FIELD GATHERING & FRENCH COLOR

French landscapes often paint everything the same color to unify. Field gathered iron found at Scott Antique over several years.

Egyptian iron fence panel used as faux gate, below. A fleck of robbins egg blue clinging to the rust inspired the color. Lowe's did the color matching. I chose oil base. French bistro table, circa 1930's, below, arrived a dark green. Wanting to keep its history , I failed.

Iron table, circa 1960, has legs inspired by the 1950's. I adore furniture overlapping eras. It arrived in grey black.

The chairs, above, were a gift in the early 80's. They were black.

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Robbins egg blue is common in European landscapes. It's a different color all day. In shade, sun, part sun, rain. Its hues change. They're a delight. It took courage to copy what I saw working in Europe.

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Why was I afraid to paint? I regret the time not having my furniture robbins egg blue.

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It MAKES ME HAPPY.

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Garden & Be Well XO T

DOUBLE AXIS

DOUBLE AXIS: One line with a focal point at each end. I coined double axis studying in Europe. Noticing landscapes had focal points facing focal points.

Below, view of the conservatory from the upper garden. The path is the 'axis'.

View of the upper garden from the conservatory, below. The same path is the axis.
Ship Men travel the world with their business. I constantly edit their landscape, above, acquisitions. They constantly share new ideas. We teach each other.

Focal points rotate on/off view.

Their landscape is low maintenance. Ship Man 'D', with joy, does most of the gardening.

Beautiful by Design, is about double axis.

"SPEND NO MONEY: MAKE MY BOLT HOLE BEAUTIFUL"

A bolt hole. A room of her own to regain serenity. She rented this little loft during a drought. Money to garden drier than the summer. She said, Make it beautiful. I have leftover chairs, houseplants, pots, bakers rack, rug, etc. Leftovers. No money.

She loved the rusty bin of coal, above. It became installation art.

She wanted corn, above. Did she know it was the base of life & spirit in some cultures?

View from her kitchen, vanishing threshold with her garden.

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Two hours to place everything. Hyacinth bean vine used for speed, lushness, drought tolerance and beauty.

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We shared lunch, life, laughter at the table, above.

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She's a lawyer turned soapmaker, Secret Garden Soap.

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She says she can change a life with scent.

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Isn't that what it takes?

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A pianist, singer, songwriter, painter, teacher, gardener, shoemaker, couturier, and more, knowing their work changes lives.

URBAN LANDSCAPES

Landscapes erupt from the soul of every gardener. No matter where they live. No matter their budget. As I type there are Defiant Gardeners in Baghdad. A garden in NY City, above, pic from Urban Greenery

In Toronto, above, pic from Urban Greenery Vine on the wall is a vertical lawn. Can you imagine the birds, butterflies, fragrance, sounds, coolness, privacy, pleasure, retreat, these little gardens provide? Puttering about in the gardens creates stronger ambient community ties and higher property values.

Discovered the pics above on a fabulous blog, Landscape Urbanism. The pictures, words, intellect are delightful.

DESIGN: CONTRAST SPIKES & ROUNDS

Amplify your landscape design by contrasting shapes. If the finials on this church were cone shaped the tall evergreens should be rounded. The eye delights in the frisson of difference. Taken last year at Mt. Carmel overlooking the Valley of Armageddon.

As my parents and the group listened to the Pastor I greedily, and knowingly, had the church, hilltop & Valley of Armageddon to myself. My parents gave me this trip but I had to heed my inner voice, Get pictures for landscape design. Risking my earthly father's wrath at not listening to the sermon.

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Of course it meant I had the quaint gift shop and toilets to myself too. Studying landscapes across Europe I've learned a few tricks.

Garden & Be Well XO Tara

BLEAK CHIC: ENGLISH HEDGEROWS AND GARDENS IN WINTER

A great English garden in winter. Vines, wisteria and clematis, low evergreens. Peonies dormant where the soil is bare. Glories of blossom, in winter's undress.
Jane Austin in the window, above, with her laptop wickedly tweeking eharmony profiles.

Hedgerows in winter. Machine pruned, properly. No wonder they're beautiful in spring, summer and fall.

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I ADORE THE BLEAK CHIC OF GOOD GARDENS IN WINTER.

MY TRIP to WHICHFORD POTTERY in Nr SHIPSTON-ON-STOUR, WARWICKSHIRE, ENGLAND

Determined driving barely got us to Whichford Pottery before dark last month. England is dark at 5pm in winter. Found on a flier, who knew what it would be like? Arriving to this, we knew the rest would be fantasy. Below, pots in pots. How long before I do this?

The artists shop, below. Several artists work at this pottery, founded 1976 by Jim Keeling.

A mix of buildings, centuries old, comprise the pottery, below. I couldn't investigate fast enough.

Seeing the vista of pots, below, made me ache. A heart & lust ache. How to get them home?

AN ENGLISH WOMAN MADE LOVE WITH AN ITALIAN URN.

She gave birth to this man, below. He gave freely, willing us to know clay.

A front-end loader brings in clay, below. I wanted to strip & swim in it.

Three types of clay, from different areas of England, make the frost proof pots.

Wet clay goes thru this machine,below, moisture dripping. Oh, the smell of God's good earth.

After the machine, above, clay goes into the machine, below. Extruded from the front it's cut off with a large improvised cheese cutter. Then covered with plastic & cured for a couple of weeks.

FILLING BROKEN POTS WITH BROKEN POTS AND THEY'RE PRETTY. And the garden creates another metaphor.

A talker & lover this cat had me. This pottery had me. It still does.

Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

SINKING INTO CAMELLIAS

A bouquet. These are camellia sasanqua in late fall. Behind is the Summer House.
Alexandra Stoddard wrote about the golden ratio in Living A Beautiful Life. I used it to design the summer house. My lot is less than 8500 sqft in suburbia. MY LANDSCAPE IS IN DENIAL OF SUBURBIA BECAUSE I AM.

With a landscape design client in Michigan I dreadfully missed camellia.

Mother Nature, please let me SHOW OFF with sasanqua. JUST ONE. Next to the conifers.

Use white blossoms for plantings further away from your home. They show up better from a distance than pink or dark pink.

Honeybees come on cold fall days to the sasanqua. Follow them home? Fantasies about tasting sasanqua honey.

BILLY SKAGGS: EXTENSION AGENT

Billy Skaggs is the Extension Agent in Gainesville, GA. He asked me to be on his radio show this morning. And this is work? Smart, nice, caring, fun describe Billy. I had to get color into the pictures. Everything is winter. Enjoy the tempting view of summer's hydrangeas.

H. 'Penny Mac' in drought. Normally blue, aluminum uptake is hindered in drought, they are pink. Separate issue from ph. (hi ph -alkaline- is pink, low ph- acid- is blue)

Dare I show the picture, above, today? No leaves, no flowers, brown sticks.

Garden & Be Well XO Tara

ANNE RAVER.........NYTIMES YESTERDAY

Anne Raver wrote sweetly on tough topics. Pairing new plants (they're the ones with slick ad campaigns and patents) and old plants performing for a century. Implied between the lines, Which plant is best?

The economy is bad and more are gardening. They're firing the mow-blow-go crew and growing vegetables. Once they encounter tough soil prep and bugs will they continue? Will the younger generation go outside, away from technology, and keep gardening or is it an economic fad? Dan Hinkley thinks it's a fad. Ken Druse knows ornamentals feed the soul. Go Anne!
My Turn: Veg't gardens are great near a door closest to the kitchen. It's usually a sunny spot, veggies need about 6 hrs. Use 3-4 pots, 22" in diameter, filled with Fafard potting soil. Terra cotta loses water quickly, choose something else. Pots must drain. Stuff pots with a tutere for training vines, herbs/veg't/annuals. Crazy busy lives need easy access and seeing the garden grow is a pleasure. Plus you get production.

Arrange pots aesthetically accenting your patio/deck decor.

Form/function. That's what it's about.

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Buy pots gorgeous enough to be empty.

If you tire of veggies you'll have pots for accents and focal points.

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Notice how Extension Service speaks of veggies and landscape design. If you want veggies in a busy life it's landscape design to get them easily integrated with your schedule, sunlight, architecture and aesthetics.

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My pot, above, hasn't been planted in over a decade.

Garden & Be Well............XO T

STAINING TEAK

Staining teak? I finally did it after years of hedging. Why did I wait? What do you think? The stain color is matched from an old House & Garden magazine about a coutourier in France and his landscape. A faded Monet green. It looked old from the first day.

Love the urn that doesn't need planting, above. The top does come off if I lose my mind and want to increase maintenance by planting.

This chair came with a horrible brown stain that's aging off. I'll stain it to match next year when most of the brown is gone.

I like chairs with arms, better to read & relax. Better props for the landing birds too.

Garden & Be Well XXOO Tara

SNOWS OF SPRING

My garden last spring. I garden for these moments. Designed? Yes. But really, who did the beauty? The unexpected moment? The surprise chair blossoms?

We see chairs glued with leaves, moss etc......for flower shows. This is Mother Nature laughing.

This looks 'natural' but it's completely designed. A backdrop evergreen hedge (camellias), deciduous flowering shrubs (hydrangeas) behind the chair, understory tree (Chinese snowball), a path to the right.

The white petals are from the Chinese snowball (Viburnum macrocephalum).