Man vs Crew vs DIY

Susanne Hudson & I chose the site, theme, materials & designed our Garden Conservatory, below, for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival last spring in Douglasville, GA.We also had this man, below.
Fluid of movement. Body, clothes, tools, materials, site, social skills, sense of humor, (pleasing 2 exacting women), decades of experience &, most important, intellect.

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He surpassed expectation (we knew he would), came in under budget, ahead of schedule & worked alone aside from Suzanne & I doing our girlie best.

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The other gardens created for the festival? Each, created with crews of men & heavy equipment.

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Our man? Last of the Mohicans.

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It was an honor to watch him work.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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In my garden I'm mostly DIY, in my dreams I have the skills of this man.

Landscape Light for Interiors

Owner, interior designer, photographer each Get It about landscape light, below.What's To Get?

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Lamps, chandeliers, mirrors, textures, window treatments, colors, & etc., myriad surfaces inside a home, affect lighting.

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Most important to interior lighting, above? Light from the windows. A daily theatrical, landscape tainted.

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Before light enters the home, above, it is infused by the landscape. Carried inside by a joyful Providence.

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Does your interior use Providential light? Mine does, by choice. It's how I want to live.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic from Jennifer McGee Design. This girl is GOOD. Many pics of her work include landscape light. Did you notice the open door, above? In my imagination ginger lilies are blooming in the garden & their scent......

Which is the Focal Point?

Obviously the lake, below, is the focal point.Perhaps the focal point is the Illusion of Repose?
Living a busy life, what you see from your windows will enrich your spirit or diminish your energy.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken at a jobsite yesterday. A ca. 1970's subdivision with ranch & split-level style homes around a lake. I've used the landscape design style of Italy at Lake Maggiore for this home/garden. Focal point of the lake is pure. Added evergreen tall hollies to block views of neighbors. And, at the back of the home, a small flagstone terrace for enjoying views of the lake. 5 understory trees were added; the canopy layer was too abrupt with its groundcover layer. Creates a better pollinator habitat too. Odd, in hindsight, how classic-of-the-ages landscape design translates into the best pollinator habitats.

Landscape the Ubiquities of Life Away

"Here I am breathing the soft air of Mount Edgcumbe standing upon the brink of a Cliff overlooking the sea and singing Notturnos with Pacchierotti. Innumerable bees are humming about the Myrtles and Arbutus which hang on the steeps and are covered with blossom." William Beckford 1781Oh my, the connection is intense. Gardens transcend time, size, style, budget, governments.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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View from my garage, above, living in a ubiquitous American subdivision. With my garden, I've left the ubiquities behind.

Kerry Ann Mendez: Author, Speaker, Designer

The Ultimate Flower Gardener's TOP TEN LISTS, 70 Garden-Transforming Lists, Money Saving Shortcuts, Design Tips & Smart Plant Picks for Zones 3, 4 and 5. By Kerry Ann Mendez.Warning: Kerry Mendez is explosive. She's on fire for gardening. When lecturing she emits a direct electrical current to your mind/heart. (Which, unfortunately, travels to your checkbook!)
The 8th Annual Great Gardens & Landscaping Symposium, April 1-2, 2011, at The Equinox, Manchester, VT, is not to be missed. (Another talent of Kerry's, she created & produces the symposium. Great speakers, sponsors, location, food.)
Kerry's book, above, is for gardeners in ANY zone/continent with myriad real-world-practical-helpful garden tips.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics by Kerry taken in her garden. I love/adore Kerry. There's only 1 problem, we live sooooooo far apart ! You know the type of speaker that motivates you into a garden center within 24 hours after hearing them? That's Kerry.

Working With The Earth

An allee of trees with triple axis, below, do you see? The Wild Wood remains, but with several paths entering. (Alert Poppets: This is perfect pollinator habitat with low density-high density & canopy-understory-groundcover, plus multiple seasons of bloom/berry/seed.)But first, below, an oval of turf. What's left, red clay, will become meadow (clover, fescue, bulbs, English daisy, ageratum, rudbeckia fulgida x fulgida, what the wind blows in & etc.)
Broad dry stone steps, below, taming the slope. Meadow, mown at 3 heights
will carpet these steps.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Will keep you posted on this garden, it's phasing in over the next year. I adore each process of creating a beautiful landscape. Wish you could smell what it's like. Churning up the soil, laying sod, placing stone & etc. Love how the earth releases it's myriad aromas during this phase, exotic-musky-ancient-clean, accepts what we do then calms itself. Leaving only memories of its exciting scent.

NYC Vanishing Threshold

Puppet Barbuda loves the horticultural humor, below. Vanishing Threshold with delicious hardscape. At the same NYC hotel, below, Puppet Barbuda loves the plantings,

container, and edge-of-chaos landscape style. Poppets, did you notice the chartreuse foliage matches the chartreuse stripe in the rug? Not an accident. These people get it!

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics via Firmdale hotels.

Chinoiserie

Screen door, below, had a horrendous 'colonial' motif. Hired a carpenter to put in the Chinoiserie.Plant foxglove, above, they ALWAYS make you look like you know how to garden !
My front door, above, is Chinoiserie too. The painted pattern copied from artwork in a calendar I had moons ago.

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OVERDOSE YOUR THEME. French, Italian, Chinoiserie & etc. doesn't matter Poppets, overdose it.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics from my garden. Love the blog, Chinoiserie Chic.

Playing Favorites

Sir Roy Strong, below, my favorite Landscape Designer. His garden, below, The Laskett.

Now you know how Laskett, my cat, got his name.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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I'm such a Landscape Design nerd I have Sir Roy Strong on my Google Alerts!! Sir Roy Strong has written many books, including a few landscape books. Hope you have them on your shelves.

Tables: Square or Rectangle

Still life, pot collection, flagstone terrace in dirt, groundcovers, vines, conifers, meadow, high & low density for maximum pollinator habitat, contrasting textures & colors(foliage), color of window trim, timelessness, Vanishing Threshold, rectangular table, & which continent is this..... (Did you really know so much was in this gorgeous pic?)Puppet Barbuda cannot abide round tables for terrace/patio/deck.
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Puppet Barbuda loves square or rectangular tables; they are so flexible. Pushed next to your home, a rail, edge of terrace, behind a bench.
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Puppet Barbuda loves the flexibility of 2 square tables; used separately or pushed together.
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Imagine the pic, above, with a round table. Ick.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Tara Question: Pic of your patio/deck should answer, "Is this so wonderful I must see the garden & is this so wonderful I must go inside & see the interiors?"
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Pic from Dana Gallagher. Puppet Barbuda knows there are exceptions to her round-table-disdain.

Mystery

My home & garden, below.Love the (FANTASY) world I've created within a cluster home subdivision. Living in the world but not of the world. (Note: western sun baked this area & winter's wind slammed into it. Not anymore. Tea olives/cleyeras stop the cold winds & crape myrtles shade me, dropping foliage for winter's sun to warm me & host song birds all year to sing & entertain me. Yes, Poppets, the workings of the universe/nature were created solely for my amusement. Lawn, above, belongs to my neighbor.)

Near Virginia Highland, above. Trees, wall, car have been exactly like this since I moved to Atlanta in 1982. Ooooooh, the mystery of that garden.
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Hedges & walls; great for creating mystery. Every garden needs Mystery.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Say Sab, recognize that car? Yes, it's a Buick Wildcat !!! Remember flinging me out of the car while you were still driving it???? Poppets, my grandmother gave a 1964, white with red leather interior, Buick Wildcat to my sister & me when we were teenagers. Pic, above, taken last month while sitting at a red light.

Bleachers

Bleachers were common in gardens 2-3 decades ago. Now? Not so much. Cinder blocks with 2" x 6" boards were typical. Pure, undiluted salvage also. Too stark? Stain your bleachers a faded green ,or some such color, from Benjamin Moore or Farrow & Ball.
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Garden & Be Well XO Tara
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These bleachers, above, are perfection. Terra cotta theme, vines, and resplendent rain butt. Lotta lush in teeny/tiny space. Found pic via WSJ Magazine.