Steps

The change in elevation was deceptively 'not there' without my new Conservatory.

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Alas, My Dear Ladies both use canes. You know they will be in my Conservatory sharing wine/canapes before dinner.

Stone steps are dry stack, above. And, ta da, rescued from jobsites.
Serendipitously, I put in a side door to my conservatory. That door has a meandering woodland path, no steps. SAFE, for My Dear Ladies.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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No pics yet of the meandering woodland path leading to the side door. My guys put the steps in, wish I could say I did !!

Enfilades Increase Drama

Enfilade, a view thru to a view. In gardens or homes, I adore an Enfilade.
Standing outside the conservatory this week (in gown/robe/bedroom slippers) in the snow
I discovered a new Enfilade.
Oh yes, sublime.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Good accidents, without waiting 3-7 years for discovery, in the garden are verification you've done it RIGHT. Mostly, gardens take time.

Nassim Taleb: 3 Views

From, The Bed of Procrustes, a new book by Nassim Taleb."Education makes the wise slightly wiser, but it makes the fool vastly more dangerous."
"You are only secure if you can lose your fortune without the additional insult of having to become humble."
"You are rich if and only if money you refuse tastes better than money you accept."

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Wesley Yang wrote about Taleb, "He made what he has called his "fuck you" money when his bets against the market made him millions on Black Monday in 1987." "...the content of his next book, Anti-Fragility, ...will be about how we can create systems that mimic the resiliency of nature."

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Taleb also wrote, The Black Swan, and, Fooled by Randomness. Both bestsellers. Both about Wall Street.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken this week, of my month old Conservatory, from my bedroom window. Poppets, you should see my VINTAGE 25 year old linoleum kitchen floor, with battle scars.

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Conservatories are for the soul, kitchen floors a necessity. Younger, I would have done the 'right' thing, the floor. This age is exquisite, bringing me the Conservatory.

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No doubt, fate will bring a new kitchen floor, including, of course, new countertops, backsplash, sink, faucet, stove, refrigerator. Last year in the kitchen was: ceiling reconfiguring, painting, 4 new chandeliers & cabinets. In the interim, I don't look down.

Contrasts

Wildwood, mother nature's contrast of shapes, with a transition zone of pruned hedges, and another transition zone of tightly clipped lawn leading to a hardscaped yet watery focal point.

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Add the man made contrasts of circles, ovals, rectangles, squares & spires.

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Toss in multiple axis, changes of elevation, and canopy-understory-walls-floor.

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Even a non-gardener knows, intuitively, the plant selections are CHOICE. Serenity of greens, low maintenance, no irrigation & perfect pollinator habitat.

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Yes, this pic by Slim Aaron ca. 1960, is an exciting garden. Gardens are all CONTRASTS.

I doubt they thought about the garden at all. Their clothes, the gossip, & dry martinis, yes.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Something To Make You Smile

Last year when I designed her landscape her kitchen was sheet rock. Last week, below, still unfinished it's already fabulous. Sheepishly, she said, "I know it's ridiculous but it makes me happy to look at my new chandeliers."

A wise observation. Over a decade ago, in Penny McHenry's garden, I realized the same thing about things that made me smile. Her garden, tastefully, had many.

Near my front door, above, the cat. I bought the cat for no other reason than it made me smile.

Go ahead, give yourself permission. Choose things that make you smile.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Create Magic At Each FRISSON

FRISSON's are potent. Do you see this one?FRISSON's, done well, create magic.

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Transitioning mortared steps to a step set in dirt is a FRISSON. Sure, I could have designed all the steps with mortar but I wanted a more exciting FRISSON (and this path is not a high traffic area).

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Consider each FRISSON in your landscape. Where: potager meets woodland, turf meets flowering shrub border, house meets garden, terrace meets Tara Turf, path meets pond & etc........

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic taken during construction in a client's backyard last month. Client is DIY with some of the plantings, dwarf mondo will be planted between the stones set in dirt.

Andre Breton, photographer-poet-writer-surrealist theorist-expert on Soviet Modernist architecture was the one drawing my mind, via his photography, to the importance of FRISSON. Gertrude Jekyll was big on the FRISSON.

Visual Real Estate

Do you give away bits of your landscape? You bought it, you perform (or pay someone to perform) the upkeep, you pay the taxes & you have freedom to create YOUR aesthetic.Which house owns this fence?
Really?

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Sure?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken at a client's last month. She's already told her painter what color to paint the fence. He said he just painted it. She said, "Tara is upset and it has to be painted this ______ color."

Front Porch: Before & After

3 decades of ugly, below, a single step to the front door & porch. A limitation to the eye & foot. Remove the limitation, below, open the porch to proper scale.
The new terrace caresses the porch on the left, below, and
right, below.
A new front door, paint colors & light fixtures are next. Of course the downspouts will be
painted Sherwin-Williams Best Bronze. Look again at the dreadful white downspouts.

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Stay tuned, there is furniture for the flagstone terrace and plantings to go in.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last week. Can't wait to see this finished project. We've done a stone terrace in the backyard too and a neo-rondel in the orchard.

Hiding Necessities: Before & After

1st cup of tea in my Conservatory, below. Already hiding, via camera angle, an important necessity.Switch plate to the chandelier, below. A necessity, but look at it? Not.
Old ironstone, below, with a lovely pattern named, Summertime.
Oh my, another book idea. Before/after pics of hiding necessities around home/garden.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Did you notice the gravel floor, top pic, under the table? I know, the lamps need shades. Found the lamps, $20 for the pair at my local thrift store. Love the giant Spode tea cups/saucers: tea, broth, soups, cereal....

Good Surprises In Your Landscape

At year 6 in the garden my eyes were overwhelmed, finally, by something tried from inception. A VISION OF BEAUTY. ( Laskett, below, in the Conservatory with me last nite.) College for horticulture was a joke for my Landscape Design skills. Creating Landscapes (making mistakes) & myriad trips across Europe studying historic Landscapes were my teachers.
Hewing to historical Landscape Design principles began my journey to success. Ridiculously stupid to wait 6 years for beauty or lower the bar and aim for: organic, rainwater, native, low-maintenance, green & etc...
Those facets are in Historical Landscape Design Principles. Of course I want all of that, more, I want life changing beauty. And I want it daily, it's important to know when to be selfish. To walk amongst, and, see from every window. Vanishing Threshold. A Landscape filling me with energy, joy & grace.
A dream for years my conservatory, 1 week old today, gave me the surprise of Laskett. He adores being carried to the conservatory in the evenings, a nice fire & cuddling at my side. A simple life pleasure; not anticipated. A good surprise indeed.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Want good surprises in your Landscape? Hew to historic landscapes. In addition to all of the above historic landscapes raise property value & reduce HVAC costs. As byproducts not effort.

Focus

Looking in, below, my new conservatory.(Hope you've seen, I Capture The Castle, from the book below.)
Knowing I wanted the Conservatory was easy. Clear focus was not.
A pond had to be removed, my property is tiny, to site the Conservatory.

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Mr. Beloved Bullfrog lived in this pond, his pond was on perfect axis from each window at the back of my house. I lost focus; emotions were involved.

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After contacting a bullfrog expert (it's important to know the right people) a plan was devised. My guys dug a trench draining water slowly. We captured Mr. Beloved Bullfrog in a large bucket. He was trotted to his new home in my other pond.

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Siting the conservatory & creating a landscape design were easy, once the focus was clear.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Clear focus. But tough choices. Love my Conservatory, no regrets about the pond.

Strange Tree

Time running out, I finally asked, "What would make you happy on the tree?"
Using bare branches pruned from the contorted filbert I decided to use the many pairs of figures I've collected. Their theme is always nature. He, below, is holding a bird's nest.
Pleased with the theme, alas, the Christmas tree needs more attention to detail, but it's not going to get it . This year the Conservatory, below, lovingly received all my time, creativity, & playing Barbie with a new house.Age, 2 days, the conservatory is already bigger than my dream.
In my garden, above, the conservatory's 1st nite being furnished. Fire was toasty as I sat inside absorbing a decade of waiting for this.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara