Functional

Furniture on gravel? Easy. Discovered Italian heavy-weight terra cotta pots/saucers at the Ace Hardware in Douglasville, GA. Saw the 'same' pots at Wal-Mart yesterday. Tags said, Made In America. They were sooooooo lightweight.
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Terra Cotta with fine particles is heavier and less prone to freeze damage. Not immune, but lasts much longer.
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Douglasville Ace? Bought dozens of terra cotta pots/saucers at their 1/2 price sale.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken in Susanne Hudson's conservatory last month.

That Type

When the actor Jimmy Stewart died in 1997 the obit picture was taken in his garden. Oh, BEAUTY. I, I, me-me-me, I, I, wanted THAT type of garden. Yesterday, Rob Browder, in my garden. Finally met his children. Rob, for almost 2 decades, is the only pruning contractor I refer. Precision Pruning.

Rob's pruning is so natural it looks like G*d pruned. But, dahlings, you must write G*d a check.

Hard to imagine I knew Rob about 10 (ok maybe 4) girlfriends before he met his ex-wife. I was thrilled to finally meet his children.

And I shot them in the exact type of garden Jimmy Stewart had.

It was a tough day with Rob & his men. Deep pruning to all the Daphne. And Rosemary. So deep. I couldn't watch.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Bottom pic is my favorite. If you are in the metro Atlanta area reading this, yes, you want Rob pruning your garden.

Blasted !

Susan Burks, IFDA, S. E. B. Designs, attended my lecture this spring for Kravet at ADAC. She 'got' my Vanishing Threshold, and hired me. Vanishing Threshold brings the outside, inside.

Susan's beautiful, serene dining room, all these pics, is blasted with reflected light off her porch. AND. It's the wrong color. Vanishing Threshold brings the inside, outside.

Soon, her porch (blasting white, above) will be painted the color of her stucco exterior (instead of matching the exterior trim color). Her stucco is similar to the wall color in her dining room.
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The story gets better. With a new interior design client Susan looked out the windows and gained the design of their deck & porch too.

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Exactly why Kravet hired me to speak. Knowing my Vanishing Threshold expands the business opportunities of their customers.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken this week. None styled. Susan's home is a dream of comfort, color, art and contemporary pieces with antiques. Looking into the windows of my landscape design clients I design window treatments, interior lighting, furniture placement & etc. Shouldn't interior decorators look outside and do the same?

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Yes, dahlings, there is a limit to this swapping of interior & exterior talents. Exactly why I hired interior decorator Susanne Hudson last winter. And why Susan Burks hired me for landscape design this week. Same as going to the doctor and being referred to a specialist.

Simple

A few weeks ago when the roses began blooming, below. #89 granite gravel drive, picket fence copied from historic template, carport (at right) with "columns" made from 2" x 6" boards, green-brown-white color theme. Pure Simplicity.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Can you hear the gravel as you drive into Susanne Hudson's garden?

The Roof

At my driveway, below, Hydrangea 'Anna Belle' blooming. Peeking thru is a neighbor's roof. Reminding me of a Monet painting.

A corner of my roof, above.

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These 'accidental' roof pics give me an entirely new focus for shooting. How I adore the arcane.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Bit of brown vine, Carolina jessamine, in the top pic was cut en masse, with permission, by my house painter. Will clear it out as time allows.

An Exception

Landscape Design Rule: 1 Focal Point per Area Faux bois bench.
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Oversized hanging candle lantern.
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Blooming Hydrangea in a pot.
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Gravel path.
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Breaking Landscape Design Rules creates fabulous landscapes.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken almost 2 weeks ago in Susanne Hudson's garden. I spent 5 nites with her while creating our garden for the annual Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival. Oh yes, dahlings, will be posting those pics soon.
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I've taken dozens of pics of this gorgeous faux bois bench. Each awful. Finally. Ah, finally. Got it !!
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Yes, broken landscape design rule, above, but don't overlook the fabulous landscape design: canopy trees, understory trees, walls of shrubs, color theme, sense of mystery, sense of surprise.

Don't Overbuild II

Same slope/drainage issue, different garden, as the last post, below. I created this path, above, over 20 years ago. Stone & gravel were under $150.00 and all the labor was done by ME!
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The day I created this path COLLEGE BOY said, "All the gravel is going to wash across the garden with the first rain."
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Hey COLLEGE BOY, "2 decades & counting, when exactly is the gravel going to wash away?"
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Gravel path with slight slope, drainage issue. Path terraced, shot pea gravel poured, stones dug into slope with 2" buried in soil, stones angled slightly into slope.
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Shot pea gravel loaded at quarry into the back of my pick-up truck. Parked at the curb & shoveled gravel into my double-wheeled wheelbarrow.

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Stepped off the length of this path, counting steps, and bought chunky field stone to match number of steps. Chose only stones I could carry in my arms. Each of the stones you see, above, I carried one-by-one from my truck at the curb to the backyard (easier than the wheelbarrow routine) & dug into the slope.

Don't Overbuild

Solving a slight drainage issue easily, affordably, without pooling water, without breeding mosquitoes & will last over a century, below. Path was terraced, #89 granite gravel poured, slope dug into with stone laid (dug in about 1"-2" at each base) angled into the slope.
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Unskilled labor required at each phase, above. Easily woman powered, or man.
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Water, now, follows the path. As does the eye & foot.
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Too often I am at a new client's landscape and discover French drains already installed. And already NOT WORKING. Excepting mosquito production. And They Are UGLY & Expensive.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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New path, above, in Jeri Farmer's garden. Not all areas, obviously, can be solved with the method above. Some areas, alas, do need a French drain. Dahlings, I don't want you oversold by a contractor wanting your money instead of the right thing for your landscape. Studying gardens in Europe I saw this same method used countless times in many countries. Built one in my garden 2 decades ago. Will find pic and post it soon. It's fabulous!!!

Brown Choices

Brown, below, is a landscape design choice. Is it on your radar?

Leaf Litter Mulch is a choice.

Leaf Litter Mulch? Love it.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Preparing my garden for a tour, 4 years ago, I realized the standard set by local garden designers (Ryan Gainey & etc.), which I was happily copying, wasn't for me, anymore. Instead I went 180 degrees to my Mentors, all women. Each with Leaf Litter Mulch. A choice made in the afternoon. By dark, sooooooooooo tired, still working in my garden, I glanced up to see my garden and began to cry. Why? It was the missing element, Leaf Litter Mulch, I had the garden I had always wanted.

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Pics from Susanne Hudson's garden last week.

Checkerboard Flooring

Checkerboard flooring, below, in shade. Grass won't grow.

12" X 12" concrete squares.

Gorgeous all year. Affordable, low-maintenance, unskilled labor, rain water only. Add crocus, scilla, blue grape hyacinths.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Yesterday's client's office has a black/white checkerboard floor. Soon the garden outside her windows will have checkerboard flooring too.

Pic taken last week in Susanne Hudson's garden. She installed the checkerboard flooring herself. 18" X 18" concrete squares? Too heavy. Unskilled labor & woman powered.

Espaliered Draperies

Oakleaf Hydrangea, below, draperies outside at the Bay Terrace. A pair espaliered each side the largest window.

Blooms, colorful fall foliage, exfoliating winter bark. Sometimes a bird's nest.

Each year this most terrible time arrives. Awful. Faded blooms & a year of vigorous growth it's time to PRUNE. I natter on about espalier this-or-that but it's never easy. Pruning off faded glory. Why? I know it will produce next year's beautiful show.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last week in my garden. Oakleaf Hydrangea are native.

Getting It, Fast

Enter Rose Terrace thru a pair of gardenias. Get comfortable in an adirondack chair.

Hear the crunch of Shot Pea Gravel under foot.

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Overhead, a cathedral of mature Crape Myrtle. Espaliered against the wall: tea olive, camellia, hydrangea, climbing rose. Edging for shot pea gravel, cherokee gray flagstone & rescued brick. View, embracing arms of hydrangeas & the Tea Olive Terrace with its pond-hedges-groundcovers.
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Last December the Rose Terrace was a bed of hydrangea under the crape myrtles. Yawn. I wanted to ENJOY my garden. You know, wine/canapes with girlfriends.

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Why is this new garden room FABULOUS FAST? Dahlings, I followed the rules.

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Garden Design has a history of templates that work EVERY TIME.

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Of course I had to get over myself to know this.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last week in my garden. AND this new garden room was CHEAP.