Screened Porch

I let a butcher block go thinking, 'what would I ever do with it?'   Jeri knew exactly what to do, below, on her covered porch.

 Intuitively she knew, below, it's important to make flat walls 3-D.   

 Builders never complete a house properly with shutters, it's your job.

Her porch is mostly black, white, blue.  She wears a lot of man tailored white shirts with black leggings & a pop of pink lipstick. 
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I always look to what my clients wear for the secondary colors to their trinity.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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More pictures from Jeri's garden, she's Porch Porn.  

A Secondary Front Porch

Near the front door, is

 another door.

 Another welcome.

Black, white, green.  She keeps playing with color trinities.  Yes, more of Jeri's garden from previous posts.
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There is no part of Jeri's garden left 'undone'.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara

Color Echoes

Cute Kills in a garden

 Except when you like the cute.

 Pamela Harper wrote of color echoes in landscape design 2 decades ago.

 Advice to

follow.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara
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This is a new garden room.  It had been a few green meat balls & lawn.  Daylight basement level at the side of her home. 

Antique Imari In The Garden

Hydrangeas & Imari, below.

 Antique Imari. 

Only outside for garden tours & family dinners.
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Hydrangeas, boxwood, antique Imari.  Yes, a great trinity.
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Garden & Be Well,          XO Tara
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Pics taken in the same garden as previous post.  Not an expert on Imari but KNEW it was antique when I walked thru their gate. 

Let's Put It In The Middle Of The Lawn

What should we put in the middle of our lawn?

Darling, don't be silly of course the dining room table seating 8.  Really?  Baby, won't that be too plain?  Sweetie Pie, it will have the concrete plinth & bronze armillary sundial in the middle.  Sugar, you're the best.
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You have got to love some marriages.
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Garden & Be Well,          XO Tara
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Loved this couple.  Their garden was on the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival tour.  Wish this was my idea !

Garden Path

Gravel leads to gray flagstone.  Curve invites you 'round, mystery.

Entry anchored with a pot/boxwood, repetition of plantings on both sides.  Curve has narrative.  Called the eye-sweet line.
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A macro-path formula, works every time with the magic of being unique each time.
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Of course you must deal with the micro-path details.  Resist the urge to go  beyond simplicity.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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More of Jeri Farmer's delightful garden.  Can you imagine zero mulch, evergreen groundcovers, daffodils, a sasanqua, a camellia japonica, dwarf forsythia.....  With Jery's color combination I can see black-white-pink pansies.  This path is gorgeous all year.
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Too often gravel & stone choices are horrendous.  Imagine a brown crab orchard with pops of  orange.

Topiaries vs. Annuals

Simple topiary. 

24/7 showtime.
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Annuals?  Hardly green & sustainable, unless they are self-seeding.
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She has annuals elsewhere in her garden, at her own pleasure.  No need for the apartment complex style of annuals at the front curb.
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Garden & Be Well,         XO Tara
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More of Jeri Farmer's garden.  Her husband is a dreamboat, and does much in the garden.  With a smile too.  Can't wait for the groundcovers to fill in, liriope above, and no more mulch.  Mulch is not an end option.   Again, hardly green & sustainable unless it's your own leaf/needle litter.

Covered Screened Porch

She recently screened in her covered porch, below.

 Fluffing the decor was required.  Of course.

 Top pics are to the left of the screen door, and, below

to the right.  Now you know where you are.  The previous posting's focal point.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Jeri Farmer uses majority white for her theme, with blues, and blacks & POPS of pink.  Every part of her exterior is HAPPY.  She has a life just like anyone else.  She chose HAPPY.

Bust On Plinth

From this direction, below, it's obvious

 she's on axis

with the screen door, above.
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This is Landscape Design.
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Garden & Be Well,        XO Tara
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Pics taken last weekend in Jeri Farmer's garden.  Her garden has been in Southern Living magazine (a current rag but have heard rumors they're going back to what made them thrive.)  She's Susanne Hudson's partner at Le Jardin Blanc.  Arbor, bust, door not perfect geometry but Faux Geometry.  Whatever.  Get your axis. 

Lipstick On A Cinder Block

Ivy growing inside this Historic Register home, below, is a bit too much romance for even my love of rustic gardens.

 Already see, above, what  piqued my interest?

 Something new in cinder block fashion. 

No intentions of grandeur.  Yet attaining the level of folk art. 
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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara
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Wrenching to see this beautiful Historic Register home in dishabille.  Shot pics last weekend.  Lipstick On A Cinder Block, sounds like a good book title.

Front Porch: Furniture & Fabric

The old glider, below, newly upholstered. 

 Good design creates these moments, below.

How did the sun know to hit the dark green magnolia foliage making it match the yellows of the cushion, above?
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Color is huge in the garden: plants, stone, furniture, house paint, brick, flowers, door hardware & lighting, weather, time of day.
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Green - Brown - White is a top TRINITY.  Zillion shades of each.  Unique everytime.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pics taken on Susanne Hudson's front porch.  Was there last weekend creating a garden for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival.    Be wary of patterned fabrics in your garden.  Patterns on Susanne's porch are accents.  Notice, too, the comfy seating area?  Great for conversation & cool gin/tonic's on hot Southern evenings.

Hydrangea 'Queen of Pearls' on the Front Porch

Front porch garden. 

Hydrangea 'Queen of Pearls', still in its 3 gallon pot, slipped into a tall classic iron urn.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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A Dirr selection from McCorkle Nurseries.  Susanne Hudson's front porch.  Queen of Pearls was a no brainer with her green-brown-white trinity of colors.