Building a Conservatory

I am without a Conservatory for a year, after 'the move'.  Built not long before the move, how could I possible have known how deeply woven into my life, and DNA, it had become?
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Missed as a friend, beacon, nurturer, metaphor.
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Not a woman of means, my conservatory was made from old windows, parts, & furnishings, I had been hunting/gathering for a decade, and storing in the garage.  Finally, enough parts rescued, and money saved for labor & materials to build it.  Just because I was without great means did not include doing without a fireplace, chandelier, lamps, electricity and sockets everywhere.  Poverty of spirit has never been an issue, a real woman has priorities with scarce funds.  Talking a good game is lame, living it is life.
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A shed at our farm has already been moved and renovated.  Alas, it is storing tools, and my boxed up library, until the barn is built.  Two roofs, front & back, were built onto the shed, the old Kubota tractor, and golf cart, sometimes Tess, my beloved little ugly van, are parked under the shade of the shed roofs, and a, now, motley collection of chairs from my previous 30 year garden.  Those chairs, in the shade, and overlooking woodland, chicken coop, pasture, lake, meadow, are my only spot in the garden to 'be', simply be.  Scope for the imagination, as Anne would say.
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Creating my new Conservatory, from a shed, has more constraints at our ca. 1900 farmhouse.  It must be of its era.  Constraints for design, I adore, they push creativity.
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It's interesting looking at Conservatory pics, again, but for a different type of Conservatory.  Pulling new elements forward, dropping others entirely.  Life is rich, a 2nd Conservatory to create.



Pic, above, here.

Clusters of cloches & terra cotta pots, above, are awaiting their farm debut.  At present they are under the house stored on shelves.

 

Pic, above, here.

A black iron table base similar to, above, is stored in our materials yard.  Saw this and knew immediately, paint it white, put a small round top on it.  Chandeliers are stored under the house, awaiting.

 

Pic, above, here.

Tools, I have tools, and baskets.  Only the very best old tools/baskets will go into my new Conservatory.  Not for show, to use.  Literally.  Beloved has his own tools, somehow my tools are taken/used/not put back.  Harry Potter must have a horrid incantation against the not-put-back.

 

Pic, above, here.

What is a Conservatory without a drop leaf table?  Drop leaf table from my previous Conservatory is in my office now.  Enjoying the anticipation, Which drop leaf table will be chosen for this new Conservatory?

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Pic, above, here.

Have adored Belgian Pearls, above, Conservatory, small, functional, aesthetic.  Harvest table I've bought, hasn't been delivered yet, will be tucked under the shed roof, just like, above.  Sensing the problem?  I will need another harvest table to put under the great open sky.  Stars are too amazing, living rural.  

 

Pic, above, mine, conservatory at my 30 year garden.

Lamp in my previous Conservatory, above, is now in the front parlor on an antique chest.  Cannot wait for the Lamp Layer to arrive, furnishing my new Conservatory.



Pic, above, mine, conservatory in my 30 year garden.

Pair of blue chairs, above, are flanking the door to my new Conservatory.  Now green.



Pic, above, here.

A client's Conservatory, above.  A conservatory must be minimum 12' x 18', and have doors on 2 walls.  They did well, yes?  More, their conservatory made it to the cover of This Old House magazine.  Posted somewhere on my blog.

 

Pic, above, I shot in Susanne Hudson's garden.
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Once the old Kubota tractor & golf cart, now at the shed, leave for their new home, a long desk with lamps, above, is their replacement.  For expedience Beloved used large gravel at the shed during renovation, it will have to be scraped away, used elsewhere, and replaced with #89 granite gravel.



Pic, above, I shot in my 30 year garden.

Lamps, and the chandelier on a dimmer, were left on, 24/7 in my previous Conservatory, above.  Oddly, it's one of the things I miss most, now, living without a Conservatory.  



Pic, above, here.

There is great metaphor in my Conservatory lit at nite, all nite, every nite.  Hope you've watched, Oscar & Lucinda, above.  Jenny, my mother-in-law introduced me to bleak chic, and Oscar/Lucinda delivers.  Not a movie for a soft soul.

 

Pic, above, I shot in a client's garden.
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My client, above, moved away from his Conservatory also.  And is slowly building a new one too.



Pic, above, I shot of my conservatory with Susanne Hudson for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival.

A few salvaged Conservatory parts, above/below.  Great example of how little can you have, and still have great decadence.  Susanne Hudson & I built this conservatory.  Thought you would like to see a comparison of styling.  Our styling, above, with my photography.  Better Homes & Gardens magazine styling & photography, below, of the same conservatory.



Pic, above, same conservatory as 2nd pic, above, shot by & in Better Homes & Gardens magazine, here.
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Sink & water trough, above, are under my house, awaiting their new debut.
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Noticed how loosely I use the word Conservatory !

Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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No, you're not seeing the mostly renovated shed.  I don't like doing before without after.  I have shots of the shed in its original location before renovation, moving it, acting as a work shed now, awaiting that last layer !  Life is good.

Moon Garden Lighting

A friend created a Moon Garden.  Circle of comfy chairs around a fire ring, open to wide expanse of sky.  Many moons we shared, in her Moon Garden.  Seasons didn't matter, we shared them all.  Time passed and more chairs added, they have 5 kids and a zillion grandchildren, everyone loves the Moon Garden.
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Having moved over a year ago, of course, have had no more Moon Garden with dear Mary.  We are missing our Moon Garden time.
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Rather silly, below, but how could Mary, or me, not like the idea?
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Once my garden rooms can finally be started, we are awaiting well digging, I will certainly lite our fire ring, in honor of many moons in Mary's Moon Garden.




Pic, above, here.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Watering Cans: Leverage Time/Effort

Took me several years to acquire an interesting watering can collection.
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Interesting, and affordable.
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Once hunted/gathered/sited I learned they were more important as 'helpers', they leverage time/effort.
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2-4 months each summer are hot/drought.  I don't want, or like, a landscape that must be meticulously maintained, or watered.  However, there always seems to be plantings that are young/not established yet against extreme hot/dry.  Those plantings are never begrudged early nurturing.
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Having the watering can collections in prime dry positions, it's an easy pour & go.  Seeing something dry never happens when time is luxurious, dry plantings await my exodus meeting a tight timeline, then announce their thirst.  Every time, it seems.
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No worries.  The watering cans are full.
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Mosquitoes not an issue, the water never stays in long enough for breeding.  At leisure they are filled, in a rush poured.
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Along with Tess, my car, the watering cans are my top employees.



Pic, above, here.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

Subsidiary Focal Points

Exactly why gardens should be simple, below.  Let Nature speak, play, sing, work, be in companionship to your life.

Pic, above, here.

 

Pic, above, here.

Did you know your garden is a proscenium for spectacle?  I love the small moments, the never imagined, unbidden.  Perfect.  Tear drops of laughter, amongst time & galaxies.  

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Creating these moments, name it to claim it.  Macro rule, 1 focal point per area.  Micro rule, subsidiary focal points allowed.

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Garden & Be Well,    XO T

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Will never forget the years of lunches in my previous garden, during summer, and hearing the hummingbirds zoom over my head.  Do you really think I knew to design my garden for that to happen?  My best Garden Design learning was finally understanding classical Garden Design rules, FINALLY copying them.  Once accomplished, Nature arrived.  Nature more like Tinker Bell than can be explained, excepting through letting Nature reign.

Duck Pond: Copy

At the back of our property is a pond with 2 damns.  Big in winter, small in summer.  Dug around the turn of the century, with oxen, the neighbor's dairy farm surrounding us, has an upper pond just beyond 1 damn, and a very nice lake just beyond the other damn.
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Beloved said he wanted a property with open, wooded and a lake.  I produced.  He should have been more specific, G*d not only laughs when we tell him our plans, he often provides exactly what we ask for, then laughs.  Beloved wanted to be on the lake, well, the lake belongs to our neighbor, but it's our view, they have no view of it.
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At most we plan a small dock, below, and recently Beloved mentioned a stone wall for our little pond.  
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Brooke & Steve Giannetti's pond, below.



Pic, above, here.

Several times late this spring, and summer, I've walked to our pond and rustled a pair of ducks.  No normal ducks.  The pair is entirely deep cobalt blue.  Grew up with a pond & creek behind our house, never, did I see blue ducks.
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Before the dock, before the stone edge, a well must be dug, pole barn built, coop built, etc.  But there is something for 'now'.  The floating duck house.



Pic, above, here.

Ponds, above, belong to a pair of California girls who met through their blogs.  Brooke Giannetti tells the story of meeting Penelope Bianchi, here.
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Penelope, I was drawn to, from her blog, with a style matching my dear mentor Mary Kistner.  Long after I had written Penelope a fan letter, and now we are friends because she wrote me back, and we still write each other, I came across one of my journals, several years old.  Penelope's house/garden had been in a magazine & I journaled it in the style of Mary Kistner who exposed me to the work of Kurt Schwitters.   Did not realize I had journaled Penelope's home/garden until years passed & I had moved, came across the journal, casually went through it, then pow.  Pow.  A Batman & Robin POW !!!
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Brooke was inspired by Penelope's pond.  And it shows.  Penelope & Brooke, below, at Penelope's home/garden.

 

Pic, above, here.
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You know what Garden Design rule this is?  It's the 1st Garden Design rule.  Copy.
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Garden & Be Well,    XOT
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Pic, above, here.

Furniture in the Garden

First seeing Agatha Christie murder mysteries on tv, ca. 1980, I was captivated with scenes of furniture on the lawn.  What motive could possibly force any sane person without a staff to move furniture to the lawn, whence it must be removed, to mow?  I wanted that life, the life not worried about later mowing.
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Fine tuning the desire for furniture in the garden, further, I adore furniture in the garden, after a soiree.  Even if it's merely for 2.
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Furniture, in the garden, after a soiree, cannot lie.  I like the stories furniture in a garden tell.
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Story, below, is a bit boring.  Staged for the photo.  Details extravagantly interesting, below, glad to be learning from the shot, but more interested in the 'after' story.  Hope there really were 4 people about to enjoy the cake and conversation.  If so, that's the picture I want to see, when they are done, when they are gone, and before anything has been cleared and all the furniture a tableau of their time.
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Why does this matter?  More than a beautiful garden, I want to live beautifully in & with my garden.  Beautiful gardens must be form and function.



Pic, above, here.
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Still awaiting the arrival of my harvest table for the garden.  Its first afternoon will probably see 2 cats atop it, leisurely bathing.  Bought a set of 6 vintage tumblers last week, not thinking of this pic.  Indeed, they will look good on my new harvest table.  6 for $10 and the antique booth was having a 40% off sale.  Would have paid $10 each they are so perfect for our ca. 1900 farmhouse.
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What does your garden furniture say?
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Garden & Be Well,    XOT

Lighting: Jewelry for the Landscape

Light fixtures are jewelry for the garden.



Pic, above, shot by Doug Hickok of Charleston, SC, here.
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Have not changed light fixture at front door since moving into our ca. 1900 American farmhouse last year.  On the list.  Previous owner chose wisely for pure function.  Variable timer, white to match white siding.  Alas, looks appropriate for a Holiday Inn exterior hall light ca. 1972.  Have spent too much time online looking for the 'right' light, and quit, either too elaborate or too farmhouse cliche.  Will have a light made, from historic lighting parts appropriate to 1900.  Jewelry for the house, remember !
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT
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Notice the depth of field Doug Hickok used?  Amazing.  Love his shot, framing, lighting, everything.
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How many husbands have I looked directly in the eye over this topic, on their own property?  Upfront their only worry was their wife hired a garden designer and there would be too much expense with the plantings.  How quickly I disabuse them of that notion.  My posture, my gaze, their wife silently standing still, watching, with a smile, while their husband receives my gaze.  The gaze.  Transferring 2 pieces of vital information, without words, I am right, I don't play.  Love those moments, another husband bagged.  They've joined the team, game on.    

