WOMEN'S SUSTAINABILITY

Gardens of my grandmother & mentors, below. Five women, 4 passed, the last age 93. When, exactly, did their gardens go out-of-style? Gardens imprinted in childhood onto my DNA. By the mid-1980's independent garden centers were being replaced by big box stores. Later, HGTV was on the horizon. Then, lifestyle & garden magazines photographed 'fashionable' landscapes. Martha Stewart 'perfect' landscapes.
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Niche Gardens catalogue arrived yesterday. In watercolor, the gardens of my mentors thrives.
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Their gardens aren't perfect, they are better than that. They are real, fabulous, nurturing, scruffy, fragrant, inviting, attractive to birds-friends-family-insects.
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My mentors created gardens emanating grace.
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Gardens without irrigation systems or chemicals. Flowers & food grown in abundance with ZERO fanfare, NONE. It's just what they did, along with sewing, cooking, raising children, working, being active in church, playing bridge, being on the board of the local garden club, & taking care of a man.
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It's odd. The camera does not like the gardens of my mentors. In close-up they photograph beautifully. Take a picture of the garden, above? Not. It wouldn't make it into a magazine. Not 'perfect' enough. Too scruffy.
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Last year I gave up trying for the Martha Stewart Living perfect landscape. Why did I ever go there? My garden is the garden of my mentors. Woman powered, excepting when I need a hired man. (They are superior to husbands, they don't ask, "Why?")
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Something odd happened. Before an open garden last year, all floofed, poofed, ready for showtime I walked my garden paths. I began to cry. Big tears, big sobs. Why? I was finally back in my grandmother's garden. HOME.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Watercolor, above, Elizabeth Ellison.
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Mail@NicheGardens.com or 919-967-0078.
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And Martha Stewart? Soooooooo proud of her. She created an industry & makes money from traditional women's work that wasn't honored in the past. What Martha Stewart does? My grandmother did it all, & spoiled me while doing it. I am humbled by her generation.

POWER OF NUANCE

Meadow, trees, house. A trinity complete. A landscape design of choice, above. Dramatically static. Aristocratic courtship of man & nature.
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Can't you see this throughout the seasons?
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Plain? No. I see a flamboyant language. Elusive truth. A repertory of expectancy.
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Symbolist mystery with modern directness.
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Disparate harmony.
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Humble? Not in the least.
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Status in a meadow. Nature's & man's.
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I live in a subdivision. Of course I would love to live in a home looking across meadow into trees. Instead, I've created many garden rooms as a moat of grace around my home. And my life.
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I didn't know that when I began to garden.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic by Borjanna Eghbalian, Schloss Kasel, via Green & Stylish.

SHELL HEAD CONNIVING

She's art. A SEA QUEEN for the garden. I have heads & I have shells.

Alas. Talent to combine shells & head? To be determined.

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It begins. Lust. Discovered her at Scott's over the weekend. No clue where she'll go in my garden. YET.

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Why? 1 focal point/area in the landscape. Create a new garden room? Rotate an existing focal point off exhibit? Perhaps use her as a subsidiary focal point? Yes, this will give weeks of enjoyment. Conniving.

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Ha, this too, is gardening.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

UP TO THE HOUSE

Stone or gravel up to the house. First view, Scotland, almost 2 decades ago during a landscape study trip. I GOT IT !!!! Not during college, not during any symposium had anyone, ANYONE, said to put stone or gravel up to the house. I've been doing it ever since.

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Oddly, I've only recently done it for myself. Days ago. Why did I wait so long? Cobblers child?

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Shot pea gravel, above, $20/ton. #89 granite gravel is gray and slightly larger than shot pea gravel. Voila, color choice!!

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An idea for Manse & Caretakers Cottage.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic by Nicolas Tosi via Architect Design.

THRIFTING A GARDEN TABLE

"I can't afford....", begins many sentences pertaining to landscaping. I don't buy it for a moment. Monet's garden had it, Vita's, & all of Charleston, SC, THE POVERTY CYCLE. With it they created world class gardens. But I'm not posting about that epiphany today. Besides, ask yourself, "Do I have less intelligence than them?". Ha, my point exactly.
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Solid wood, below, great for a covered porch. I'm seeing it painted to match your shutters or your front door. Perhaps it's painted white and central to a collection of antique wicker? Table, above, my local thrift store this week, $25.
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Do you know where your local thrift store is?
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

THRIFTING GARDEN CANDLES

Lanterns, below, are my newest fetish since visiting Susanne Hudson's garden.Several Smith/Hawken going-out-of-business sale lanterns are awaiting styling in my garden. Candles? Sale candles of course. Thrift store, above, too. For pennies on the dollar I have no shame in unmatched candles. Prices above? Further reduced, 75% off.
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Sure the open garden or garden pic you'll see matched candles. Perhaps melted unmatched wax & an empty wine bottle with a dropped linen napkin.
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A perfect garden isn't my goal. I want a fabulous garden to feed my soul, delight my eye & challenge my intellect.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

GARDEN DESIGNERS BLOGLINK: TARA'S TRINITY OF THE SOUTHERN GARDEN

With, Tara's Trinity of the Southern Garden: Azaleas, Camellias, Hydrangeas, you'll have blooms everyday in your garden. Oakleaf hydrangea bloom late spring, mophead hydrangea bloom early summer & summer, 'Anna Belle' hydrangea bloom summer, 'Tardiva' & 'Pee Gee' hydrangea bloom late summer to frost. Above, lacecap hydrangea.

Southern Indica Azaleas, 'George Tabor', above, bloom in spring. They stand up to drought, bugs, cold. Use Exbury azaleas too, they bloom before 'George Tabor'.

Camellia sasanqua, above, bloom in fall. Camellia japonica bloom in winter.

Landscapes designed with evergreen hedges & entries, cultivate the eye, songbirds, & increase property value. Chinese snowball, above. Pathways should flow around your entire property, no dead ends. 'Tardiva' hydrangea blooming, above.

Use wit & whimsy in your landscape, above. Beware, CUTE, it's treacherous.

Start your landscape design from inside your home, Vanishing Threshold. Patio, above, viewed from my kitchen sink.

Design your landscape for February. It will be gorgeous all year. View, above, from my living room.

Site deciduous understory trees, crape myrtle, above, to shade your home from summer sun. Window, above, views stone terrace, below. Summer's blanket of rudbeckia gives way to smooth Tennessee gray flagstone the rest of the year.

If you're new to gardening in the South you'll adore, A Southern Garden by Elizabeth Lawrence, and, Hudson's Southern Gardening by Charles Hudson. Use your local Extension Service for specific advice to your county/state. The Garden In Winter, by Rosemary Verey is an incredible garden design book. My 5 books ( 3 on garden design, 2 on plants) are at the right, scroll down.

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Tara's Trinity Of The Southern Garden is gorgeous, low maintenance & a workhorse of your Southern garden design.

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Today is GARDEN DESIGNERS BLOGLINK across America. 12 garden designers sharing what's unique to their region. ENJOY !!!!!

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Jocelyn Chilvers (The Art Garden) – Wheat Ridge, CO
Susan Cohan (Miss Rumphius’ Rules) - Chatham, NJ
Michelle Derviss (Garden Porn) – Novato, CA
Dan Eskelson (Clearwater Landscapes Garden Journal) – Priest River, ID
Laura Livengood Schaub (Interleafings) – San Jose CA
Susan Morrison (Blue Planet Garden Blog) – East Bay, CA
Pam Penick (Digging) – Austin, TX
Susan Schlenger (Landscape Design Viewpoint) – Charlottesville, VA
Genevieve Schmidt (North Coast Gardening) – Arcata, CA
Ivette Soler (The Germinatrix) – Los Angeles, CA
Rebecca Sweet (Gossip in the Garden) – Los Altos, CA
Become a Fan of Blue Heron Landscape Design on Face book – http://bit.ly/yq1XT
Read the Blue Heron Landscapes Blog: http://www.bhld.wordpress.com/
Become a Fan of Blue Heron Landscape Design on Face book - www.bit.ly/yq1XT
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ScottHokunson
Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/scotthokunson

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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All pics my garden except hedge with window. Took that pic while writing one of my books.

PRAY, LOVE, GARDEN

Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert was fascinating. A page turner to the end. Reading was what I imagine watching a slow motion train wreck to look like. 1995 had me Gardening & Praying, fiercely, for 2 dear friends & a mother-in-law with cancer. 1996, all 3 gone. A humbling way to learn to pray for God's will, too.
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Christmas 1999, discovery of COLLEGE BOY's choices. Choices made without my knowledge. Choices draining every dime I ever earned or invested. Almost losing my house/garden.
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Into my garden I went. Already friend it became confidant, nurturer, comedian, storyteller, peacemaker, mirror, shaman, shock absorber, grief counselor, career coach, home & more.
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Oh my, the women I've connected with the past decade because of my garden. Women who have faced a violent husband/boyfriend, the murder of a child, an alcoholic spouse/child, solitude of raising children & more. They too turned to their gardens. What I love most about these friendships? We LAUGH.
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Talk about troubles? Ridiculous. We talk books, food, movies, gardens, design, careers, travel, and silly stuff from shoes to men.
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It's amazing how many find a path from survival to thriving in their garden.
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I travel local/national/international for work but I TRAVEL FARTHEST IN MY GARDEN.
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Eat, Pray, Love gave me awareness of a trinity in my life. PRAY, LOVE, GARDEN.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic from my front garden. Decided to move Christmas lights to the gate, they look fab, and keep them there all year. Fine, I'm hearing the lyric, "Like my girls a little on the tacky side." too!

A LITTLE WEED PLEASE

Where are the weeds? Gorgeous? Yes, in a Stepford Wife banality (honestly, remove the 'b' from the previous word). Ha, not even garlic chives or marigolds at the edges to repel bugs. PUPPET BARBUDA contemplated deeply about this garden. Conclusion? It lacks ROMANCE. Yet, PUPPET BARBUDA adored the romance of the settings in the rest of the movie, It's Complicated.

Susanne Hudson is using true landscape bamboo fencing for my new window treatments, above. A soft burlap for dust ruffle & chair cushions.

My garden tub, above,

is coming inside, above.

The strength of girlfriends, above. My 2 new gravel terraces? (5 tons, $410) Specifically for more girlfriend action!

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PUPPET BARBUDA has added Hollywood movie garden stylist to her dream job resume. It looks, top pic, like a vegetable garden in a CHEMICAL COMPANY ad circa 1962. Even butterflies, honey bees & lady bugs knew this was a no fly zone. Ugh.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics from the movie, It's Complicated.

WINDOW SCREENS ARE UGLY

As landscape backdrop your house has zero small details. Studying historic landscapes abroad I realized window screens have no presence. Off they went. Once done I realized it was a, "Let Your House (Life) Out Of Jail" card. Why? LIGHT !!

I removed window screens for the aesthetics of my landscape. Instead, removing window screens increased my quality of life.

House, garden & lifestyle are combined. Who knew?

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Insects? I place screen inserts into windows when the weather is fine & leave the windows open. No bugs & cats can't go out. No alarm, cats are never unattended.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Top pic, Jack. Bottom pics, Mister, who lived to age 22 & loved me devotedly.

SUBSIDIARY FOCAL POINTS

Garden Rooms ambush the rule: 1 Focal Point/Area. Each garden room is allowed its own focal point. What about all the stupid little things? Focal point bench, above, softened with plantings in the pot cluster. My broken head collection is used as a Subsidiary Focal Point. Watering can too.

Tucked into the Hydrangea 'Anna Belle', the blue/white egg is hidden from most views.

Ezra, my Gethling, above, tucked into a shady spot. Most people never see Ezra indicating he's a well placed subsidiary focal point.

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Subsidiary Focal Points are delightfully devious to children. They GET the fantasy. Who knew? Gardening fully for yourself is gardening for children too.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

GARDEN TUB FANTASY

Promotional pic, below, for my first book, The Garden View. Taken in my garden tub. Plumbing fixtures from Vintage Tub arrived this week.
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The tub is moving inside. Virginia Woolf gave herself a new bathroom with the proceeds from a book. To The Lighthouse is my favorite.
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FANTASY: Long, dirty, bruising, bloody happy day of gardening. Drawing warm water, pouring wine, situating Laskett my cat on his stool next to the tub, Edith Piaff & Nina Simone on the cheap radio I adore, & a threadbare To The Lighthouse.
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If you aren't bruised & bloody is it gardening? Discovering cuts & bruises, after gardening, is a thrill. I'm so happy gardening I never feel them when they happen.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara