Are You Interesting?

From the garden, below, it's obvious I want to know this woman.Her details seduced me before she opened her frontdoor.
Indeed, CHANTEUSE exceeds expectation. Trim, tiny, well-dressed, deep sexy voice, wicked funny, athletic & in her earliest 60's, matriarch, with a true southern accent spewing intellectual bon mots, hardworking lawyer, she knows how to have fun, handle good scotch, & tell her husband, "This is my garden designer, I hired her, you can leave the room." (He did.)
After I said her fence looked stupid, painted white, CHANTEUSE fell in love with me.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Poppets, are you interesting from your garden views?

Still Life: Creating Effortless Beauty With Your Ephemera

Arriving at Pecan Orchard's home/garden a couple of weeks ago, below.Carrying landscape design paraphernalia my goal was to simply unload it from my arms. You know, the chaos of arrival.

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The pic isn't styled but it could be a catalog shot for: the chair, the boots, umbrella, baskets or perhaps a brick manufacturer.

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It would be fun to see a series of pics, taken throughout the year, at Pecan Orchard's iron chair. Without words the story of a family's life.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Poppets, did you notice my fabulous umbrella? My dear girlfriend brought it back from Spain for me. Alas, beloved girlfriend is moving to London at New Years. Proud of her professional successes but it stinks having her move so far.

Landscape Views

"The aim of an artist is not to solve a problem irrefutably, but to make people love life in all its countless, inexhaustible manifestations." Leo Tolstoy The subdivision is tiny, my frontyard minuscule, above & below.

Ideas, field gathered in gardens across Europe, books, & friends gardens.My office ensorceled with a crenellated hedge, above.
View from my garage, above. Every window & door, the same choice; beauty. I didn't realize making a choice for beauty, from all views, would become a moat of grace around life. Affect how I design landscapes, interact with people, gain perspective.

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Choosing beauty is choosing grace.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Helen Mirren is Tolstoy's wife here, loved this movie. Poor PUPPET BARBUDA driving about town, exhausted at the views of homes & gardens with the worst possible choice, keeping the landscape the builder put in. It's not about getting rid of everything and starting over in a landscape. Plants can be moved & bedlines changed. Yes, PUPPET BARBUDA knows this would be a fabulous TV garden show. Using What You Have, & Rescue, Landscape Design !!!

1st Rules of Design

Yesterday I was accused, "If Susanne Hudson does it, you do it."WHAT AN HONOR !
#1 Rule of Garden Design: COPY
2nd First Rule of Garden Design: Keep It Simple Sweetie.

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If it's beautiful in someone elses garden it will be beautiful, and original, in yours.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Top pic, Susanne Hudson's garden. Middle pic, my office. Bottom pic, a current client's garden.

Landscape Synesthesia

I see, exactly, the type of garden this bookshelf should have. Without trying.It's why I have to see interiors, Vanishing Threshold, to get a landscape design right.

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SYNESTHESIA is a blessing, gift, grace, muse in my life, in return I actively feed/respect the muse.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic found & saved because of my synesthesia, I adore the sensation of looking at this pic & seeing its garden. Alas, lost the credits for the photo in my selfishness.

Landscape Components

Susanne Hudson recently styled this porch. Recognize the magical component?The lamp. Poppets, that jewel stays ON.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Susanne Hudson sent me this pic 2-3 weeks ago.

Hepcat

Finally, met a HEPCAT, below.
My right hand on his dropleaf table at Scott Antique Market this month, he anticipated my intent, before I finished my sentence, he had grabbed my right hand & lowered to his knees. Firmly guiding my hand (me clueless) to a screw. They were loose on purpose.
Bought the Hungarian chest & too cute watering can, above, before I met my HEPCAT.
HEPCAT knew loose screws would make it quicker to get the legs off the table.
HEPCAT wanted $175 for the table, (me- intense eye contact), then he said $145? I said, "You think about that price while I wander the booths & come back." "$100?" "Sold, will you keep the table while I wander?" He grabbed my hand, "Let's shake."

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There was something intensely USA-of-my-childhood, real, true, honest, earnest, delightful, a light behind his eyes, spiritual, joyful, peaceful, warm, intelligent, been thru the fire & came out a phoenix within HEPCAT.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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HEPCAT, George, was at the location inside the perimeter & selling his wares outside on the sidewalk at the end of the building. Poppets, you do realize what these acquisitions are for? My new conservatory!!!

Change Of Color: Last Month & This Month

7 am last Tuesday, below, crape myrtles coloring; spreading to the walls of my office & casting their russet glow on my skin. Same view from my office last month, below.

Last Tuesday again, below.

And the same chair from above, 2 months ago, below.

Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Poppets wish I had more time to shoot my garden, but there is this little thing called a Day Job. Thankfully it is creating more of these views. Ha, many of my clients say I Tara'ize them. They're right.

Choices For Happiness Even In A Rental

Chandelier Chick chose to put a roof over her patio & screen it in.No, materials aren't top of the line, as expected living in a rental home. With a sense of style Chandelier Chick
chose a White Theme.

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What her covered porch shows? Pure optimism. Choices in a life about HOW TO LIVE.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken last Saturday at Chandelier Chick's home. You should have seen her interiors. She made a fabulous New Orleans (her hometown) brunch for us then we flew off to Scott Antique Market....... Another fabulous place to make a girl (boy too) happy.

How Women Share Their 'Man'

Chandelier Chick's home had a previous tenant who scavenged anything/everything. Her 'Man' cleared, put in a fence, a pond, & etc. Chandelier Chick told her 'Man'where she needed her path, & how to lay its pattern of bricks, salvaged on site. "I told him......", began many sentences while touring her garden last Saturday.
Her 'Man' is obviously good with his hands, & cheap. Pure catnip to women of a certain age.
Many of my Lady clients share a 'Man' in their neighborhood. And that 'Man' is spoken of OFTEN within their circle.

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'Man' is shared only with like-minded women, & never beyond their organically formed Harem. 'Man' is paid what the Harem decides, 'Man' shares the Harem's tools/equipment amongst the Harem, Harem members pass along 'Man's' newest skill set, because of course, all Harem members will need those skills at some point. If a Harem member has something unexpected and needs 'Man' in an emergency other Harem members delightfully relinquish their planned day with 'Man'. 'Man' knows "Yes, ma'am" is a heady elixir for his Harem.

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Trying to find your 'Man' is as difficult as getting on the circuit of a fabulous mobile pet groomer.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken in Chandelier Chick's garden last Saturday. Top pic a centuries old garden.

Landscaping A Rental Home

Chandelier Chick, single with a fabulous career taking her across the continents, rents a tiny working-class ca. 1940's cottage, the last street of its kind in this section of Atlanta, enveloped by cluster mansions & located minutes from her job.At the terrace level by her back porch she sited a little garden & pond. White washed cinder blocks & the gravel? Yep, that's Chandelier Chick's touch, dancing in the Poverty Cycle with keen intellect.

Mornings with coffee, or evenings with wine, her bench,

pond, birds, plants, meadow, & views fill the spiritual well.

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Who wants to spend a lot of money on a rental house?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic taken last Saturday.

Choices

This oak tree made a choice.I am humbled.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic taken in a friend's garden last Saturday.

Before & After: Copper

Before, below, trying to mimic copper.The shiny red penny didn't quite get it done.
A few brush strokes, and many fallen leaves later, below.
Voila, copper ! AKA, Sherwin-Williams, Best Bronze. Use it on gutters/downspouts too.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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In the garden, don't forget, your house is a focal point. Get the Tara'tude app, All Parts Perfect.

A House In The Garden

Research discovery; plenty of cheap garden structures, and the too expensive. I'm needing a house in the garden, on a steep slope, behind my client's ca. 1920 Tudor home.

Have settled upon a chinoiserie style roof & plenty of French doors. Need a front deck too. Don't want the switchback trail up the slope to enter from the front, want to enter from the side.
Received the first set of drawings, below, from my contractor last night. All he received from me were several pics & about 12' X 18' please.
His creativity in materials has exceeded expectation.

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Contractor & client have a phone appt. today about details. Pricing should be complete early next week. No, it won't be cheap. Goldilocks is hoping for 'just right'.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics, top 2, via research (aka unknown) the past couple of weeks. Bottom 2 pics, via my contractor.

Southern Living Magazine: Clear Winner

When I design landscapes I must see pictures of gardens you like, and dislike.Women, men, widowed, single, divorced, all ages, starter home, mansion, city, country, heterosexual, bisexual, gay, lesbian, whatever, this garden is the clear winner.

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Yesterday's client, yep ! Saved this pic since its debut.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic taken of Southern Living magazine photo at my jobsite yesterday.

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Why does this garden resonate? Good Design: canopy trees, understory trees, evergreen walls, groundcover flooring, layers of green (contrasting in texture/color), hi density & low density. Paths, seating, water, sky, intuitively low maintenance plantings.

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Do you know why hi & low density are potent? Pollinators............

Axis, Bench, Focal Point In Your Landscape

A note yesterday, "Should I buy a pair of these.....?" "Yes", in reply.$200 each. Don't know the name of the shop. Designed her Birmingham, AL landscape a year ago & know there is a perfect place.

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Where? TBD !!!!

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Why is To-Be-Determined so extraordinarily exciting, always, in a landscape? When, many parts of life To-Be-Determined contains a wariness, an acceptance, a sense of 'this too, shall pass'. (Trees are noble shedding their leaves. Enriched by what they shed. A metaphor to hang on to. Oh, no, I have to relearn it over-over.....)

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic via Birmingham........ I'm partial to benches as focal points. You may never have time to sit on your bench but looking at a bench from inside your home gives the illusion of repose.

A Room With Purpose

Bunny Mellon has a room for her baskets, below.Biltmore Estate has a room for flower arranging.

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2 very good ideas.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic via unknown.

Where You Need A Desk

Susanne Hudson says, "Every garden needs a desk."Her little thought is a great truth. Until then I didn't KNOW my garden was missing its desk.

When my Conservatory, made of rescued materials, is completed, yes, it will have a garden desk.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics of Susanne's garden desk taken earlier this year. Of course they are real hydrangeas.

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(Remember Penny McHenry's Garden Desk in her garage? Yes, inspired by Susanne Hudson.)

Sir Hardy Amies, Constance Spry, David Hicks

Constance Spry, below, of floral fame. A nice article about her in yesterday's NYTimes.With her, ca. 1960, Sir Hardy Amies.

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A decade (longer?) ago I visited a fabulous (you know, like, cool, shazam, wow, the best EVER) teeny garden in the Cotswolds; its owner absent. Leaving, my guide said, "The owner is couturier to the Queen." Yeah, whatever, I'm an American & you think I'll fall for anything.

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I bought, David Hicks, My Kind Of Garden, Edited by Ashley Hicks, last year, it includes Sir Hardy Amies garden. Bingo, my beloved little garden.

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In the pic, above, it lists Sir Hardy Amies as, "...the clothing designer..."

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When I can sweet-talk my way into using a SLIDE PROJECTOR in this dreadful PowerPoint era it's pure selfishness to see my dear, darling, perfect gardens in rich, soul satisfying colors. Sir Hardy Amies garden tops the list, of course there is Helen Dillon's garden too, and.....

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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My dream PowerPoint presentation? 4 machines, facing the 4 compass points, in a huge auditorium. You'll be sitting amongst the garden: looking forward-backward-left-right. Poppets, how many gardens do you think can be shown this way? It's exactly how I design gardens, every direction beautiful. Those preaching: sustainable, eco, green, organic, pollinator & etc.... set a very low bar and harm PUPPET BARBUDA'S beloved Landscape Design profession. Gardens must be all of these things and a Vanishing Threshold with the interiors of your home, and, low maintenance. Anything less than epiphanical and the giver of grace, well, Puppet Barbuda is sad for those 'poor unfortunate souls' living with such a landscape.

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Indeed, I asked my lecture venue in St. Louis, MO next year for 4 PowerPoint projectors, he laughed!!!!

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Pic taken from the NYTimes article.

Rust, Inspiration & Booty

Bringing my garden tub inside, below, the rust (it's real) looked so good I decided to keep it.
Wine Bottle Girl loved her old radiators so much she hired an artist, below, to faux paint them RUST.
Enchantingly, historically, beautiful &, poof, days later I RESCUED a radiator. Odd how the universe works, yes?

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In my conservatory it will become the base to a console table with a marble top, also rescued.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Rescuing my radiator was a bit tricky. Seen in the weedy woods while I was riding on acreage, in a golf cart, driven by a man, there was an awkward snag, his-land-his-stuff. "Oh, I want that !!!!!!!!!!!", and he paused a bit too long. Poppets, Ya Gotta Go In For The KILL. There was no time for me to gather the booty. You know what evolved, Golf Cart Man will bring the radiator to my conservatory.

Found: Cloches

Cloches are back at TJMaxx. Get there quick.
Above, $20 each. Made in China, the glass is thin. Polish cloches are much thicker. Mexican cloches are the thickest I've discovered.
I do not own a French antique cloche. I own 25-30 cloches, myriad sizes & makers.
With cats it's not easy having floral arrangements in the house. Into the terrarium, above, they go.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Cloches are used to protect tender seedlings from frost. TJMaxx is next to my post office, they did not pay me for this post.

Landscape Design Patterns Inside Your Home

Art, furniture, architecture, lamps, even rugs inspire landscape design patterns. Particularly scrumptious, below.The curves she had led me in a NEW direction; pattern in a mass planting of evergreen groundcover, below.
Wine Bottle pattern, above, pure subtlety with green bottles, I'm thinking yellow/gold wine bottles instead. I want the pattern to be seen.
How the Wine Bottle patterns look in concept, above.

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Her frontyard meadow is ripe for the central pattern in the carpet, top pic. Expanse of meadow with pathways radiating.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Yes, Poppets, Landscape Design is this easy.