Garden Design Course: In a Photo

More a Garden Design course, below, than simply another garden.  What can you label, below, as the Garden Design 'rules' followed?  Decades I've taught at the local college and Atlanta Botanical Garden.  Never, ever, tire of this phase of Garden Design.  Name it to claim it.  If you know what you are looking at, and can name it.  YOU can do it.
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Color, contrast, flow, layers, mystery, expanse, minutia, shapes.
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Color, did you know green gardens are the 'fastest' to look like something?  Green gardens are also calm, less drama, perhaps best said, more of the right drama.  Then, within the green are myriad greens.
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Contrast, big leaves next to small leaves, rounded shapes next to cone shapes, woody plants next to herbaceous.
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Flow, the pathway has me, feet want to travel, finding what's around the curve, mystery.
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Layers, all checked, pocket of open sky, canopy trees, understory trees, walls of tall bushes, wainscoting of medium bushes, low bushes/groundcovers are flooring & carpet.
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Space too large, 100's of acres, a garden room similar, below, nearish your house will warm & own the expanse.  Space to small, neighbors homes jutting into your face, a garden room similar, below, around your home, creates a huge landscape, eyes drawn to the expanse of canopy trees and sky, which is infinite.
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Minutia of hair like foliage, velvet like moss on the trees, chartreus with dark greens and etc.  Drama change for winter, the garden, below, holds together in all seasons.


Pic, above, here.

Understanding the Garden Design 'rules' and principles, above, please tell me this makes you laugh, below, in the 'knowing' what they've done, below.  Well done, dramatic pairing, fun drama with Garden Design 'rules'.

 
Pic, above, here.

 
Pic, above, I shot yesterday in our garden.
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Yesterday, my harvest table was finally unloaded from the truck.  Temporary location while 'macro' garden construction is completed, you know, drilling a well, graveling drives, renovating sheds, adding a porch, and too much other garden infrastructure keeping me away from my beloved 'micro' gardening.
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Laskett immediately on top of harvest table, owning it.  Behind him, the materials yard awaiting its new barn.  Yes, chaos of materials yard getting on my last nerve.  Alas, at least another full year before it's cleared.
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Harvest table denotes 1st move into my shed, Beloved using my shed until his barn built.  "Where is the Gator going if you put your harvest table there?", Beloved asks.  "No, they both won't fit there.", he responds to my answer.  I smile in return, thinking, "Go away, I've got this."  Poof Beloved's gone, I arrange table, Laskett & I do what we do so well together, bask in each other's adoring presence, Laskett affirms every thought in my head.  Sitting a moment to shoot table/Laskett/setting sun, I glance at the open space for the Gator, with a smile.
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With great pleasure, I walk to the gravel drive where the Gator is parked, crank it up, pull it into it's new space, 2' to spare, turn the Gator off, pull the brake lever up enjoying its sound, surveying the Gator's new domain.  Beloved still working in back at the pond, Laskett & I walk to the house, gardening day done.
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Best irony about my shed, it's a century old, Beloved moved it last year, renovated it, new walls, new window, new door, new floor, added a tin roof to two sides, and it's my shed.  We knew up front he had to use my shed for many of his things, many, until his barn is built.  Has been a great chapter getting here, I'm not in that chapter anymore.    You've already noticed this new chapter title, My Shed.
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Thought you would appreciate a little raw reality gardening.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO T

  
    

Versatility: French Rain Barrel

When Smith & Hawken had its going-out-of-business sale at its Atlanta store, I had the good fortune to be there shopping with a client.  Little realizing ahead of time, I'd be purchasing things too.
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Ahead of moving from my 30 year home/garden I took 18 van loads to the thrift store.  My house sold within 24 hrs of listing and there was zero time for another choice.  Once in our new home, ca. 1900 American farmhouse, it became apparent much of my cottage garden 'stuff', thought to be so worthy ahead of the move, would not 'work' in the new setting.  Yep, that was a 'moment'.
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A couple of months in the new house, Beloved had his largest work truck, large bed/tall sides, and team of men on site.  Unexpectedly he said I could have the men/truck for a couple of hours.  Code language, get rid of your stuff.  Now.
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Six work ready men, felt like I had just stepped into a fire ant pile, and could not point to stuff fast enough as they were scurrying and pulling things for the truck.  2 rounded loads taken to the thrift store.  I did manage to think quickly enough for one of my clients, and saved some things for her.
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Everything purchased that day at Smith & Hawken remained.  Not a conscious choice, the clearing of stuff was too fast for proper editing.  One of the Smith & Hawken items, a galvanized French rain barrel.
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In my cottage garden I used it as a rain barrel, and later, turned upside down, a table.
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In our farmhouse, currently, the French rain barrel is on it side, wedged not to roll in the seat of a teak bench, used as a Cat House at the back door.  With a cushion inside they love it in winter, and it's a shelter against the rain the rest of the year.   Not a use anticipated when purchased.
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Amazed at the versatility of the French rain barrel, have yet to use it as a planter, below.  More, it made the aesthetic transition from Cottage Garden to Historic Farmhouse garden.
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Why didn't I buy more than one ?



Pic, above, here.
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Great enfilade, above.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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Smith & Hawken currently sells online via Target.  Hardly a hint of their 1st incarnation yet they may have that perfect xyz for you too.  No, this is not a paid endorsement.

A New Garden Design Rule

Dinky is Stinky.

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Overdose on a Theme.

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Round Flowers with Spiky Flowers.

Today, a new garden design rule.  Every garden needs, at the very least, Hint of Chandelier.
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Garden & Be Well,               XO Tara
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With chandeliers inside, in the garden & in-waiting in the garage, Torte de Shelle brought to me this morning, placed upon the back door mat, a teenage rat in 2 pieces.  The top can be stuffed for a museum, its bottom seems to have been regurgitated.
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Is it already in your brain, Hint of Chandelier ?  Keep it there long enough and chandeliers WILL appear in your garden.
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pic Content in a Cottage.
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If you want a garden that is a moat of grace around your home & life, contact me.
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Details about online design services.
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Learn action steps to creating your best garden & home when you hire me to speak to your group.
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Details about lecture titles here.
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I've written several garden books available on Amazon.

Simple With No Styling

Fabulous garden views from every window is Vanishing Threshold, and cat entertainment.

 Yesterday, above/below, at my desk.  Vintage chinoiserie curtains ca. 1970 were hung this summer after decades of being in a box.

These windows are upstairs overlooking the Tea Olive Terrace.  Birds, sky, garden, do you think I see the neighborhood surrounding my home/garden?
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This has taken years, creating garden views from every window.  Creating views into my windows from the garden.  Wanting it all to be simple with no styling.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Laskett, is at left and Laura at right.  I removed the curtains from a house to be torn down.  Free is good.  The lamp was a fun day at the thrift store.

Good Surprises In Your Landscape

At year 6 in the garden my eyes were overwhelmed, finally, by something tried from inception. A VISION OF BEAUTY. ( Laskett, below, in the Conservatory with me last nite.) College for horticulture was a joke for my Landscape Design skills. Creating Landscapes (making mistakes) & myriad trips across Europe studying historic Landscapes were my teachers.
Hewing to historical Landscape Design principles began my journey to success. Ridiculously stupid to wait 6 years for beauty or lower the bar and aim for: organic, rainwater, native, low-maintenance, green & etc...
Those facets are in Historical Landscape Design Principles. Of course I want all of that, more, I want life changing beauty. And I want it daily, it's important to know when to be selfish. To walk amongst, and, see from every window. Vanishing Threshold. A Landscape filling me with energy, joy & grace.
A dream for years my conservatory, 1 week old today, gave me the surprise of Laskett. He adores being carried to the conservatory in the evenings, a nice fire & cuddling at my side. A simple life pleasure; not anticipated. A good surprise indeed.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Want good surprises in your Landscape? Hew to historic landscapes. In addition to all of the above historic landscapes raise property value & reduce HVAC costs. As byproducts not effort.

Tasha Tudor's GARDEN

House, garden, life, it's all in Tasha Tudor's Garden, Tovah Martin author & Richard W. Brown photography. This book continues to inspire over a decade after discovery. Tasha's cache pots & how she used them were 1 take away from the book I knew I had to copy.

Finally found one, top pic, this spring while lecturing in Richmond, VA. Three Swallows Antiques had a booth at the Flower Show.

Can you believe Richard W. Brown's photography, above? Looks like a painting.

"I don't make proper flower arrangements; mine just grow, like the garden." Tovah Martin's writing invites you to tea with Tasha Tudor.

I have yet to create a floral arrangement in my cache pot. Cat's are one excuse but, mostly, it's selfishness. Not wanting to take so much from my garden.

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Soon, especially with this 4 week + drought & heatwave, it's time to prune the espalier oakleaf hydrangea. Yes, that will be the 1st arrangement in my cache pot.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Laskett, top pic, isn't he a grand cat!!! Don't have this book? Order today.

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2nd pic, a little of my fabulous desk, an old door rescued when they tore down College Boy's grandmother's home. After she died we lived there a couple of years. It was the 1st brick house in Tucker, GA. Miss Louise had a 3 acre garden with something new coming into bloom every 2 weeks. 50 acres of wooded pasture with horses was behind the house. And.................

Small Space Gardening

Small space gardening has it all. Seasons, evergreens, deciduous, focal points, ceilings, walls, floors, doors, details. Aaah, details. Details are intensified in small spaces.
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Under 150 square feet, below, this little frontyard lives big. In the garden & from inside the house. A backdrop hedge creates walls of the room & blocks views of the street. A gate, door to the room, opens the space and extends the architecture of the house. Urn/plinth are focal point & create an enfilade (view thru to a view) in 2 directions, double axis.

Holding up thru the seasons is imperative in small space gardening. No down time allowed.

Potted herbs during summer are gilding. The house & a pair of boxwoods are another wall in this tiny garden room, above. Gravel is the flooring.

Variegated boxwood, above, echoes, those planted in the ground. Raking the gravel is detailing of the carpet. Adding the interest of an oriental rug.

Cat tucked into a boxwood, above, is a hint of what you'll find inside. The urn/plinth were clues or was it the iron gate painted robin's egg blue? Subsidiary pots are all terra cotta. Repetition creates impact in any size landscape.

No big surprise, the classic ginger jar inside, below, when everything outside is classic. Vanishing Threshold, bring your inside out and your outside in.

How do you want to use your small space? A lovely view, a place to lunch, read or invite girlfriends for wine/canapes?

A season's detail. Chinese snowball blossoms coat furnishings & carpeting in this tiny garden room.

Use height in small spaces to reach for the sky. Vines, espaliered shrubs, understory trees. Pull the eye up. The sky creates limitless space in small gardens.

After the Chinese snowball blooms, above, an espalier oakleaf hydrangea blooms, below. Both are draperies when viewed from inside. Outside they add lushness to the wall of the house, draw the eyes up, harbor birds/butterflies, provide 4 seasons of interest.

Small space gardens, abutting your house, include the views into your house. No backsides of pictures, tv & etc.

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I adore the challenge of creating small gardens. Especially those abutting the house. They harbor our gaze. And they gaze back, with grace.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics from my front yard the past several months.

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Garden Designer's Roundtable: Small Space Gardening, more articles by the experts.


Small Spaces, Big Ideas!
June 22, 2010 by Scott

Today we focus on the challenges and opportunities of gardening in a small space. Small space gardening has its limits, but it doesn’t have to be limiting. Regardless of whether you are creating an intimate space within a larger garden or simply utilizing every available inch on your balcony, there is no reason your small space garden can’t be a well-designed masterpiece.

A small space garden lends itself to personal expression in a way a larger garden simply cannot. It’s easy to let your personality shine through in a small space garden. But the limited space means you are going to have to make some tough choices, every plant or design feature will need to do double duty. Of course the principles of garden design still apply, you just might need to tweak them a bit to make them fit your space.

Below you will find links to the Roundtablers who are participating in this month’s topic. Please feel free to join in with a comment here, on our Facebook Page, or on the individual blogs themselves. Your thoughts and experiences are always encouraged and welcomed and really do help us broaden our knowledge of this not-so-small topic.