The Best Way to Create a Beautiful Unique Landscape

Completely formulaic, below, and completely enchanting.  A miniature of what survives in a garden after several centuries, meadow-wild wood-stone focal point.  A balanced mix of ornamental horticulture & agriculture.
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The rule about focal points, 1-focal-point-per-area, below, head-on beautiful.  Then the other rule, the rule I observed after decades studying historic gardens, entry ways in a garden are focal points, and, you can never have too many entry ways in a garden.  You're looking at 4 entry ways, below.  Do you see them?  All 4?   There are no exits in a garden, only entry ways.
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"So simple it doesn't need instructions"

"Eager (and less-talented) designers often get confused about this instruction, turning it into: "It doesn't have instructions, therefore it's simple."

Seth godin

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Seeing gardens, below, as a beginner, I thought I knew how to design them.  Discovering, over decades, the layers of design narrative about gardens, below, I can design them in myriad permutations, keeping every important layer, understanding the difference between agricultural/ornamental, and more.  There is both total simplicity, below, and rich complexity.  It wasn't work, learning the complexity, more, it is taking in air to breath, a life necessity.  And, blessedly, I'm still learning.  Loved Seth's quote, above, seeing myself at the front end.
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Hope you will take the link to this garden, below.  A team of gardeners, a team of brains, are responsible.  This garden pic, below, is an entire garden design course.



Pic, above, Wollerton Old Hall.
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"If you want to change people's minds, you need more than evidence. You need persistence. And empathy. And mostly, you need the resources to keep showing up, peeling off one person after another, surrounding a cultural problem with a cultural solution."  Seth godin

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Seth's quote, above, would be incredibly mundane, without his knowing to add, empathy.  Thought of Wendell Berry reading the quote.  He's made his entire life, in empathy, no judgment, about cultural problems and cultural solutions.  Stewardship.  The garden, above, is a text book to Seth's quote, above.
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"Organized bureaucracies thrive on compliance. It makes it easier to tell people what to do.

But contribution is the only way that tribes thrive, the best way to make change happen and the essence of being part of a community.

It's a shame that we spend so much time teaching our children (and our employees) to comply. Far better to seek out contribution instead."

Seth godin

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Getting my 2nd college degree, Horticulture, I knew I couldn't design a garden a donkey would approve of.  Why?  Seth put words to it, above.  College taught me to be compliant with the USA manner of garden design.  Foundation plantings, lawn, a tree or 2, best managed with a maintenance crew, mowing, replacing mulch-annuals on schedule, pruning, etc, all on contract.  Monetize the landscape to fit the monetized contract.  Outsource the stewardship.  Live life complying to the norm, never seek to make a contribution.  Seems simple, that simplicity thing again.  Not understanding the riches gained, in making a contribution.
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"Shannon Weber decided that there wasn't enough love, recognition or connection in her world, so she did something about it. When she finds an unsung (don't say 'ordinary' hero) she makes them a cape.

Caping people, catching them doing something right, shining a light on a familiar hero. 

It turns out that this is way more difficult than being cynical, or ironic, or bitter. Being closed is a lot easier than being connected. It takes guts.

What kind of impact does one act of kindness make? It can last for years.

Go, cape someone."  Seth godin

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Having a garden, learning about the layers of narrative in the photo, above, put me thru the side door of caping someone.  A lot of someones.  In return, my life was built.  Living in a new town/home after 30 years, I knew I would meet incredible people, be able to have a personal life filled with great characters.  Often, caping someone, is being aware, seeing the full picture of someone, and letting them know you see.  Especially when it is good news in their life.  Seems intuitive, honoring good news.  Most often, when I've called or written a note, congratulating someone, their response is so sad, "Tara, you're the only one who's said anything."  G*d bless gardens for teaching me so much.  And I thought I was after learning how to design a garden!
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"Tracy Chapman was outsold by the Doobie Brothers by 40:1. But the Doobie's aren't 40 times as singular an artist as she is.

Lou Reed was outsold by Van Morrison at least 40:1. But again, our image and memory of Lou compares to Van's, it's not a tiny fraction of his.

Singular is the one that we can tell apart, the one we remember, the one we will miss when it's gone.

It's entirely possible that creators with scale are also singular (like Van, or Miranda), but it's not required. Many of the artists, leaders and teachers that have had an impact on you and on me have done so with very little popular acclaim.

It doesn't pay to trade your singular-ness for scale.

Singular might lead to scale, but popular is not enough."  Seth godin

Garden Design rules were anathema to me at the front end of learning Garden Design.  Don't tell me what to do !  My gardens will be fabulous & unique.  How well did that work?  Works now, making me laugh at myself.  Worse than not being fabulous, not being unique, not following Garden Design rules, was the time wasted.  More money can be earned, more time cannot.  Garden Design rules were figured out by wise/brilliant brains centuries ago, best, they are unique each time used, no 2 sites are the same.  Knowing the rules, deeply, you'll understand where best to break them.  Following the rules in Garden Design, you create a garden MORE you.  You are singular, and so your garden will be too.  This fact, following Garden Design rules, is like most of gardening, counterintuitive.
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT
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Seth Godin, here.

Mowing Heights Matter

What's your 1st thought about the mowing, below?
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Not fair, asking from a photo's view.  Best to ask in real life, being there.  Aside from that, what is your gut instinct about the mowing, below?
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First time in a garden with this mowing, England of course, almost 30 years ago, from my DNA, I knew the mowing was 'correct'.  American mowing, just a bill of goods being sold.  Amazingly, that was enough, I never ventured further intellectually about why to mow at mixed heights, aside from less maintenance.
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Recently, about 4 years ago, I realized 'why' the mowing was correct.
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It's all about stewardship.  Mowing low- medium- tall, allows Nature to 'work'.  Pollinator habitat, healthier ornamental plants, and higher agricultural production.  Less monoculture of lawn, insects, mammals, reptiles.  Stewardship of ground water, soil microbes, ourselves.
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Since first awareness, I've called it Tara Turf.  Unique to each zone/micro-climate.
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If it's good enough for the Queen, below, good enough for me.



Pic, above, Daily Mail.  Interesting story, I think you'll like it, history writ personal
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Garden & Be Well,  XOT

Tess: Best Employee

My best employee, is my little white van, Tess.  Built for work, and adventure, which live the same, not speed.  Uglier than a mini-van, her boot opens the same as, below, with 4 more doors pulling their duty, daily.  So ugly, she's cute.
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This week Tess hauled several huge Tea Olive, groundcovers, irrigation tubing, and a box of irrigation supplies.  Tea Olive foliage wrapped the top of my seat, embracing my neck lightly for a quick hour until I could meet the guys, and they unloaded.
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Tess carried home a beautiful pair of vintage Brown Jordan patio chairs, ca.1950, this week.  Finally, my turn to own Brown Jordan.  No worries, they were at the curb on garbage day.
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Later in the week, I got Tess into a pickle, which she's still in today.  Meeting with our stone mason at a jobsite, just before leaving, he asked if I wanted a large fieldstone he had leftover from another client.  "Show it to me.", I said.  Walking to the back of his truck, it was instantaneous, That Stone, perfect to use as a step into my shed in the Orchard.  How quick the greedy brain works. (Update at bottom.)
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Here's the pickle.  No manly help at home for a few days.  The stone weighs close to 300lbs.  How to get the stone out, without hurting Tess?  After today's appointment I'll try a piece of particle board at the bumper, pushed under a lip of the stone, hop into Tess, and push the stone onto the particle board, and hopefully 'out', without denting/scratching the bumper.  That's the game plan.  Until then, the stone will continue riding shotgun for a couple more appointments.  Yes, I'm brazen enough to think I can do this at the door to the shed, and the stone is 'mostly' positioned.  Already graveled at the shed, I may be able to sit on the gravel, and push the stone into perfect position with my feet.
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At the front end, totally aware of the humor, knowing the end of this story may include waiting for manly help.  Oh, the dread of that.  More than getting the stone out, I want to have created an easy way to get it out, on my own.  Plan B, my neighbor has a wench.        



Pic, above, here.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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Tess is always loaded with work baskets, measuring wheel, drawing board, folding table/chair too, my mobile office.
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Tess?  Never drove a car with a name before.  Driving her off the lot, overwhelmed with all the 'new', I took a pause at the dealership, to study my new surroundings.  My saleslady came over to see if everything was ok.  Told her I felt awkward, she offered to drive me home in the van, with another employee following, she knew I lived 45 hard traffic minutes away.  Wasn't about to let that happen, but totally appreciated the gesture.  Driving slowly away, unbidden, a 'voice' came to mind, "Tess will get you home."
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Update: 7-25-16

Stone removed.  Parked on incline, letting gravity help.





Did several short shoves, getting out each time to hammer tomato stakes further under stone.
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TaWanda!   Stone is out.

Blue Hill Farm

Blue Hill Farm, below.
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What a pic.  Full monty, sustainable agriculture & ornamental horticulture.  Can you label what you're looking at, below?  Can you discuss, cocktail chatter, what it takes to put this garden together, how it lives as part of your life, how it is sustainable, what the ornamental horticulture does to the agriculture, why it has a civic duty component, how it can lower HVAC expenses, how it can raise residential property value?
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In USA, colleges have 2 degree tracks.  Horticulture vs. Agriculture.
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Enough, won't go full monty now.  Just enough for your cocktail chatter.
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Maximum pollinator habitat is high density next to low density, meadow beside woodland.  Another validation, as if needed, life happens most richly in the margins.
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But why?  What am I nattering about?
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When crops are grown with maximum pollinator habitat, production yields rise by 80%.  Do the math.  Instead of getting 1,000 pounds of produce, you're getting 1,800 pounds with the same amount of effort.
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There is more, but for now, a little cocktail chatter is fine.  Pic, below, is an entire class, about living within an agricultural landscape married to its ornamental horticulture.  




Pic, above, here.
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This pic has a great story, it's not from a 'gardener', but a fashion/luxury branding personality, Habitually Chic.
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Think you can't have, above, don't own farmland?  Happily you're wrong.  My 30 year garden had every layer, above, and clocked in at less than 8,500sf, in a subdivision.
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If you have time, take the Blue Hill Farm link, scroll to the bottom, enjoy their month/month listing of their crops, livestock, cellar & more.  Exactly the type of stuff I'm wanting to know for my own ca. 1900 American farmhouse.  And that information does not exist yet.  Within the realm of how I'm wanting it.  Life is good, a well trod learning curve.  Personalized.  For me to discover.
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Garden & Be Well,    XOT

How Chickens Came to be Garden Designers

Notice the small evergreen hedging, below, along the gravel?  Thought low hedging was done as a garden design element, in the beginning, as in at least before the era of Christ, literally.  Then, I had a client with a cutting garden.  I did the classic potager shapes, large boxwoods at all the corners, brick edging, gravel paths, but no low hedging, wanted it easy to walk into for cutting flowers.  Unfortunately, it was easy for the chickens to walk into also.  Where was the best place on the chickens 300 acre farm to scratch & kick & toss dirt onto gravel paths?  The decision to hedge-in the cutting garden beds was made and planted.  It worked, chickens don't walk into the cutting garden beds anymore.  And, we had a good laugh, realizing where the garden design conceit came from, boxing-in plantings with low hedges.



Pic, above, here.
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An odd thing about chickens and old gardens, are old garden books.  In all my years collecting old garden books, none write about chickens in the garden.  Interesting.
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT