Great Dixter

Centuries old, reconditioned by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Great Dixter, below, became famous for its gardens thanks to Christopher Lloyd, below right. He lived his entire life here.

Fergus Garrett, above, continues, as planned, Great Dixter's garden, now open to the public.

When I saw this garden room, above, at Great Dixter I knew it was the most important garden room I'd ever visited. Almost 2 decades later, it still is.

Succession plantings are the style at Great Dixter. Something new always coming into bloom. Mulch is not needed the plantings are so layered & thick.

Each of Great Dixer's garden rooms is pure opera. But that's too easy. The opera changes daily. Hourly.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken from Great Dixter, and, Intercontinental Gardener blog. Christopher Lloyd wrote many books.............and you want them all. Alas, all my Great Dixter pics are still slides. Luckily I volunteered at a garden symposium and was able to spend time with Christopher Lloyd many moons ago.

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Classes & seminars are taught at Great Dixter.

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That incredible garden room? Did it speak to you too?

Talk About It

Garden Design Rule: Talk about what you want to do in your garden with friends. You'll be surprised how much FREE stuff you'll get.
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Plants, stone, furniture, wood, windows, iron, leftover paint, light fixtures, & etc..... What?
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Shipman said, "Take the windows I have", after I described the conservatory I want to build.
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Harbor an attitude of FREE. It works.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Shipman & I heard Fergus Garrett of Great Dixter at Atlanta Botanical Garden recently. Afterward we shared a bottle of champagne & selection of appetizers & deserts at www.EmpireStateSouth.com. Newly opened in downtown Atlanta, it's a Hugh Acheson restaurant. His other, 5&10, in Athens, GA is the top rated in the state.
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Fergus, ABG, Champagne, Shipman, & FREE WINDOWS........a Cinderella evening for this garden girl.
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Don't know Fergus Garrett or Great Dixter...........Christo????? Ok poppets, I'll fill you in tomorrow!
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Shipman rescued the circa 1940 windows, above, months ago from a huge dumpster as a nearby home was renovated. If I don't use all of them they will go to Susanne Hudson's barn......

Desert Dweller

At the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert are axis views of landscapes & gardens. Vanishing Threshold, seen-lived-designed-photographed by landscape architect, David Cristiani. Above & below, same line, 2 views, Double Axis.

Creating Double Axis, AND, the still life, below. David expands the world in each detail.

Walls, arbor, vine, sidewalks, neighbors, plant combinations, pots, colors, below, made me laugh in joy. Why? How often do you see SO much look so simple?

We know it's beyond simple. It's MAGIC.

From his laptop, above, another axis & more than magic. Grace.

A bedroom view, treated as a painting on the wall.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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All pics taken by David Cristiani.

David, I really do laugh out loud, & learn, seeing your landscapes & gardens. You are ANAL about Vanishing Threshold, Axis, Double Axis. Providence smiles in simplicity & grace within your work. Thank you for sharing your talents.

House Tour With the Landscape

Only 2 years ago this antebellum home was enlarged slightly. Indian artifacts & antiques predating the Civil War, many inherited, fill the entire home.

Every bit of this room, below, new construction.

Only a few feet beyond the window views, above, is a neighbor's home.

Sconces, below, were rescued from an old home. New ones were made to order.

I adore copying table tops, below, for shrub & understory tree placement in gardens.

A portion of the home was removed and placed freestanding, below, as a dependency.

Yes, top pic, she served mimosas & I didn't say 'no'.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last month in Athens, GA. Same home/garden as the previous post.

Shotgun Lot

Only a few feet from this window, below, are the neighbors, below.

From a front room view, below, see the brick chimney? It's where this antebellum home was 1st located. As family fortune increased they built a new antebellum home on the same site, moving this home to its current location.

In the same room, as above, another view, below, on a different wall.

With a smile & sparkle she proclaimed her home the "first mobile home in Athens, GA."

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Yes, poppets, this is the same home as in the previous post.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last month in Athens, GA. Stay tuned for more interior shots. Beautiful views from shotgun lots are among the hardest achieved.

Same Spot: 2 Views

Shooting pic, below, in a tiny garden. Feet remain stationary, below,

& shooting a pic in the opposite direction.

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Double Axis never ceases to amaze. Being on the same line with night & day views.

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Can you do this in your garden?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last month in the same antebellum garden as the previous post.

Accessorized For 2 Views

Afficionado of lamps, old baskets & how others accessorize their tables I knew before going into her home it was going to be inspiring.

Intuitively she knew to accessorize in 2 views; from the garden & from the house. Majority rustic antiques with hints of antique crystal & silver, yes, I knew I had to see the rest of this house & garden. More importantly, to know the person behind the magic.

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The garden is teeny/tiny. You don't know that from her views out. Instead her tiny garden becomes paintings on the wall.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics from the same home & garden as yesterday, taken last month. Can't wait to show you more tomorrow.

On The Porch

Everything on her porch told me I adored her, & we hadn't met yet.

Intuitively knowing she did the decorating for interior/exterior.

By the time a woman uses Kimberly Queen ferns, she KNOWS what she's about.

Vanishing Theshold, combining home/garden were a given, before I went into her home. I KNEW it.

Sherman, blessedly, didn't burn this antebellum home. Poppets, as Anne Shirley said in Anne of Green Gables, 'There is so much scope for the imagination..."

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken in Athens, GA, last month, same afternoon as the previous 2 gardens posted. I was in Girl Crush the moment we stopped at the curb. Had to know the woman creating the magic....

Depth in Simplicity

Simplicity. Flat wall softened into 3-D with: light fixture, bell, foliage, arbor. Kinetics of bell, gate, foliage, light, invitation for eye & foot. Repetition of color. Just inside the gate, below.

Piquant surpise, below, look closely, an outdoor shower.

Not far away, below, more depth in simplicity with stones in the wall.

Surprise, a second gate, below.

A curve, using iron instead of brick & wood amplifying depth in simplicity.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken in Athens, GA last month. Same Italianate garden as previous posts. Begun in the 70's this garden is still evolving, enjoy walking thru it. A landscape design class could be taught here.

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Notice the diminutive light fixtures? Perfection. Leaving intact a design feature of th Edwardians.

Sojourns From Italy

At the property line, below, a hedge & faux gate. Look close, it's mirrored. Hints of an English cottage garden, below.

Double axis with a potager, below, viewed from the frontyard.

Potager, below, viewed from the backyard.

Little details, oozing water ball, abound, below.

There are no wrong notes in this Italianate garden.

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Surprised to see sojourns from Italy in the same garden as the previous post?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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I knew, 20 minutes into the hour spent in this Italianate garden, it was a book. The owner, after my nonstop questions & pictures, finally relented to my rudeness and asked me into her home. Poppets, you know I had to see her Vanishing Threshold. ODG, garden views from inside her home are a day's worth of shooting.

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I would love, love, love to write & shoot the book of this garden.

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Beauty & something to learn on each page !!!!!!!

Double Axis

Looking along a path, below, in one direction. Looking along the same path, below, in its opposite direction.

DOUBLE AXIS. (Same garden as yesterday's post.)

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Double Axis, my landscape design invention (la-ti-da). I noticed the best gardens have beautiful axis, and when you turn around they are beautiful along the opposite axis, DOUBLE AXIS.

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So, dear poppets, it's not merely good enough to have a beautiful view. You must have a beautiful view in 2 directions along the same line.

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Of course you can throw a roundabout into your Double Axis and create a Double Double Axis. Life is good when these are your musings.

Subtle Focal Points

Walking into the garden room, below, (from yesterday's post) is the tennis player (have I mentioned winning the district tennis 4-A womens singles tennis championship 2 years in a row?). Opposite the tennis player, below, is St. Fiacre. Circa 1930's he is an inherited piece.

The tennis player & St. Fiacre book end the garden room, originally a tennis court.

Another doorway, above, in this garden room (apologies poppets, didn't ask its name).

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Dry stack stone wall & drystone steps. (Paying attention guys at the stone supply? Yes, you, who told my client last week it was 'impossible' to dry stack wall & steps as I drew in the plan. Please skip Scotland, Italy, my past clients in the states & etc.... you'll discover centuries worth of dry stack. By-the-way, I sent those clients to you, paying customers in a bad economy. They bought no stone from you & called me afterward confused. No worries, I got them going again & sent them to a different stone store!! 7 tons of fieldstone is your lost sale.)

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Tennis player & St. Fiacre are subtle focal points. Not subsidiary focal points & not main focal points. A delicious garden.