Be Prepared: Wine & Canapes

Have you noticed the Cool Chicks, (ok, roosters too), are always prepared for unexpected Wine & Canapes with friends?

   Stopped by a friend's garden yesterday, and we sat, above, comfortably ensconced on her front porch.
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Notice her Fairy Garden, above?  No accident it's charming.  She creates/makes/sells them nationally.  Several styles, colors, sizes.  Have had 2 in my garden for over a decade.
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No longer exclusive, you can now order her Fairy Garden houses & troughs direct, Mary Braswell.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Mary did not ask me to post this nor will I receive any monetary funds for doing so.  We are friends.  
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

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Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Hedgerow Farm: Buck Valentine

At work last Friday, Valentines, below.

Buck was flirting.  Resting his chin on a shoulder, nibbling hair, rubbing his lips along our jaw.  

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We had finished work with preliminary siting of the new timber barn & I had time to tag along with other chores.

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A subdivision child, watching a horse behave like a loving Chihuahua was a first.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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And, that SMILE on Farm Hand !!!  Farm Hand always overlaps my days at HF, yet we rarely get to speak, merely wave at distance.  He's always in motion.  

If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

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Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Val-Kill, Royals, Tara Turf

FDR & Eleanor hosted the King/Queen of England at their home.  Appearances mattered greatly in this era.
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A dip in Val-Kill's pool, above, was included amongst the entertainments.
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Tara Turf touches the coping, trailing to a dirt path & wild wood.
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Contemporaneously with pioneering Tara Turf it was intuitive, Tara Turf is a status symbol.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Put, This I Remember, by Eleanor Roosevelt on your list if you haven't read it yet.  Cote de Texas has more about the royal's visit with Roosevelt's, here.
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Amazing path, Tara Turf as status symbol.  A meadow or pasture, life itself, are merely empty spaces to be taken at whim for financial gain in popular culture.  Truly heart rending.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

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Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Table Top Heat

Home Depot has propane outdoor heaters in a half-pint size.

Table top sized.  Easily moved.  Where have I been?
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Lost provenance of the pic.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

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Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Ackee Tree: Fruit in Design

We are provisioned for as well as birds of the field.

This ackee tree made her message known.

I've gained a primal sense of gratitude to Providence, in a rich new vein.
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And, wonder why my horticulture degree did not teach inclusion of fruit bearing trees/bushes as a fundamental.
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If not for pollinators alone, or enjoyment of the crop, then at the minimum a nod of thanks from our spirit to the spirit of Nature which is beyond measure.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics from Jamaica last week, this ackee tree was just-in-a-dirt-parking-lot.  Remember, when trees drop their leaves they are enriched by what they let go of.  Yes, trees pack the epiphanies.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Color Echoes: Pamela Harper

On the way to Noel Coward's our driver needed to stop here, below.

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Color alone told me whatever is ahead is good.

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Gates were unlocked, below, and we were ushered into a courtyard throwing me decades back to a stay at the Dauphine Orleans in New Orleans French Quarter.  But.  This was better.

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Ken Doll asked, You liking this Baby?  

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He got a smile, I was speechless.  He grasped my arm, my eyes were everywhere & there were steps.  Then our driver, worried I would fall, was helping too.

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This aging lady stuff is nice, indeed.

Color Echoes well done always capture my attention.  

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Pamela Harper pioneered the concept & I heard her lecture at Atlanta Botanical Garden when her book was published.

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Sand & Caribbean were the starting point.

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Towels echo the walls echoing the sand.  

The pool, below, looks exactly like the work of my friend, landscape architect, David Cristiani.

Leaving this Faberge Egg of perfection felt like reignments being pulled off, by force.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken last week, Jamaica.
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I doubt the Queen of Color, Maria Killam, has had 2 handsome men help her during a Color Swoon.
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What were my reignments for this day's outing?  Bikini, long-sleeved white linen shirt, flip-flops.  Perfect trinity.  Done.
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Focal Point: Don't Compete

If you have an eyesore place a focal point nearby.

If Providence gives you a focal point, don't compete.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken at lunch yesterday.  Jamaica.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

A Garden View at Work

Have you done this for your office?  The view?

Who is this painter?  Caring so for the outside coming inside?

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Could he paint you at work in your home?

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With your garden as benediction.

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Henrik Nordenberg artist, link to his work.

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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

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Benediction.  The word wasn't thought up, merely arrived.  "A benediction (Latin: bene, well + dicere, to speak) is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance"

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As a child I assumed gardens spoke to everyone.  As an adult I recognize their grace and heed their guidance.

John Dickinson: Design

John Dickinson said, 

"Taste is a word I avoid. Good or bad, it's all so nebulous. The more you're dealing with taste, the more you're on shaky ground. Vulgarity to me is another matter. Vulgarity has great vitality."

"There's no cop-out in using pairs of things in a room. Matching chairs, sofas, lamps or tables can bring discipline, strength and balance to a scheme."

"You cannot do a lasting room design based on a current fad or novelty. There's a fine line between being amusing and being eccentric. A whole room based on amusing things would not be a laugh."

"There are many places in a house that do not warrant expensive furnishings. It's really not essential to spend everywhere. Muslin curtains can be the prettiest things in the world if they're sewn beautifully. You just don't have to make a big production of everything in a room."

"Some of the easiest things to use as inexpensive accessories are natural objects. Seashells are heaven. The bigger the better. Coral's marvellous if you can get big pieces of it. It must be large—little pieces don't mean anything."

"I have long thought that if one has a fireplace, to feel one must out of necessity and total obligation hang something over it is absolute nonsense. I think a blank space over a mantel is very interesting. "

"I don't like viewing my designs as sculpture. It's too pretentious. This is not art, it's decorating. It's not fine art, it's decorative art and there's a world of difference."
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Garden Design writing is traditionally, as Anne of Green Gables said, "A perfect graveyard of buried hope."  Instead, I mine ALL the arts and apply to Garden Design.
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The Style Saloniste has  pics with the quotes above.  I remember most of the pics when they first appeared in magazines.  
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Dickinson's last quote, above is not applicable to Garden Design.  When working with Nature it would be the greatest failure not to apply the elements of pollinator habitat.  And the work of Nature is the purest ART.
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Pic above lost provenance.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Elements of a Focal Point: Sandra Jonas

Focal point, double plinthed, on axis, Tara Turf, contrasting colors. contrasting textures, contrasting formal/informal, high density/low density, pollinator habitat, Getrude Jekyll delightful, Jane Austen narrative, and best of all 

this is my beloved friend's garden, Sandra Jonas.  We've been across Europe & USA together studying Garden Design.
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Wonder what she thinks I see here?
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Design Elements: Macro, Micro

Freshman year of college an elective course in economics gave me macro/micro.

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Garden design elements fall into those 2 realms.

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Both equally important.

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Both waltzing thru time.

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The snow that stopped Atlanta, above.

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Dots of poetry.  Ephemeral.

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Sure, the wall is a macro Garden Design element.

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But not for this moment.

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You're looking at the ephemeral micro element trumping the macro.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic at jobsite last week.

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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

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That economics course?  Tough.  The professor barely spoke English his accent so strong I heard, at most, every 12th word correctly.  One word in particular scared my IQ, could not figure out what the mar-ghaa-reene was.  Especially with his corresponding gesticulations and hi pitch solely upon that word.  Mar-ghaa-reene really got the sweet little man going.  Me too, what was it?  Finally asked my seat mate what he was saying.  She said, 'margin'.

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From that point I ignored the dear little man and solely learned from the book.  

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30+ years later I can still hear/see Mar-ghaa-reene being performed.

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Yes, macro/micro elements amuse me greatly.

How to Know it's the Muse Speaking

A client in an older subdivision in Athens, Ga has a bit of vintage woodland at the margin.

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Their home is Connecticut farmhouse vernacular ca. 1894.

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Not large, not small, not grand, pure elegant.

We will make a slight clearing in the vintage woods for a cabin.
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EXACTLY the cabin in imagination, above.
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A folly to be discovered.  A folly that can be used as many things thru the years.
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Let the rescue operation begin: windows, stone, brick, door, wood.....
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Hired to design the garden it's amazing what the Muse thinks of.  Perhaps your Muse speaks and you think you're having 'crazy thoughts'.  How to know it's the Muse speaking?  The idea scares you a bit, stretches you out of your comfort zone, yet from 1st thought the idea is thrilling, delightful in the way joy was when you were 8 years old.  Here lies your spirit.  Wabi sabi, feng shui.  Not listening is perilous.  Letting others steer you away from your Muse?  They are in your life why?  
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Too often it's the one we love saying, What?  Here's what to say if the one you love hinders the path to your Muse's bidding, "Your words are harmful to my spirit.", or simply, "It makes me happy."
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Over 50 and a woman?  Either statement could empty a stadium full of men spoken with the right tone/body language.  But you already know that.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pic via  Content in a Cottage.
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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.