American Farm House, Now

Farmhouse style with her own flair.

Between formal dining room & kitchen, below.

Few built-ins, below, in the kitchen.

And a surprise in the living room, below.

Braid rug.  Bold.  Been so long since I've seen one it was 'new' again.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken last weekend, same home/garden as previous post.

Side Porch

The kitchen has a door to the side porch. 

Kitchen door, above.
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Garden & Be Well,       XO Tara
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Amazing how few homes have a side door & porch.  Same home as previous post.  Painting by Christine Shockley.

Front Porch Questions

Every element sings together on this front porch.

Field gathered furniture swathed in the came color.

Porch questions.  Is the porch so wonderful I must go inside and see the home?  Is the porch so wonderful I must see the garden?
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pics taken last weekend, same garden as previous post.

Front Porch

Subtle, original.

 A desk on the front porch.

I must know you from the exterior of your home, before ever knocking on the door.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pics from same home/garden as yesterday's post.

What To Put On Your House

Gertrude Jekyll wrote, "The first thing I consider when designing a garden is what to put on the house."

At no point during my college education did any instructor or book make this point.  Nor any symposium or lecture attended during 3 decades of seeking continuing education.

Outside of Athens, GA, this home is less than 15 years old.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken last Saturday.  I use a lot of woody espalier plants on a home.  No trellis or wire needed.

Glass Awning

Never in USA, but there must be some, only in Europe

have I seen glass awnings over a door.
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Garden & Be Well,             XO Tara
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Pic Slim Paley.  The glass awning I saw, in France, is a slide somewhere in the bowels of my archives.

Stupid Does Have a Price

Beware the landscape contractor, with one of my Garden Designs, "No, can't be done."

Stupid does have a price tag.
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Fieldstone retaining wall, above, in dirt.  No concrete + mortar.  Italy has quite a few olive orchards, older than Christ, still holding proud their fieldstone in dirt terracing.
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Stupid-does-have-a-price-tag, said fieldstone in dirt did not work, he wanted to make more money with concrete, mortar, chipped stone.  I don't use him anymore.  My jobs have grossed millions since then.  Do the math.
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When I mention my Team it's from the heart & head.  They make my designs better.  Why did I fall for SDHAPT?  I met the author of Never Be Lied to Again, when I was the garden expert on NBC-TV morning show.  Zero awareness of those lying to me at that time.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic Old Long Island.

How to Teach Children Gardening

 Children need a lawn to play?  Children need a place for imagination to play.

Schools across USA plant vegetable plots for children to learn 'gardening'.
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That's not gardening, it's agriculture.
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Who teaches children ornamental horticulture increases agriculture yields almost double?
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Do you know how ornamental horticulture increases agricultural yields?
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic from Castles, Crowns & Cottages.  Lucky me, I've never stopped going into brambly gardens to play.  Luckier, I've had girlfriends to come with me.  Only once attracting a police chopper !  No, not caught.

Chairs after Lunch

 After the party, or lunch, chairs are pure narrative.

Warmth, connection.

Conversation.
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Grace.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Pics taken last month after lunch in the Conservatory.  Torte de Shelle top pic.

Garden Growth

More than this fortunate, ca. 1800, below.

I've not had the money to live without a day job.  Gardening from college, ca. 1980, is my 1st career choice.

Yesterday, above, in Griffin, GA, getting blackberries & figs for a client.  Had zero hint it was completely out of the Piedmont and in the Coastal Plain.

Most of their bare root fruit, above/below, was shipped in from TX & FL.  Healed in the sand, dug & boxed when ordered.

This, above, has been done for centuries.

Too many years since I've propagated cuttings in this exact type of greenhouse.

Millions in my time.

I stood at the frame, above, leaned in and was still a long time.  Smelling.  Absorbing the work, this time done by other hands.  Not mine.  

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Yes, I still want to do it all.

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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara

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pics taken yesterday.  Top pic Garden History Girl. 

Listen to the Genius of the Place

Emergency phone call last month.  Client wavering on placement of stone steps & fire ring.

Many choices in Garden Design do not have a single answer.

This choice did.

Asymmetrical French architecture demanded the center of the new stone terrace & steps be on center with the gable peak/palladian window.
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Love it when we can pull a string & hammer the stake.  Done.
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Architecture & Garden are one.  Listen to the genius of the place.
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Garden & Be Well,            XO Tara
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Pics taken 2 weeks ago on the job.  Top pic, general contractor & stone mason.  Both make everything I do better.
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Georgia red clay.  Freshly disturbed.  Love that smell.

Driveway Design

A driveway.

Sound of gravel.
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Tapestry hedge.
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Oh my this is good.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic Whimble.