significant man made drainage issues they have an underground spring.

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Thankfully?  They had to hire help, me.  

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#89 Granite gravel, above/below, is best, color/size, for their garden.  I never tire of seeing before/after of cobblestone edging.

The area was not pretty, below, when we began.

Seems like the older women get the more men their projects demand.

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Especially love women demanding a beautiful easy landscape, and needing a commercial dumpster in their driveway because they are doing a 'few' things inside too !

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These women are my tribe.

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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

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Pics taken at jobsite last week.

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Women who know their driveway must be jackhammered to oblivion are a particular delight.  If you are a woman, with a man in your life, no worries, Man Coaching is free.   Husband's refer to me as, that woman, up front.  Within days husband's say, 'call Tara'.    

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For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

.

Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.

.

Construction by Award Winning

Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

.

NOTE to my gardening friends... look for changes to come. 

Knew before computers/cell phones, sitting in Atlanta traffic on way to a client, 'I must reach a larger audience with the same amount of effort.'   Soon after that epiphany I signed my CBS-TV, and, books contracts on the same day.

.

Then I read an article in the NYTimes about something called 'blogging'.  Saved the article for a year before reading it.  Studied all the blogs they mentioned, hired a computer expert they quoted, and attended a blogging seminar.

.

Blogging 2.0 has arrived, my knowledge is 1.0.  A believer in copying the best historic gardens across the globe it flows into every arena of life.  Watching Maria Killam grow her career/blog/life over the past 3 years made its impact.  Signed up  for a year's course with her blogging expert, Jon Morrow. 

.

Changes will be slow, plodding is my adored method.  Pulling triggers here/there is spice in the mix.
.

What do YOU want?

.

Nothing is too small, too big, or too ego crushing to mention.

.

Passion lies in sharing what has filled me to the depths of grace, joy & atonement, the best landscapes created over the last 2,000+ years.

Just so you know... 
 I  welcome your input.

Lunch Ministry, "...now it is a person's table that atones for him.” Talmud, Chagiga 27a

"This notion that we repent through our tables suggests that the table not only be a place to eat and gather with friends and family but a place where repair is performed. We think about where we have fallen short and how we can make up for it by the way we treat others who we bring close to us, close enough to speak to across a table."

From my 20's I have been mentored into Lunch Ministry.

Women, mostly in their 70's, inviting me to lunch.  Women my age could not come out to play, they had babies/children.  Me?  Infertility.

Tables beautifully set, dishes/cloth napkins/silver/platters/center piece, a meal carefully chosen and lovingly made.

 Conversation.  Topics never ceasing, laughter, silence, time became obsolete, something for mortals, not our lunch table.

Never was a dish allowed to be cleared.  Time together was the focus.  Their lessons in Lunch Ministry, though many of those dear ladies are gone, continue.  Me, now, the lady-of-age.  Passing forward the gift, Lunch Ministry.

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Never mentioned at the time, I know now the best part of Lunch Ministry.   Once my guest has left, the lone clearing of table, cleaning dishes at the sink.  Musing over conversation, harboring myriad directions of prayer.

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"If an altar is like the Divine's table then when there is no altar our tables must serve in its place. "The verse began with 'altar' and ended with 'table,'" taught both Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish. These were noted sparring partners, but there was something that the two agreed upon: this teaching."

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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Quotes from Jewish World Review article, here.
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Pics via my Pinterest board, Furniture in the Garden.  Second pic via Petersham Nurseries.

For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

.

Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.

.

Construction by Award Winning

Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

.

NOTE to my gardening friends... look for changes to come. 

Knew before computers/cell phones, sitting in Atlanta traffic on way to a client, 'I must reach a larger audience with the same amount of effort.'   Soon after that epiphany I signed my CBS-TV, and, books contracts on the same day.

.

Then I read an article in the NYTimes about something called 'blogging'.  Saved the article for a year before reading it.  Studied all the blogs they mentioned, hired a computer expert they quoted, and attended a blogging seminar.

.

Blogging 2.0 has arrived, my knowledge is 1.0.  A believer in copying the best historic gardens across the globe it flows into every arena of life.  Watching Maria Killam grow her career/blog/life over the past 3 years made its impact.  Signed up  for a year's course with her blogging expert, Jon Morrow. 

.

Changes will be slow, plodding is my adored method.  Pulling triggers here/there is spice in the mix.
.

What do YOU want?

.

Nothing is too small, too big, or too ego crushing to mention.

.

Passion lies in sharing what has filled me to the depths of grace, joy & atonement, the best landscapes created over the last 2,000+ years.

Just so you know... 
 I  welcome your input.

Permaculture Wall Paper & Guilds at a Barn

No room for a fruit tree?  Espalier them next to a wall, below.  Espalier is a type of pruning.  In ancient times espalier was a necessity.  Seasons were extended and more fruit produced.  Ancients called it survival.

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Basic.

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There is more, below, forcing the fruit trees to produce greater amounts.  

Guilds.

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Perhaps you think the guilds are merely tufts needing the weedeater?

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Do you know what guilds are?

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Guilds are under the fruit trees.  Guilds attract pollinators, increasing crop yields by 80%, without any extra human effort.

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Do the math !

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With a degree in engineering, and horticulture, I survived most of my adult life without those 2 facts, above.  Instead, thinking, "Rustic charm."

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Pitiful

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Leaving USA after the horticulture degree, what- else- was- one- to- do, to truly learn gardening, I fell in love with every le jardin rustique across Europe & Israel.  Created my Landscape Design Formula, Tara Turf, Axis etc...

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My soul intuitively delighting in experiencing thousands of years, combined, in individual 'le jardin rustiques'.

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Imagine my surprise when I looked up, permaculture, a term new to me.

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There I found my dear friend, 'le jardin rustique'.

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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

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pic via My American French Life.

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If you are just now learning these words, and what they mean, I'm sorry.  The joys I've had, for 2 decades across European gardens has been one of my chief delights.

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Assignment, go to Europe & study  the best historic gardens.  A good source for European garden travel tours, here.

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Wallpaper?  Allusion to thinking espalier was merely a pretty-thing-to-do.

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For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

.

Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.

.

Construction by Award Winning

Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

.

NOTE to my gardening friends... look for changes to come. 

Knew before computers/cell phones, sitting in Atlanta traffic on way to a client, 'I must reach a larger audience with the same amount of effort.'   Soon after that epiphany I signed my CBS-TV, and, books contracts on the same day.

.

Then I read an article in the NYTimes about something called 'blogging'.  Saved the article for a year before reading it.  Studied all the blogs they mentioned, hired a computer expert they quoted, and attended a blogging seminar.

.

Blogging 2.0 has arrived, my knowledge is 1.0.  A believer in copying the best historic gardens across the globe it flows into every arena of life.  Watching Maria Killam grow her career/blog/life over the past 3 years made its impact.  Signed up  for a year's course with her blogging expert, Jon Morrow. 

.

Changes will be slow, plodding is my adored method.  Pulling triggers here/there is spice in the mix.
.

What do YOU want?

.

Nothing is too small, too big, or too ego crushing to mention.

.

Passion lies in sharing what has filled me to the depths of grace, joy & atonement, the best landscapes created over the last 2,000+ years.

Just so you know... 
 I  welcome your input.

Design: Fearless Editing

What you won't see, below, in beautiful landscapes.

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In the best landscapes, across the globe & eras, courageous editing never ceases.

 Knock-out rose, above, is not paying the rent.  Client's boxwood had been in a disgusting cheap plastic pot.  Classic rolled rim cast concrete planter was lurking, empty, under the steps.

A few minutes old, above.  Pot & boxwood already paying rent.  Imagine when groundcovers are planted and oodles of flowers rim the pot.

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It's the rare garden not needing an edit.  And rarer, the garden without a lot of extra 'stuff'.

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What changes can you make in your landscape with these thoughts?

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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara

Pics at jobsite this week.  

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For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

.

Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.

.

Construction by Award Winning

Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

.

NOTE to my gardening friends... look for changes to come. 

Knew before computers/cell phones, sitting in Atlanta traffic on way to a client, 'I must reach a larger audience with the same amount of effort.'   Soon after that epiphany I signed my CBS-TV, and, books contracts on the same day.

.

Then I read an article in the NYTimes about something called 'blogging'.  Saved the article for a year before reading it.  Studied all the blogs they mentioned, hired a computer expert they quoted, and attended a blogging seminar.

.

Blogging 2.0 has arrived, my knowledge is 1.0.  A believer in copying the best historic gardens across the globe it flows into every arena of life.  Watching Maria Killam grow her career/blog/life over the past 3 years made its impact.  Signed up  for a year's course with her blogging expert, Jon Morrow. 

.

Changes will be slow, plodding is my adored method.  Pulling triggers here/there is spice in the mix.
.

What do YOU want?

.

Nothing is too small, too big, or too ego crushing to mention.

.

Passion lies in sharing what has filled me to the depths of grace, joy & atonement, the best landscapes created over the last 2,000+ years.

Just so you know... 
 I  welcome your input.

Homeschooling: Beautiful Easy Landscape Design with Layers of Learning

Well educated herself, she's probably surprised this, below, is her job now.  The best job she'll ever have, homeschooling her sons.

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Her chair faces the front yard.  My job is to take an adequate landscape and turn it into a multi-layered narrative more deeply entwined with stewardship than amusement.  Though amusement will still play a role.  A role we give to it, deeper/richer than assigned by society 'norms'.

What I will add to this landscape?
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Engagement.  I want to deeply engage 'her', more than her sons.  Everyday, wanting her to see something stunning, she glances, and thinks, 'wow'.  With blooms, berries, fruits, burgeoning of spring, perceptions of senescence, humus of fall, colors, paths, focal points, textures, repetitions, historical ties, fragrance, birds, possums, coons, squirrels, deer, insects, sounds of wind through foliage, intricacies of good soil and its productions for our survival, outdoor classrooms serendipitously appearing, outdoor classrooms created as destinations, unstudied playgrounds imagined by her and the boys at a whim, playground areas created for myriad games, beautiful landscape areas demanding an impromptu picnic, landscaped area created for a harvest table & dining or studying classwork, a pizza oven, a Peter Pan Express created from the indoor kitchen to their outdoor kitchen downstairs (ropes/pulley/wire basket), a cluster of bushes with an interior secret place for the boys to have a hobbit hole, strands of Italian piazza lights in a couple of places, a place for her to read/absorb the philosophy/poetry/essays of Wendell Berry, when it snows I want her to feel like her indoor classroom is a magical snow globe, a garden of epiphanies, a garden of stewardship more than amusement, a garden that needs her boys, a garden that provides more stewardship to her than she does to it, and so very much more.
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Many of the plants will have a large river stone, about 3 pounds, at their base, with Latin and common names written in grease pencil.  Instead of mulch the garden will have groundcovers, no nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium fertilizers will be used to poison the groundwater, amongst her dense shade a sunny enough spot must be found for a pear tree, new plantings will be added for the landscape to have something coming into bloom/color/berry every 2 weeks, a compost pile will be created, potager in pots on the deck where it is sunny and the boys learn agricultural yields are increased by the ornamental landscape surrounding it, and etc.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pic shot at jobsite last week.  Will draw their landscape this week.
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Help, what else does her garden need?
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For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

.

Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.

.

Construction by Award Winning

Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

.

NOTE to my gardening friends... look for changes to come. 

Knew before computers/cell phones, sitting in Atlanta traffic on way to a client, 'I must reach a larger audience with the same amount of effort.'   Soon after that epiphany I signed my CBS-TV, and, books contracts on the same day.

.

Then I read an article in the NYTimes about something called 'blogging'.  Saved the article for a year before reading it.  Studied all the blogs they mentioned, hired a computer expert they quoted, and attended a blogging seminar.

.

Blogging 2.0 has arrived, my knowledge is 1.0.  A believer in copying the best historic gardens across the globe it flows into every arena of life.  Watching Maria Killam grow her career/blog/life over the past 3 years made its impact.  Signed up  for a year's course with her blogging expert, Jon Morrow. 

.

Changes will be slow, plodding is my adored method.  Pulling triggers here/there is spice in the mix.
.

What do YOU want?

.

Nothing is too small, too big, or too ego crushing to mention.

.

Passion lies in sharing what has filled me to the depths of grace, joy & atonement, the best landscapes created over the last 2,000+ years.

Just so you know... 
 I  welcome your input.