What's Missing from this Front Porch?

Sitting on the front porch swing, below, yesterday before dinner.
.
Furnishings are functional, still not 'permanent' after moving here 2 years ago.  Awaiting back deck staining & building a conservatory, both may pull furniture from front porch.  Until then, no worries, I like using the front porch.    Floor, below, still needs staining.
.
Chair, at front door, below, leverages me coming/going from my car for work and grocery, always something to set down.  Better, that chair has the best packages delivered upon it.  Moving in, a friend told me, because I was now in middle of nowhere, You've got to get amazon prime.  Never considered that a need.  Now rural, it's a need.
.
3 ceiling fans are a need.  Rural insects dine upon livestock patties, growing to impressive sizes, while having a higher IQ than their city counterparts.  They're born knowing my name, where I live, and adoring my hide.  Worse, they love going for car rides.  
.
Notice what is missing below?
.
Huge.
.
Ironic for a Garden Designer, yet a point of particular pride.



Posted this pic, above, on my facebook yesterday.  Asking same question, What's Missing?  Got a quick answer from hilarious source.
.
Surprisingly got answers that I wasn't looking for, but were true answers.  People are rarely a component of my Garden Design photos.  During my formative era, Garden Design photos rarely had people in them.  But there was a stronger reason for having no people.  Money.  With a roll of slide film, I could only afford usable pics that would last decades.  People & cars date a garden pic.
.
Still life pulls me greatly.  Interior/exterior.  An invitation to enter.  Someone noticed that too.  A+ to him, he left me a bit stunned, as if he'd found a 'secret' !
.
That friend knowing immediately what's missing, above, was the daughter-in-law of my former boss.  Her father-in-law owned the nursery/florist I worked for doing propagation work for 2.5 years.  Learned much from her father-in-law, and always enjoyed seeing him at industry events for decades.  A good man, gone many years.  Now, she & her husband own that nursery.  It's obvious what's missing right?  Plants.
.
Not to that layer yet, excitedly anticipating growing small topiaries in terra cotta pots, a Bunny Mellon layer, and in a funny twist, interesting begonias.  A particular begonia from a friend's grandmother's plant, and here's the twist, that nursery I worked at as a propagator has an outstanding variety of old fashioned begonias.
.
Until the plant layer arrives, I'm enjoying the anticipation.
.
Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Marital Counseling

For 3 decades I've had the honor of being hired to design residential gardens.  Included is the privilege of being asked into my clients homes.
.
Aside from noticing the transition across the years, "Do you want iced tea?", to, "Do you want mosquito repellent?", to, "Do you want a bottled water?", I've noticed how people live their lives, their relationships, children, responses to life not in what they say but how they pattern their home.
.
Then there are the babies.  Many of those babies are out of college & their mom/dad have hired me as a gift to design their first home.  How can this be?  I'm already wondering 'when' will I design a garden for my 'first grandchild'?
.
Of course there are the divorces.  One particular divorce I kept both ex-spouses, when each remarried, I designed those pair of homes.



During one Garden Design, over a decade ago, 'mom' & I were talking the garden while her children and their friends were playing a theatrical dress-up, swords & crowns included, performing across the backyard with whirls through the kitchen where we were talking.  The family dogs were part of the theater too.  One of the funnest, enriching homes I've been in.
.
Last weekend this particular 'mom' called me back.  Time to enclose a front porch, change some windows into doors, turn a patch of Earth into a stone terrace, and lastly, remodel the kitchen.  We'll be doing it all in layers.
.
Life is still percolating richly in their home.  In their early 20's both children still live at home.  This time it's mom whirling and performing.  She's mere years away from retiring, a French teacher at the local school, and just finished licensing for being a yoga instructor.
.
Here's the deal with their happy home.  All are thriving, and mom/dad are going to a marital therapist learning how to get their children to move out.  I get it.  Both sides.  Their home is a love fest.
.
This theatrical will end well, interesting, but well.  


Pics, above, Garden & Gun.
.
Even happy stories may include therapy.
.
Garden & Be Well,   XOT
.
Recognize Bunny Mellon in the pics, above?  Cannot get enough of that woman.  Looking forward to visiting Oak Spring library, have already ordered several books from there.  Road trip in my future to Oak Spring.  Anticipation.  Life is good.

Planning a New Garden

Learned decades ago I cannot design a garden without seeing interiors.  Moving into a new home?  Difficulties designing the garden?  Of course.
.
Grieving leaving my garden, but oh my, the excitements of anticipating the new garden.  I'm in a new relationship.  House, garden, me, well trod territory, and favorite.  Slow down, did you notice the trinity?  Is this trinity, house-garden-you, yours?
.
Ignore this trinity at your peril.  It is not in the least selfish, instead the opposite, giving.
.
Counterintuitive.
.
It's the airplane cliche, put the air mask on yourself before helping others.
.
Once house & garden are leveraged fully, they are your ally in times of need, a spiritual base and retreat.  Beauty, ease, activity.  Another cliche, the more you go inward the more you outwardly connect.
.
This isn't where I'm going with you, another day.
.
Not in my new house/garden yet, I cannot design the garden.  How could I?  Don't know how I will live inside the house.
.
I do know I'm designing for my 80 year old self, deer, drought, unskilled labor, and my own needs for beauty, simplicity, grace,   The property has no barn, garage, conservatory, chicken coop.  They are for me to choose, not a bad bargain.
.
Built 1900, 4.5 acres, wooded/open, pond, American farmhouse architecture, 1 story, deep front porch across entire front, and a dogtrot 9' wide x 50 feet long.  A dairy farm next door, with beautiful views of meadow, lake, rolling hills, Piedmont forest, and cows.  Thorns in the roses, but those are another day too.
.
Exterior colors?  White on white is the classic for 1900, below.  Along with basic gray porch flooring and blue beadboard ceilings.



Pic from here.
.
Close to the street, I immediately thought of low fencing, friendly, with 'X' pattern, below.  Alas, my 2 chimneys, after inspectors report, had to be removed.  Repairing/replacing them not an option at this layer.  Asked the current owner if I could have the bricks, realtor texted after chimneys were down, the bricks are stacked and waiting for me.

 

Pic via here.

30 years in my home/garden, a garden cat always in attendance.  Will take this, below, and style for my own architecture.

  

Pic via here.

For my dogtrot, below.  Door, table, door, the perfect enfilade.

 

Pic via here.

 

Exterior lights, above, are long gone, replacements chosen without regard to the home's age/architecture.  Finally, will get to purchase lighting from the man I refer to all my clients.



Pic via here.
.
There is no library, above, in my new home, this cannot be.  Great joy in anticipating where it will be built.

 

Pic via here.
.
Terra cotta, above, and galvanized metal will predominate with my pots at the new house.

 

Pic via here.
.
Ceilings are 11' tall, above, and I've spent too much time researching how high to put curtain rods.



Pic via here.
.
Will slipcover, above, some of my furniture, some in big check, the rest plain.



Pic via here.
.
The master bedroom is shaded and needs a bright Nancy Lancaster yellow, above.



Pic via here.
.
Dishes, above, will go on the walls.  Which dishes and which walls, too fun, the anticipation.



Pic via here.
.
Cloth on table, above, again, where, more than one?

 

Pic via here.
.
Have done variations on this garden entry, above, for decades.  The joy of knowing they will be designed, but not knowing where, for now.

 

Pic via here.
.
My new home can lend itself formal, but I won't go there, wanting a blue striped rug, above, somewhere.

 

Pic via here.
.
Have chosen the best room, very Enchanted April, for my office, above.  A fun day when I can set the stack of 5 books I've written in their new resting place.  Better days coming soon when I start writing my new books.  3 in the pipeline.  Which to choose 1st?  Adore these  sorts of 'problems' !

 

Pic via here.

No conservatory, I'm considering this type, above, placed backside a small barn in the orchard.  Neither barn/orchard existing anywhere but in my head.  Already, they are on perfect axis with each other, house, and garden views.
.
Amazing how little I know what to do in my new garden.  In the macro, yes.  Fine tuning exact placements, flow & scale, no.  Life is good.  My next job is to get moved in, and live.  Choose interior colors, place furniture, art, lamps, library.  And litter box.
.
This ride has already begun.
.
Blessedly my new home is not Victorian, it is Edwardian.  A favorite era.  A little later and it would have been Depression era Poverty Cycle.  It will be included for history, and necessity, yet the elegancies from the Edwardian will each be a joy.
.
Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
.
Getting my homes ready to sell has about done-me-in.  Fourteen trips to thrift store with stuff, packing boxes, and staging, all at the same time.  Gardens included, and alas both garages.  Made the choice to use a realtor because of my day job.  30 years in my home, only 3 years with office/guest cottage.  Have written about staging a friend's hard to sell vacation cabin, 6 years on the market with 3 realtors, I sold it on Zillow for-sale-by-owner, renting it on AirBnB while for sale.
.
Staging works.  Both of my homes have a signed contract, last week, with the first person who looked, then made an offer less than 24 hours later.  No, homes were not priced too cheap.  They were priced dictated by nearby comparables.  Quite a week, last week, still not believing the speed life is happening.
.
Grieving leaving is intense.  The outreach I'm receiving is helping immensely.  Humbled, and giving thanks, at this unexpected chapter of grace.
.
None of the above is 'afforded'.  I must write about the financial devastation of being married to an alcoholic, college sweetheart, for 3 decades, and losing every dime to my name.  Repairing the financial damage as a Garden Designer, on my own.  Alcoholic did not aim his misery at me, I was merely collateral damage.  Was a victim for 15 wasted minutes.  Was fortunate to pass thru survivor stage in fewer minutes, thankfully, to years of thriver.
.
At lectures, local/national, and in my open gardens I've had many opportunities with other women, hugging them, tears down their faces, smiles too.  Why are they crying?  They had the epiphany, If she can do it, I can too.

Best Question for Work Success: Is it FUN ?

She called recently, "....help I'm in a new home.  A decade +/- has passed, since I was at her river front home, with tennis court, terraces, gardens, a place her husband loved to whip up 50 close friends for a Saturday dinner, often.  Perhaps the occasional movie star was feted at luncheon.  Not uncommon were the fundraising events, significant funds, successfully secured for their various beloved non-profits.

.

Do you know what happens to women like this?  With age, their powers grow.  Do you know the key component of these women?  Aside from being matriarchs in every historic fiber, they are fun.

.

(Bunny Mellon, below, is one of these women.)

Yesterday, we met at her new home, and began with a house tour, then lunch.

.

Much to talk about, before the garden.  Of course the garden threaded thru all.

.

She's in a chapter not of her choosing, her husband died 3 years ago.  Hope he heard her talking about him yesterday !

.

Real estate could have been bought anywhere, and she chose the best.  Near children/grandchildren.  Plenty of mousetraps.  (Don't know what a mousetrap is?  Allurements, enticements, enjoy my homemade soups/cookies/grilling, play in the entertainment center stuffed with pool table/pingpong/tv/xbox/card table/stereo/sofas a veritable college fraternity house ca. 1980 at SMU but better...)

.

The new arts center was mentioned for her city.  Asked who was doing it, she said, "The city."  Not that naive, I asked again.  The group was mentioned, and I said, "They are all women aren't they?", "Yes."

.

Told her what I knew of a similar effort, created decade+ ago, she wanted the woman's name who started it, and details about how the $$$ came in.

.

Done.  Then to the topic of romance & love.  Books, movies, careers of others, cooking, decorating, gardening.....

.

Pets.  

We were in the sun room, 3 long walls of windows overlooking the garden.  Her desk, in the living room, faces the garden, exactly as Noel Coward would have placed it.

.

Before the appointment she invited me to an upcoming lecture given by, Andrea Wulf,   The brilliant woman connecting the agrarian life of America's founding fathers to the content of their new form of government.

Childless, I had no playmates my own age since marriage.  Oh my, the gift of infertility.  Age 22, my friends were in their 70's.  My grandmother's era.  Tail end of that era, now passing.  Matriarchal, philanthropic, cooks, decorators, readers, gardeners, spiritual, humorous, self-esteem, modest, stewardship, and every undefinable good thing.
.
Asked if she saw, Selma.  "No."  Told her she should, it's another tale of agrarian lifestyle helping to form America.  Martin Luther King created more than a non-violent protest, he used stewardship of livestock to protect his flock, literally.  Pastor-guiding-a-flock was not cliche for March'in Luther, blessedly it was real,  Selma was poorly done, hope someone truly does MLK properly soon.
.
Then, her team.  Girlfriend, has 'Thomas'.  He gardens, cooks, decorates, irons, does laundry, opens boxes from moving & puts them away.  In addition, she has Mr. Construction, Mr. Architect, and me.  Noticed, years ago, smart chicks, age 50+, all have a team.  Yes, I have a team.  And their names are only passed along in the manner of stewardship of their time/talents.
.
Ok, we finally made it into the garden.
.
More fun.  When I go back to draw en plein air, I will get pics for you.  Yesterday was too full with work/laughter.
.
One thing I know for sure, if it's not fun with a client, it is not a good match or we are doing something wrong.  Truly, that is my barometer for work.  Is it Fun?
.
Poorly describing sublime attitudes, above, someone with 'credentials' describes them worse than poorly, below, he is wrong on a logarithmic scale.  More terribly, it's in description of Bunny Mellon.

The NYT article quotes John Wilmerding, an American art scholar and trustee of the National Gallery of Art in Washington:

Bunny was part of a generation that no longer exists today: an amateur collector with a sure eye, great taste and upper-class refinement, who bought across the board, from expensive jewelry and paintings to trinkets.

Upper-class refinement?  Not only a small lens, cracked.  Bunny's generation is still here, at the tail, but still here.  Performing their magic with all Providence has passed to them.  Bunny was Bunny in spite of her 'upper-class refinement'.  I know several of these women, money is not in great sums for most, but their attitudes/actions trump money.  
.
Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
.
Bottom pics, La Contessa .  Top pic, via Lunch & Lattte.
.
Dear John Wilmerding, Bless your heart.  Most don't 'see' the template of personality in women similar to Bunny.  When you see these women, without a cracked lens, you will see them many places.  Ironically, I'm sure at least one of them, if not more, have you in their flock.

Bunny Mellon: Garden & Gun

Topiaries & terra cotta.  All sizes.  25 a good start.

.

Enough to set about, and, trade out.  Trade weekly, prevent spider mites.  The off-exhibit, outside.

.

Bunny Mellon, Garden & Gun, below.

Enough topiary & terra cotta to pass forward with Lunch Ministry.

In Vanity Fair, below, ca. August, 2010. Bunny Mellon hit my radar.  Rare, the person intentionally gardening just-like-me.  Oh my, yes.  This, below, stopped me.  A kindred spirit.  Who exactly is Bunny Mellon?  In the fullness of time, may she keep returning to your radar, as she does mine.

“Nothing should stand out. It all should give the feeling of calm. When you go away, you should remember only the peace.”  Bunny Mellon, of her beloved, Oak Spring  Farm.



Delightful YouTube about Bunny Mellon, here.
.
Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

Sacred or Profane in Design

Since last week, when I first saw this garden, below, I've been thinking about how simply designed,  within a framework of total design, by someone with a wisdom of Nature, time across historical perspective, aesthetics, grief, continents, the sky, tilt of the Earth, seasons, meals, human foot, cars, tractors, laughter, guests, owner/s, caretaker/s, solitude, children, galas, scent, sound, wheelbarrows, terra cotta, gravel, Tara Turf, human hands, mending of spirit, abiding, atonement.  For starters.  

Nothing major has been done, above, or every element is minutely chosen.

.

Which camp are you in?

.

My camp is organic design.  Everything minutely chosen to look like nothing major has been done.

.

Design to feed Nature, and Spirit.

.

As Bunny Mellon designed, "Don't let it show."

.

Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

.

Can you guess which country this garden is in?  Era?  More signs of a good garden.

.

We can visit this garden, and spend the night, it's in Provence, a B&B, Chateau Talaud.  

.

This, and more, on my Pinterest board.

.

Organic design has no personal ego, yet total ego in belief.  More than designing a place of abiding & atonement, it is a sacrament.

.

Read a title, years ago, creating simplicity in organic design, "The Sacred and The Profane."

What Bunny Mellon's Terra Cotta Pots/Topiaries Can Teach Us

House, cabin, barns, pastures, lakes, meadows, orchards, livestock are part of her domain.

.

Family, friends, church, community building, volunteering are more of her domain.

.

She's recently asked for something 'small', local terra cotta pots, known not to freeze/crack, with plants.

.

Property is ready for this layer but how to have this layer leverage her garden & life?

.

Plainly, "How do they get watered & how do they not add more work to the farm?"

.

.

Connected with a potted plant specialist yesterday, we will meet at the farm next week to see if it's a good fit.  Aside from maximum talent, need a team player, someone willing to build a long term relationship.  

.

Once the 'fit' is finalized I look forward to sharing her work with you.

.

My job, keeping things fabulous yet easy, demanding magic from my muse & each person on the team.

.

Leaning toward creating 3 greenhouse zones for myriad potted plants, drip irrigation included.

.

Caretaker will move the pots, as the owner chooses, for events.  To move pots from greenhouse to garden a 4-wheeled wagon with tallish sides that can be pulled with the Gator.

.

1 greenhouse, small, in the courtyard next to the potager, for the owner to easily use for the house & covered porches.

.

Live plants in terra cotta pots have been a missing layer in her home.  According to me, & of course I told her.  Go me.  (This type of thinking, and blurting, does get me into a pickle or two.)

.

For sure, ivy topiaries in several sizes/shapes, orchids, old fashioned begonias-geraniums, whatever the client wants, and lastly the potted plant specialist creates wonderful potted plants we don't know we need yet.

.

Exactly, teamwork.

.

Have been a fan of Bunny Mellon for decades, she had many homes & a busy life.  How did she manage her terra cotta pots with plants?  With greenhouses & a caretaker.  Voila.  Caretaker is already part of our team we simply need to add the greenhouses with drip.

.

If you see any disaster zones let me know.  If you see something fabulous to add, let me know.

.

I wake up at 3am too often, but know to push my brain into a garden.  This morning at 3am it was 'this' garden.

.

Garden & Be Well,     XOTara

.

Pic found online, no provenance.

.

For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

.

Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.

.

Construction by Award Winning

Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

Bunny Mellon Rustic or How to be Happy

Leaving to eat dinner at my office/guest cottage yesterday, my garden, below, stopped the car & pulled me out.

Bunny Mellon would approve of my rustic garden.  More, she knew the 'high' it gives.  Asleep in bed, my garden Vulcan mind melds.
.
In this working class neighborhood of tightly arranged homes my garden is infinite.  How?  It owns the sky, and when the birds land in neighbor's yards they are still my birds.
.
This little patch, above, makes me incredibly happy.  Perhaps the best mission statement ever, Make me happy.
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
Pic taken yesterday, before dinner.  More about Bunny Mellon, Guardian.  More about Bunny Mellon, Habitually Chic. See my neighbor's houses, above?  Merely a slice of what my garden does for me.
.

If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

Historic Template

Shelf-steps, terra cotta pots, topiaried evergreens.

Big impact in the garden & easy resource for your interior.  A historic template.
.
Recognize her?  Bunny Mellon.  I adore everything this woman does in her gardens.
.
Garden & Be Well,                XO Tara
.
If you want a garden that is a moat of grace around your home & life, contact me.
.
Details about online design services.
.
Learn action steps to creating your best garden & home when you hire me to speak to your group.
.
Details about lecture titles here.
.
I've written several garden books available on Amazon.

Office Renovation

My real office is your garden.  When you hire me it's to turn your hopes & dreams of a garden into plants-hardscape-house, a Vanishing Threshold, that ephemeral bonding of joy letting you hold onto faith, expand your spirit & gather grace.

 This zone, designing gardens, is intoxicating, Joseph Campbell speaks of it as experiencing eternity here & now.

My office must let me leave ties of place to become a Mental Traveler.

Letting the Muse of writing, lecturing, powerpoints, & Garden Design 'dance'.
 

In homage to Bunny Mellon, my basket table.  Each client for the day goes into their own basket, a lecture in the evening has its own basket too.  Adore multiple basket days.

Long-distance Garden Design is done, above.

Administrative tasks here.

Overlooking the garden, below.  Best place to blog, surf, read.

No rugs or art yet.  Enjoying the simplicity.  

.

Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara

.

Laskett, left above, devoted to me no friends like him!  He pays them zero attention.  If there is a loud crash or something 'wrong', daily occurrences, it's Laura, right above.

.

Love walking into my office every morning.  Decades of joy.

.

I adore looking at offices, thought it fair to show mine.

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.
.
Foxgloves are done.  Next, small heirloom tomatoes.
.
This is enjoyable beyond expectation, these little pots, thinking about what to put in them, or leave them empty, or move them....
.
Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
.
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'.

Bunny Mellon Style

A garden, below, needing tending or a garden tended to perfection?
Is this garden, below, your idea of heaven or a mess? (Have this garden, below, in any post 1985 deed restricted subdivision & you'll get 'nastygrams' from the HOA demanding it be 'weeded'.)
A fairy tale, below, or needs pruning?
Bunny Mellon likes it SCRUFFY !!

.

A woman to love.

.

Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

.

Oddly, I've always been repelled by deeply manicured landscapes. Repelled & disgusted by tidy landscapes omitting an intellectual component entirely. Is Puppet Barbuda being too vague in her dislikes? Puppet Barbuda abhors subdivision tidy landscapes installed by the 'builder' and maintained ad nauseum thru the decades; as if tidiness is an excuse for a 'decent' landscape or an intellect.

.

Vanity Fair has a lovely article, where the pics came from, about Bunny Mellon here.

A Room With Purpose

Bunny Mellon has a room for her baskets, below.Biltmore Estate has a room for flower arranging.

.

2 very good ideas.

.

Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

.

Pic via unknown.