Be Like The Fox

"Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction."  Wendell Berry
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Fourteen mos. in our ca. 1900 American farmhouse, my library is still boxed.  If you know anything about anyone with a library, as a necessity to living/breathing, you know books in my office were packed separately and on their shelves.  Nor have I stopped ordering new books.  Cell phones/computers have changed lives greatly, but nothing has changed the thrill of a new book arrived in the mail, awaiting on the doorstep.  Back to the cell phone, my bad, should be labeled a drug-of-choice when it comes to ordering books.
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Who knew my library made me like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction?



Pic, above, here.
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Lived in my previous garden 30 years, built the house/garden from bare land, it was in magazines, books, and on TV.  Often, gardening there, my mind would wander to time.  Knowing if I lived actively on the same spot, 500 years might get me somewhere with it.  Without ever becoming bored.  Ever.
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Who knew my garden made me like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction?
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Pic, above, here.
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Have made it as far as talking with our carpenter about building library shelves.  Location & dimensions. Life is good.
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"Practice resurrection."  Wendell Berry
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Something Cicero knew about gardens & libraries, each are resurrection factories.

Garden & Be Well,   XO T



Pic, above, here.
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Library bombed by the Luftwaffe during WWII, above.  My tribe.

 
Pic, above, here.
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My mom, above.  Without divulging her story I can mention her tiny wail of defense, It's my only vice.  Go mom!  She pulls sister/me into aiding her, every trip to mom's, the library.  Even Beloved knows deeply my mom & her library.
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Went to mom's library, 1st time, about age 6, it was in a portable building in Clear Lake City, TX,  Freeman Memorial Library, named in honor of a neighbor, Ted Freeman, below, a man my dad was working with, he had recently been assigned to my dad for training to fly new equipment dad's team was designing.  The new equipment had Saturn V booster engines with flight capabilities into space, aka Apollo rocket.  The pair of men who found Mr. Freeman lived in our neighborhood too, and were in Apollo flight training with dad.  Our neighborhood is not far from the crash site at Ellington Field.   Freeman Memorial Library moved across the street from its beginnings, and is now a huge complex, perfect for mom's 'vice'.

Ted Freeman

10/31/64: Crashed his T-38 jet when a goose smashed into the cockpit

By Jeffrey KlugerJan. 31, 2013

NASA

Jim Lovell and Pete Conrad, a pair of young astronauts who had not yet flown, were returning from a day of goose hunting near Ellington Air Force Base in Houston one day in 1964 when they saw a crowd surrounding what appeared to be the wreckage of a T-38 jet. They jumped out of the car, ran through the grass and asked who the pilot had been. Ted Freeman, they were told, a rookie astronaut who had entered the program a year after they did. Something had caused his plane to go into a powerless plunge as he was trying to land; he bailed out, but too late for his chute to open. Lovell, as first on the scene, was assigned to investigate the cause of the crash. With the help of the jet’s surviving instruments, he was able to determine the exact moment it lost power, which led him to almost the exact of area of Texas brush over which it was flying when the fatal breakdown occurred. Scouring the area, he found two things: The shattered windshield of the plane and the bloody remains of a Canada snow goose. The bird, clearly, had collided with the plane, instantly killing itself and, a few seconds later, the human being at the controls. History did not record how many geese Lovell and Conrad bagged that day, but both men likely wished they’d shot one more.

Pic, above, here. 

Still Life: Put it in Your Mission Statement

Lecturing in Greensboro, NC many years ago, I had the privilege of touring a private garden.  In the audience, after the lecture, a woman chatted with me and I knew, I must see her garden.  Don't know if she invited me to her garden, or I invited myself.  With facts this bare, we know, I invited myself.
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High summer in Greensboro, NC is not for the faint of heart, heat/humidity rule.  Walking our small group into her home, she casually asked if we'd like lemonade.  You know we did, pure drama and story line, We- had- a- tart- glass- of- lemonade- before- walking- her- garden.
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Blessedly we wanted the drama of the lemonade.  After bringing out her pitcher/glasses, and pouring a round, she set the pitcher onto a small table in her kitchen.  
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Poof.  A new element to my personal Garden Mission Statement.  Can you guess what it is?  Alas, this garden visit was well before cell phones or even the desk top large computers.  No photo of this fateful moment.
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My life, inside my home, and in my garden, must look like a still life, not fake, but a life lived, and in the living, the calm of still life views, reign.
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A small moment, below.  Still life.


Pic, above, here.

Vanishing threshold, below, with still life views.

 
Pic, above, here.

Antiquing with a friend in Florida last week during vacation, she surprised me with this wire egg holder, below.  She knows my chics aren't producing a lot, but this was home 2 days, and 2 eggs, snapped the pic and sent it to her.  Table/chairs ready still life props.
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Moving beyond the still life mission statement, is what I've learned, living this way.  My surroundings leverage my life.  Friends for lunch?  More than easy.  I can ask, Do you want to eat on the front porch, in the dining room or kitchen, maybe in the garden near the chicken coop?  Living here only 14 months, more destinations are on the list.  Not just for guests, but still life spaces for everyday, me alone.  Lunch arrives with the question, Where do I want to eat?  Seasons dictate, work dictates, many lunches in my office, and within my office there are several places to sit with still life views, and eat.
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Keeping boredom at bay with static still life views, I change the details, T R Boote , ca. 1880 'Summer Time' tureen on the table, below, will soon go into the china closet, a fall tureen replacing it.  The table topper changes at least 6x/year, so far.  Working at my first retail garden center, in the mid-80's, we changed displays seasonally, pure luxury with so many flowering plants plus the seasonal merchandise, and it made me aware, the seasonal displays, each, a gift of thanks.  Thank you for being alive another season, another Valentines, another Easter, another Memorial Day, Christmas.  Exactly how I feel in the garden when the akebia blooms, the oakleaf hydrangea, the azaleas, tea olive, thank you, alive another year, taking in the scent of daphne....
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Sure, all of this seems small, unimportant, but how can the days of anyone's life be unimportant?  After touring the Greensboro, NC garden we came inside to her 'garden room', 3 walls entirely windows, French doors to the garden, her library, desk, and seating area were here.  On the desk, a book, Living A Beautiful Life, by Alexandra Stoddard.  Thumbed thru it, and ordered it when I came home.  Have since given it as a gift many times.
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To this day, that Greensboro, NC garden is one of the best I've ever walked in.  I learned more of its story, later, from a friend of hers.  Diagnosed with severe Lupus, she had hired a garden designer, then, before her husband would leave for work, she had him carry her into the garden and set her down in a spot to work.  His office not far away he would come home to move her in the garden several times a day.  That was the start of her garden.
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I came into her story after she had worked for many years in her garden across good days and painful days.  The day we toured her garden, zero sign of Lupus.  What a victory for her, deep, soul satisfying.        


Pic, above, in our kitchen last nite.

It's amazing the dichotomy of still life spaces.  Once filled with your life, alone or with friends, inside or in the garden, you'll long remember the voices, laughter, conversations, how they made you feel.  Rich.


Pic, above, here.

Without knowing, adding still life spaces to my mission statement brought me to, below.

 
Pic, above, here.

Receiving the 'more' is both material and metaphorical.  Significantly weighted, in deep grace, to metaphorical.
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Designing beautiful gardens for clients is a joy as their plantings mature, better, are the phone calls, notes, or texts, clients letting me know of the metaphorical riches, aka stories from their lives, their gardens are bringing them, their family/friends.  So, more than adding still life to my personal mission statement, it seamlessly slipped into my professional mission statement.
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT

Contrast Makes Your Garden Pop

Contrast is the basic ingredient of Garden design.  Both pics, below, use the same type of contrast.  Can you label it?
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I grew up, as most Americans, without a vocabulary for gardens.  Worse, after receiving a horticulture degree, I still had no proper, historic, of the ages, vocabulary for Garden Design.  Garden Design and horticulture are 2 different professions.  Toss in Agriculture, and you have 3 professions.
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That's another rabbit hole of conversation, so, back to labeling the contrast technique used in the pics, below.
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I've taught horticulture and Garden Design for over 20 years at a local college, and the Atlanta Botanical Garden.  One of my favorite teaching tools is adding proper vocabulary to Garden Design photos.  Name it to claim it.  Never more be moved by beautiful garden photos, yet unaware how to describe them in detail.
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Of course there is an entire TV industry of garden shows thriving on viewers lack of knowledge.  Most often the ambush garden show, with fast before/after, are comedies of the wrong sort, dark comedy.  If you know horticulture, aka plant care/culture/habit, you know how quickly the 'after' garden will fail.  Discussing merit of those Garden Designs, mostly what I learned in college, incurves and outcurves, planting beds, drifts, accent plants, landscaping, all well represented.  If you want any of that stuff, don't hire me.  I won't do it.  Historic, of  the ages, that's my venue.
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Beyond beautiful, below, it's historic Garden Design, and the plantings show deep knowledge of planting materials, aka horticulture.  What is the contrast, below?  The main contrast is spikey with rounded, followed with contrasting color of foliage, and contrasting foliage sizes, and contrasting layers of height.  Four more elements, huge, below.  You know horticulture well if you have already labeled the last 4 elements.
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Drought tolerant plantings, below.  Deer proof plantings, below.  Disease resistant plantings, below.  Insect resistant plantings, below.  The last asset, below?  All year interest, plenty of structure left for winter interest.
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Pic, above, here.

 
Pic, above, here.

Same Garden Design conceit, above, but the plantings, aka horticulture, could be either fabulous or problematic depending upon your location/zone/elevation.  Peonies & foxglove, classic spike/round combination.
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In the deep south peonies can do well, but not the lush abundance of northern climates, and a dry, hot, southern spring/summer, will invite spider mites to the foxglove, and irrigation will be needed.  Also, above, this section of the garden will be bare, empty, with so many herbaceous plantings during winter.
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A lot to consider, above, about Garden Design, and personal choices of what you wish to look at in winter.  And, excellent examples of using spike/round contrast.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Most Common Mistake at a Front Door

Garden rooms, you must create garden rooms.  That's the mantra, across centuries of Garden Design, but what does it mean, below, in the present era ?
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Most common fail I see at front doors?  Below.
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Best part of this 'fail' ?  Easily remedied.
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What to do, below, to create a garden room?
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Rules abound, below, this neighorhood reeks of Home-Owners-Association.  Must stay within the rules, no one likes that Nasty Gram in their mailbox.
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Reaching the front door, below at left, there is no here, here.  Create a garden room, voila, you are in their world, plenty of scope for the imagination and an elegant welcome/departure.
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Your turn, Garden Design the fix, below, creating a garden room for the front door at left.
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Giving you more time, notice the white downspout, below, house at right.  Really?  Paint the downspout copper color, voila, downspout no longer behaves as a 'column' almost disappears.  Paint the gutters copper color and the house grows taller, copper gutters reach up into the roof.  But this gutter/downspout exercise is merely to give you more time, figuring out how to create a garden room, below, at the front door to the house at left.  While your designing that garden room, lets take out a few bushes at the base of the arched window, below, and place a custom stone step.  Very nice.  It's never a good thing when I'm hearing Cole Porter, Don't Fence Me In, at a garden.
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Done?  Designed your garden room?


Pic, above, here.

Grow the existing short hedge, at the far right property line, to 7'.  If budget allows, take out the existing hedge, plant a 7' evergreen hedge.  Done.
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You've created a garden room, and private world at the front door, no visible axis into the neighbor's world.
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Must mention, I love this garden design, above, house at left.  Lean, green, serene.  Easy to maintain with unskilled labor.  Green all year, no down time.  Well done.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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Garden Design Class in a Pair of Pics

Attracted to the marvelous sliding doors, below, the wood stoop and small planters had me send this fabulous home & garden to my Pinterest Changes board.  Lastly, a 3rd issue from garden to kitchen for the Changes board.  Especially a home with young'ish children and these gorgeous interior wood floors.  
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A mini Garden Design course in 2 photos.
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Do you see all 3 changes immediately?
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I'll give you a moment to look at both pics carefully.  There is an easy inexpensive solution for the stoop, and a better, not inexpensive solution for the stoop.  At the open sliding door threshold is a minor 4th issue.  See the easy fix for issue 4?
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Classic mistakes, below.  Human nature !  At the front end, before getting a Horticulture degree, then traipsing Europe for 2+ decades studying historic gardens I made the same mistakes too.  Once you know what the Garden Design mistakes are, your eye is trained to see them, correct them, easily, every time.
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Of course there may be zero mistakes, below, solutions could already be designed, just not installed.  A likely scenario if you take a tour of the interior, here.
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Look at the pair of pics, below, again.  Got your Garden Design solutions?





Pics, above, here.
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Change #4, the door mats inside & outside should match.  The tight space will enlarge, flow, and become more of a 'foyer' between inside/outside instead of the current abrupt divide.  My choice would be a pair of door mats, large, similar in looks to the existing mat inside the home already.
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Change #3, transition from beautiful stone terrace to gravel to wood stoop to interior of home.  This change makes me smile, I made the same mistake as a garden designer in my 20's.  Matching stone from the terrace should be installed into the gravel transitioning to the wood stoop.  Why?  Significantly reduces amount of gravel stuck in shoes, or paws, to be tracked inside, and gouging/scratching that beautiful wood floor.
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Change #2, Dinky is Stinky, need much larger pots at those sliding doors, and wider apart, setting them left/right off the wood stoop.  Remove 2 bushes at right of wood stoop, replace their planting bed with more gravel.
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Change #1, will start with cheap/easy do it today.  Stain the wood stoop same color as sliding doors.  The house is much too elegant for this wood stoop left over from the set of F Troop.  A more expensive change to the wood stoop, replace it with a single slab of stone, custom cut the same or a bit deeper.  Wood stoop vs. stone landing.  Already the verbage is a nicer story.
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Again, seeing the interior of this home, I think the 'Change' layers I've mentioned are already on their to-do list.  Their attention to detail quite wonderful.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T
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Put that green extension cord under the gravel.  I know you already thought that.  A funny thing about gardening, the small victories.  Just getting the cord buried is a big deal, having the door mats match.....

On the Deck: Privacy, Wind, Rain

Our ca. 1900 farmhouse is true to its year.  The house sits near the road, and near the north property line.  Next door sits a ca. 1890 farmhouse, same arrangement.  Living rural, after leaving the big city, a great irony, needing to create privacy.
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There is no having breakfast on the back deck in my gown.  Views from the deck include a meadow, woods, lake, and amazing amounts of sky framed by a few century old pecan trees.  Shutters, below, are our solution.  Sourcing shutters in earnest this week.  Farmhouse is white, shutters will be white.


Pic, above, here.

 
Pic, above, here.

In addition to privacy, I'm sourcing old windows this week to create a spot, above, for the cats to be out of the elements at the back door, a small roof already exists there.
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Beloved built us an incredible party deck, and it has gotten on my last nerve not having it operate with the basic functions of living, and aesthetics.  Too generous, that last nerve snapped over the weekend.
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Treated Beloved like a client, verbally described a choice of solutions, then showed him pinterest pics.  He bit.  Only add this last morsel of information, because it's something I do at a lot of jobsites with 'Wife', Husband Coaching.  Most common Husband Coaching I do is choosing the most correct garden thing Wife must allow Husband to do, that she has been adamantly 'NO' for ages.  Paced correctly this Husband Coaching allows Wife, in the end, everything she wanted.  He's happy, she's happy, both think they won.  Cheshire cat knows who won.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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Yes, it's going in reverse too, Wife Coaching with Husband.  I'm in the catbird seat, wanting the garden to be their best garden, more intensely them, than they ever dared dream, and in the greatest of simplicity.

Conservatory & Coop House

Working as a professional propagator for 2.5 years, moons ago, left its mark, deep & rich.  More than knowing how to propagate, I miss the work.  Literally, the physical work of propagation, and its 'time', its progression thru the seasons, from seed/cutting/plug, to plant for sale.  Early mornings, first arriving to the myriad greenhouses, end of the day, closing the myriad greenhouses for the nite.  Thru all weathers, the daily life of it.  Fragrance of the various soils, each green house with its unique smells thru the year, differing temperatures catering to myriad greenhouse crops.  And, of course, Kelvin, who taught me all he knew, by doing.  Working with him, side-by-side.  Hands/bodies laboring, conversation & laughter flowing.  He remains one of those friends never seen for years, then spying each other at a garden event, the big run to hug, and I feel tears of pure happiness, merely seeing Kelvin again.  
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Seeing this pic, below, recently, and realizing how badly I miss seeing our poinsettia crops growing from plugs to maturity.  Didn't know I missed that specific life experience until seeing the pic.  There must be a word for this, probably in French or Italian, American too paltry for such a word.
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Instantly this bit of color thru the Conservatory, below, got put onto my list.  Fourteen months in our ca. 1900 American farmhouse, we're getting a lot done on the 'list', but we're not to my Conservatory or Chicken Coop yet.  And, what a fabulous blessing.  Their architecture improves by the month, free of charge.  Smartly, I'm staying quiet about this private architectural joy with Beloved.  If he knew, he would have already built my Coop & Conservatory, square, historic, plain, good, done.  Poor thing, he said to me, not too long ago, "You get your mind set on something and nothing stops you."  It was in the tone of exasperation, my reply was quick and happy, "It's my best trait.  Your next point?"  Nope, he doesn't need to know about the architectural renderings, yet, for the Coop & Conservatory.


Pic, above, here.

We have a similar bank of windows, above, brought home from a house we renovated for a client recently.  Here's the odd fact, I like being near my chickens, hearing/seeing them, aside from calming I think they are hilarious, they make me laugh.  My chicken coop must have a bit of 'Conservatory/Shed' for me.  A place to be in all weathers/seasons, to read, have lunch with a friend, a glass of wine late on a Saturday afternoon with a new book that just arrived on the doorstep, happy rich solitude.

 
Pic, above, here.

From the house I want to see my chickens in their coop during winter, this wall of windows, below, perfect.

 
Pic, above, here.

Pic, above, here.

Nice roof, above, for my personal section of the Coop, especially in winter, all other roofing will be metal.

 
Pic, above, here.

More than the roosting rack, above, and stone steps, below, I get it about these painters.  Aside from major talent, they love chickens too.  Caring for my chickens is not work or a chore, instead, a delightful part of my days.

 
Pic, above, here.

She, below, is one of us, a Chicken Whisperer.  Have no clue why Providence put chickens into my life past age 50, but I'll take it, say thank you, and keep chickening on.


Pic, above, here.


Pic, above, here.

Best chicken run, above, ever.  Instantaneously with seeing it, onto the list it went.
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My Conservatory shed, with large lean-to metal roof at front, and at back, is already built and awaiting Beloved's barn to be built, his stuff is in my Conservatory shed.  Not far away is the temporary Chicken coop/run Beloved built in the shade of 2 century old pecan trees, it's chain link with a flat metal roof.  For months I've been having breakfast or lunch under the back lean-to roof at my shed, overlooking the coop, lake, woodland, meadow.  Poor Beloved, all that scope-for-the-imagination of Anne of Green Gables in action.  I hear Marilla Cuthbert, "Finest property on the north shore."
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Have no interest creating the finest Conservatory or Coop, only the finest Conservatory and a Coop, for me.  Now, this phase, vision questing, quite fine in its own merit.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Vertical Lawn

Vertical Lawn, below.
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Few houses can withstand a clinging vine, instead, I like to use espalier woody flowering shrubs.  No trellis, no wires.  Hydrangea or sasanqua most commonly, but that is my southern zone.


Pic, above, here.
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Vertical lawn, finial on the roof, and gravel lapping to the door.  Yep, love that trinity.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Danger: Front Yard Vegetable Garden

Several years ago a home near Susanne Hudson put a vegetable garden in their front yard.  It was amazing, stone edged beds, amended soil, extensive.  Passion was palpable.  Then came the front yard garden design police.  Their vegetable garden must go.  Appeals to zoning.  End of the story is awful.  Most of the huge chunks of stone edging, they removed.  Empty vegetable beds.  I should mention the home was older, and not in a subdivision.  The city front yard garden design police won, mean things were said to the offending vegetable garden front yard owners from several arenas.  They sold their home, moved.  Yes, I will make light mention of several homes on the same street with lawns not tended properly, for decades.
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Pinterest sends a weekly drum roll of my most popular pin.  Huge surprise, below, this week.  Saved recently, it made me smile.  The anger thing.  Joining Lois in her 12-step group for friends & family of alcoholics I learned something quite good about anger.  It will cool your jets, at least mine, when in the midst of personal mushroom cloud anger.  Forgiveness.  Personally asking forgiveness from someone else, for my own expression of anger.  Making amends.  Since having this arrow in my quiver, about anger & forgiveness, most expressions of anger never pass my lips.  Instead, blessedly, I think to myself, "You are absolutely not worth making an amend to."  How very nice to lose anger, know the person is dust beneath my feet, disengage, walk away.
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Secondarily to living this way, action steps about anger, is the reaction of others, and their anger.  Oh my, they keep going.  And going.  It's an amazing thing to have anger removed, completely, yet the other person is stuck in their anger, and you realize it could be you still behaving this way.  Yes, you'll even smile at the person still angry with you.  In thanks for not being that kind of person any more.  Warning, they won't like your calm smile.        


Pic, above, here.

If you are borderline zoning with the front yard garden design police, don't do a 'straight' vegetable garden.  Go historical.  More than aesthetics, you'll have greater pollination, producing up to 80% more fruit/vegetables.
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Orchard, below, historic, with guilds.  A gorgeous front yard, I think.


Pic, above, here.

Potager, below, mix of vegetables, herbs, flowers, shrubs.  Hedges & edging give all year structure for any down time the vegetables have.

 
Pic, above, here.

Another potager, below.

 
Pic, above, here.

My 30 year garden was in a subdivision with deed restrictions.  I chose the potager for my front yard, with herbs & espalier fruit trees.  Twice, a neighbor called police about my garden.  Uniformed, and with a gun.  No neighbor ever said anything to me about my garden, ever.  Instead, they called the police.  Yes, it made me angry.
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Both police officers, they were years apart in arriving, walked my garden with me, and apologized for having to knock on my door.  Told both officers no neighbor ever complained to me.  My garden passed the real police, and their guns.  My front yard potager, legal.
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Rich story, neighbors complained, police arrived, my gardening continued unabated, and officially police approved.
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Stories making national news about front yard vegetable gardens, and police becoming involved, immediately make me wish they had done a potager instead of a straight vegetable garden.  I get it about property value, and am a team player.
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'She had a potager in her front yard', would be fine on my tombstone.      
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Garden & Be Well,  XOT
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Anger at the front yard garden design police quite different than anger at a person.  Most front yard garden design police are allowed anonymity.  Let that anger go, and focus on achieving YOUR goals. Hence this little tale of potagers & orchards, historically correct and aesthetic.  Been there, done that, at the wrong end of a gun, got the badge.  Better, kept on gardening, my way.
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Keep Calm & Potager On

Dining Room: Garden Pop-Up Shop

How often do you use your dining room table?  Not much?  Perhaps it can be, below, a pop-up garden room.


Pic, above, here.

More commonly, dining rooms are libraries, below.


Pic, above, here.

I spy something, above, never thought I would need.  Ever.  Do you see it?  Hint, armadillos.
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We've not put in a lot of garden yet, but apparently enough.  They're here, in abundance.
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All my pack of local gardeners seem to dispatch about 30+/year.  At a spring Garden Festival this year I met up with a friend while she was buying several choice plants.  A few days ago, she asked if I remembered the large dwarf cut leaf Japanese maple, several hundred dollars.  Yes.  Armadillo lifted it out of ground, beautiful tree is dead.
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Don't know what they're shooting, above, but it must be a lot.
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT
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Why did I never think to do a pop-up dining room garden?  When I was the 1/week Garden Expert on NBC-TV, I brought various props for the shoots, little pop-up shops for the season/topic.  Only today with, top pic, am I realizing to do it for everyday life?  All these many years later?  Quite rich.
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Garden & Gun, indeed.

Choose the Classics: Add Your Character

This would be a fun Garden Show template, below.  All entrees must use a day bed, 2 wicker chairs, wicker coffee table, wicker end table, the same amount of space, but after that, no rules.  Color, cushions, accessories, free to choose.
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The classics with infinite variety.


Pic, above, here.
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Next to, above, I would like to see the entry belonging to modern cutting edge techno masculine.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO T
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No budget for , above?  Hunt/gather furniture basics, paint all the same color, you're on your way.

Detail & Restraint

Vanishing threshold, below.  Amazing detail and restraint.
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Detail and restraint, something to ponder.  More, once achieved, it must clearly be who you are.


Pic, above, here.
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Home, above, is in Carmel by the Sea, complete house tour, here.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Inspiration for Front Door Color

Yes, your front door matters.  Whether you think so, or not.  Your front door can tell me who you are, or tell me you don't care, or more likely, I care but it's on the to-do list.
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Had to smile at this front door, below.  It's the most often color choice I make for front doors, and I don't mean the blue.  I search interiors for a recurring color in the house, important but not boastful.  Typically, it's found in several pieces of art on the walls.  Clients will say, "I didn't realize I had that color in all my art."  Of course the door color must work with exterior colors already chosen, it's rare not to have it work.
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When clients have a dark foyer, I like to put in the glass door, below.  Literally.  We buy a panel door, and have our carpenter replace the panels with glass.
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Ironically, a year in our ca. 1900 American farmhouse, I've not painted the front door, it remains the seller's blood red color.  Up front, total arrogance, I thought it must be painted quickly, MY color.  It's on the list.  Oddly, the arrogance has disappeared.  The blood red is working for me, until the time arrives and its list number has been reached.


Pic, above, here.

Look around your home, what color is 'popping' from the art?
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Does it scare you a bit, and excite you too, wanting to put it on the front door?  It's probably your color.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara

Footprint: Power of Color

Without the matching column, below, the house ends at the corner.  With the column's matching brick color, the house ends at the column.
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There should be a technical term, a word, describing this phenomenon.  It doesn't have to be matching materials, merely color.  The power of color.
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Using color to expand the footprint of the home, the shutters, front door, siding/trim, are all fair game choices.  Each situation dictates a more-correct choice from the trinity of choices.


Pic, above, here.
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Brick column, above, seems newer than the home, the brick is smoother than brick on the home.
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Perfect choice for stone step, above, its color melding into the garden, and rough hewn edge adding welcome/warmth verses a saw cut edge, in this situation.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T
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Off topic, below.


Pic, above, here.

Found this, above, a few days ago.  How could I not think of my best ever older boyfriend, by decades, crush.  Studying historic gardens across Scotland for 2 weeks, our group of 23 stayed in small hotels, most had been a hunting lodge, or some other interesting thing a century or 2 ago.   Since it was Scotland I had bought a bottle of Laphroaig.  After touring all day, our group would retire to fluff & puff for dinner, meeting in the parlor before dinner for socializing a bit, before the splintering off to our tables.  First, I must mention my best ever older boyfriend was quite married, and his wife, and her sister, were in our group.  Adored them too, his wife adored me for taking her husband off her hands for a few minutes at breakfast and dinner.  Heading to the parlor before dinner, my roommate & I would be carrying a tea cup.  
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Sitting on the sofa, in the parlor, talking with friends, I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders from behind, then best ever older boyfriend dipped his head low over me.  He squeezed my shoulders quite tight, whispering into my ear, "Tara you're alright, you're just alright."
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Best ever older boyfriend had an instinct.  Doubting my tea drinking, he was leaning in to smell my tea cup, and definitely got the mystery solved.  The color of strong tea, it was, of course, Laphroaig, neat.
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Seeing the quote, above, brought back those halcyon days with best ever older boyfriend.

Naked Ladies: Harbinger of Autumn

Naked Ladies, below.  Bulbs planted in spring, come up in August, after a rain.  Harbingers of change, late summer into the earliest autumn.  


Pic, above, P. Allen Smith, Amaryllis belladonna.  More planting details, here.

Their stalks arise, almost entire, overnite, crowned with buds, and quickly the flowers.  Delicate in looks, tough in reality.
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Pic, above, Brent & Becky's Bulbs, have ordered from them for years.
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Both pink and red Naked Ladies are in our ca. 1900 American farmhouse garden.  Telling stories, mystery tales.  Lots of them, they are in the oddest places, erratically, and some geometric.  I know I want more.
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First order of bulbs for my new garden, daffodils, naked ladies, blue grape hyacinths.  Several types of each.
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Here's what I know about bulb orders, when you are ordering tough, long lived bulbs.  Scare yourself, a bit, order more than you should.  Go over budget.  You won't regret it, unless it's regretting not having spent more.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T  

Good Looking Green Meatballs

This exception, below, was too many years arriving.  Good looking, year round interest, not too much maintenance.
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What's the exception?  These are green meatballs that look great, have an intellect, and finally proved me wrong about how horrible green meatballs are.
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Most often green meatballs evolve in default.  Perhaps you have some now, maybe you can look at them thru this prism, below.  Poof, voila, create good green meatballs from bad.


Pic, above, here.


Pic, above, here.
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Who knew even ugly green meatballs could have new life chapters?
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T

A Garden of the Mind: Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe

Immediately made me smile, the pun, below.  Then, more closely, I marveled at the contouring.  Please tell me you see the pun too.
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It's in the filled space vs. open space, the stone bridge.  Wicked good.  What a devious mind.
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Back to the contouring.  Who knows what this site began with.  I do know the equipment & men to create it.  I know the sound of the caterpillar, men's voices, shovels.  Time.  Finally, I know the sound of shovels stopping when I arrive, all those men's eyes, totally on my body language.  My job is the finished garden, their job is getting it there.  My boss is the client, their boss is Beloved.  Even Beloved does that little 'freeze' thing, focused on my seeing the nearly completed project.  The men know up front, it takes Beloved a bit longer, when I speak, I mean it.  "The front right corner needs to be raised 3", and what's going on with the mid section of the upper rill to the left, didn't you pull a string on that, good job on the wonky tree, but why did you place the entire rill/pond/waterfall further up, I told you earlier the upper waterfall would need faux geometry..... ?", for starters.  Each concern has a detailed answer.  Sometimes Nature cannot be manipulated, I give in, other times a new solution must be found, while looking the same, other times, I am adamant.  My job, at this critical juncture, is to be fierce.  The men love the theatrics of this phase.  Beloved with his 30 years experience, me with my 30 years experience, in discussions.  Beloved's boss is the cash register.  Tick-tock with men, equipment, materials, ring-ring goes the cash register.  Hundreds of dollars/hour, every hour, just to be on site.  Once all of the, above, has occurred there is another sound, men & shovels & caterpillar back to work, sweet.  Sweeter still, a completed garden.    


Pic, above, here.
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Another bite of humor, above, squares & straight lines.  In college is was all the incurves/outcurves blah-ti-bla-ti-nightmare to the 29th power.
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I liked this garden, above, so much I had to follow the links, hoping to discover the designer.  Great answer, Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe.  Alas, having met and been able to spend time with Christopher Lloyd & Rosemary Verey, Sir Geoffrey got past me.  A friend, director of Atlanta History Center, many years ago, hired Sir Geoffrey to pull together a master plan/vision statement for the center.  Didn't learn of the visit till well past the event.  So close....so close.
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Pic, above, and to order, here.

Great title, above, exactly what Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe's gardens do to me, get in my mind, and stick.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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Expense for labor, travel, materials, regulations, insurance, layers of government Atlas Shrugged, make operations needle sharp.  For decades if a client pulled men off our work in the bid to clear a patch of kudzu or haul away a pile of debris, not in the bid, we could absorb.  Now, the men are only allowed work within the bid.  What seems merely a few guys spending an hour on weeds, is now several hundred dollars plus, at times, pushing travel into rush hour traffic, adding hundreds more dollars, toss in rain, delaying a day.  The amount of money 1 hour of work outside the bid adds is outrageous.  Then, the ridiculous expense of adding a 'tree'.  The extra tree has its own pricing without reductions for quantity , from the nursery from the original bid, delivery overhead, and voila, that extra tree, costs as much as several of the original trees.  Wildly crazy, but true economics of today's business model.  Now, it's a change order for that pile of debris or pulling out kudzu.  Never thought my industry would become like this.
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Some neighborhoods have a fee for using their roads.  One client, a large job, told us a few days into the work he did not want us working past 5pm.  The bid was priced on work from sunrise/sunset.  We lost, aka, added 3 days time to the work.  Not listed in our bid, we absorbed the loss.  Yep, pricing from sunrise/sunset now in the bid, change quitting time to 5pm, not a problem, change order.
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Early this summer we filed for a work permit in the city of Atlanta.  At the front end of the process we saw a local newscast, the city of Atlanta had fired most of its building permitting office including the director, corruption.  Cost us almost a month of waiting, and other jobs were on a timeline with signed contracts.  It gets worse, but all is done now, 97% done, we are so close to fall, their fescue backyard should wait, then all is 100% complete.  I think of these things as getting another MBA.

Getting the Smallest Detail Right

The smallest detail, below, exposes the confident knowledge of historic Garden Design rules.


Pic, above, here.
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Do you know what the smallest detail is, above?  Should I wait till tomorrow for the answer?  Perhaps natter on, giving you time.  Lanterns, above, are an odd move, but perhaps they truly needed the light or yet another ubiquitous stylist input.  The water, above, is a mirror and slow mesmerizing burble.  Reminds me of Sir Roy Strong mentioning every garden needs a mirror of the sky.
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Smallest detail they got right, above?  Gravel lapping to the tree, no border edging.  Of course, if this were my garden ahead of having a fabulous photographer I would brush the gravel with my fingers, slightly away from the trunks, more of an illusion the trunks are 'arising' instead of looking so 'plopped' in.
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Exactly the types of things discussed in depth with my Garden Design friends.  Someone must live this type of life, and it's us!
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What's not to adore about peers putting their spin on it?
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Your spin on the garden, above?
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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Garden Design Rule for the lapping gravel?  Contrast.  Plenty of formality with coping around gravel and styling, going rustic with the lapping gravel is the contrast.

Water Witching

Yesterday, the well digger came to scope our project.  His business decades old, Beloved has used his services dozens of times across the years.  For good measure Beloved combines the well digger with a well known dowser, or water witcher.  
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The well digger is also a dowser.  He uses copper rods, pictured at bottom, 1 in each hand.
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When he was done, I HAD to try.  Wild.  The rods moved easily, starting, one in each hand and at each hip, moving toward each other and crossing as I walked if there was water below.  At various areas the rods moved with differing strengths.  Finally, with the most strength, walking over a spot, the rods went behind my back and crossed, strongest power of the session.  
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The well digger said he knew of a man that the rods always went behind him.  Mine went both ways.  Front, mostly.  Not everyone can dowse.  I'm going to order a pair of rods, and add it to the 'games' played when friends/family are over for dinner on a holiday grill out.
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Pic, above, here.
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Amongst all the garden books read, only 1 mentioned water and our bodies, but not in relation to dowsing.  Instead, large bodies of water, lakes, rivers, oceans always pull the human body.  Our bodies are made mostly of water, there is an ion exchange with the water in our bodies and lakes/rivers/oceans.  That's what I read, and have believed it ever since, I read it, so it must be true.

 
Pic, above, here.
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Well digging averages about $1,000, in our area, no small thought when all you have is expanses of soil, and wanting that first hole to gush, and not terribly deep either.  They charge by the foot.  Sideways, I'm thinking, Hope it tastes good too.



Pic, above, here.

"Today we know these magic wands as dowsing rods, witching rods, or divining rods – sometimes even a pendulum is used. They are commonly used in the search for ley lines. Doodlebugging the search for petroleum, or specifically for water. Dowsing rods are popular among adherents to radionics (using substances like hair or blood to heal from afar), and disciples of Charles Fort. How these wondrous tools work is not known, even by those very experienced in their use. Einstein was convinced they do, saying that the rod shows a reaction of the human nervous system to certain factors which are unknown. So, believer or skeptic, these magic wands have an ancient and prominent history.",  Michelle Snyder



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

Classic Garden Design: For Every Price Point

They got the memo, below, siting urns on plinths.  Sitings, below, work equally well at gate keeper's cottage, head gardener's home, mid-century brick ranch burger, a new Spitzmiller & Norris.


Pic, above, here, Stoke Edith House.

Never think elements of garden design are not for your home, counterintuitively, classic Garden Design works at every style & price point.
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Needed a huge stone plinth with ball finial at a client's project, to match existing.  Huge.  There was no budget for it.  Got it anyway, and with great age.  Built exact replica, to scale, using wire mesh meant for concrete road paving, used a glass ball from a light fixture, planted English ivy.  No one the wiser, OUR stone plinth, not stone.
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Garden Design rules work everywhere.  It works if you work it.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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It is gift & curse knowing what to do in gardens.  Driving thru any neighborhood, my 'eye' fixes everything.  No shutting it off.  Excepting rustic, farm, Nature, the beach, Stone Mountain, wide open prairie.  Already perfect.  The 'eye' is content.