Gravel Path: Before + After

Garden path, a few minutes old, below.

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Their back yard, thankfully, a quagmire.  In addition to significant man made drainage issues they have an underground spring.

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Thankfully?  They had to hire help, me.  

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#89 Granite gravel, above/below, is best, color/size, for their garden.  I never tire of seeing before/after of cobblestone edging.

The area was not pretty, below, when we began.

Seems like the older women get the more men their projects demand.

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Especially love women demanding a beautiful easy landscape, and needing a commercial dumpster in their driveway because they are doing a 'few' things inside too !

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These women are my tribe.

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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

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Pics taken at jobsite last week.

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Women who know their driveway must be jackhammered to oblivion are a particular delight.  If you are a woman, with a man in your life, no worries, Man Coaching is free.   Husband's refer to me as, that woman, up front.  Within days husband's say, 'call Tara'.    

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For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.

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Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

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Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.

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Construction by Award Winning

Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

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NOTE to my gardening friends... look for changes to come. 

Knew before computers/cell phones, sitting in Atlanta traffic on way to a client, 'I must reach a larger audience with the same amount of effort.'   Soon after that epiphany I signed my CBS-TV, and, books contracts on the same day.

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Then I read an article in the NYTimes about something called 'blogging'.  Saved the article for a year before reading it.  Studied all the blogs they mentioned, hired a computer expert they quoted, and attended a blogging seminar.

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Blogging 2.0 has arrived, my knowledge is 1.0.  A believer in copying the best historic gardens across the globe it flows into every arena of life.  Watching Maria Killam grow her career/blog/life over the past 3 years made its impact.  Signed up  for a year's course with her blogging expert, Jon Morrow. 

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Changes will be slow, plodding is my adored method.  Pulling triggers here/there is spice in the mix.
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What do YOU want?

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Nothing is too small, too big, or too ego crushing to mention.

.

Passion lies in sharing what has filled me to the depths of grace, joy & atonement, the best landscapes created over the last 2,000+ years.

Just so you know... 
 I  welcome your input.

Lunch Ministry, "...now it is a person's table that atones for him.” Talmud, Chagiga 27a

"This notion that we repent through our tables suggests that the table not only be a place to eat and gather with friends and family but a place where repair is performed. We think about where we have fallen short and how we can make up for it by the way we treat others who we bring close to us, close enough to speak to across a table."

From my 20's I have been mentored into Lunch Ministry.

Women, mostly in their 70's, inviting me to lunch.  Women my age could not come out to play, they had babies/children.  Me?  Infertility.

Tables beautifully set, dishes/cloth napkins/silver/platters/center piece, a meal carefully chosen and lovingly made.

 Conversation.  Topics never ceasing, laughter, silence, time became obsolete, something for mortals, not our lunch table.

Never was a dish allowed to be cleared.  Time together was the focus.  Their lessons in Lunch Ministry, though many of those dear ladies are gone, continue.  Me, now, the lady-of-age.  Passing forward the gift, Lunch Ministry.

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Never mentioned at the time, I know now the best part of Lunch Ministry.   Once my guest has left, the lone clearing of table, cleaning dishes at the sink.  Musing over conversation, harboring myriad directions of prayer.

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"If an altar is like the Divine's table then when there is no altar our tables must serve in its place. "The verse began with 'altar' and ended with 'table,'" taught both Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish. These were noted sparring partners, but there was something that the two agreed upon: this teaching."

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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Quotes from Jewish World Review article, here.
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Pics via my Pinterest board, Furniture in the Garden.  Second pic via Petersham Nurseries.

For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

.

Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.

.

Construction by Award Winning

Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

.

NOTE to my gardening friends... look for changes to come. 

Knew before computers/cell phones, sitting in Atlanta traffic on way to a client, 'I must reach a larger audience with the same amount of effort.'   Soon after that epiphany I signed my CBS-TV, and, books contracts on the same day.

.

Then I read an article in the NYTimes about something called 'blogging'.  Saved the article for a year before reading it.  Studied all the blogs they mentioned, hired a computer expert they quoted, and attended a blogging seminar.

.

Blogging 2.0 has arrived, my knowledge is 1.0.  A believer in copying the best historic gardens across the globe it flows into every arena of life.  Watching Maria Killam grow her career/blog/life over the past 3 years made its impact.  Signed up  for a year's course with her blogging expert, Jon Morrow. 

.

Changes will be slow, plodding is my adored method.  Pulling triggers here/there is spice in the mix.
.

What do YOU want?

.

Nothing is too small, too big, or too ego crushing to mention.

.

Passion lies in sharing what has filled me to the depths of grace, joy & atonement, the best landscapes created over the last 2,000+ years.

Just so you know... 
 I  welcome your input.

Permaculture Wall Paper & Guilds at a Barn

No room for a fruit tree?  Espalier them next to a wall, below.  Espalier is a type of pruning.  In ancient times espalier was a necessity.  Seasons were extended and more fruit produced.  Ancients called it survival.

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Basic.

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There is more, below, forcing the fruit trees to produce greater amounts.  

Guilds.

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Perhaps you think the guilds are merely tufts needing the weedeater?

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Do you know what guilds are?

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Guilds are under the fruit trees.  Guilds attract pollinators, increasing crop yields by 80%, without any extra human effort.

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Do the math !

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With a degree in engineering, and horticulture, I survived most of my adult life without those 2 facts, above.  Instead, thinking, "Rustic charm."

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Pitiful

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Leaving USA after the horticulture degree, what- else- was- one- to- do, to truly learn gardening, I fell in love with every le jardin rustique across Europe & Israel.  Created my Landscape Design Formula, Tara Turf, Axis etc...

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My soul intuitively delighting in experiencing thousands of years, combined, in individual 'le jardin rustiques'.

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Imagine my surprise when I looked up, permaculture, a term new to me.

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There I found my dear friend, 'le jardin rustique'.

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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

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pic via My American French Life.

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If you are just now learning these words, and what they mean, I'm sorry.  The joys I've had, for 2 decades across European gardens has been one of my chief delights.

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Assignment, go to Europe & study  the best historic gardens.  A good source for European garden travel tours, here.

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Wallpaper?  Allusion to thinking espalier was merely a pretty-thing-to-do.

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For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

.

Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.

.

Construction by Award Winning

Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

.

NOTE to my gardening friends... look for changes to come. 

Knew before computers/cell phones, sitting in Atlanta traffic on way to a client, 'I must reach a larger audience with the same amount of effort.'   Soon after that epiphany I signed my CBS-TV, and, books contracts on the same day.

.

Then I read an article in the NYTimes about something called 'blogging'.  Saved the article for a year before reading it.  Studied all the blogs they mentioned, hired a computer expert they quoted, and attended a blogging seminar.

.

Blogging 2.0 has arrived, my knowledge is 1.0.  A believer in copying the best historic gardens across the globe it flows into every arena of life.  Watching Maria Killam grow her career/blog/life over the past 3 years made its impact.  Signed up  for a year's course with her blogging expert, Jon Morrow. 

.

Changes will be slow, plodding is my adored method.  Pulling triggers here/there is spice in the mix.
.

What do YOU want?

.

Nothing is too small, too big, or too ego crushing to mention.

.

Passion lies in sharing what has filled me to the depths of grace, joy & atonement, the best landscapes created over the last 2,000+ years.

Just so you know... 
 I  welcome your input.

Design: Fearless Editing

What you won't see, below, in beautiful landscapes.

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In the best landscapes, across the globe & eras, courageous editing never ceases.

 Knock-out rose, above, is not paying the rent.  Client's boxwood had been in a disgusting cheap plastic pot.  Classic rolled rim cast concrete planter was lurking, empty, under the steps.

A few minutes old, above.  Pot & boxwood already paying rent.  Imagine when groundcovers are planted and oodles of flowers rim the pot.

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It's the rare garden not needing an edit.  And rarer, the garden without a lot of extra 'stuff'.

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What changes can you make in your landscape with these thoughts?

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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara

Pics at jobsite this week.  

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For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

.

Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.

.

Construction by Award Winning

Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

.

NOTE to my gardening friends... look for changes to come. 

Knew before computers/cell phones, sitting in Atlanta traffic on way to a client, 'I must reach a larger audience with the same amount of effort.'   Soon after that epiphany I signed my CBS-TV, and, books contracts on the same day.

.

Then I read an article in the NYTimes about something called 'blogging'.  Saved the article for a year before reading it.  Studied all the blogs they mentioned, hired a computer expert they quoted, and attended a blogging seminar.

.

Blogging 2.0 has arrived, my knowledge is 1.0.  A believer in copying the best historic gardens across the globe it flows into every arena of life.  Watching Maria Killam grow her career/blog/life over the past 3 years made its impact.  Signed up  for a year's course with her blogging expert, Jon Morrow. 

.

Changes will be slow, plodding is my adored method.  Pulling triggers here/there is spice in the mix.
.

What do YOU want?

.

Nothing is too small, too big, or too ego crushing to mention.

.

Passion lies in sharing what has filled me to the depths of grace, joy & atonement, the best landscapes created over the last 2,000+ years.

Just so you know... 
 I  welcome your input.

Homeschooling: Beautiful Easy Landscape Design with Layers of Learning

Well educated herself, she's probably surprised this, below, is her job now.  The best job she'll ever have, homeschooling her sons.

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Her chair faces the front yard.  My job is to take an adequate landscape and turn it into a multi-layered narrative more deeply entwined with stewardship than amusement.  Though amusement will still play a role.  A role we give to it, deeper/richer than assigned by society 'norms'.

What I will add to this landscape?
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Engagement.  I want to deeply engage 'her', more than her sons.  Everyday, wanting her to see something stunning, she glances, and thinks, 'wow'.  With blooms, berries, fruits, burgeoning of spring, perceptions of senescence, humus of fall, colors, paths, focal points, textures, repetitions, historical ties, fragrance, birds, possums, coons, squirrels, deer, insects, sounds of wind through foliage, intricacies of good soil and its productions for our survival, outdoor classrooms serendipitously appearing, outdoor classrooms created as destinations, unstudied playgrounds imagined by her and the boys at a whim, playground areas created for myriad games, beautiful landscape areas demanding an impromptu picnic, landscaped area created for a harvest table & dining or studying classwork, a pizza oven, a Peter Pan Express created from the indoor kitchen to their outdoor kitchen downstairs (ropes/pulley/wire basket), a cluster of bushes with an interior secret place for the boys to have a hobbit hole, strands of Italian piazza lights in a couple of places, a place for her to read/absorb the philosophy/poetry/essays of Wendell Berry, when it snows I want her to feel like her indoor classroom is a magical snow globe, a garden of epiphanies, a garden of stewardship more than amusement, a garden that needs her boys, a garden that provides more stewardship to her than she does to it, and so very much more.
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Many of the plants will have a large river stone, about 3 pounds, at their base, with Latin and common names written in grease pencil.  Instead of mulch the garden will have groundcovers, no nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium fertilizers will be used to poison the groundwater, amongst her dense shade a sunny enough spot must be found for a pear tree, new plantings will be added for the landscape to have something coming into bloom/color/berry every 2 weeks, a compost pile will be created, potager in pots on the deck where it is sunny and the boys learn agricultural yields are increased by the ornamental landscape surrounding it, and etc.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pic shot at jobsite last week.  Will draw their landscape this week.
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Help, what else does her garden need?
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For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

.

Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.

.

Construction by Award Winning

Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

.

NOTE to my gardening friends... look for changes to come. 

Knew before computers/cell phones, sitting in Atlanta traffic on way to a client, 'I must reach a larger audience with the same amount of effort.'   Soon after that epiphany I signed my CBS-TV, and, books contracts on the same day.

.

Then I read an article in the NYTimes about something called 'blogging'.  Saved the article for a year before reading it.  Studied all the blogs they mentioned, hired a computer expert they quoted, and attended a blogging seminar.

.

Blogging 2.0 has arrived, my knowledge is 1.0.  A believer in copying the best historic gardens across the globe it flows into every arena of life.  Watching Maria Killam grow her career/blog/life over the past 3 years made its impact.  Signed up  for a year's course with her blogging expert, Jon Morrow. 

.

Changes will be slow, plodding is my adored method.  Pulling triggers here/there is spice in the mix.
.

What do YOU want?

.

Nothing is too small, too big, or too ego crushing to mention.

.

Passion lies in sharing what has filled me to the depths of grace, joy & atonement, the best landscapes created over the last 2,000+ years.

Just so you know... 
 I  welcome your input.

Pots Tutorial : Site & Client Specific

My team is installing a flagstone terrace and garden I designed at this home, below.

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Home is new construction atop historic foundation.

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Clients both work, young children, pets, and shade on the front porch with moments of intense light.

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Urns, chairs, tub already on the porch.  Of course I moved everything.

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The urns, below, had been too close to the door, 'squeezing' the front door 'smaller'.

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This family is too busy to fru-fru over caretaking pots.

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Deborah Silver's urn, below, is perfect for my client's urns, above.  For scale/height I would add a tee-pee of 3 bamboo canes tied with brown twine, with matching dried vines of base wreath threading up the tee-pee.

I moved the wash tub, below, in front of their library window.  Now, a focal point inside/outside.
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With potting soil in the tub, I would set

3 terra cotta pots with ivy topiaries, below, and also,

add whimsy, with a properly scaled animal topiary, below.

 I moved the white chairs, below, in front of their dining room window.
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On each I see a large terra cotta pot filled with ivy topiary.

Especially like these 'basket' ivy topiaries with space in the center left for a plastic pot to be slipped in with a flowering plant- of- the- season.

If we can't find the ivy basket, above, perhaps the ivy topiary at her feet, below.

These flowering terra cotta pots, below, would be pretty on the chairs, but I do worry about the amount of sunlight available to keep them thriving.

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Perhaps pot them anyway, do the ivy too, and swap them as desired.

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Tiny pumpkins, matching those in the black urns, in the tub/terra cotta too.

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Notice echoes of terra cotta, ivy, seasonal across all of the containers?  Repetition.  One of the strongest elements of Garden Design.

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Tara's perfect pots?  So incredibly fabulous they can remain empty. 
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 Reading Deborah Silver recently I had a planting pot epiphany, here.  Perhaps I'm harming my spirit by ALWAYS having my pots empty.  Thank you for that, Deborah.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pics taken at jobsite yesterday, beautiful pot pics from Deborah Silver.
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For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.

.

Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.

                                                                                 .

Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

.

Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.

.

Construction by Award Winning

Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

.

NOTE to my gardening friends... look for changes to come. 

Knew before computers/cell phones, sitting in Atlanta traffic on way to a client, 'I must reach a larger audience with the same amount of effort.'   Soon after that epiphany I signed my CBS-TV, and, books contracts on the same day.

.

Then I read an article in the NYTimes about something called 'blogging'.  Saved the article for a year before reading it.  Studied all the blogs they mentioned, hired a computer expert they quoted, and attended a blogging seminar.

.

Blogging 2.0 has arrived, my knowledge is 1.0.  A believer in copying the best historic gardens across the globe it flows into every arena of life.  Watching Maria Killam grow her career/blog/life over the past 3 years made its impact.  Signed up  for a year's course with her blogging expert, Jon Morrow. 

.

Changes will be slow, plodding is my adored method.  Pulling triggers here/there is spice in the mix.
.

What do YOU want?

.

Nothing is too small, too big, or too ego crushing to mention.

.

Passion lies in sharing what has filled me to the depths of grace, joy & atonement, the best landscapes created over the last 2,000+ years.

Just so you know... 
 I  welcome your input.