Simple Landscapes & How They Do So Much For Us

"I think in concepts, not words." A. Einstein. 
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Until reading, above, a few days ago, I had no words to describe my thought processes to anyone outside my tribe.  They don't need that; they understand without words.
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I think in metaphors with drop down menus, punctuated with equations made of words and math symbols, overlayed with visuals, background sounds and music, topped with templates formed from books read & movies seen.  Simplified, I think in metaphors, not words.
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How do you think?
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Seriously, how do you think?
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When did you realize your thinking 'style' was a bit different from most?
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College years, a boy I dated said my thinking was 'quirky' and 'romantic'.  His way of saying, crazy?  I should have asked him to clarify.  We're all entitled to opinions.   


Pic, above, here.
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In a mash-up of thought processes, taking in visuals of gardens, from birth, playing & working in gardens since age 3, studying historic gardens globally since age 16, designing gardens professionally since my 20's, there's something I know for sure about gardens. 
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Both gardens, above/below, are top of their game, best of the world's gardens, since roughly ca. 1400.
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Why?
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Can you name the important layers each garden has?
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Can you describe why these layers are important?
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Who is the primary beneficiary of these gardens?
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Pic, above, here.
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Take your time.  Life conspired my bits of knowledge, over decades, in client gardens designed historically, and in historic gardens.  More, I didn't know what I was seeking, beyond the hunger to seek more knowledge about gardens. 
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We've not progressed, from these gardens, above.  We've lost these gardens, Nature's pinnacle of gardening.  Templates and stories greater than survival.  Lives richly lived.  Survive vs. Thrive.
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Listen to the bees.  Listen to the raising of children.  Listen to the health of our bodies.  Listen to the laws of governments pertaining to land, water, agriculture, livestock, us.  Listen to the health of our forests, wildlife, climate.  Listen to how you think of all these things.
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What are you looking at in the gardens, above?
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Gardens little changed in many centuries.  A type of gardening supporting a family, villages and cities, for centuries.  Agrarian. 
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Their formula: Wildwood + Meadow + Stone Focal Point = Lives Well Lived, Nature well nurtured and in return, Nature nurturing all.
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Tending these gardens, poyeema, imparts knowledge gained from putting body to Earth in washing of the servants feet.  More than self-evident 'inalienable rights' given, in the garden is our health, its micro-biomes formed directly from Nature.  Nature talking to us, literally, via her electricity, bacteria, more.  Who hasn't been humbled learning about our gut biomes controlling more of our brain, than 'we' do.
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You have the components now, of the gardens, above.  Do you know how they work?
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Meadows are Nature's ecosystem for specific maximum types of wildlife, bacteria, fungi, insects, etc.  Woodlands are another of Nature's ecosystems for specific maximum types of wildlife, bacteria, fungi, insects, etc.  Life forms expand where margins meet.  Life-happens-in-the-margins.
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Where woodland meets meadow, Nature's pollinators are greater, increasing crop yields by 80%.
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Next, same topic, different idea.  Assignment of Thought.
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Your garden.  How could you turn your garden, into the style, above.  What would it take?  Don't forget, your home.  It must be considered as backdrop, focal point, and where your garden begins, from interior views.
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Yes, you're allowed to break the rules, above.  If they're broken using metaphor, templates, and their equations followed.
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT
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Secondary benefit to this Garden Design Assignment.  Taking your brain into your garden, to design, separated from your bank account.
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All the world is a garden designer, until they go into their own garden.  Taking your brain off your wallet, is a game changer.
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BTW, I'm left handed.  Also the daughter of an Air Force test pilot, during the years they didn't know pilots all have daughters.  Getting my license renewed last year, an elderly African-American woman began talking to me immediately when I sat down after matriculating thru the first wave of counters/officials.  She had seen that I was left handed, she's left handed.  We talked of how our brains worked, what we liked to do.  Sisters traversing many of the same mental models through life.  Of course we hugged when we parted. 
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Who's the primary beneficiary of the gardens, above?  Earth.  She has her people working with her Nature.  How did we lose simple?  It's on each of us, to get it back.

A Secret Stash, In The Garage, of the Greatest Generation

Haydn began every manuscript, In nomine Domini, In the name of the Lord.
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I did not know, in my father's garage, I was to read one of his deepest life manuscripts.
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Who knew Garden Design would include the garage?  Who wants to garden, when gathering clippers, 5 gallon pale with handle, tarp, etc. includes a battle in the garage merely at the round-up, and you still have to transport everything from garage to the back left hand corner of your property?
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In addition to the garage, if you have any sort of basement, you must have a secondary 'garage' there too.  Two sets of tools, wheel barrows, etc.  Don't stop there, have short & long handled pruners near your back door, in addition to having another set in the garage, and basement.
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Storage cabinets, for the garage, below, easy to find.  Thrift stores stuffed with unwanted 'Ok Boomer' and 'Greatest Generation' style furniture.


Pic, above, here.
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My dad's 2 car garage, built ca. 1966, was studs and open rafters, with a few shelves.  A NASA engineer, it's obvious he had tools to work on the cars.  Which he did. Dad died, 2012.  His garage untouched until mom died, late 2018.
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Pic, above, here.
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2019, much of dad's garage traveled to Georgia, and was placed into my tiny garden shed, shared with Beloved.  We have no garage at our ca. 1900 home.
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Pic, above, here.
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January, 2020, I had a few minutes to look thru some of dad's tool drawers for the first time.
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Pic, above, here.
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Oddly, a chain dog collar, with rabies tag attached, was in the top drawer, left-hand corner of dad's rolling multi-drawer, red metal, tool chest .  Reading the tag, in my dark shed, Dino.  Our family Afghan hound, I grew up with, and took to be put down while in college.  Dino was a show dog, and his breeder rescued him from his first owner, dropping him at our front door early on a weekend morning.  "Here's your dog !".  Dino's AKC name, Lord Soladine of Xanadu.  Not a name to forget, or dog.
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Who could know, Dino's dog collar exists, 42 years later?

 
Pic, above, here.
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A box on one of dad's shelves had my name, Tara Lee, in his fine architectural/engineering print.  Mom was the last upon this Earth, to call me by my childhood name.  What is it about seeing our parent's handwriting as we age?
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In that box, my first tea set, and my first doll.
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How did I not know dad had saved them?
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Pic, above, here.
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Beside Dino's dog collar were more surprises.  Dad had saved a metal plate off his British Morris Minor, white with red interior, 2 door, stick shift, he rebuilt in the 70's, sourcing everything by phone or letter, and having joined the Morris Minor fan club.
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Nearby was the sun visor off his 1957 MG convertible he bought used in the early 1960's, black with red leather interior, and the first car I remember.
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Pic, above, here.
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Under dad's 1957 convertible MG visor, was a key chain.  Picking it up, another emotional token, this one from his vintage 1970's 2-door Jaguar.

 
Pic, above, here.
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Holding what I'd found, more than a moment passed, before realizing their meaning.  Testament to a man born at the tail end of The Greatest Generation.
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Why would I think dad had emotions?  This deep?
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Tears, standing alone in my shed, knowing my dad a tiny bit more.  Still tears, even now, telling you.
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What should I do with these things?  First thought, ridiculous, bring them inside our house.
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A lot of you already know where all those things are now.  Exactly where my dad put them.
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'Haydn ended his manuscripts with, Lauds Deo, Praise be to God.'
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T
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Dad wouldn't have had it any other way.  Putting his emotions away, into the garage.  Get the job done.  Support a wife, and family.  Would he have wanted it easier?  Can only imagine the poor soul asking him that question.  Dad would want to do more, for God, family, work, community.  Anything less subhuman and total fail.  Greatest Generation, understatement.
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Early 2018, after eating dinner at Luby's cafeteria, I was helping mom to the car.  Mom said, "I have one regret about your daddy."  We both stopped walking, in my family, that was a sentence.  Earth-stops-rotating-on-its-axis sentence.  We stared at each other.  Mom was silent a bit.  "I never told your daddy he was a good provider."  Made my eyes tear, but didn't let mom know.
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Dad would have never thought to want or need that from mom.  Ever.  But if mom had written it into a note, I know where dad would have put it.
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Glad to have the luxury of keeping dad's treasures of the heart, where he had them.  At some point, I will take the dog collar to the pound, and sell the Morris Minor number plate, and the MG visor.  The Jaguar key chain seems original to its model year, will sell it too.  Those little bits of money, then sent to dad's favorite dog/cat pound in Texas, Bay Area Pet Adoptions/SPCA.  Mom/Dad's favorite pet shelter, and a No Kill.

How to Stage Small Potted Plants With Your 'Sacred Fire'

In 1781, Thomas Jefferson wrote,

"Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth."

Thomas Jefferson
Quote, from, Here.
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Hadn't seen this particular quote, above, until today.  I think we're all born with that 'sacred fire', a few in any given century, keep & stoke that 'sacred fire'.  You are one, reading this far.
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Jefferson's belief, above, quite dangerous, still, to world governments.  (Why think small?)  Taking the privilege of toiling, poyeema, with the Earth, provides more than food for the body.  Working with the soil, feeds epiphanies to the soul.  Each era garners this truth; we each have the gift of inalienable rights, from Providence.
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Filthy lucre is not part of this transaction.  Free to all; for the taking.  Tasha Tudor signed off many of her letters with a part of this 'sacred fire', Take Joy.  She knew, Joy is always present.  It's our job to 'take'.
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Pic, above, here.
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Painted, above, by Rembrandt Peal, ca. 1801, there is no loss of desire, for this geranium, and its pot, ca. 2020.  Why is that?  I must have both.  Oddly, the geranium, tall, does not look staked.  How is it not weeping over?  Ironically, the pot looks artisan made, ca. 2020.  How I want to know the pot by touch, the geranium too.  What is the fragrance of this geranium?  May I lightly touch its leaves, and their scent remains on my hands?
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What is their soil mix, how does it smell?
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Pic, above, here.
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What happens without 'sacred fire' ?  This, at a museum, above.  (Macro thoughts about 'sacred fire' in the opening, taking it to micro thoughts for the closing.  Sacred-fire-cares-not, large/small, it burns bright, in love.)
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No soul, above, with Jefferson's 'sacred fire' to make the pots/flowers a setting for the art on the wall.  Somewhere along the way to the museum, these poor bulbs were smashed sideways.  Grocery stores are better at display.
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Further, what's with those sticks/string, above ?
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Sticks should be dark twigs from tree or shrub, and string a dark jute twine.  Hyacinths don't need staking, and if staking is done, it should be created with as much 'sacred fire' as the paintings were created, and hung, on the wall.
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Are those pots, above, set bare on the table?
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Pots could be placed on terra cotta saucers, or a pair of Chinese plates, from the museum collections, creating a scene to partake with the art on the wall.  They are definitely not positioned properly.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO T
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One of my mentor's, Mary Kistner, had her memorial service at a museum.  It was standing room only.  An artist, several mediums, Mary had a special talent for hanging/displaying other artists work, for many museums across USA.  Hence my thinking museum art displays are quite-a-thing.
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How quickly did you realize the potted flowers had been smashed in a mishap?  Before, or after, you looked in amazed curiosity at the sticks/string?  Did neither register, only part?  Now that it's pointed out, do you realize why it is important to point out?  "...men come to build stately sooner than to garden finely as if gardening were the greater perfection."  Alexander Pope, ca. 17th century.
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How I would love to see what Mary would do with this art display, above.
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Mary was about 4 decades older than me, and from first meeting I was moth to her Sacred Flame. 

How to Create A Smart Landscape in a World of Dumb Landscaping

Pure GENIUS.  At first sight, below.
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That's it?
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That's it.


Pic, above, here.
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Trees & gravel grit.

 
Pic, above, here.
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Of course, siting, type of tree/s, pruning, factor into this genius.  Notice, no cobblestone edging at base of trees?  Significant, and major skill, making that choice.

 
Pic, above, here.
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Not zero maintenance, yet little.
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Pic, above, here.
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Benches, chairs, tables.
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And HEDGING.  Adapting this garden, above, to your home?  Site a hedge, above, at the road.  Hiding cars, road, neighbors homes; gaining privacy to your home, without hiding or blocking your home.
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Grand pollinator habitat.  Butterflies adore gravel/grit after rains.  Song birds adore the habitat of trees for nesting, hidden from predators, and open zones for insect gathering.
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Another TRINITY; Trees, Hedging, Grit.
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Trees, Hedging, Grit, is a complete garden design.
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Where to site the trees, hedges, placing benches, chairs, dining table/s?  Oh my, that life pleasure.  More, the spreading of grit, planting of trees/hedges, each, quite uncomplicated.
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Choose for heights easy to maintain with trees/shrubs, and drought, insect, deer...proof.
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My mission statement for & from the garden is to look out my windows, any day/any time of day, and think, Oh WOW.
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Beauty & Awe.
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Seeking transcendence.
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"I catch the inconceivable breath of the garden at dawn."  Boris Pasternak.  How many years of dawns is this true in your life?  Assuredly, this style garden provides, 'inconceivable breath'.
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"It is false to say that frontiers do not exist.  They do exist, temporarily.  But at the same time there exists a force of creativity and truth uniting us all, in humility and in pride at the same time."  Albert Camus.
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"All true happiness, as all that is truly beautiful, can only result from order."  Benjamin Franklin.
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"...yet, as Camus so stunningly reminds us, order itself, when worshiped too blindly and rigidly, can consume our fragile chance of happiness."  Maria Popova
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T
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Too much slope?  Trees, Groundcovers, Hedges.
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Grit not happening?  Make it Tara Turf.
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"Nobody can discover the world for anybody else."  Wendell Berry.
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Gardening is conversation.  Gardening is prayer.  Gardening is thanks.

How to Garden Like You Mean It: Macro Layer

Easy fix, below.  See the problem?
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Ok, slow down.  Define the Garden Design problem, below.
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Next, how would you fix this problem?
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Quite an excellent Neo-Le-Jardin-Rustique, below.
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What's stopping it from being a Purist Le Jardin Rustique?


Pic, above, here.
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Garden Design problem, above, belongs to the pair of pots.
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No worries one is smaller than the other.
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Major issue? Differing heights of the pots.
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In Italy, studying historic gardens, if only one thing is learned, it is Pot-Rims-at-Same-Height.
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Pot, at right, above, must be raised on a plinth, both pots at equal rim height.
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Plants not matching, not a big issue. 
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Next topic.  What's keeping this garden, above, from being a purist agrarian garden?
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The lawn, a monoculture lawn. 
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Properly, the 'lawn', above, should be a low mixed meadow.  Poof, Le Jardin Rustique, and fully agrarian.
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What's gained with fully agrarian?  Several items on agrarian list, above, one is at the top, static.  The other items allowed dynamic order.
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Maximum pollinator habitat is at the boundary of meadow to woodland.  Life happens at the margins. 
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Creating maximum pollinator habitat is more than sustainable, regenerative, eco, green, reduces climate change.  What is this ingredient, of maximum importance, about pollinator habitat, and its relationship to you?
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Stewardship.
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Stewardship to yourself, others, wildlife, Earth.
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Stewardship in action, a layer of poyeema from Providence.  Washing of the servant's feet.
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Nature's gift to us, if we understand her language.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO T
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A client mentioned, Life happens at the margins, and I wrote it on a scrap of paper.  A few days later I texted a girlfriend with same skin/hair coloring as mine, "Need to buy blush, what color?",  "Orgasm, by Nars." she replied. 
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Under, Life happens at the margins, I wrote, Nars Orgasm, on the scrap of paper.
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A couple weeks later, Beloved asks me, "What is a Nars Orgasm, what's going on?"  With an odd countenance. 
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He had seen that scrap of paper laying on my dresser, after I had recently bought the blush online.
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Blew his bubble.  He was All-In on whatever a Nars Orgasm presented.
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Orgasm is the perfect color for my hair/skin.  Had never bought Nars before and have since ordered other items from them.

The 5 Laws Taken From A Garden

Scotland was the first country I chose to study historic gardens.  At the time, late 80's, Scotland was home to most of the major head-gardeners across Europe.  Gleaned this fact from a PBS garden show from that era.
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A small aside during that PBS show, it pulled my trigger.  Of I went, decades across Europe studying historic gardens.
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Earlier this week, a new pic, below, from Scotland.  Better it's a cemetery, with winter blooming bulbs.  Have never been to Scotland during winter.
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Aside from being able to walk in many old cemeteries across Europe, it was more melancholy, driving past them, at a distance, on our touring coach.  I wanted to be in them all not merely driving past.  Time to know what the cemetery garden says, how it feels, where its going, understanding all the others who have been there, without leaving a mark, as I wish to leave no mark.  Instead, wanting those cemeteries to leave a mark on me, to take across my remaining days.   
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Pic, above, here.
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Bulbs & Trees are incredibly sacred to the unborn, and dead.
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Before us, our ancestors planted bulbs & trees we enjoy.  Before we go to the-great-beyond, as Leonard Cohen sings, our privilege, one of many we're gifted, to be ancestors, is planting bulbs & trees.
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We are descendant & ancestor to the Garden.
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Pic, above, here.
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We come to the Garden, in control.  If we've payed attention we learn the garden is in control.
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"Paying attention to the details of life is part of a spiritual life."  Rabbi Sandy Sasso.
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The garden takes our heart & mind.  We go into it thinking.  Minds thinking, bodies doing, the garden not telling us what to think; letting us think, encouraging us to think.  Thoughts being worked on by living organisms, from the dawn of time, wisdom, coming at our thinking, in partnership.
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Ethics are in the garden.
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Pic, above, here.
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From the garden we're taught how to feed our soul.  Meadows parched, after the rains, grow, gracious & grateful.  Trees, such courage, yet joy & purpose are their life force.  Nurturing a spiritual life, Gardens, they nurture ours.
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"How do you put experiences of the sacred in your life?  What are the layers you choose to be wrapped in the sacred?"  Rabbi Sandy Sasso.
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Pic, above, here.
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Our soul hears the silence of a garden; with understanding.
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In the garden, if we're paying attention we'll realize it's 'showing us the fullness of our humanity'.
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Pic, above, here.
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What questions do you ask your garden?
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Pic, above, here.
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Potted bulbs, above/below.  No garden?  Yes, the potted garden.
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The garden answers every question.  It's when we realize the questions are more important than the answers, we're seeing.

 
Pic, above, here.
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We are precious to the garden, it was formed for pollinators.  Knowing this isn't enough.  We must learn the garden is precious to us, pollinating our spirit, germinating our soul.
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You are a pollinator, don't you know?  Gardens are global, and yours.  Nature doesn't keep tabs according to mortgage papers.  Your neighbor's trees, are working for all.
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Pic, above, here.
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Several century old pecan trees are on our property, above.  How to make those magnificent trees 2nd fiddle?  When my cats jump into them.  They never go over my upstretched arms, and let me lift them down.  Dignity intact, of course.
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Pic, above, here.
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Why does it take so long to realize what the garden is teaching us?  Why don't we see the layers of spirituality & ethics, in how a garden grows?  Why are we shocked learning we're part of that, literally?  Seriously, science is now proving trees are sentient.
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Theology and gardens are the same having ritual & ceremony; the gardener's is wildly more fun.
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When the radical grows down and the leaf grows up it's more than a seed germinating.  It's Providence & spirituality; bigger than we can conceive.  Answers are not as important as having the questions.  Beware trusting past science 'against' these words, science has caught up.

 
Pic, above, here.
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What type of person, above, are you?  One cell at a time, this tree decided to go for it.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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I know, more than 5 laws to take from the garden.  Laws deepening your spirit, and improving your life.  Didn't bullet point them, don't want to limit you.  Everyone's list, from this post, will be different.  THAT'S what a garden does, even via technology & photos & mere words.

How Florists Simplify Front Door Garden Design

Pinterest's myriad international Florist Front Door pics showcase, unintentionally, residential front door Garden Design at its greatest impact with smallest input using potted plants, colors, textures, found items, throughout all seasons.  Staging, change by the month, season, day, your choice.  If you're wanting live plants.
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How they 'plinth' their displays, the found items, of great interest. 
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Colors chosen, flow from inside to outside.  Everything must be easy to tote.
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Each Florist, saying, "This is my honey, you are the bee."  Each Florist playing Nina Simone, "I want some sugar in my bowl."


Pic, above, here.
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Pic, above, here.
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Quote, above, doesn't apply to copying Garden Design ideas.  Why?  Every site, every plant is unique.  Further, unique by the moment throughout each day, year, century, region. 
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However, you must make sure you're copying Garden Design from the good, and, enduring.  Enduring?  I prefer centuries, at a minimum. 
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Pic, above, here.
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Gardening...."can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs, our need to be visible, to be heard, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong."  Anne Lamott
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It's simply this; a few potted plants at the front door, to take it back, making our statement in reply to Bertrand Russell's moan, "...we've come to measure our progress by our 'separation from the life of Earth.' "  Maria Popova
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There is John Muir's Wilderness, and there is our own.  At the front door, "We are gardening the wilderness."  Jon Mooallem.  Take the metaphor.  It's taken for you, already, in your name.  Whether you think so, or not.
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We're all born into, "a puppeteer role in the theater of organic life.", Mooallem.  Delightful, we each get to choose our puppet's role. 
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Garden & Be Well,    XOT
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Not uncommon, reading, to change a word, taking the entire sentence to Gardens.  From, above, Anne Lamott, was originally, "Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs, our need to be visible, to be hear, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong."
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Do you do this too while reading?  Then putting it into your Common Place books?  Do you have Common Place books?  Mine are escalating.  Didn't see it coming. 

The Minimalist Guide to Transcendence

Floral arranging, what a bore.  Another line of thought, transmogrified.  Humorous, now floral arranging a desire, I have no skill at floral arranging.  Yet thought I did, during the decades it was a 'bore', yet never created floral arrangements.
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Innate arrogance?  Much?
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No budget for 'bought' stems/flowers.  Nor a belief in that trade, too harsh on the environment.  Stems, branches, browse.  My own property, or side of the road in the mowing zones.
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Pic, above, here.
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Floral arrangements, above, below, need no skill to arrange.
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Add clear glass marbles to the base of your pots.  Bags of them.  They're at most dollar stores.  They'll keep your stems/branches where you want them.
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Pic, above, here.
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Use Felco pruners, slight angle when clipping.  Once arranging, cut stem again, pound lightly with backside of pruner, at base of stem at fresh cut.  The stems will take up water more easily.
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Pic, above, here.
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A magnolia is on our property, its branches easy to arrange.
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With heavy arrangements, below, make sure your pots have fat bottoms.  Saw this magnolia arrangement, below, and first glanced down to the bottom of its vase.  It's fine.  Any narrower, and the whole thing would tip over if a cat brushed past.
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Pic, above, here.

 
Pic, above, here.
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Roadside browse, above.  Don't know if it is, but this is what my roadside browse arrangements look like.

 
Pic, above, here.
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Another option, above, for large arrangements inside.  The winter begonia or geranium.  Their promise of summer, with touches of winter's etiolation, a solid metaphor.  How are you taking yours, the metaphor?  Me?  I've grown longer to survive, but the season will change again, and I'll change with it.
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How many centuries of painters have captured exquisitely the etiolated potted plant inside at winter?
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Layers of goodness flow from these acts.  Detachment, transcendence, in the doing.  Enjoyment of the deed, for weeks.
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Aesthetics are not separable from truth & goodness, Sir Roger Scruton writes.  There is a beauty bias in Nature, and us.  Doing these arrangements, I am humbled at more than their beauty, their work of Providence.  Interwoven lives. 
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Before me, and after me, the same stems and branches will continue their work, drawing others with their goodness and truth.   Telling their stories.  Humorous, and a relief.
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Pic, above, here.
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From there, it's into the well trod path of a theological terroir.  If you're paying attention.  Once you do, you've joined a tribe, thousands of years old.  Same vein Rick Warren hit, "It's not about you."
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Bee to the flower.
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My urge to make these arrangements, no different.
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A large glass bottle, found at the dump, a couple of twigs cut from the roadside, placed inside, with prominence. Transcendence.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

12 Steps to Create a Patio You'll Want to Use

Garden Design in a single photo, below.
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Pic, above, here.
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Don't be fooled by the beautiful home, stone terrace, vintage table/chairs, classic urn on a low brick column.  This isn't a high-end Garden Design course.  It's Garden Design for all.  Every price point.
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Do pay attention to form, function, simplicity, color.
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Ease of maintenance.
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Access to house for easy transport of tableware/meals.
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The urn, at front, so fabulous, it remains a beauty, empty.
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They chose a color trinity, green/black/white.
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Does it answer the question, "Is the garden so amazing I want to see inside the house?"  Yes.
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This Garden Design is for any starter home, no matter its era.  Found/rescued brick/stone for the terrace, laid in soil with groundcover.  Perhaps gravel, with a few stones set at main path into house.  Don't want to track gravel inside.
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Choose your Color Trinity.  Green/Brown/White the historic classic.  For a reason.  But, choose whatever you want, it's your garden, your life.  You love it, results will be great.
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No vintage table/chairs?  Field gathered is fabulous.  Table, chairs, none match, all painted the same color.  What color?  One of your chosen Color Trinity.   
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No classic urn?  Old galvanized pot.  Horrid plastic pot, fine, if painted from your Color Trinity.
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Be simple.  At the end of a Garden Design, ask yourself, "What can I take out, and it still holds together?"  Simplicity is good Garden Design.  Never, do I want to look out a window, and think, "Oh, I must go do....."  I must look out my windows and think, "Oh WOW."
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Make sure your choices flow from inside your home.  Same brain waves creating your interior, are the same to use outside. 
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Garden Design begins inside the house.  This patio flows from inside the house. 
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Bugs?  Outdoor ceiling fans.  Not happening?  Paint a box fan, aim it toward table at proper distance, spray it a color from your trinity.  Once my arbor with ceiling fans rotted, at my 30 year garden, I went the box fan route nestled in the foliage of a large potted plant.  Not too inconvenient, it was mostly off exhibit, in the garage.   
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Garden & Be Well,  XOT 
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Front porch at our ca. 1900 home is amazing, it faces east, usually has a slight breeze from the pastures surrounding us.  It's deep, we can eat meals during storms, without getting wet.  Often, when bad weather blows in I go to the front porch to sit and enjoy the drama.  During the few weeks a year it's not too hot, or too cold, when friends come to dinner, we eat on the front porch. 
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Last nite, heading out to dinner, it was the last of oddly warm temperatures the past week.  Told Beloved to stop, lets sit on the front porch a few minutes before leaving.  "Why?", he asked, "So we can talk." I said.  "We can talk in the truck.", he said.  "I want to enjoy the last of this warm weather in January with you.", I said.  We sat.  Talked.  Quite a bit.  Sweet.
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Doubt Beloved would convey this story similarly.  Men.

How to Take Charge of Your Garage

I still tease Beloved, he first noticed me seriously after seeing my garage.  Not entirely pretty, it was entirely organized by category & function.  An oversized double bay, with parlour space and a large storage room.   For 30 years I came and went thru my mudroom, into the garage, out the garage door, through the garden, poof, into the world.
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Metal shelves had their zone, so did antique china cabinets, antique tables, tools hung along 20' of wall, lamps, art on the wall, etc.


Pic, above, here.
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Helpful, I didn't realize how greatly my 30 year garage leveraged my life better, at each layer.
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No garage, no barn at our ca. 1900 home, the magic departed.
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My beautiful, neatly organized garage, packed & moved by strong good men, was quickly unpacked into a graveled basement, at the back of our home, by headlights at the end of a day reaching 101F.  Almost midnight, I was there, and merely watched as those dear men, put my entire garage where ever it was convenient, zero regard for proper organizing.  They're still heroes to their job, in my heart.  Working through exhaustion and misery.
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But. My. Garage.

 
Pic, above, here.
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These china cabinets, above/below, are at every thrift store every month.  And, perfect for the garage.  A larger piece of wood can be hammered to the countertop, below, making it a better space for potting house & porch plants or arranging flowers.
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Merely looking at the counter top below, and imaging hammering into it.  Oh my, the pleasure.
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Pic, above, here.
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At my 30 year garage, at the mudroom door, was an antique table, lamps, art on the wall, etc.  Coming/going for my day, I would set things on the table.  If it was going to be a busy day, I would start placing items for the day on that table, and throughout evening as I remembered/realized what more to take.  Working at jobsites, in all weathers, giving lectures, sourcing, eating lunch in my truck, rain gear, layers of sweaters, so much to hunt/gather daily, just to get to jobsites.
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That antique table was my top employee, except after Tess, my tiny little service van. 

 
Pic, above, here.
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That wild hot night, unpacking the 30 year garage, has fumes of existence.  Ironically, an antique china cabinet, formerly holding all my pond supplies, is in our front parlour, displaying antique crystal my mom had, and the ubiquitous Waterford my era acquired in their 20's.   It was too tall to fit in the gravel floored basement.
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Pic, above, here.
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To save space, you may want to put your vintage china cabinets on the wall.  They'll look better if their tops are all at the same height, and they're all painted the same color.  No worries, if not.  This is your private zone, your playground.
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Analyze the feet of any vintage china cabinet, if you plan to hang it.  A board can be hammered to the feet, below, creating a shelf for storing more things.
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Pic, above, here.
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One of my clients created a patio room in one of their garage bays.  Their parking court was perfect for neighborhood pickle ball.  Wine, canapes, dinners were common for them, in the garage.

 
Pic, above, here.
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Now you know what to do with one of these, below.
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Pic, above, here.
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I know this woman, below.  Bought the same 3 ladders.  Who needs a man's help with those ladders, TaWonda.  And a sink.  Getting the cleaning tools, outside, yes, I know this woman.  In spirit.
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Pic, above, here.
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Habitat for Humanity always has kitchen cabinets for sale at their Restore locations.
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Ollies, always has sturdy shelves, good prices.

 
Pic, above, here.
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Wish I had seen these vintage collections, below, with my 30 year garage.  All the vintage tools were interspersed with tools I used.  No drama display.  Darn.

 
Pic, above, here.
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Moth-to-a-flame, below.  Somehow, it seems, hammers appear in my life while I sleep.  Now, I know what to do with them.


Pic, above, here.

 
Pic, above, here.
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At a minimum, below.  Carve out a space for you, from the garage to the door opening into your home.
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Pic, above, here.
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How many pics do you think were taken of my 30 year garage?  How did I not know, fully, what that garage did to make life better, easier, wiser?    The prophet-without-honor, and I did it, not see.
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Our graveled low basement it shaping up.  When Beloved & his brother were clearing their parents house, about 3 years ago, no one wanted the sturdy, huge work table in the garage.  Hmm, work table, 2 men, truck.  Check, check & check.
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Much cussing later, those boys got that work table in our graveled basement.  Styled for my use, with my things, guess who uses it all the time?
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That long wall of tools hanging in the 30 year garage?  Still leaning in a large corner where they were thrust, near midnight, 5 years ago.  Walls are concrete, need to get 2" x 6" boards attached.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T 
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Gave Beloved a 'useful' Christmas present.  Wanted to make his daily life easier.  It's a winner.  Went to the hardware store, not a big box type, chose a sturdy tool carry all with lots of pockets, walked every aisle, putting targeted items in.  Meant for his truck, he has been using it at jobsites, and in our house.
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His own movable organized garage, in a tote.
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He even went to the basement and shed, gathering other targeted items for his new tool carry all.
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More useful in the house, didn't see that coming.  Wish I had known, Cheshire smile, My Bad.
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Looking forward to getting the functionality of our basement finished, then fine tuning the decor  begins.
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Every garden design I create includes work zones.  Do you?  It's important.
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This is not a sponsored ad.  Just me.  Loving a good 'garage'.