A WINTER LANDSCAPE--A LITTLE HOWARD'S END

Enter as I did. A gap in the hedge. No hint of what lies beyond. Curious? Standing in the gap, seeing a charming garden. A small Howard's End.

Echoes of the frontdoor................

.......in the back wall of the summer house.

More evergreen hedges, below, leading where? Mystery. A potager? Clothesline? Chaise lounge for sunning nude?

Flagstone terrace, not lawn, at the house. Extending the house.

This house doesn't have a back. Each side is delightful.

Lead horse trough now a rain butt.

All the sticks & browns soon to become blossoms, calendar shots.

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Winter's bleak chic more important than the ease of spring/summer blowzy caresses.

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I didn't want to leave this Howard's End-a new clip- world-life-feeling-energy-joy.

This dirt path is landscape design brilliance. A feeling of the country in the city & cementing the idea of being in another garden room. Leaving the garden through another gap in the hedge. Tara's Golden Circle: the ability to enter/leave a garden room through 2 or more doorways. A little design trick I observed in the best of old landscapes.

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This landscape is a several hour design class but you're busy. Thanks for taking the time to walk in the garden with me.

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I shot these pics last month at the Birmingham England Botanic Garden.

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Garden & Be Well, XO T

DESIGNING A B&B LANDSCAPE: COPYING KEW

Ric the Inn Keeper from Highlands, NC is ready to landscape his B&B. I'll drive up in March.

He has grassy areas and wooded.
I see Kew gardens at his B&B. Timeless, inviting, low maintenance, sustainable, serene.

Canopy & understory trees, shrubs, focal point bench, TaraTurf.

Contrasting: oval trees, weeping, conical, crooked, evergreen, deciduous, green foliage, yellow....

Ric, I want these pictures from Kew in your head before I arrive. I know you want more color. We'll place viburnum, rhododendron, mountain laurel, peony, antique roses, hydrangea, lenten rose, iris, on axis with views from the B&B.

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TaraTurf is fescue, moss, clover, crocus, dwarf daffodils, whatever the wind blows in. Are you that brave?

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I took the pics last month at the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew.

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Garden & Be Well, XO T

PETERSHAM NURSERIES & VEGETABLE GARDENS

How landscapes intersect with a home fascinate me. Petersham Nurseries in England occasionally opens the private garden of Petersham House, below. Does your nursery understand the relationship of house & landscape? Petersham's vegetable garden. A seduction. Peter Rabbit feelings, I want to nibble this garden.

Simplicity. Narrow beds to work in easily. Brick path for foot and wheelbarrow. Soil I want to roll in, smell & feel on my skin.

Tree branches & twine ALWAYS trump

store bought stakes & cheap green plastic ties.

If people saw what I did with their trash they would offer to BUY it back.

. No branches? Field gather from neighbor's prunings.

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This peak at Petersham House, landscape & vegetable garden make me want more. I want to see inside Petersham House.

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Does your landscape do that? Ask yourself, Are people salivating to see inside my home because of my landscape?

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photos from Petersham Nursery. Thank you Pigtown*Design for introducing me to them.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

LAKE RABUN & BRIDESHEAD REVISITED

I fell in love with College Boy. Watching Brideshead Revisited with Emma Thompson I learned more. I fell in love with College Boy, the charms of his family and this house, owned by his grandmother, Miss Louise.

Built on land in the shape of Florida, the house faces the lake on both sides.

Built in the teens the house had servant quarters, a delightful carriage house with storage for hay, 2 docks, boathouse, guest house, stone tunnel, a boiler in the attic, badminton court, extensive gardens & a summer house.

Spring water, still soft & sweet, for the house came from land Miss Louise owned further up the mountain.

We honeymooned here. Living in the big house by day, sleeping in the guest house by night. Much later I realized every picture from my honeymoon is of plants.

Stones for the house & fireplaces, 13 total, came from nearby.

Dining room, below, still has this furniture. Pics from the 1920's.

The chair, above, missing a spindle, now at the desk in my bay window. It's an American windsor dated 1897 on the bottom.

The big house is 1 room deep with 19 pair of French doors.

Lake Rabun from the back terrace.

Family dinners, birthdays, anniversaries, being with my dogs, reading, or lunch alone thru the years on the terrace, above, fill my spiritual well.

Jenny, my mother-in-law, at right, dead of breast cancer at age 57.

So many hours boating. I can hear the motor of these boats.

