Color Confidence

Bold, simple, historic, elegant, confident.

 A sweet surprise on the ceiling.

All around the house, Tara Turf, color echos.
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Garden & Be Well,                XO Tara
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Le Jardin Blanc, in Douglasville, GA has a Green, Brown & White color theme.  When puffy clouds float overhead, or the moon appears,  it seems they've been requested.  For their color !
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Thru that door I've heard Mozart to, "....I like my women just a little on the trashy side...", Alabama to Edith Piaf, to.......

Diller -von Furstenberg Family Foundation Gift

Barry Diller & Diane von Furstenberg recently donated $20 million to the High Line Park in New York City.  They had already given $15 million.

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With perky disdain the New York Times article, here, takes a jab their money, "...went to a park rather than a cultural or educational institution."

 

Pic, above, by Benjamin Norman for the New York Times.
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Go Diane go !!!!  And, thank you.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Top pic from here.

Getting The Scale Right

Once or twice a year I work with a home that looks normal but the closer you get you realize its scale is much larger than 1st impression.

 This tiny area, above, is truly larger than it appears.

The lanterns are almost  3' tall.
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Anything smaller & it's Dinky Is Stinky territory.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic taken last week, lanterns sourced by Suzanne Hudson, Le Jardin Blanc.

Exterior Decorating

Zinnias were on the table last week, it was an early morning meeting about creating her Smoke House.

When she pulled cheese scones from the oven, & placed them on a tray with butter & jam, the zinnias were moved here, above.
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Exterior decorating leverages your efforts.  It's all about being easier, pretty, living with grace.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

How To Create Vanishing Threshold

Views outside flow inside, below.

 Draperies, a lamp turned on.

Before you enter the room, above, you know who she is.
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Furniture style, color choices, accessories, scale, flow, placement, comfort, simplicity.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Standing in front of your home, would I know who you are?
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Pics taken last week

How To Hide Air-Conditioner

A century old home, below.  Can you see the air-conditioners?  Dining room, living room, kitchen & garden all view the air-conditioners, below.

 Copying the siding of the house, above, we had a tight fit for window views & height of a/c units.

Siding panels are removable of course.  Did you notice the gravel, above?  Makes maintenance easier.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pics taken yesterday at a client's home.

Pollinator Habitat

Maximum pollinator habitat intersects agriculture & ornamental horticulture.

More pollinators, more food production.
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It's not rocket science.
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Elements of pollinator habitat, above?
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Canopy, understory, walls, groundcovers, high density, low density & etc.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pic taken in Hayesville, NC last weekend.

How To Place Stones

A pair of stones is the minimum, below.

 One stone reaching for the sky, one representing earth.

When these ridges were made, above, continents hadn't split.  The Atlantic Ocean was in the future.
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Seeing the lichens knowing they have no vascular system.
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These stones were sited before my friend moved into her Hayesville, NC home.  The builder obviously a Stone Whisperer.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Cute: Curb Your Dog

About 7" tall, below.

Too cute.
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Remember, Cute Kills in a landscape design.
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There is an exception to every rule.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Sir Roy Strong & The Laskett

Sir Roy Strong's garden & home have been bequeathed to the nation.

 Sir Roy Strong lectured at the Atlanta History Center almost 2 decades ago.  His wife, the famous set designer Julia Trevelyan Oman came along too.

 Since that lecture I've been electrified by Sir Roy & his garden, The Laskett.

An incredible gift.  I cannot imagine his thoughts leading to his decision.
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Will be interesting to see how he has the legal papers written.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Laskett, below, my beloved.  A little proof of my adoration of Sir Roy Strong's garden.

Pics from article in the Daily Mail.

1913 Exterior Sconce

Passing an old building in Augusta, GA my father said he proposed to my mother there.  I didn't care about the romance, I was in junior high.  It was the old building and its accouterments fascinating me.  

Decades pass & I found a light fixture, above, exactly like the Augusta building had.  With attitude I payed almost $20 for it, thinking it should have been much less.  Enjoyed it in my garden ever since.
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Yesterday I was looking for sconces online and found MY light fixture.  They have several for sale, notated a date of 1913, and are a cool $1,600.00.
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Girl has a new attitude!
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pic and sales information, here.

..."Remodel Central Park, ca. 1910"

 "It's time," said Mr. Hustler," to remodel Central Park; At present it's as out-of-date as Noah and his ark."  R. H. Titherington in "Life," July 28, 1910.

On March 4, 1891, "Garden & Forest," was quoted as support of the 1910 demand to remodel.  It goes,

"A park such as is now under consideration should be primarily and essentially a rural retreat, . . . its highest purpose is not to furnish instruction, nor pure air, nor a place for exercise on foot or on horseback, but to furnish that relief and repose of mind which natural scenery brings to those who are wearied by city sights and sounds. . . .  Of course, a park designed and constructed with such a leading motive will not fail to furnish pure air and a field for exercise and opportunity for study; but, if it is designed primarily with subordinate uses, its highest purpose will not be reached."
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Landscape Architecture, A Quarterly Magazine, October, 1910.
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Pics from Trees and Shrubs of Central Park
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara