Tough Terra Cotta

Finely particulated terra cotta lasts longer.  Water doesn't seep in & expand during a freeze.  At least in my zone.  Zone 6b, then 7, now 8; all without moving.  It does freeze here, ice & snow.  (Notice the meadow in my flagstone terrace, below.  It's obvious why I fell in love with Bunny Mellon's garden!)

 

I really wanted the pot, above.  4 to be exact, for boxwood.  They were sold only in 'sets'.

Ironically, it's been fun playing with a few of the smaller pots.

Foxglove, above, frosted with Chinese snowball petals.
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Foxgloves are done.  Next, small heirloom tomatoes.
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This is enjoyable beyond expectation, these little pots, thinking about what to put in them, or leave them empty, or move them....
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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I do pay attention to my wants/expectations vs. what truly occurs.  Adore these little surprises.  This terra cotta is from Asia.  Chose terra cotta for my pot 'theme'.

Lamps Beside The Daybed

Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Susanne Hudson redecorated her Conservatory this year.  Sconces are laid on the table in my Conservatory, primer/paint/brush nearby, new packages of screws/hooks, brown/white ironstone transferware.  Soon, a bit of my own redecorating in the Conservatory.

Simple Gesture

Her garden on tour, she knew visitors would want to come up the steps.  With a lake view & several sitting areas, I would.  Not a house tour she chose a simple gesture to guide guests.

 Much better than a sign with words.  Probably of the negative sort, Do Not Enter.
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The pot of flowers is HER.  Sweet, colorful, creative, yet firm.
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Garden & Be Well,       XO Tara

On Display

Display garden, below, at a wholesale & retail pottery in a commercial area including low-slung motels, a vintage & thriving ca. WWII airstrip, car repair shops, tasty ethnic food, and other shops, 2nd-5th generation, abandoned of their original mission. If a display garden not only lives, but thrives, in these

conditions. Pay attention.

Good gardens with great constraints have much to teach.

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Don't like a garden? Doesn't matter. It will teach. And nurture.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Making A Table

In a hurry, before a tour, last month, finding a solution for the table top, below, had to be accomplished.
The real table top is too big for this location.

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A Garbage Can Lid was the quick solution.

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In Milledgeville, GA during the 1960's, my grandmother had an extensive garden of dahlias & paths. The plants were staked and as tall as me. A birdbath was made from an ancient, dented, upturned garbage can lid. Grandma was raised on a farm. Able to make-do with anything.

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I've discovered the garbage can lid is better than my true desire, granite or marble leftover from someones kitchen renovation. Why? It holds water. Enough for only weekly watering, yet no mosquitoes.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Yes, I will get another pic of this. Quite a dreadful little snap.

How To Frame A View

Thought you would like to see the depth between building & view, from previous post.Yes, the bench does have a view. Tuscany.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Without People & Without Styling

Weaned on cover shots of Smith & Hawken sales catalogues ca. 1980's, and Horticulture magazines of the same era I've never wanted people in my garden shots. Couldn't afford it. (I shouldn't neglect the garden pics in House & Garden magazines of that era too.)My (film) slides, a roll of 36, each had to be beautiful & educational & of use till the end of my days.

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Interesting, I KNEW this in my 20's.

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Without awareness, at the time, I only shot gardens WITHOUT STYLING. Who wants a garden needing a stylist to look good?

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A picture, above, (not needing a stylist) I made in Italy, originally a slide, then a print, now a digital pic of the print made from the slide.

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Seek a garden without styling. It will be a garden of truth.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Subtle Invitation

Between the pecan trees, below, a table. An invitation. How to leverage the invitation? Will add 'shot' pea gravel.

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Table/chairs can be used after a rain, table can be leveled more easily, lovely crunch underfoot, edging of old brick leading to meadow & letting gravel 'lap' onto roots of pecans. Oddly, once the gravel arrives it will say, "You WANT to come here.", vs. the existing, "Oh, that's nice."

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic taken earlier this month.

How To Stabilize A Column In A Pot

We didn't know how we were going to stabilize the column in the pot, we knew it was-going-to-happen.With few raw materials, bricks-gravel-dirt, we chose bricks for wedging. Gravel for gaps, then
dirt to plant 6 boxwood.

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Columns don't budge.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic from PMHF garden Susanne Hudson & I created.

Cool Colors - Hot Day

Drama & color, below. Large pot & fine textured foliage. Cool greens, blue, yellow. These pics are not styled. Turning camera 1ft., below,
same pot with more drama, an agave.

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A beautiful vignette at A W Pottery in Chamblee, GA.

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Good landscape design is all about low maintenance & not having to 'style' anything to get a pretty picture.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last week. Over 95% of the pics on my blog ARE NOT STYLED.

Faux Bois Bench: Well Sited

A lovely incident along the gravel path, below.
(Notice stone edged gravel, decrepit terra cotta, leaf litter mulch? Melts my heart.)
Same bench, same path, from opposite direction.

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Thus, a good garden. It could be 2 different paths, 2 different benches or 2 different gardens.

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How to create Double Axis. A class by itself.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last week in Susanne Hudson's garden.

Decorating Alone

Decorating my Conservatory late Tuesday, alone, I got frustrated. Typically with a client moving things or, most often, with my guys.Multiple trips to attic, garage, mudroom and back to Conservatory I had a sweat going. Along with a mess & the transpiration of TIME; 3 hours passed.
What I completed looked like 12 minutes of work. And there's more to complete.

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I did what any grown-up pouting girl would do, I called Susanne Hudson with my tale of woe.

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She laughed and said, "Tara, it took me over 50 hours to get the sea shells organized and my conservatory redecorated." She, too, worked her Conservatory alone.

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Susanne's redecorated Conservatory & sea shells, above pics.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Took the pics last weekend.

Sea Shells In The Conservatory

Seeing Susanne Hudson's sea shells, below, in her Conservatory,I was inspired to gather mine from attic & garage. Before Georgia I lived at Cape Canaveral &
Galveston Bay.

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Why wasn't I honoring my past?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic taken last weekend. What parts of your past need to be honored in your garden?

Gertrude Jekyll: Munstead Wood Inspires Pool

A 40 acre Alabama garden I'm working on has the bones of Gertrude Jekyll's home, Munstead Wood, below.
I've been asked to put in a swimming pool off the back terrace. Seeing these curves, above, I knew immediately how to shape the swimming pool.

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How do I design 40 acres? I start at the house.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic via internet. All my travels in England, and never to Munstead Wood.

Daybed In The Conservatory

Pink & brown & hydrangeas & a Conservatory in the garden. With a daybed.With large terra cotta pots as legs.
Our jute draperies
pool, below, outside.

Susanne Hudson & I were on the front page of the paper. Did I know the photographer was coming? Sweat, hat hair, gardening clothes, dirty. We were the happiest women in the galaxy.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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I took the pics yesterday in the garden Susanne Hudson & I created for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival.

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Thank you Douglas County Sentinel for promoting the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival. Newspaper pic by Winston Jones.

Beer In The Garden

I adore working men in the garden.At the end of the day this wonderful man, above, earned his beer.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic from Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival in Douglasville, GA. It's tomorrow & Sunday. You do realize there is NO pun intended with the top sentence?

Pots, Easy Landscape Edging

Pots, original, as landscape edging? Hardly. A centuries old idea. At my garden, with Susanne Hudson, for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival, below. (PMHF is this weekend, June 4-5.)"It's what we do with what we have.", my mentor Mary Kistner said. I first saw pots as edging decades ago in Ryan Gainey's Decatur, GA garden.
Susanne & I have broken pots & fallen limbs.

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Perfect landscape edging. Easy & free.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken a few days ago.

Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival + Before/After

The Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival, Douglasville, GA, is this weekend, June 4-5, 2011.

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Free display gardens, Free standard Flower Show, Free Festival Market

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Garden Tour with Tram, $25, residential gardens including nationally recognized gardens.

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This year's table, below, incomplete, already looks FABULOUS.
Big impact, little input. Love this type of Landscape Design: old table, old wheelbarrow, old light & negligible maintenance.
Same table, below, last year.
From lamps to chandelier, from potting table to dining table.

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Come see our garden, it's in the free zone. Ha, no excuses!

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Been working like a young man creating this garden. My body is not amused. Susanne Hudson & I are creating this garden.

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Top pics taken yesterday, 94f & 200% humidity (please appreciate the effort). Bottom pic, I snapped last year.

Penelope Bianchi of McCormick Interiors

Penelope Bianchi, McCormack Interiors, is a new discovery. Penelope designs 'done' but I adore her 'not done' creations, below.Rare, she is the interior decorator creating gardens too. Of course she can design tidy gardens but I'm partial to, below, her scruffy

gardens.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics from Penelope's website. I'm slow to the game, discovering Penelope, and will post more pics.

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Been away the holiday weekend creating a garden, with Susanne Hudson, for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival. It's next weekend June 4-5, with vendors, a garden tour ($25 with tram) & several free display gardens too.

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Our garden is free and FABULOUS. Why make a garden unless you believe it to be FABULOUS?

Focal Point In The Roundabout

I designed the roundabout on axis with: porch, back door, drive, meadow. With a focal point in the center, OF COURSE.A rooster was found, & placed, almost 2 months ago, above. Love it.

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Last Friday, Patrick, The Rooster Of Hedgerow Farm, was killed by a bobcat.

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She had tears as she told me the story. You must understand, Hedgerow Farm belonged to beloved Patrick. SHE belonged to Patrick.

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Now, the rooster in the roundabout is a meaningful memorial. Who knew?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Same garden as previous 2 posts. Pic taken last Friday, from the mudroom porch.