Carolyn Gail Choi : Sweet Home and Garden Chicago : Chicao IL

Jenny Petersen: J Petersen Garden Design : Austin TX

Laura Livengood Schaub : Interleafings : San Jose, CA

Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK

Shirley Bovshow : Eden Makers : Los Angeles, CA

Susan Morrison : Blue Planet Garden Blog : East Bay, CA

Susan Schlenger : Landscape Design Advice : Hampton, NJ

BOOKS by BEVERLEY NICHOLS

Beverley Nichols, Englishman, lover of gardening, junk, antiques, cats, history, books, domestic help, his friends, the stage, music, entertaining, reading, & an author. Do you know of him?

Mary Kistner, a mentor, gave me 1 of his books circa 1999. Bought 2 more at that time.

Have reread each several times. This year is a SIGNIFICANT birthday.

Bought myself, so far, stone cat for the Bay Terrace, 3 antique blue/white jardinier's while lecturing in Richmond, VA, and this morning, 12 books by Beverley Nichols. Dahlings, ya'll are expensive, had to buy them, getting the cheapest used versions, before telling you about them.

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Of his friend, Marius, "In the dusky glass of a rococo mirror he could see the shadow of ancient battles; he could trace the beginning of a nation's decadence in the scroll of a picture frame, and find the outlines of a philosophy in the border of an aubusson carpet." And on the next page he writes of George Washington & General Lafayette wallpapering together at Mount Vernon.

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Which, of course, reminded me about John Adams & Thomas Jefferson touring gardens in England for a fortnight, with only their manservants.

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Didn't know these important TRUE details about America's founding fathers?

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Oops, apologies, off topic. Buy any, or all, books by Beverley Nichols. Ha, remember, I snagged the cheapest copies off Amazon moments ago.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics from Amazon.

SUBSIDIARY FOCAL POINTS

The rule is, ONE FOCAL POINT/AREA. Subsidiary focal points are allowed. And desired. I found this heavy rusted iron greenhouse junking in Augusta, GA a couple of years ago.

All of the iron in my garden is robins egg blue.

My late garden cat, Cat-Cat, above, loved to nap in the greenhouse.

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Guess what I discovered yesterday? Kit-Kit, my other garden cat, has begun sleeping in the greenhouse. Cat-Cat was the alpha cat but who knew Kit-Kit was hankering to sleep in the greenhouse!! Both cats were left by neighbors moving away.

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I bought the greenhouse because it made me happy to look at. With the garden cats choosing it for their bed this subsidiary focal point exceeds expectation.

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Choices you make in the garden, if they are the right choices, will exceed expectation.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

GARDEN CAT, CAT-CAT, DIES

Cat-Cat was found lying dead yesterday afternoon. Cause of death, a long good life. Mostly feral, a neighbor moved away over a decade ago leaving Cat-Cat to her own devices. Cat-Cat quickly directed me & COLLEGE BOY in the proper care & feeding she required. We believe her to have been 15-18 years old. Cat-Cat was not a cat to pet, no petting this girl, nor to be ignored when her wishes were not being met.
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Until she was found dead Cat-Cat thoroughly enjoyed her domain: talking loudly, walking with purpose, jumping on her favorite table, lying in the late evening sun in her potager, eating with vigor. And keeping me company in the garden.
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The picture above is the garden now, bereft & lonely without Cat-Cat.
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Grief for a pet is really tough for me. I did take a single liberty with Cat-Cat before she was laid to rest. I stroked her back. For the first time. A delight through my tears.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

DESIRE FOR LANDSCAPE LIGHT

Designing landscapes to light interiors came later. Not in college, or studies abroad. Simply living. Realizing garden light throughout any day, any weather became necessary to serenity. Adoring how the light of sunny days, rainy days, sunrise, humid late afternoons, fall sunsets, and 100's more configurations touch my furniture, art, books, cats and me. Natural morning light, no camera flash, above. Thought you would like to peep inside my home.

Afternoon light streaming into my office landing on Laskett.

Petunia in my office by lamplight before a winter's sunrise. I adore the transition from dark to dawn to sunrise to daylight. Dark, when lamps are on in the morning knowing, soon, my garden will awaken around me.

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Some days seeing the landscape, from inside, as chiaroscuro. Walking outside in my gown during those few seconds of magic. Being greedy, wanting a magical gloaming on the same day.

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Nobody tells you these things about a landscape. They imbue you with a desire for its light.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara