It smashed onto the birdhouse, above, knocking it to the ground. Destroying sections of roof, perches and lovely curved wall.
Do you see any hint of the ranch? It's still there, all of it.
SURFER CHICK & TENNIS liked my idea of French doors off the dining room, above. Creating a magic circle.
After the landscape design was complete TENNIS said he wanted a level frontyard.
Stone for the wall copies what John Knight chose for the house.
The new landscape is redolent of another era, 1930's, using pass along plant favorites.
John's details are fabulous, above, round copper downspouts, and a slight pitch to the shingle siding where it meets the brick.
Entry to the garden from the street, on axis from the front door, creates an enfilade. Adding depth, warmth, welcome, focal point, movement.
Thru the black-eyed Susan's, above. Pairs of gardenia are used at the front entry near the curb and at the front porch.
Last Friday I was on site to draw the backyard landscape.
Potting table & gravel terrace (#89 granite gravel) will be added in front of the back wall, above, with the oval window. Camellia sasanqua hedging will embrace the gravel terrace. 
Bunny on the left, below, is a finial on the front gate post. A bird landed upon his head, sending him to earth and he lost an ear & foot.
And I proclaim, I don't like to collect things. This is a tough garden for bunnies.
Penny, my late mentor, had a porcelain bunny with a dried hydrangea blossom hat. Instead, I found a dog, above.
Then he chirps assuredly about the divide of agriculture vs. horticulture, "...a can of tomatoes dropped into a flower garden..."
I found this heavy rusted iron greenhouse junking in Augusta, GA a couple of years ago.
All of the iron in my garden is robins egg blue.
My late garden cat, Cat-Cat, above, loved to nap in the greenhouse. 
Several are in my garden but Susanne had overdosed a theme.
Tuesday Morning was on the way home after making large scale copies for a client plan at Kinko's. Hadn't been inside for years.
They had a shelf of cloche's. Most, not all, were on sale.
I bought all on sale, 7. Most are etched, others plain and varied amongst 3 sizes.
Ha, not in my subdivision. Arriving to this, above, at Sunday's bar-b-q, you know I was lost in fantasy; adding height to the meadow & Adirondack chairs. Loving, adoring, reveling in Nature's garden. 
I met the owner of the paddock, at least it's a paddock in my fantasy, thru the pages of his free local magazine, Up Close & Personal in Tucker. 
County restrictions & certificate of occupancy played a role in the initial landscape. A dastardly lawn HAD to go in. Soon much of the lawn will be flowering shrubs, groundcovers, understory blooming trees, paths, rosemary, lavender & more wildflowers. 
SPO's first wildflower meadow, above.
Lawn now but just you wait, hydrangeas, azaleas, viburnum, mondo, jasmine, tea olive, cryptomeria, gardenia, camellia, forsythia, & etc...... 
SPO sourced most of the materials for the house. The working shutters are on all sides of the house. The living room, above, with 2 pair French doors leading to the back porch and, below, a door from the master bedroom to the back porch.
Well chosen downspout, below, it's round. The stones are faux. On site, from 3', you can't tell they are faux.
The kitchen, family room, master bedroom, upstairs office, & porch, below, overlook an amphitheater with a mature woodland backdrop. You would not believe the birdsong. 
Natural terracing, below, forms the amphitheatre. Faux stone tops the retaining walls.
Textured blocks, below, even cheaper than the faux stone, comprise the retaining walls. Not seen, why spend more?
A delight in the carriage house, the Cadillac. SPO & CAPE COD drive for pancakes each Saturday in the Caddy. Yes, I've asked them to stop by & pick me up some Saturday.
SPO adores cooking and found her kitchen online at Yestertec Kitchen Works. Simple, compact, functional and charming. 
The oven, below, is in the cabinet under the stove.
And the armoir, below, is not a pantry.
It's a cooking center, below. Delightful, just close the doors and it's a clean look.
In the library, below. Moving into this house they decided to forgo cable. And are loving the change in their lives. 
Between kitchen and living room, below, the desk. The house is one room deep in these rooms and full of natural light. And views, views, views. 
Keeping it small, below, SPO knew to go high with the living room ceiling.
SPO & I dreamed, before she moved in, about having a tea party on the back porch, below. Alas, dear ones, we were weak. Do you know how forsakenly hot/humid it was? 
Her home, circa 70's, is getting a new kitchen. French doors went in recently, new deck & screened porch too.
Enjoying paper in the guest bathroom, below. A weird enjoyment, but there it is.
Soon, a fig bush will engulf the pump house from behind, below. Her antique bench goes in front and hollyhocks will bloom on each side. A potager will replace the lawn.
The pool will get a facelift.
GRAPHIC GIRL loves Stone Carpets, below. She saved the picture from Early Spring 2002 Garden Shed magazine. Don't you love her level of determined passion?
Below, is where her Stone Carpet will go. A custom lattice wall will hide the stairs/raised beds.
GRAPHIC GIRL saved this Veranda magazine cover shot since 2003.
Please, someone, create fabulous software for laptop & digital camera. So far, the software isn't worth it. My fantasy is designing en plein air with laptop on the folding table.
En plein air with GRAPHIC GIRL's inspirations: pictures, mission statement, plant list.
