Adding an Outside Expert to Your Team

Arriving to new client, she was breathless, saying, "You can't tell anyone."

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A man was buzzing frantically throughout her home, moving things.

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Huge problem.

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Her husband, nor interior decorator could know what was happening.

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Mega bucks had been spent decorating her home, it was a disaster.

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A few days earlier she had been in a home for a luncheon and knew she had to hire their interior decorator to 'fix' her house.

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This was the man buzzing.

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He was, indeed, a magic bee.  

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Sadly, variations of this story are common in my job.  How to make happy endings?  I added an interior decorator to my team years ago.  And I never give her name, it's always asked for.

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In the realm of interior design my place is well trod.  When the budget is zero I'm excellent at choosing colors, placing furniture, creating flow, and etc blah blah.  When the budget is comfortable, only an expert will suffice.  There is no ego in this, only fear, knowing my limitations.

A current client is renovating home & garden, and mentioned her decorator wanting to put a sofa in the bay window, with its back facing their expansive woodland.
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'Danger Will Robinson.'
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I had just seen this pic, below, and mentioned its furniture plan, then emailed it to her when I was back in my office.
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Complications.  She also wants 'color' in the view.  My suggestion is, above, fresh flowers on the table in her bay window.
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The woodland can have oakleaf hydrangea, spring flowering trees, bulbs, fall color, winter flowering trees, but we will use interior decorating for the major 'color'.

In reverse, I'm hired by homes with incredible interiors, and expensive landscapes of little beauty and most often zero interaction with the home & its axis views.  I dread these because my magic must truly be done on a dime, the bag of gold already spent on disaster.

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My favorite fix was for a gay couple.  Their curving front had been done exactly in the shape of a uterus.  When I pointed this out as a starting point for change, we were on the same page.  Laughter was rich in irony too.  Their first designer was a gay man.  With great pride, and joy, I redesigned their landscape using only what they already had. 

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Why do most interior decorators stop at the threshold?     

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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

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My new Beautiful Easy Landscape courses include interior decorators as a target audience.  How to work magic with no budget, as I do for interior decorating, and how to include a landscape design expert for your team.

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Interior decorator?  Interested?  Tell me what you need, courses are being outlined this winter.  Would love your input.

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Have taught at the local college and Atlanta Botanical Garden for decades and look forward to this new venture.

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Top pics Pinterest, bottom pic mine.

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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.

.

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.

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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.

When it's Time to Change the Design

You'll know when it's time to round the corners.

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Time passes, trees grow, shade encroaches, turf dies.

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Freshly installed cobblestones, below.  What happens when there is even more shade?

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Forget grass, plant a groundcover.

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Sure, this is change.  Refinement too.

This progression is years in the making.
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And, a metaphor for 'life'.
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What corners does your life need to round?  What turf does your life need to let go?  Where does your life need you to invest in cobblestones installed by experienced hands?  How long did this chapter of life take?  Why didn't I realize, sooner, this corner always needed more space?
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Answers to these types of questions arrive in 3 places, for me: in my garden, walking in Nature, or in the shower.

From childhood, I've found gardens, and Nature, to be great conversationalists.
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But.  Have been stumped by a garden request since last week, a new lecture title.  Help me if you can, please.  What is 'new' in gardening?    
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 Gardening is an ancient craft, yet each garden I create is 'new'.  But.  What is 'new', to you, in gardening?
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken at jobsite.
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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.

The Best Design Question

Rare, the home needing a 'foundation' planting.

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Rare, the home without one.

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A step beyond, below, not having a foundation planting.

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They've taken on the sacrosanct lawn, with firm intention.

This garden has me at, 'hello'.
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However, the window nearest the garage must have an espalier fruit tree to the right.  And the hedge must have a stone plinth with urn at its end nearest the drive.  One more thing.  Ivy 'Gold Heart', on the house to the right of the front door, tendrils to 14', no more.
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How little can your garden have, and, still be 'you'.  It's the best question.
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Yes, I would make the effort to drive by this home at dusk/evening, to see inside.  Perhaps, a garden's best moments, as it melds with the interiors, vanishing threshold.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic

François - Xavier Van Damme  

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Would love to know what you see added to this garden.

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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.

Details of Design

Home for shelter, pastures for livestock, hedgerows/ornamentals for pollinators, walled gardens for fruit/vegetables, aesthetics for spirit.

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A living, given from the land.  

Touring a similar garden in France many years ago I had to ask the head gardener what he meant, "At times there were only subsistence gardeners here."

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Portions of history, so dire, laborers were paid in food.  Living the best they could in the woods.

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Approaching this type of garden, above, from a 'fat' country, and time, in the T.E. Lawrence sense of the word, I did not see its lessons.

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Walled gardens produce earlier & later than Nature allows, keeps wildlife/livestock out, and thieves.

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Box hedging outside the garden walls keeps chickens out.

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Pretty flowers?  Sure, planted to be pretty, yet this reason is from a 'fat' intellect.  Which was mine, until epiphany.  

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Those pretty flowers increase crop/fruit yields by 80%.  

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Suddenly, what had been merely, 'pretty', is seen as truth, 'survival'.

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And, imagine all the lovely compost, produced on site, returning into the land.

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Providence, creator of the 1st organic machine.

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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

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Pic via Pinterest.

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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.

Where is Bow of Your Boat?

For decades I have known, and it has been true, I travel farthest in my garden.

A gift to thrive where you are planted.
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It wasn't always so, until I made it so.
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Beyond gift, an inner power.
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Occasionally, still travel to other continents.  Enjoy those from other continents finding me here, in my little garden.
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More, finding those with no garden compass and inviting them to lunch.  Lunch ministry.
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On Earth, my garden is the bow of my boat.
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Here is freedom, solace, joy, strength.
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“Sometimes the little times you don't think are anything while they're happening turn out to be what marks a whole period of your life.” 
― Andy Warhol

“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want.” 
― Andy Warhol

“As soon as you stop wanting something, you get it.” 
― Andy Warhol

“The mystery was gone but the amazement was just starting.” 
― Andy Warhol

Where is the bow of your boat?
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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I left for college at age 17, not returning home, living summers/holidays with my grandparents.  Above my bed a huge print of ballerinas.  Often, I would lay my head at the foot of the bed staring at the picture by moon light.  On the dresser a huge antique cut crystal vase filled with grandma's garden flowers, in the center, in front of the mirror, nothing else on the dresser.  Amazing to find the ballerinas still dancing.
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Pics via Castles Crowns and Cottages.
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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.

Choosing Wallpaper

In the bay window, below, at the front of my home, facing the street, tiny front yard, and several houses.

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Landscape design begins inside your home.

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Your realm doesn't start outside.

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Winter's tilt of the Earth, light hurtling through space, wrapping wavelengths tenderly around my garden, shooting as particles through the window panes, returning to wavelengths of light & shadow, seen perhaps merely in walking past, better, when there is lunch here with a friend, light & shadow caressing all they touch.
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This is all about you.  Choices.  How do you want to live in your realm?
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Lighting from the garden & views into the garden are interior design choices along with paint colors & wallpaper.
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Sacred vs. profane.  If you aren't making active choices in either direction, the choice is still made.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic taken this week.   Set of chairs a great find at estate sale nearby years ago.  Tiger oak drop leaf gate leg table a  delightful find at local junk shop, now out of business.

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.

The Business of Nurturing Creativity

Most days I'm designing a landscape.  On site, in my head or in the office.

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Foundation plantings, lawn, annuals, a weekly mow-blow-go-testosterone-on-wheels-commodify-all-I-touch ?  No, hire someone else for that travesty.

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 Providence provided the template for gardens, le jardin rustique, for sure.  

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My gardens are like joy.  Always there for the taking.  

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Take joy.

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There is an action step before the joy.  Take.

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Knowing the Providential template for creating a garden, there is still the job of 'taking'.

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Creativity.

Creativity is honored, deeply, everyday of my life.  It is a tool to use.  I do not own the tool, merely allowed to partake of its precious gift.  Daily.  Honored.  This tool is kept working, with having pets, books, music, walking in Nature most days, having my own garden, colors/furnishings/art/comfort of my home, meals with the pleasure of choosing plates/silver/tray/linen napkin eating in the bay window or conservatory or potager, deep friendships with girlfriends, knowing to get out of my comfort zone every few months, travel/seeing new things, gratitude in Providence, and Beloved.
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Creativity.
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I lost it once, decades ago, not knowing it needed nurturing.  Remember, well, feeling its loss.  Not the loss of Providence, exactly, but the loss of a great gift from Providence I had not honored.  Never want to go there again.  It's not uncommon for issues to arise, needing attentions subtracting from honoring my creativity.  I don't go there, the answer will be, 'no'.

Seeing, deeply, the creativity of others delights my soul and feeds the muse.  In Jamaica, a few days ago, investigating the restaurant while our meal was cooking, above, I was given a gift.  Looking up from our table, below.

Better, below, walking on the beach were these 'chairs' and table.  The table was obvious, but I had to investigate the 'chairs'.

At waters edge, and going nowhere, these chairs are perfect, and they were free.  For the creativity.

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Are you faster than I was?  My brain was molasses for a few seconds, figuring out the 'chairs'.

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Bird bath pedestals buried in sand, with a ring of concrete added to the tops.

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Perfect joy, feeding my creativity, in Thanks at the gift of someone else's creativity.

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Hope their chairs have done the same for you.

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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

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Pics taken in Discovery Bay, Jamaica, WI, this month.

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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.