When To Let Lawn Touch The House

Great Dixter, in England, had Sir Edwin Lutyens & Christopher Lloyd.  Seeing bits of the meadow sweep to, and touch, the house was a revelation.  Frank Lloyd Wright used the conceit.

New deck above, its patch of lawn touching a full length of it.  On purpose.  Lutyen's idea.
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Planting a STUPID row of bushes (green meatballs) along the deck provides what benefit?
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Lawn, here, is a perfection of size & maintenance.  And looks larger without the row of green meatballs.  The deck, also, looks larger without the row of green meatballs.
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Note: deck faces east, and a lake.  Finished days ago.  Furniture, pots/plants arriving soon.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara

Underestimate A Frontdoor?

A front door is the focal point in the front yard.  The house & views into windows also.  Before ANYONE comes thru your front door their opinion is influenced.  

Door, hardware, windows are original to this early 20th century home.
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Paint colors, height of knocker, paneling of door, which side the door opens, wooden grid of sidelights & transom, type of hardware metal, scale of door & windows.  A lot of creativity, work, aesthetics, historical consideration & more is understood in the 'conversation' creating this door.
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Is your front door a focal point?
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Is your front door so fabulous future owners, in another century, will decide to keep all of your choices?
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic from the same house, with the metal flowers, as previous post.

Fun Flowers For A Busy Life

She sent me an iphone pic of bright metal flowers, "Can I have them?"  

 Tennis, sailing, dogs, family & career, she doesn't have time to water flowers.

 Hardly visible from a few steps away, on purpose, the surprise of dragonfly & bird.  Staked hi for movement in the wind.

 I first saw metal flowers in an urn on top of a home in Italy.  They were bronze and centuries old.

Maybe these will go rust, and left alone.  Doesn't matter, today they are fun.
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Garden & Be Well,       XO Tara
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Pics taken last week at a client's home.  No accident she found the flowers, they are her.  Are things in your garden 'you'?

Garden View: Draperies Vs. Curtains

She said curtains are from a catalogue and draperies are custom.  Another interior decorator said, curtains are for a home & draperies for a coffin.

I say every window must have a garden view.
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I KNOW landscape design begins inside your home looking into the garden.
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Garden & Be Well,       XO Tara
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My baywindow, above.  Alas, curtains/draperies closed many days recently against sun/heat.

Choosing A Front Door Color

Look inside your home for a front door color.  Wallpaper, artwork, textiles, dishes, clothes in your closet.

Typically it's artwork showing which direction.  A tiny bit of color, teeny tiny, flowing amongst most artwork on the wall.  Choose a variation of it, taking into consideration exterior brick/siding color & trim color.
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Front door does not need to be the color of your shutters.
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Your front door is a focal point, painting it the right color begins the story of YOU.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

It's easy to see my client's favorite color, above.
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The planet doesn't need another 'safe' black front door.  The world is ready for your voice.

Soldiers In The Landscape: Formal & Informal

In the city, below, less than an acre.  Keeping a gravel drive BY CHOICE.  Where woodland meets gravel  keeping the frisson 'wild' BY CHOICE.  Feelings of leaving-the-city-behind, the sounds of crunching gravel; driving thru woodland.  (Gravel percolates water, no taxes for stormwater runoff.)

 Adding soldiers, below, to the front parking area.  A zone with more formality.  The stones, known as soldiers, indicate "yes, park here."

Soldiers can be: bricks, concrete chunks, branches, pavers, plates, baby doll heads, half submerged model ships, old farm parts, & etc.
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Garden & Be Well,          XO Tara
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Did you realize the top pic was totally landscape designed?  Including the leaf litter mulch.  It is !

Tough Terra Cotta

Finely particulated terra cotta lasts longer.  Water doesn't seep in & expand during a freeze.  At least in my zone.  Zone 6b, then 7, now 8; all without moving.  It does freeze here, ice & snow.  (Notice the meadow in my flagstone terrace, below.  It's obvious why I fell in love with Bunny Mellon's garden!)

 

I really wanted the pot, above.  4 to be exact, for boxwood.  They were sold only in 'sets'.

Ironically, it's been fun playing with a few of the smaller pots.

Foxglove, above, frosted with Chinese snowball petals.
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Foxgloves are done.  Next, small heirloom tomatoes.
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This is enjoyable beyond expectation, these little pots, thinking about what to put in them, or leave them empty, or move them....
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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I do pay attention to my wants/expectations vs. what truly occurs.  Adore these little surprises.  This terra cotta is from Asia.  Chose terra cotta for my pot 'theme'.

Lamps Beside The Daybed

Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Susanne Hudson redecorated her Conservatory this year.  Sconces are laid on the table in my Conservatory, primer/paint/brush nearby, new packages of screws/hooks, brown/white ironstone transferware.  Soon, a bit of my own redecorating in the Conservatory.

Simple Gesture

Her garden on tour, she knew visitors would want to come up the steps.  With a lake view & several sitting areas, I would.  Not a house tour she chose a simple gesture to guide guests.

 Much better than a sign with words.  Probably of the negative sort, Do Not Enter.
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The pot of flowers is HER.  Sweet, colorful, creative, yet firm.
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Garden & Be Well,       XO Tara

On Display

Display garden, below, at a wholesale & retail pottery in a commercial area including low-slung motels, a vintage & thriving ca. WWII airstrip, car repair shops, tasty ethnic food, and other shops, 2nd-5th generation, abandoned of their original mission. If a display garden not only lives, but thrives, in these

conditions. Pay attention.

Good gardens with great constraints have much to teach.

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Don't like a garden? Doesn't matter. It will teach. And nurture.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Making A Table

In a hurry, before a tour, last month, finding a solution for the table top, below, had to be accomplished.
The real table top is too big for this location.

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A Garbage Can Lid was the quick solution.

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In Milledgeville, GA during the 1960's, my grandmother had an extensive garden of dahlias & paths. The plants were staked and as tall as me. A birdbath was made from an ancient, dented, upturned garbage can lid. Grandma was raised on a farm. Able to make-do with anything.

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I've discovered the garbage can lid is better than my true desire, granite or marble leftover from someones kitchen renovation. Why? It holds water. Enough for only weekly watering, yet no mosquitoes.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Yes, I will get another pic of this. Quite a dreadful little snap.

How To Frame A View

Thought you would like to see the depth between building & view, from previous post.Yes, the bench does have a view. Tuscany.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara