Squire Mushroom vs Wine Bottle Girl

"James Gillray's etching 'Delicious Weather', 1808, mocks the middle-class villa owner, satirized elsewhere as the newly rich 'Squire Mushroom', for his attempts to make an elegant landscape in a 2-acre garden." J Fearnley-Whittingstall
Who caters to the man, above? TESTOSTERONE ON WHEELS MOW-BLOW-GO & COMMODIFY EVERYTHING I TOUCH IN YOUR LANDSCAPE PHILOSOPHY.

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Poppets, PUPPET BARBUDA, has been buying clothes, before reading/seeing the above, she declared her style: French, early 19th century, white wig, leggings, & dare I say, a bit of modest cleavage.
From the Dining Room, above. Seen only when standing near, not while seated. Solution? A floral arrangement of wine bottles & accouterments, softly lit from below. A cornucopia to Wine Bottle Girl's theme.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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How could I resist mixing these topics? The difference between 'Squire Mushroom' & 'Wine Bottle Girl' ? Wine Bottle Girl lives Cole Porter's, "It must be FUN". Poppets, she has zero time-energy-will to impress. PUPPET BARBUDA finds Squire Mushroom & his minions tiresome, to the point of harmful, to her beloved industry.

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Top pic & quote taken from, THE GARDEN An English Love Affair One Thousand Years of Gardening, by Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Wine Bottle Edging

She let go. And isn't it fun when a woman let's go?She lined a garden path DRAMATICALLY with wine bottles. (Poppets, she did it herself, no hired labor. Unwittingly, she copied curves from a table in her foyer, above.)
Adoring genius, I copied her lead. Concept plan, above, new curving paths will be Wine Bottle Edged & capped with her signature curve.
Her home is historic, the garden revitalized. Curving flourishes with the Wine Bottle Edging are subtle up close, DRAMATIC when viewed from the house.

Bare soil, above, will be filled-in with evergreen groundcover.

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Gravel terrace at the tennis court, above, becomes a landing for her party tent (she's a fundraiser for the Humane Society). Under the tented area the gravel will be checker boarded with 18" concrete squares. Did I mention she loves to sail? Lakes of mondo in the gravel will be home to old wood boats, sails flying from their masts. The little Williamsburg building at the tennis court will be enlarged, creating a 'boathouse', complete with dock. In addition to storage it will be the Bar during parties.

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Stay tuned, there's more.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last week, same home/garden as previous post.

Silver & Steel

Her historic Atlanta home has plenty of resources for Landscape Design inspiration.
She adores Industrial Steel & kept the radiator with warming oven in the dining room, below.
She loves arcane silver, below, too. Know what it is? A serving spoon warmer. Antique boiler off a ship, with a glass top, was repurposed for her dining room table, below.
Antique Industrial Steel, below, in her foyer, repurposed as a table with glass top.
Wine corks, 3rd from bottom, appear in a few spots too. Wine bottles make a stunning appearance too.

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Knowing DINKY IS STINKY, I'll show you what we've done with her wine bottles and curves tomorrow. Without her lead, I would never have imagined it. We Vision Quested !!!!!!!!!!

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last week.

Men Are Unknowable

Unfinished terrace, below, AIRPLANE MAN, after my guys left, brought a folding chair, little music box & a glass of wine.AIRPLANE MAN saw his lake from a new angle (25 years in the house), & turning slightly he could see his wife, in the kitchen; cooking.
AIRPLANE MAN was not interested in my services. NOT. The Wife; she hired me.
Bluestone mortared stoop, above, leading from a backdoor to the new, unfinished, terrace. My design indicated flagstones in soil with dwarf mondo in the cracks. AIRPLANE MAN wanted mortared bluestone. Tall walls of their home demanded softening. Mortared bluestone wasn't wrong but not the best for their needs. Told them to think about it a few days.

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A room with lots of windows leads to this new terrace (formerly known as the weed patch), soon some of those windows will be a French door; trees & shrubs & groundcovers & H20 feature & furniture will be added.

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Back to AIRPLANE MAN. He was stuck with me, alone, last Tuesday. The Wife, she was at work. I was called, by The Wife, to inspect a post at the new potager.

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AIRPLANE MAN answered the door with dirty hands, dirty clothes & covered in sweat. (Poppets, something fabulously attractive about a man who gardens, hmm, wonder how Thomas Jefferson looked all sweaty garden dirty). We immediately delved into gardenspeak & began covering the new paths, rondels & grounds . Stop, is this the man irritated by my hire?

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Had to ask, "Who did you listen to?". Edith Piaf.

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To The Wife, girlfriend YOU DID IT. Your garden is all-totally-completely AIRPLANE MAN's idea.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken Tuesday. Men are such unknowable beasties, or are they? I adore that The Wife & AIRPLANE MAN have flown into a new chapter of their lives together. Of course I'm partial to garden chapters !

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No, never thought AIRPLANE MAN would garden. NEVER................

NYTimes & Anne Raver: Backwards Design

30 years with a beautiful flower garden, Page Dickey, finally creates a fabulous Landscape Design. "We need an overall plan: more green architecture & less plants.", she says. How? "The first step is to replace perennials with shrubs & ground covers."Page has arrived. ATONEMENT.

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Anne Raver, yesterday's NYTimes, knew to lead her delicious garden column with these facts. It's human nature to garden backwards. Flowers are seductive.

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Magazines & nurseries pimp flowers.

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PUPPET BARBUDA is miffed her industry, Landscape Design, is tainted with the Flower Pimp industry.

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How many flowers do you see, above, in my conservatory?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Poppets, did you see the pic of Page Dickey? I want to look like her when I'm 70, sexy gorgeous !!

Not Easy To Find

If you see terra cotta pots: marked-down, at a garage sale or thrift store, BUY.They are harder to find good/cheap/free.
Some Ace Hardware have a line of excellent terra cotta in spring. Once they sell-out it's another year before the shipment arrives again.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken at Susanne Hudson's conservatory. Poppets, the pics are not styled. Why have a landscape be anything less?

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Ugly is easy, fabulous is intellect.

Building Your Garden Room: 10 Steps

Think, cha-ching, this isn't for you? Poppets, PUPPET BARBUDA will not let you off easy. That measly excuse of no money? HOW TO build your new GARDEN ROOM:

1. Make decision to build a GARDEN ROOM. (Odd, this is the most important step)

2. Get envelope, label it, GARDEN ROOM. (Leftover paper money 2-3/week goes here.)

3. Tell all your friends, "I'm building a GARDEN ROOM."

4. Look at everything in your path with RESCUE eyes.

5. Bring it home. Old fencing, stone, brick, concrete, wood, house parts.

6. Get paint from the rejects at hardware store.

7. Accessorize from thrift store & sale items: TJMAXX, Marshall's, Ross.

8. Pots/urns from garage sales, big box store sales.

9. Put the right man in your project. (Alas, difficult.)

10. Hire man, & the same day, invite girlfriends to your Garden Tea Party.

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Take step #1 and your GARDEN ROOM will appear.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Charlotte Moss, pic, above. OMG, wonderful, & doable! This pic has come across my path at least a zillion times.

Woman Acquires Working Girl

Meet Tess my new working girl. Already exceeding expectation, in less than 2 weeks, below, carting home a FIND aka $25 huge ancient oil masterpiece. (SHIPMAN suggests balled up white bread, sans crust, pressed onto oil painting to remove discolored varnish. You got any ideas?)Tess, parked with the big boys at a job site, below, she's not expected to do hardscaping aka lumber, concrete, brick, asphalt, 12' trees.
Tess's job? Find materials for conservatories, patios, decks & landscapes while
carting my office about town. Like Monet, I work en plein air; a folding table & chair. Windy day hat is in top pic, sunny day hat, above. Old brass lamp, above, recently sourced by Tess, will go into my conservatory or maybe a client's sunroom.

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Antique wicker hampers hold office supplies along with staking flags, measuring tapes, tools & etc.... Tess is no slouch, she's already brought home rescued windows (from century old craftsman bungalow) to be used in my new conservatory. Ha, I'm working Tess hard & loving every moment.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Poppets, you must understand, somehow Providence had me driving a car for a decade. Most likely to give other junking women fairer odds against my dumpster diving skills. They are prodigious. Alas, not always a good thing. A voice in my head, "Bi-annual garden sale." We'll see.

Siting: Urns & Plinths

Not often do you see iron urns significantly past a century old, below.
Last year in Birmingham, AL these urns, already by the front door, went into my landscape design.
Why? Too low. The scale was incorrect for the size of the home, frontdoor, & landing.

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Bought 'on approval', this pair of plinths arrived with a question mark last week. Naturally, my answer was, "yes, buy." And it's time to paint urns/plinths a dirty-dark-lead color. 2 tones will be needed.

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Did you notice where the urn/plinth is sited? NOT centered between frontdoor & column. Placing them a bit closer to the column enlarges the space.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken by a client in Birmingham, AL.

Mission Statement, Focus, & Have Fun

"It seems no wonder if our ancestors regarded Friendship as something that raised us almost above humanity. This love, free from instinct, free from all duties but those which love has freely assumed, almost wholly free from jealousy, and free without qualification from the need to be needed, is eminently spiritual. It is the sort of love one can imagine between angels." C.S. Lewis, from, The Four Loves.Arriving at the Barn Dance Friday, below. Is it obvious Pecan Orchard & I designed the meadow & gravel drive? No? Excellent, fabulous, wonderful!
Wildwood cleared, figs rescued, below, a new roof, fresh paint, broken glass replaced &
the old Dairy Barn, inside below, is alive again.
Almost a century old, its terra cotta block construction, with original paint, below, has more centuries to serve.
Couldn't resist showing you the desert table, below.
Tea Table too, below.
Heirloom chickens in their new home, below, next to the Dairy Barn.
17 piece orchestra (3 members from the Atlanta Symphony), below, setting up in the tractor barn.
Tractors were gone, below, for the wine/canapes.
Pecan Orchard bought the land and derelict home with dependencies about a year ago. Her mission statement to live a gardening lifestyle AND be of service. A lifestyle witnessed living abroad for decades. Horses, sheep, heirloom chickens, potager, gardens, goats, ponds, meadows, woodland, barns & etc. A lifestyle including church, master gardeners, beekeepers, tennis, horse shows, family & Friendships.
Meeting new people at the Barn Dance & hearing stories of grace bestowed via friendship with Pecan Orchard is a rich cord connecting us.

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Pecan Orchard's choices ripple far beyond her community. Without the intention of leaving a footprint Pecan Orchard is already leaving something larger-deeper-richer, wing beats.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken Friday nite. Hope it's obvious Pecan Orchard has brought copious amounts of grace into my life.

One Room Deep

You must see this parlor, one room deep. Below, a view from the frontyard. The warmth of draperies, and lamps glowing. (Poppets, from your frontyard, looking into your home, ask, "Are the views into my home so fabulously interesting intellectual-well-read-successful-talented-mentoring-civic minded-active-athletic-art-loving-appreciators-of-good-cooking-charity-giving-people curious? Face it we are voyeur's. And, don't you adore Tara Questions?)

Inside, below, the window from above.
Alas, the weather was nice, we never sat here, below, we used the patio for wine-canapes-conversation-dinner-breakfast-lunch.
Same room, below, views the back garden too.
I adore rooms scaled for comfort, beauty, conversation, reading, napping,
and viewing the garden.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Hope you enjoyed my client's home in Macon, GA. None of the pics were styled, they didn't know I would be taking pics. Remember, pics were taken quickly, early morning while still in my gown/robe. He was starting the coffee when I began & it finished brewing as my pics were done. Then, the 3 of us sat on the patio, with our coffee, and began talking gardening. Then, she served breakfast at the patio table. Loved the breakfast quiche and the little sourdough rolls with homemade fig preserves and peak of season fresh fruit salad & etc...

A Fetish For Laptop Spaces

Before I leave this home, below, a peek inside.In the window, above, at the far right

is one of the sweetest
rooms created.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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I have a fetish for laptop spaces. Alas, a working weekend in Macon, Ga at this home & no time to fully shoot this room. It's tiny, sweet and could have a coffee table book written about it. Yes, I'm well aware I showed it to you earlier. But it was a different context.

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Poppets, will show you a last peek inside tomorrow.

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Is there a blog about LAPTOP SPACES? Can't wait for my conservatory to be built. In addition to a chandelier, & lamps too of course, it will have electricity for my laptop !!