A LITTLE COLOR

A few days ago in Oregon, below. What I like most, above? Remove flowers & pumpkins, and the design holds together.
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Your pots must be so wonderful they can be empty.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Love your porch pic Trina, thanks !

ROOFSCAPE

In your garden, looking back at your home, how does your roof look? Please tell me you don't have white pvc pipes sticking up from your roof.
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My real ROOF FETISH is about finials. But, that's another post.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Thank you Krystol for this pic.

KISS: Keep It Simple Sweetie

How little can you do in your landscape and have it evoke in picaresque who you are? Splendiferous you.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Thank you Krystol for this pic

PATH & PATIO

PATH GIRL, born 1935, hired me early summer. She was stuck in her backyard. One glance, I knew. First, stain patio furnishings a shade from inside.

More important, paths. PATH GIRL created a beautiful garden but the paths weren't 'done'. A roundabout, below, radiates paths.

Gravel to the rescue. PATH GIRL shoveled her own. Edging garden beds with stone found on-site & fallen tree limbs. Not quite finished yet. Yes, dearies, part of the design, use what's at hand.

An alcove of path with an antique marble bench &, while sitting on the bench, a pineapple, symbol of welcome, at your feet.

And the pre-built potting shed, Magnolia Hall, is steeped in gravel too.

Up to its side, adding a new sitting area.

Many weeks of shoveling then an invitation to lunch.

Crabcakes & conversation. Hours of connection.

In the dining room a 2nd, smaller, table for games, reading or dining with a view.

Vanishing Threshold views, above & below.

NOTES & RESOURCES:

* Edge gravel path, with stone or brick, closer to the house.

* Edge gravel path with fallen tree limbs farther away from the house.

* Transitioning edging materials creates another layer of interest.

* Paint Colors for deck furniture: Behr Ultra Exterior Satin [primer & paint all in one] at Home Depot. Antique Red UL 170, Native Soil 179-22 [taupe].

* Powder Coating of wrought iron table/chairs: http://www.millerpowdercoating.com/. 4251 Wayside Ct. #B, Lilburn, GA, 770-931-1505.

* Rug for deck, not shown, http://www.rugsusa.com/

* Shot pea gravel: Atlanta Landscape Materials, 5996 Buford Hwy., Doraville, GA 770-936-8462

* Lantern, not shown, http://www.nadeauimports.com/, Buckhead Store.

* PATH GIRL had the shot pea gravel delivered to her driveway. It took her several weeks to shovel from the pile to a wheelbarrow then dump into place. A neighbor, seeing her shovel, offered help. With a smile of appreciation she happily declined. Enjoying her gardening too much to let others in on her fun. Remember PATH GIRL, born 1935, is DIY.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

CECIL BEATON & CELIA THAXTER

Dear Cecil photographed his conservatory, below. At first glance I thought it was an 'illumination' by Childe Hassam.
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Then I locked eyes on the Blue/White mixed with terra cotta & wicker. A trinity that will never go out of style. A trinity I've used consistently, Ha, thinking it was original.
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Childe Hassam has pictures and illuminations throughout, An Island Garden, by Celia Thaxter.
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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.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic from Architectural Digest Celebrity Home, 1977, via, Mrs. Blandings.

TRIPLE AXIS FROM THIS BENCH

A landscape where you might see a, "disheveled wood nymph after a night carousing with satyrs." as N. Singer wrote. Oops, digressing. Sitting in the bench, above, you'll see the house, below, a double axis.

Sitting in the bench, and looking right,you'll see this axis, above.

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The more axis a focal point has the better a focal point is.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Krystol, thanks for your pics.

POT CLUSTER

Castles to cottages, throughout Europe, you'll see pot clusters. Rather a lot, above. Sometimes it's a single pot, but wow, in that single pot is something Of-The-Moment-Fabulous.
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Don't you love gravel upholstering the ground? I'm not a fan of ornamental grass but here it's done with palpable magnificence.
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Tiny, this landscape, and erudite.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Thank you Krystol for this pic from England.

DOUBLE AXIS IN YOUR LANDSCAPE

If you have a focal point bench in your landscapeyou must be able to sit in the bench and see another focal point. Double Axis.
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My invention, Double Axis. Realizing all the best gardens have it. And. Yes, dahlings, more. The more axis views a focal point has the better it is.
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From the house, above, you see an Enfilade to the focal point bench. From the bench, above, you see an Enfilade to the focal point house/terrace/urns.
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Isn't it amazing how one line in a garden looks like 2 gardens when viewed in opposite directions?
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Thank you Krystol for your English pics.

VANISHING THRESHOLD STORY

Vanishing Threshold, with so little, yet it's a story. And I want to know the story!
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NOTES:
* Great color choices: roof, doors, bricks, throw over couch, pony-curtains-chair.
* Bricks leading to house acting as a doormat.
* Chair outside brings outside in and inside out, Vanishing Threshold.
* Weeds in the bricks & gravel. Delightful. Reality.
* I would like to see lamps on inside.
* Love the tiny bit of framing with plant foliage.
* Fabulous little landscape space with few ingredients. Yet, I want to know the story.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Thank you Krystol for this Pony Pic taken while you were in England.

CENTURIES OLD YET NEW

Nothing original here. It's all been done, for centuries. Yet it's fresh at each site. Easy to maintain.
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IN THIS LANDSCAPE:
* Path mown thru low meadow on axis to home
* Repetition of greens
* Contrasting shapes, oval & connical, of large shrubs & trees
* Gravel terrace scaled appropriately to architecture of home & functional use
* Pair of planters, informing you, "Yes, enter here."
* Plant on the house, Gertrude Jekyll, world's 1st landscape designer, said, "The first thing I consider in a design is what to put on the house."
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I'm already in my new cedar Adirondack chair, from Smith/Hawken going-out-of-business sale, reading a book on this gravel terrace. Of course it's stained the color of the window trim.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Thank you Krystol for sending this pic from your England trip.

RAIN BUTT

They speak of life. The makers hand, & heart. The art of living a Vanishing Threshold life.
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Rain butt contrivances do amuse.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Thank you Krystol for sending me your pic taken while visiting England. Few people thrill at the still life of a rain butt. Much less take a picture. Mine are all slides........

SALIENT FACT: MONET

Monet's gardeners wore blue. But, of course !! The delicious book where I discovered this salient fact did not go further. Oh no. What shade of blue????????

Is this Monet's gardener's blue? Monet painting in his garden, by Renoir.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Monet, via, www.artchive.com, Girl in Blue, via, Tongue & Cheek.