After Miss Louise died Jenny had the chairs, below, in her garden. They are now in my garden.

The best view of any lake house. Hidden in the trees.

My competitive Texas tennis days never translated into being a good waterskier.

I spent hours gardening at Lake Rabun. Its landscape designed by a professional. Slowly, intuitively, understanding its paths, evergreen hedges, stone walls, cut-fill, axis, and more. How each room interacts with the outside. How a person's life interacts with a house & its landscape.

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Miss Louise gardened here, her sister, Aunt Tillie gardened here, her daughter, Aunt Mary, gardened here. Jenny played. She taught me about picnics, music, books, nature, cooking, Peter Pan decadence, photography, films, bleak chic, dressing-up a cat, hiking and ultimately how to be myself.

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Marrying College Boy was fate's way of placing 4 mentors in my life, Miss Louise, Aunt Tillie, Aunt Mary and Jenny. And Lake Rabun.

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Lake Rabun is in every landscape I design.

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Brideshead Revisted doesn't miss a topic I've experienced at Lake Rabun. Separating from the charms of others, or a place, is never easy. You don't know what's on the other side. With age you learn it's freedom.

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Garden & Be Well XO Tara

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Family pics

ATTACHING VINES TO YOUR HOUSE

Gertrude Jekyll, Englishwoman & world's 1st landscape designer, said, When I design a landscape the first thing I consider is what to put on the house. Fascinating. College degree, uncountable lectures attended and not one person ever, ever, mentioned what to put on a house. I design with vines and espaliered woody shrubs on homes.

You can vaguely see the wires on the house, below. Vines with outward growth add a dimension of lushness & softness.

In winter, the wires are barely visible. Entirely cloaked in summer.

Run galvanized wire in horizontal lines 2' apart.

I use masonry screws for brick walls & a jackhammer drill. Copper wire doesn't carry the load of galvanized wire.

Woody shrubs espaliered against a home need no wires or trellising. Use espaliered shrubs for low maintenance.

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I took the pics last month in England at Wisley, Royal Hort. Society.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

PLINTH: QUESTIONS & FANTASIES

Waking at 2am last night I dwelled upon this man. His PLINTH entertained me. He's Edwardian, placed in an English Park surrounded by homes older than he is. Pedastals and bases are plinths. Made of stacked bricks, limestone, marble, &tc.
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Questions about this plinth:
* Did the sculptor choose it?
* Did a committee choose it?
* How was its height, length, width decided upon?
* Who chose the material and why?
* Who placed the plinth/statue within the park?
* How was the location on the plinth chosen to place the statue's foot?
* Who decided which direction to face the statue?

What I do know:
* The sculptor lived in a house facing the park.
* The sculptor is famous (sorry, didn't get pic of the plaque).
* The sculptor left the statue, in his will, to the park.

What I want to know:
* Which house the sculptor lived in.
* Where was the statue placed at his home?
* What type of plinth was it on?
* Is this the original plinth?
* Did the sculptor leave precise directions for placing the statue, plinth in his will?

What I fantasized about this man:
* He was given to me.
* Placing him in my landscape.
* Cutting plinth lower to properly scale it for my tiny garden.
* Getting rid of his plinth and putting his lovely foot on a local granite boulder.
* He looked great in front of the bay window.
* He looked great in the hedge in my backyard on axis with summerhouse.
* He looked great on axis from my office window.
* Fell asleep before I placed him.


Lovely thoughts of a man's PLINTH.
Ha, what do you think about at 2am?
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Took the pic last month in England.
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Garden & Be Well, XO T

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?

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.

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

MOVING A POORLY SITED TREE

PSO, my term for, plant shape only, works initially. Growth displays poor planting choices. The landscape, below, was professionally designed-installed for the former owner. Royal Doulton & Exotic Bell, the new owners, must fix numerous PSO's before creating a landscape reflecting their multi-continent awareness of historic landscapes. The tree, above, if allowed to stay will engulf half the facade of the home. Where to move it?

Royal Doulton's office, above, views the front landscape. An axis to place the tree. PSO becomes focal point. I want him to enjoy the tree he is saving and have its placement be perfection.

Royal Doulton didn't know the tree he saved is a great haven for birds. Ambient sounds for his workday.

Near the frontdoor, above, a window. Peek inside, a circular stairwell. Look closely, the paint is a bit spattered. Good landscape design, Tara's way, includes everything you can see inside a house from the landscape. Touch up the spatters.

Above, stone, brick, copper, cut limestone, a lovely frontdoor, a real gas lantern, and generous size. A beautiful entry. Don't diminish beauty with something cute. The 'welcome' sign is not welcome here.

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The house already says 'welcome' in tones of elegance & intelligence.

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Styling a landscape often involves removing 'cute' gifts from a loved one. Awkward if it was from an in-law, step-child or etc... If so, keep it for about a year and then it must suddenly 'break & disappear'. Don't mention the trip to the thrift store. If you really can't get rid of a horrible landscape 'gift' plant an evergreen vine on it.
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Garden & Be Well, XO T

LANDSCAPE SWAG

Normally CUTE KILLS in a landscape. When I began designing landscapes the rules were restrictive to my novice mind. CUTE KILLS is a Tara Rule. What is cute? A flag with a pink bunny rabbit at Easter perhaps? Cute steals the eye & mind. Landscapes of intelligence & wit expand the eye & mind. How can you tell the difference? Take a picture. Is the landscape timeless? Can you tell which decade the landscape occupies? What is the correct answer? "NO". Somehow, this SWAG works. Rules followed: contrasting foliage size, contrasting foliage color, contrasting barren dry gravel 'lawn' around a center pool of water plants.

More Rules Followed: Focal point statue on axis, focal point bench on axis, enfilade created (view thru to a view), hedges create a garden room, creating sound with water feature, creating sound with feet on gravel, KISS (keep it simple Sweetie), shades of green create serenity.

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I took these pics a couple of years ago in England. They could have been taken yesterday or 1910.

LUSH PATIO TEMPLATE

Does your patio, or deck, answer the question:
IS THIS PATIO SO WONDERFUL I MUST SEE THE LANDSCAPE AND IS THIS PATIO SO WONDERFUL I MUST SEE INSIDE THE HOUSE?

If you're not answering YES the patio isn't finished.
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PATIO-DECK TEMPLATE: Lush plantings, privacy, easy to move furnishings, comfort, color choices for furnishings-home-accents to match interior design, lighting choices, detailing choices on house for 3-D effects, above, it's the shutters, large pots, area for conversation-reading-napping, area for eating, outdoor ceiling fans. Is the patio an extension of the room/s it is viewed from?

The template doesn't waver for the value of your real estate. Starter home or Madoff golf course community, the template remains the same.

Thank you Cote de Texas for posting this picture, from Ernesto Buch, on your blog

Garden & Be Well XO T

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

INTERIOR DESIGN INSPIRES LANDSCAPE DESIGN

Landscape magazines haven't inspired me for design in at least a decade.
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Interior magazines are full of ideas if you transpose furnishings & art for plants & hardscape.

Copy your interior style outside.

The table, below, is a landscape template. A pathway leads through its center. Shrubs and groundcovers are each side of the path. The insect is an iron arbor coated in evergreen vine leading to another garden room. The candlesticks are an understory tree, perhaps redbud. The ferns in terra cotta pots are southern indica azaleas. The plate is a drift of Lenten rose. Bric-brac- to the left of center- are wild ginger. The green walls are obviously a hedge of dwarf cherry laurel. The pair of chairs are lovely urns on plinths. Below, another tiny space to copy outside. Perhaps the side of a brick house between a front corner and fireplace. The lamp is witchhazel 'Arnolds Promise', the vase a cryptomeria 'Yoshino'. The 3 misc. items a variegated daphne, dwarf sarcoccoca, and heuchera 'pewter veil'. Placement of the plants matches the tabletop.

This would be fun, below. The painting would be a blue conifer, pair of vases, to the left, Snow azalea. The pair of matching silver candlesticks are fastigiate plum yew, the roses a dwarf burgundy loropetalum, the finial looking thing a daphne and the decanter a virginia sweetspire.

Everything blooms white but the plant where the roses are. All evergreen plants except the decanter (virginia sweetspire). The chair transposes into a bench outside. Paint it a showy color from artwork within the house.

Planting zones and scale don't matter the theory is the same for all scales and zones.

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Design using furnishings transposed into plants works especially well with mature landscapes needing a tweak.

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The overall landscape design must have strong simple structure.

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Photos via style court, Courtney Barnes. Top from Thomas Jayne Studio, middle from Josyln at Desgin*Sponge, bottom from Martin Morrell.
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Garden & Be Well XO T