A notion inextricably appealing. 
Less than a mile away we found our quarry.
This little garden, literally, 2' wide, and about 45' long.
Crunchy gravel, lovely understated pots, lots of serene green, touches of chaos, touches of order. Big dose of tasty aged architecture. Can you believe this is Birmingham, ALABAMA and not Birmingham, ENGLAND?
THE Norman Kent Johnson, landscape architect, bought a falling down shed 2 decades ago and created this Norman delight. Notice thru the window, above, the house is 1 room deep. It has only 1 bedroom (upstairs).
Yesterday I forgot to mention, rub tools with boiled linseed oil if you want to copy Norman's idea. Don't worry it comes boiled. You don't need to do it.
To the left of the front door a most civilized welcome. Don't you want to go inside? 
He saw me shooting & came outside. NORMAN KENT JOHNSON, yes the norman kent johnson, talked with me outside his charming cottage for over an hour.
Met him while meandering the streets of Birmingham, AL where I lectured yesterday.
I've kept her to myself for 2 weeks wondering if she was relevant for my blog. Yes.
A couple of weeks ago, below, Chinese snowball petals. A few are evident, above.
And the great southern drama, below, snow. When the teacup snowstorms begin I grab the camera & run.
Need to get the camellia blossoms in bloom with this chair and fall leaves. Who knew? Copying Sir Walter Scott I thought I was simply creating a single photo op with a chair. Instead it's seasons of beauty. And the random bird or squirrel alighting on the chair to dine. 
Oh the delight of my impromptu breakfast & accidentally matching. 
Their pond mesmerized in real time and I realized, only this week, designing to mesmerize is an element of landscape design.
George's walled garden at Mount Vernon is the Pleasure Garden with plants from around the globe. Though he was fighting a new type of war George hired a landscape designer for Mount Vernon. Imagine. He boldly fought a war without advice but hired advice for his landscape.
Stranded on a runway, fog, in Switzerland, returning from a garden tour of Italy Peggy Cannon, gardener & artist, was my seatmate. A short amount of conversation led to my landscape photo album being pulled out. Peggy sparkled and said, Oh I've brought mine too!
We were on that runway 4 hours. Four delightful hours of gardens, antiques, oil painting, clothes, money, books, personal business methods, travel, food, pets, parents, siblings, men, children, in-laws. Our photo albums spurred a deep intimacy & trust. 
Why did I stop carrying my landscape photo album? Yesterday, while my broken email was being repaired I put together a new landscape photo album. 48 pics of my landscape, 4 pics/page, gorgeous. 
The album is potently tucked in my purse as I type. Last night, dinner with PRIMITIVE GIRLS, you bet, they've already devoured my album. And yes, they've decided they need one too. To whip out. And share.
And, an enclosing fence. Keeping animals & debris to a minimum. Painted blue. Nothing was done solely for aesthetics with the Shakers. Why paint the fence blue? Function? The spirit world. To keep evil spirits away or ask God's bounty upon their crop, or both, I don't know.
Nearby, below, what my LANDSCAPE DESIGN EQUATION advocates. When you create a landscape design begin with trees. What survives in a landscape? Trees, meadow & stone focal point. If you care about low maintenance, organics, sustainability with rainwater only, creating a realm of beauty to live amongst & leaving something for the future. TREES.
With age the trees have become more spectacular than the house, below. 
Why is this painted brick, below, working for me? I used to hate painted brick. This painted charmer is near the homes pictured above.
And each of the homes edge Washington Park in Albany, New York. Yes, I was there during the tulip festival. 
Below, the wisdom of what lasts in a landscape (trees - meadow) contrasted with the ephemeral (tulips).
Contrasts, another landscape design tool. Above, see the tree design? Canopy, understory, cone, weeping, horizontal, burgundy foliage, deciduous, evergreen, brown bark, white bark, grey bark.
APPLE SAUCE QUEEN had 4 minutes notice of our arrival. She & her husband were in the backyard gardening & caretaking a grandson. Spring, calm, beauty, love, laughter emanated from this trio as we pulled into their drive. 
Have you designed shadows, above, into your landscape? Wish you could have walked upon this venerable stone path to APPLE SAUCE QUEEN's front door with me.
Immediately at the front door, above, original stairs, rail, floor, foyer.
Each side of the foyer, above, with these doors. Were they to help caretake children, control pets?
The dining room, above & below, was a later addition. In the china cabinet, above, APPLE SAUCE QUEEN has a jar full of pottery, china, pipes, marbles & other misc. things found while digging in the garden. Some of the china is from China. Slow-witted me did not think to get a picture for you. Oops.
Why is this a fabulous landscape picture, above? Trust me, it is. APPLE SAUCE QUEEN was in the process of removing iris and planting vinca minor when NAUGHTY GIRL & I arrived.
