PROPHET WITHOUT HONOR: The Old Garden

HIPPIE CHICK said, Yes, to the open garden before the cottage & landscape were complete, below. Lawn, plants, stones, mulch, focal points, above, are hours old. HIPPIE CHICK wanted a landscape from the 1910's-1920's-1930's-1940's-1950's.

Knowing to use rocks as jewelry, urr, low columns. HIPPIE CHICK loves rocks.

Clothesline is new, custom made, based on memories. Rust color by choice. Tucked behind the new cottage.

Using what HIPPIE CHICK had on site. Her bench placed with the Tara Rule for focal points, Just Let It Touch.

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Pots on the stone wall, about 5. Lined up & planted with geraniums. A style derivative of Italian landscapes.

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I'm incredibly happy with this landscape. It doesn't look designed. It's eco, organic, sustainable, classic, low maintenance, no watering once established. And looks old immediately. Exactly what HIPPIE CHICK asked for.

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But, oh dear, my contractors. Wonderful men. Not wanting their work to look like some 'old' landscape. Me, turning into DOMINATRIX WITH A WHIP, demanding specific placement of rocks & plants. Making it look as if HIPPIE CHICK, past age 70, did everything herself decades ago.

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Why is this incredibly wonderful style of landscaping DERIDED?

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I didn't create the style, it's decades old. Why did it fall out of favor?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

FINIAL FETISH

It's not much but it makes me happy. Rabbit finials. Knowing only I wanted finials on the arbor the search began. Found the pair of cast aluminum rabbits at Lowe's. Painted Robbin's egg blue they match all the other metal in my landscape.
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The arbor, stained faded green, matches all the other wood in my landscape.
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Overdosing on a theme; it's a Tara rule.
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Finials? They're a fetish.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

COMING HOME: VANISHING THRESHOLD

Often when I'm hired, during the initial phone conversation, a client will say, I hate coming home. A sentiment understood. I, too, used to hate coming home. What changed? Jung, Life is about getting our outside to match our inside.
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It's literal & metaphorical.
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CHOOSE TO LIVE A CERTAIN WAY. Garden & home flowing in a Vanishing Threshold of beauty-energy-grace with life.
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Above, so rare. A magazine shot of an interior in vanishing threshold with its landscape. Peek out windows & doors of interior magazine shoots. Closely. You'll notice they've airbrushed the outside view.
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Vanishing Threshold begins in thought, then inside your home, then outside in the landscape. In that order.
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Landscapes begin inside the home. Not outside.
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Photo, above, is a masters class in Vanishing Threshold. It didn't happen by accident. The owner CHOSE to make it happen. Why don't you?
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Thank you La Dolce Vita for posting this pic from Traditional Home.

LANDSCAPE PHARMACOLOGY: TREES

A Scottish study concluded, living in eyesight of a landscape extends life. Not gardening. Seeing. How much better seeing a beautiful landscape? Landscape pharmacology? If musical pharmacology exists, so does landscape pharmacology.

When beautifully landscaped gardens surpass their owner, what survives? Trees.

Creating a landscape? Begin with what it will end with. Trees.

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How the French do trees: a large variegated leaf tree, a weeping tree, a large cone shaped evergreen tree, a burgundy foliaged tree. At the minimum.

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In my garden today, above, cherry tree (pink) & Chinese snowball.

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For a couple of weeks I'll be living, in a subdivision, amongst beauty dating past centuries of Chinese scrolls. And the beauty is alive. Not a scroll painting.

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Without modesty, I'm hearing in my head, Peter O'Toole as Lawrence of Arabia, I DID IT.

Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

FETE IN THE GARDEN

Unbeknownst to me, while designing en plein air, CORPORATE WOMAN, was preparing a fete. Several salads, cheeses & breads served on antique blue/white platter with antique sterling. Enjoyed in the garden swinging on her daybed from the ancient oak.

My hat landing in the the meadow at our feet. Violets blooming at the brim. Appreciating the sublime. When life is a still life.

Appreciating her DEAR HUSBAND who lovingly takes the cushions in/out for her. Without being asked.

Choosing carefully where to place the bacchanalia. Laughter, sun, soft spring air, life, fragrance, timelessness, discussing the garden plan, sharing life stories.

A gift CORPORATE WOMAN shared with me, her joy. Her love of family, home, food, books, antiques, travel, art, story telling, and her garden.

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Humbling.

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Am I fully realizing the joys in my life, and sharing them?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

DON'T PLANT THE POTS

EXTERIOR WALLS SHOULD BE 3-D IN AREAS. A wall fountain, a birdhouse, exquisite shutters, espaliered plants, a vine, art. Whatever ties in with your interior design. Low maintenance, above, means don't plant the pots.
..............HOW?
* In the 1/2 face use an artful arrangement of pine cones + Spanish moss.
* Put a bonnet on the woman with an arrangement of dried hydrangeas + spike of dried
butterfly bush blossom.
* Give the bearded man a circa 1960's NASA crew cut of clipped twigs from a nearby tree.
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You get the idea. I'm curious what you've come up with.

Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

WHY DO MEN STOP WOMEN FROM GARDENING?

More than a handful of women have 'SECRETLY' hired me to design their landscape. WHY? Why do men stop women from gardening? Mostly they don't want their lawn changed. What is the most harmful feature of American landscapes? THE LAWN. Fertilizer, chemicals, water, gas powered lawn-mower. What are the other reasons? Change. Not wanting change.
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LOVELY called for a design and explained she & PRICKLES, her husband, were retired. PRICKLES is always home. How could she hide me? We covertly planned lunch. PRICKLES, LOVELY & I had a delightful lunch, and as expected, PRICKLES went to the basement to play on his computer. LOVELY & I walked her garden and I did her landscape design. With feverish searching eyes LOVELY scanned her kitchen & family room for signs of PRICKLES before paying me in cash.
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PEONY wanted a landscape design & told me up front her husband, GOLFER, must never know. Could I come during a very specific time? PEONY had a lovely landscape but wanted a good tweaking. Knowing his golf schedule she timed my landscape design to the minute. With feverish searching eyes, and paying cash, PEONY made sure I was out of her driveway 1/2 hour before GOLFER was due home.
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CHEF recently bought a circa 1960's home on acreage. The previous owner's landscape crew, TESTOSTERONE ON WHEELS, showed up. CHEF told them how she wanted it done. No ma'am that's not how it's really done, they said. CHEF said, Well, there's a new sheriff in town. Weeks later, CHEF asked TESTOSTERONE ON WHEELS, again, to mow according to her tastes on her property. You know where this is going don't you? TESTOSTERONE ON WHEELS was summarily fired.
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When I began to garden COLLEGE BOY said, You can't do that. Like an idiot I listened. After 3 years of 'partially' gardening, with fabulous results, I began to garden in earnest. Without telling COLLEGE BOY anything I began to garden from my soul. In exchange I do all the gardening myself and pay for it myself.
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More stories but this post is already too long.
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What have we done, as a society, to let anyone (male or female) think they can stop another person from gardening?
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

AND THEY LOOK THIS GOOD? FREE DESIGN

Look closely. A pair of picnic tables create this dining room. Design for any budget.
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Why is this garden room inviting?
* Timeless
* Speaks, Welcome, without words
* A shady respite
* Seating
* Complete room: (ceiling) canopy & understory trees, (walls) of shrubs in contrasting foliage
colors/sizes, (flooring) of gravel
* Works for one or a group
* Outdoor ceiling fans on 6"x6" posts can be added to keep mosquitoes away
* Copied, it will be unique at each site
* Not too big, not too small
* Low maintenance
* Can't find matching tables or chairs? Copy the French: paint or stain everything the same color

Pic from Velvet & Linen

AKEBIA VINE & SLOW FOOD MOVEMENT

Akebia vine is blooming. Pretty but not showy. It's FRAGRANT. With akebia blooming, I feel like a dear friend has returned. A once a year fragrance, akebia flowers aren't sold during the rest of the year, that I know of.
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Is this what the SLOW FOOD MOVEMENT is about? Creating a sense of drama, desire, appreciation. Skip the eco, carbon, sustainability, la-ti-da.
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Savoring smells, tastes, textures.
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Giving up the world of choice and gaining the world within the fragrance of akebia.
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Akebia quinata - 5 leaf akebia, zone (4)5-8. Plant only 1. They like to have SEX.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

A GATE IN THE FENCE

A 15' span of fence received a gate. Instead of the woodland path dead-ending into the fence it continues thru a new entryway. Above & below, with my back to the new gate the camera shoots along the woodland path.

Below, turning my back toward the chair (above) while feet stay in the same spot, looking thru the new gate into my backyard.

Below, viewed from upstairs the chair is a focal point from many axis.

Larger leafed azaleas are tougher than small leafed azaleas.

Above, azaleas following the focal point rule, Just Let It Touch.

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Garden Goal: standing still shoot a garden picture to the left, then shoot a garden picture to the right. Your garden must be both directions beautiful.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

TUB: A PREDILECTION

Found online this pic has seared itself into my brain. Seared with further design. In my mind's eye there are 5 claw foot tubs under the tree. A small table, with dinner-wine, at each tub. I'm in one of the tubs & girlfriends are in the rest.

We are talking-sharing-savoring: the tree, the art, night, fireflies, fragrance, sound of bats, each other, floating, comfort, nurturing, laughter, ideas, joys, lessening of sorrows, epiphanies, being silly, gathering strength, being tender, knowing we will leave the evening enriched-changed-more completely ourselves.

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Top pic anonymous at the moment. Anyone know? Send it to me.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

CREATING MYSTERY

The average landscape is seen at a glance. BORING. Fabulous landscapes share a trait: MYSTERY.
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Fabulous landscapes delight the eye and tease the intellect.
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With eye & intellect engaged feet follow. Is your landscape doing this?
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Above, through my camellias a hint of the terrace. Beckoning, Come see me.
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Once at the terrace, Where will you be beckoned next?
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And you know you will be, don't you?
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara