Feng Shui: Journaling, Garden, Life

Smith & Hawken had a lecture series at their store on Peachtree Street for years.   Much anticipated was a Feng Shui speaker.
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Wildly, and pleasingly, the talk was validation for all I was already doing for Garden Design and aligning it with home & life.  A trinity.
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Later I met Tracy Miller of Gazelle Feng Shui.  Have enjoyed being on her email list, Gazelle Feng Shui Tip of the Week, arriving Fridays for years.
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A few nights ago I was googling information, and this pic, below, was in the large response.  Ironic, it's a pic of my own garden.  My 30 year Cottage Garden.  Soul satisfying, this pic is taken in my sideyard in a cluster home subdivision with at least 10 houses stuffing the view.  See them?  Didn't think so.  More, if I must give any sort of accounting for my time on Earth, that garden will be on the list.  As accomplishment, and in thanks.  (Slow, 'washing of the servants feet', but I got-it !! )
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In addition to having several books published, I write journal books for myself.  They have quotes, passages, lone words by the hundreds, pairs of words, torn fragments of photos/art, torn more, into collage pieces taped onto many pages, processes of thinking, myriad methods of finding your way out of the woods Dante's Inferno describes, yet we arrived in those woods of our own free will.  The books are not linear, and fresh items are put into whichever, no scheme, other than heart, and a passion that is broad and still hungry for understanding, much.
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Apparently, journal books are a type of methodology of Feng Shui in Tracy Miller's world.  The power of intention.  My journal books are not wish books, more potent, action step books.
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I see this pic of my garden, below, and cannot believe all that was given to me.  Given.  Yet it was my effort of mind/heart/body/checkbook/time/bruised-bloodied, creating the garden.  It feels, totally, freely, given.
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Pic, above, shot in my garden.
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A journal entry, below, ca. 2007.  This darling sassy man, and his home.  Had no clue who he was at the time, merely adored his sass.

Pic, above, from my journal, via, NYTimes.
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2015 arrived, less than 2 years ago, and I found a house on Zillow.  Knew it was the wrong house driving to meet the realtor, too far, located in nowherevilleruralusa.   E.M.Forster awoke when I walked thru the front door, every fiber of my being 'knew', this is my home.  A few minutes later, I walked into this room, below, now my office.  Already a mass of jello from E.M.Forster communing at the front door, now, in this pink room, below, (as Forster did with the charwoman meeting the 2nd Mrs. Wilcox at Howard's End for the first time), I got the 2nd memo, as if the 1st memo wasn't beyond galaxy realms huge.  Offer was made for the house within 24 hours.
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Pic, above, shot in my office this morning.
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Soon I will begin the hunt for kaki blazer/pants, purple shirt, pocket square, and stand with sass, at my office fireplace, with a good photographer.  No, I didn't want a pink office, white fireplace, kaki pants suit while journaling the photo from NYTimes.  
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More than this has arrived into the present, from my journals.  And, I had merely been saving/journaling to help my methodologies, and understand, from Dante's, Inferno, Line 1, "Midway on our life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood, the right road lost."  James Hollis has a great question to ask yourself, if the right road to take is unclear, and options are myriad yet opaque, "Which path enlarges me, and which path diminishes me?"  More, "This means leaving behind what's comfortable but confining.  Like Dante, we need to find the path to our best, freest selves.  If you get stuck...We might be frightened by the answer, or intimidated by what it asks of us.  But it will always tell us which way to go."
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT
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Tracy Miller of Gazelle Feng Shui, below.  (Tracy gave me permission to share her work, and I am receiving nothing in return. )

The Two Energies of Feng Shui

Hi All, Feng shui as seen through the eyes of most people consists largely of manipulating the tangible (physical) environment. Most of the time, we are looking at the layout of the land, buildings, the position of furniture, trees and roads, and also colors and shapes of things. Sometimes referred to as "Sying" energy, this physical practice is a very good way to make adjustments to an environment to support the chi of the people who live there. But it's not the only way. There is a second aspect of feng shui that isn't as well-known but that is also a powerful way to change the chi of a person or a place. This energy is known as "Yi", which can be translated loosely as a wish, or an intention and/or an imposition of will. This type of energy might be accessed through a house blessing, through reading intentions daily, and by adjusting our inner feng shui to align with what we are desiring in life. It is the reason we like to look at a house's history and the way a person arrived at a place to see if there is a pattern of energy present there that needs to be considered. What intangible elements are impacting the space? This Yi energy is equally important as the physical aspects of the space. By tying these two energies together, a level of success can be attained more easily than by using one or the other by itself. For example, it's great to read your intention every day to find a new relationship. It sets your mind on the purpose at hand. You might even meditate or pray on this desire which helps align your inner world with this intention. But to bring a turbo charge to this desire, you will also want to adjust your physical world by enhancing the relationship areas in your home, by getting out to meet people, and creating a nurturing environment around you. In this way, you are in essence 'covering all the bases" to take you where you want to go. Of course, life isn't predictable. There are no guarantees. By using feng shui methods, we are simply trying to increase our chances of attaining our goals by tapping into the best energy (chi) possible to take us there. All gardeners know that if you plant a seed, water it, use the best soil possible and have great weather that you have a very good chance of growing a wonderful vegetable or flower. On the other hand, perhaps at the height of harvest time, a deer jumps the fence and eats the whole thing. We're not in charge of the universe, but we do our best to live in it. That's a very important feng shui concept. Until next time, Tracy Tracy Miller Gazelle Feng Shui www.gazellefengshui.com

Classic Button Top

Lush, easy, pretty all year.  The classic button top, below.


Pic, above, here.

Now, when you see, below, you'll think, Classic button top would be better.

 
Pic, above, here.

Of course my favorite pot, The Queen's Pot, a pot so incredible, below, it can remain empty and still be gorgeous, never fails either.

 
Pic, above, here.

Then there is the Furlow Gatewood pot, below.  This man sailed a thousand ships !


Pic, above, here.

Lastly, there are the pots of Deborah Silver, creator of the florist shape.

 

Pics, above/below, here.



She's known for lighting them too, above.
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All, good choices, none the tired, shag carpet, avocado green, stale pots I was taught to plant in college.  So bad, they shall not be represented here, yet I see them still, proudly touting an era past its prime.  Doing that style now, for me, is jet stupid.  "If stupid could fly, you'd be a jet."  Love this little quote, great way to detach, remembering it, once I've done something stupid, again.  Jet stupid is difficult to eradicate.  It's Anne of Green Gables, I may do something wrong but never the same wrong thing twice.  With age, it's confounding what jet stupid whips up at times.
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Speaking about her sister, the wildly successful Nora Ephron, "Delia Ephron sounded one cautionary note on the subject of her sister's expertise in all matters large and small.  "Ten percent of the time, Nora's wrong." she said, "and you never know what the 10% is and it's really scary -- you know, ' Could this be it ? '
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T

Garden Design: Beautiful, Accessible, Sustainable

Past client called for their new home.  This is a copy of the Garden Design the sellers gave them at closing, below.  Sellers had done a gut renovation with the interior, and it's wildly fabulous.  The garden shows where the budget went !  Common lament every Garden Designer lives with.



I always ask a few questions about what clients want/need, and received a nice list from them.  Amazingly, for their mission statement, they produced a trinity of words.  One of those words, Accessible, quite unusual and deeply appropriate.
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Before, above.  After, below.  See the obvious?  I learn this way, best.  Thought you might too.
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Their trinity of words: Beautiful, Accessible, Sustainable.




Their front porch is deep, long and redolent of how a porch should be, yet rarely is.
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Clients knew their garden was 'fenced' in all the wrong places and not welcoming in the right places.
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Hope you 'see' the solution.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO T
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I designed a lot of entries into the garden, yet the most important 'accessibility' is opening the front porch, taking out that line of shrubs between walkway/porch.  Their driveway is cobblestone edged, so it will edge the new flagstone terrace too.  Copy, one of the 1st rules of Garden Design.
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French doors were also designed from the house to the front porch instead of the existing windows.  Flow, accessibility.

Tara Template: Garden Design Equation

Worst question, ever, "What plant should I place here?"
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Coming to Garden Design after receiving a BS Engineering, I remember well that line of Garden Design thought process.
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Not merely a terrible question, it lies in the wrong galaxy of where to base questions about Garden Design.  Then came the degree in Horticulture.  More galaxies of wrong thinking.  That education taught me to be a man with a truck, power equipment, bags of chemicals, monthly contracts, designing to commodify every layer of Garden Design for the maximum need to manage the landscape for hire.  And, design the 'landscape' while standing in the street, looking at the house.
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What plant goes here?  Garden Design begins inside your home, below.  What are the views out your windows, where do you mostly live in your home, how do you use the various rooms with window views?  What is the style of your interior furnishings?  What colors have you chosen?  What type of art have you surrounded yourself with?  What theme does the architecture of your home present, what theme do you want it to present?


Pic, above, here.

Looking out the windows, above, of your home are the lines indicating where to place focal points, below.

 
Pic, above, here.

More, once those focal points are placed in the garden, from interior views, the views into your home must be Garden Designed, below.  Now, we're having some real fun, double axis.


Pic, above, here.

In addition to the eye traveling from inside your home to outside, the foot must flow as freely, below.  How will you handle foot traffic?  Lawn, sidewalk, stepping stones, how will feet move easily throughout your property?  Flow.

 
Pic, above, here.

If you already have trees, below, the paths will situate themselves.  No trees?  Design your trees, ahead of paths.  No sense placing paths, only to move them later due to a tree's growth.


Pic, above, here.

Canopy trees, above, are the tall trees growing 30' and higher, understory trees, below, give nice shade, yet grow to only about 30'.  Tree, below, planted to shade a 2 story home with 11am-setting western sun.  More, this understory tree was chosen to be deciduous, allowing the winter sun to heat the house.

Pic, above, shot in my garden.

Once the mechanics of focal points on axis from inside your home, flow around the entire property and trees are accomplished, a place for dining, below, near the home/kitchen/family room, is designed.  Furnishings must match the style from your interior.


 
Pic, above, here.

Next layer of Garden Design, below, evergreen shrubs.  Hedges with purpose.





Pic, above, here.

Next layer of Garden Design, below, deciduous flowering shrubs.

 
Pic, above, shot in my garden.

Next layer of Garden Design, below, groundcovers.  Mulch is a great conceit of the mulch and landscape maintenance industries.  Yes, mulch is needed initially, but your Garden Design should include groundcovers to eradicate that need within 3-5 years.  Groundcovers are cheaper in the long run, less maintenance, and more lush.  Dead brown mulch vs. living green groundcovers.


Pic, above, here.



Pic, above, here.

Next layer of Garden Design, below, perennials/annuals.  It's rare I do a perennial garden.  Why?  High maintenance & too seasonal.  Instead, I use flowering shrubs, and a few stalwart perennials needing little care, no water, no fertilizer, resistant to deer.  Garden Design, above, is low maintenance, pretty all year, functional for outdoor living, and views from home into garden.  Maintenance?  Blow, whack, done.  And, not much whacking in a year.

 
Pic, above, here.

A small Garden Design test, below.  Label what you see.

 
Pic, above, here.


Pic, above, I shot in a client's garden.

Next layer of Garden Design, below.  A place in the garden to sit/relax, and have views into your home, above.

 
Pic, above, shot in my conservatory.
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This conservatory, above, is 23 steps from the back door of the house, yet realms away in spirit.
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Wood, windows, antiques, wood stove, conservatory above, were rescued over a decade's time, stored in my garage, till money was saved for the carpenter/electrician.  Not having money for your garden has never been an excuse for me.  I had no money, and still had a garden.  Only mentioned here because at the front end, fresh out of college with the first degree, I too thought 'money' was what was separating me from the beautiful garden I wanted (aka deserved).  The more I learned about Garden Design, it became clear, Garden Design is for all, no excuses, merely how your brain can execute.  Game on !
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Garden Design Equation.  I completely draw a garden, in the order of the layers described above, before choosing the first specific plant by name.  Flow, shapes, placement, uses.
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Along the way, I spent decades studying historic gardens across Europe, created my own garden, and toured myriad gardens across USA.  Taught at the Atlanta Botanical garden and local college for decades, lectured at symposiums/garden clubs/corporate retreats, designed hundreds of client gardens,written several books, had a TV show, yet at the base of what I do, it's all listed, above, for you to take and create the garden you want, and deserve.  
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This time knowing 'deserve' in the poetic sense of Wendell Berry.  By what you've learned, and created with your own hands in relationship with Nature's realm.
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Of course there are templates within the templates, but this Garden Design Equation template, will get you where you're going.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T
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Tara Templates are being written for a 3 day workshop.  A proven method to create a beautiful historic landscape, sustainable for you, and Earth.  Who is the audience?  Anyone wanting to create their own Garden Design, realtors, interior decorators, master gardeners, horticulture school students, lawn maintenance companies.  Allied and collateral professions needing a Garden Designer on their team.  Nothing is hard about Garden Design.  Oddly Garden Design is wildly counter intuitive, with many layers, seemingly non-existent, yet a base to every Garden Design.  What are the unseen layers?
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Interested in taking the Workshop?  Let me know what you want it to include.  Not interested in taking the workshop, let me know what you think it should include.

Tara Template: Geometry

When Sir Roy Strong came to speak, I hadn't heard of him, clicking on phone/laptop not an option, neither existed.  He came to me straight.  Upon his own 'ooomph'.
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Ahead of his lecture at the Atlanta History Center, I always arrive early for lectures there, wanting to walk the grounds, I noticed an unusual looking pair of people, man & woman.  Most interesting.  More, they were looking at the crowd swirling in the atrium of the auditorium, as if they were a swarm of  'something shocking'.  Their clothes.  Oh my their clothes.  Too bad no cell phone camera.  She was the more interesting, and he was beyond imagination interesting.
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Finally seated, auditorium full, announcements, blah blah get on with it, Sir Roy Strong mounts the stage.  Of course I had already spotted him, the most interesting man in the building.
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After he finished speaking, I asked my friend seated next to me, we roomed together several times across Europe during my historic garden study tours, "Why did they only let him speak for half an hour?"  (She looked at me like I was weird.)  "He said the most amazing things."  Finally, she said, "What did he say?  I didn't get anything from him.  He spoke just over an hour."  I continued talking about all he had said and each word a powerhouse, "He said all that?", she asked, laughing at me.  She later opened her own successful nursery, obvious where her focus lies.  When I had my TV show on CBS we shot a segment with her at her nursery.  Of course we did !
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Decades later, that hour remains, The Hour.
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Most important thing he said, during that hour, "If you have an irregularly shaped area, place a geometric shape within it."  Key to the realm.


Pic, above, here.
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Sir Roy Strong, above, in his geometry.  Enfilade too.
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No matter the space, above, the circle owns it.  Geometry in an irregular space.  Circles, squares, rectangles, diamonds.
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Bottom line, reading this.  Either you grasped the key to the realm, as I did, or you are my dear friend, not understanding a word, it's all mumbo jumbo.
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No worries if you're the latter, that key remains for you.  When you're ready.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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That hour?  Best.  Drug.  Ever.  Sir Roy's writing, excellent, his books, here.

Tara Template: Entry Ways

Once I decided to create a beautiful garden, age 22, living in a garage apartment, no suffering it had 3 bays backing up to 50 acres of woodland & pasture a little like the movie Sabrina, I bought a few things from the nursery, planted them, nothing.
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Nothing.
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Add a decade, books, more planting, Extension Service courses, moved into my starter home, and acquired a 2nd college degree, this time horticulture, and still the great, nothing.
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Insert 2 decades of studying historic gardens across Europe, thankfully, at the front end of those study tours, 'nothing' turned into the mother load.
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Garden Design, aside from being mostly counterintuitive, is palpably honest.  Garden Design hides nothing,  Its secrets freely given.  It was I, seeing 'nothing'.  One of the oddest things I 'saw', when my eyes opened, entry ways.
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And once you get it about entry ways you are well on your way to Garden Design of the ages.
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What is so important about entry ways?
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First layer, answering, is ineffable.  Much as an epiphany, moment of intuitive enlightenment, or a koan.  But there are several layers definitely not ineffable.
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Odd fact about entry ways in a garden.  And, important.  The more entry ways a garden has, the better a garden is.
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Odder fact about entry ways in a garden.  Entry ways are a focal point, and you cannot have too many.  Yet, the rule about focal points, One-Focal Point-per-Area, absorbs and enriches the rule about entry ways.
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Yep.  Told you, counterintuitive.
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More, entry ways in a garden never create an exit.  From both directions an entry way is an entry way.  There are no exits in a garden, only entry ways.


Pic, above, from Bunny Williams garden.
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Entry way into the wildwood, above.  One of my favorite Garden Design arrows to use.
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Without the drama, above, of the entry way, specifically the spheres on plinths, you are not beckoned, Come this way, walk here, you will be enchanted, there is more.  A bit of the Scheherazade layer of Garden Design.
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Gardens are stories.  Gardens are narrative.
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Whether you think so or not.  Don't put your story into your garden.  Fine.  Your garden is telling a story about you.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T
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Very nice, below.  Thought you would like it too.
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Friends of Old Bulbs Gazette

Old House Gardens, Ann Arbor, Michigan, (734) 995-1486

“If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?”

– G.K. Chesterton, 1874-1936, British writer, poet, and philosopher

Tara Template: Loutrel Briggs

Loutrel Briggs, designed Mrs. Whaley's Charleston, SC, garden many decades ago.  Had the good fortune to see this garden not too long after Mrs. Whaley passed.  Remember, Christopher Lloyd's thought, "The garden dies when the gardener dies."
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Mrs. Whaley's garden lived greatly, still, at the time of my visit.  And, Loutrel Briggs lived even larger.
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My pics of Mrs. Whaley's garden are safely ensconced in slide form in a box next to the arc of the covenant in a warehouse several types of plane trips away and a few jeep rides, finally, carried by donkey to the exact correct warehouse.
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Don't let the 'flowers', below, fool you.  Here, they are a distraction from the pure brilliance of Briggs' design.



Pic, above, here.

A tiny city garden, above/below, Briggs' garden is exterior architecture, with 12 mos. of interest.  Better, it functions as pure residential architecture, an extension of the home's living space.

 
Pic, above, here.


Pic, above, here.

A dear friend gave me, Mrs. Whaley & Her Charleston Garden, paperback, it had been given to her, and she already had it in hardback.  Since then have given this book, used/paperback/excellent condition, to many friends.  I know I'll be giving it in the future too.  (Garden Book Ministry.  But that's a Tara Template I've not gotten to yet, along with Lunch Ministry.  Brunch Ministry is perhaps the funniest Tara Template, and will share it soon.)


 
Order Book, above, here.

What is the Loutrell Briggs?  At its core, a rectangle with indentations.  A rectangle enfilade of varying intricacies.  The Loutrell Briggs can be tiny or huge, showy or elegant, low or high maintenance.


Pic, above, here.

Loutrel Briggs rectangle, above, has its open enfilade at bench, with intricacies as the enfilade reaches the mirror pond & parterres.  Love this version, above.  Every layer pays the rent.  Elegant in all seasons, very little maintenance.  Usable for children's games, and adults swilling cocktails at a soiree.

 
Pic, above, here.

Loutrel Briggs, above, in a series of connecting rectangles.  Wide-open to fully-parterred.  You go Loutrel.  Notice where symmetry falls away with dictates of space yet appears symmetrical?  Faux symmetry.  Potent arrow in my Garden Design quiver.




Have probably done Loutrel Briggs a dozen times, or more, thru the decades.  New, fresh each iteration.  This Loutrel Briggs, above/below, I designed last year for a historic home in downtown Atlanta.  Young couple, professionals, young children, dogs, the full monty.  She wants chickens, place to entertain, and for kids to play along with a potager.  She had seriously good classic cookbooks in her kitchen, (personal peculiarity, judging someone by their cookbooks not their range).  Alas, her kitchen is at the 3rd story of the house, too far to casually go snip a little rosemary or basil.  Her potager, in pots, lining the deck off the kitchen.  Yes, drip irrigation.

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I never have a problem copying brilliance.  Loutrel Briggs, brilliant.  Of course, he was the 1st, I knew of, to grab the rectangular landscape with indentions & enfilades, keep it simple or tart it up, but use it, use it, use it.
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Goes past Christ's era in application, thank you Loutrel for exploiting it.
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Now, you can too.
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT

Tara Template: Checker Board

Checker Boards are FAST.  Fast.
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Many layers of Garden Design are slow to medium, getting there.
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Not a Checker Board.
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I designed this pool, and its garden 4 years ago, below.  Checker Board photo was taken before we finished installing the plants.  FAST !  A little cheating, Checker Board going into sod, quite the shazaaam fast.





Pic, above, I shot in Susanne Hudson's garden.  Shade.  Checker Board with evergreen groundcover.


Pic, above, I shot in a client's garden.



More pics, above/below, I shot in Susanne Hudson's garden.  She decided her shady Checker Board needed to extend beyond the fence.  12" concrete squares.



Before & After, below.  Checker Board I designed, installed for client.
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Interesting, knowing where to place a Checker Board.  Client, below, had a drainage issue in this zone, and this zone is used during monthly neighborhood parties with kids, parents, dogs, margaritas.  .
What to do?  Checker Board.  Of course.  (Muse certainly entertains.  Until drawing their garden had zero clue a Checker Board was the solution.  Go Muse !)



This client, above/below, was vision-quest-challenged.  I only let you know, because many people are.  Easy fix, set up a dry run, below.  Windy day, Nature had her fun, yes?



Remember, this zone, above/below, had a drainage issue, the pics don't show the Caterpillar contouring the water into a proper swale, drainage issue solved.





Stone pavers, above/below.  Sod.  INSTANT.


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Perhaps you want to commune with Muse, maybe a Checker Board is in your garden, waiting to be revealed.
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Don't know how to commune with Muse?  Correct, it's not an instant relationship Muse provides.  Muse is met at the altar of grace, joy, humility, letting go of character defects offensive to Muse, while being fearless in taking what Muse gives to all.  Take.
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Garden & Be Well,    XOT

Tara Template: The Well-Placed Chair

Touring historic gardens across Europe for 2+ decades, it took only one trip to 'see', The Well-Placed Chair.
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Most gardens had a chair, simply put, creating a still life.  Never seemingly pre-planned.  Serendipitous.
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Noted.
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Copied.
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Every garden needs a pair of matching chairs, comfortable, interesting, sited as a layer of still life.
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Chair, below, in my garden.  Flower petals appear photo shopped, they aren't.  Better, how many times have I sat in the chair for a phone conversation or lunch, and hummingbirds whiz overhead.  How many more times would I be upstairs, look out a window and see a cardinal or blue jay perched atop the chair?
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More than creating a still life, the Well-Placed Chair creates a well lived garden.  How could I have given to myself the gifts Nature has given, in tandem, with the Well-Placed Chair?
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Don't you want it for yourself ?





Pic, above, here.

 
Pic, above, here.

 
Pic, above, here.


Pic, above, here.
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Where to find a pair of Well-Placed Chairs?  Garage sale, thrift store, antique shop, estate sale.  If they don't match each other, go you.  Paint them the same color.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T