Susanne Hudson has several desks throughout her garden.
Do you hear wheels with clunking gears? It's my brain. Trying to figure out where to put a desk in my garden. Oh, the lamp is a real turn on too.
Not part of the 'landscaped' garden this outdoor kitchen has loads of character for little cost.
Repeating the arbor, below. Repetition is as important as simplicity in a landscape.
Susanne created the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival honoring 2 loves, a plant & a friend.
In her town, Douglasville, GA, Susanne is proof, Build it & they will come.
Susanne asked me to speak to her garden club last year. That venue was her wildly successful wedding & events business, Le Jardin Blanc.
This year I spoke at the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival. It was last Saturday.
Trams shuttled visitors to speaking venues, tented vendors & open gardens.
After speaking it became pure garden fantasy. Seeing Susanne's garden.
Her front porch took 1/2 hour.
Her home is on the historic register.
Green, brown & white are Susanne's favorite colors to use in the garden.
Oh my, the timelessness of Susanne's design.
She creates realms of calm repose. Simply.
Now, they're dry and have a garden room. 
I copied colors, dimensions, shingles, faux stone & light fixtures of their home creating a summer house & breezeway. As if it had always been there.
My clients asked for, perhaps, a canvas breezeway thru the middle of the garden space. Oh gosh, that had me stuck during the design phase.
A canvas covering over black aluminum rails to match their fence. Ouch. It wasn't working. And why solve a problem with an ugly solution? Ugly costs money too. More ouch. 
The sunny day flagstone path thru the turf is barely visible from the summerhouse. Their beloved long-haired Jack Russell Terrier has a nice green canvas to begin his yellow splotches.
My clients were blissfully unaware of their eyesore until I said, We've got to hide that electrical outlet.
All parts of your landscape must be considered. ALL. 
PINK's tiny redecorated bathroom inspired me the next morning. Why?
PINK's shower curtain fabric, found at Forsyth Fabrics. Oh my.
Can you believe these Tool Bouquets? Tools were already laying on my breakfast table, for days, playing with mental arrangements.
PINK's tiny bath lives big with a view of the terrace where we dined. Her boyfriend recently spent hours in her garden. Haven't met him yet but I know he cares for her greatly to have done such hard labor. Oh, and the sexy shoes he buys her. We didn't talk only of Russia. Boyfriend talk was delicious too. But another type of blog entirely.
I felt the freedom of floating in water. With beauty at my toes. Hydrangea 'Penny Mac' from Penny herself. These were Penny's Presbyterian hydrangeas. Given when she downsized her garden. Wickedly, she embarrassed my friend, BIG BILL, who helped dig/transplant that winter day. Penny, aged 76, leaned into BIG BILL's arm and said, I bet you've got lots of women. Quickly redder than a radish, BIG BILL, a wise man, kept digging. But with a smile. 
I'm a woman with a gorgeous dirty cloche, I like that literally & metaphorically. Gray Gardens is quite appealing. The monkeys are dressed for Penny's blossoms. I dallied on the swing twice last year, once the year before. Ridiculous. Will try to do it once a week.
The Lutyen's bench here too. Needing stain, to match the other teak. Can't simply bask must eyeball something to do. 
I would choose more comfortable furniture. 
Chiaroscuro doesn't arrive every day, sometimes it lasts 8 seconds sometimes 17 seconds.
Simple yet potent design. 
Have you already heard the gravel crunching underfoot as you approach? Marvel at the wisdom of keeping the moss? Can you smell the gravel & moss; the morning dew on the tabletop? Can you hear the metal chair upon the gravel as you sit down? Have your fingertips felt the bricks, lichens & moss on top of the table? Did you peak under the tabletop to discover how it was made?
Above, canopy & understory trees, contrasting foliage textures (big leaves next to small leaves), formal contrasting with informal, full sun contrasting with full shade, focal point (the house), contrasting colors (greens, burgundy, flowers, trunks, sky). All elements of good landscapes, whether small or large.
MR. JIM has lived in his home & garden, above pics, over 30 years. He's owner of Gibbs Landscape and guess what he still does? Wow. I was shocked and it put a smile on my face to see that MR. JIM still draws a pencil/paper plan of the new season of annuals to be planted. 
