Landscape Jewelry

Last week, & for decades, the driveway was the focal point of this landscape.  

 Now, Urn/Plinth are a focal point on axis with the front door creating Pleasure Grounds.

 Urn/Plinth are quite large, the house is deceptively large with its 10' height at terrace level.

Most important, the Urn/Plinth can remain empty, or be planted.
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The quiet elegance of the Urn/Plinth are jewelry in the landscape.
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Jewelry a bit out of her comfort zone.  Enough to mention to her grown children it should be taken by one of them when her estate is dispersed.  You do remember what to ask yourself when buying a focal point for the garden, "Is this so wonderful it will be fought over at my estate sale?"
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Garden & Be Well,       XO Tara

Downspout Column: Color

The eye picks up a white downspout, below, as an architectural column.

Don't let this happen to you.
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Sherwin-Williams: Best Bronze.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Color Confidence

Bold, simple, historic, elegant, confident.

 A sweet surprise on the ceiling.

All around the house, Tara Turf, color echos.
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Garden & Be Well,                XO Tara
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Le Jardin Blanc, in Douglasville, GA has a Green, Brown & White color theme.  When puffy clouds float overhead, or the moon appears,  it seems they've been requested.  For their color !
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Thru that door I've heard Mozart to, "....I like my women just a little on the trashy side...", Alabama to Edith Piaf, to.......

Diller -von Furstenberg Family Foundation Gift

Barry Diller & Diane von Furstenberg recently donated $20 million to the High Line Park in New York City.  They had already given $15 million.

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With perky disdain the New York Times article, here, takes a jab their money, "...went to a park rather than a cultural or educational institution."

 

Pic, above, by Benjamin Norman for the New York Times.
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Go Diane go !!!!  And, thank you.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Top pic from here.

Getting The Scale Right

Once or twice a year I work with a home that looks normal but the closer you get you realize its scale is much larger than 1st impression.

 This tiny area, above, is truly larger than it appears.

The lanterns are almost  3' tall.
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Anything smaller & it's Dinky Is Stinky territory.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pic taken last week, lanterns sourced by Suzanne Hudson, Le Jardin Blanc.

Exterior Decorating

Zinnias were on the table last week, it was an early morning meeting about creating her Smoke House.

When she pulled cheese scones from the oven, & placed them on a tray with butter & jam, the zinnias were moved here, above.
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Exterior decorating leverages your efforts.  It's all about being easier, pretty, living with grace.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

How To Create Vanishing Threshold

Views outside flow inside, below.

 Draperies, a lamp turned on.

Before you enter the room, above, you know who she is.
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Furniture style, color choices, accessories, scale, flow, placement, comfort, simplicity.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Standing in front of your home, would I know who you are?
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Pics taken last week

How To Hide Air-Conditioner

A century old home, below.  Can you see the air-conditioners?  Dining room, living room, kitchen & garden all view the air-conditioners, below.

 Copying the siding of the house, above, we had a tight fit for window views & height of a/c units.

Siding panels are removable of course.  Did you notice the gravel, above?  Makes maintenance easier.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pics taken yesterday at a client's home.

Pollinator Habitat

Maximum pollinator habitat intersects agriculture & ornamental horticulture.

More pollinators, more food production.
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It's not rocket science.
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Elements of pollinator habitat, above?
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Canopy, understory, walls, groundcovers, high density, low density & etc.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pic taken in Hayesville, NC last weekend.

How To Place Stones

A pair of stones is the minimum, below.

 One stone reaching for the sky, one representing earth.

When these ridges were made, above, continents hadn't split.  The Atlantic Ocean was in the future.
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Seeing the lichens knowing they have no vascular system.
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These stones were sited before my friend moved into her Hayesville, NC home.  The builder obviously a Stone Whisperer.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Cute: Curb Your Dog

About 7" tall, below.

Too cute.
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Remember, Cute Kills in a landscape design.
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There is an exception to every rule.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Sir Roy Strong & The Laskett

Sir Roy Strong's garden & home have been bequeathed to the nation.

 Sir Roy Strong lectured at the Atlanta History Center almost 2 decades ago.  His wife, the famous set designer Julia Trevelyan Oman came along too.

 Since that lecture I've been electrified by Sir Roy & his garden, The Laskett.

An incredible gift.  I cannot imagine his thoughts leading to his decision.
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Will be interesting to see how he has the legal papers written.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Laskett, below, my beloved.  A little proof of my adoration of Sir Roy Strong's garden.

Pics from article in the Daily Mail.

1913 Exterior Sconce

Passing an old building in Augusta, GA my father said he proposed to my mother there.  I didn't care about the romance, I was in junior high.  It was the old building and its accouterments fascinating me.  

Decades pass & I found a light fixture, above, exactly like the Augusta building had.  With attitude I payed almost $20 for it, thinking it should have been much less.  Enjoyed it in my garden ever since.
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Yesterday I was looking for sconces online and found MY light fixture.  They have several for sale, notated a date of 1913, and are a cool $1,600.00.
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Girl has a new attitude!
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pic and sales information, here.

..."Remodel Central Park, ca. 1910"

 "It's time," said Mr. Hustler," to remodel Central Park; At present it's as out-of-date as Noah and his ark."  R. H. Titherington in "Life," July 28, 1910.

On March 4, 1891, "Garden & Forest," was quoted as support of the 1910 demand to remodel.  It goes,

"A park such as is now under consideration should be primarily and essentially a rural retreat, . . . its highest purpose is not to furnish instruction, nor pure air, nor a place for exercise on foot or on horseback, but to furnish that relief and repose of mind which natural scenery brings to those who are wearied by city sights and sounds. . . .  Of course, a park designed and constructed with such a leading motive will not fail to furnish pure air and a field for exercise and opportunity for study; but, if it is designed primarily with subordinate uses, its highest purpose will not be reached."
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Landscape Architecture, A Quarterly Magazine, October, 1910.
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Pics from Trees and Shrubs of Central Park
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

Choose A Trinity Of Colors

A new project with a small landscape, 1200 square foot cottage, & tight budget is exciting my muse.  Already know it must be Green, Brown & White in the landscape.

(Pic via Compulsively Compiled, above.)

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 Green, Brown & White, the trinity of Providence, is serene, elegant, and oddly, low maintenance by default.  

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More odd, choosing Green, Brown & White in a landscape never looks like a project on a budget.  

Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara

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Took the 2nd pic last year, abandoned home near Athens, GA.

Decorating With Dogs

Just inside the front door are several good views, below.  Their art from other continents & centuries.

 At your feet, just outside the front door, below.

 With a note on top of the cooler, below, due to their beloved dog.  He's ALL dog.

Wife & husband are on the prowl, and asked me to join, for antique chest or SOMETHING aesthetic for boxed deliveries.
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Can't wait to see what we find!
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Garden & Be Well,    XO   Tara
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During this project, garden-painting-remodeling-deck-custom cupola-stone wall/path/patio, their dog took every lunch & bottled water set down by anyone.  Before partaking he pranced amongst his audience delighting in his loot.

Door Knocker

New garden rooms, painting, windows replaced with French doors, & more, she was 

 ready for a door knocker.  Above, her choice,  Rocky Mountain Hardware, E418 Round Escutcheon.

The Baldwin, above, was similar but a bit 'safe'.  You know, how Tina Turner starts Proud Mary.
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Knocker, top, has character, depth, age, texture.
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Garden & Be Well,       XO Tara
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Every choice for a garden is nuanced.  Your garden?  The Baldwin might be THE one!  Remember: overdose on a theme, and, dinky is stinky.
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Both pics via Door Hardware USA

Tree Seats

I was reading, Make Way For Lucia, by EF Benson, on the tree seat yesterday.  A letter arrived from Sandy this morning, it's on the banister, waiting for me to get to the tree seat.

 Mary's coming for lunch, we're finishing the homemade soup & cornbread.  Can't wait to hear our crunch on the gravel & Mary's stories, always full of laughter.

Before passionate lust for the next NEW thing arrives, interior monologues begin.
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Isn't it obvious I'll be getting an iron tree seat?  Don't know when.  But I will.
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LUST MANAGEMENT.
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How do you handle your garden lust/s?
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Garden & Be Well,            XO Tara
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Pics from Peter Weldon Iron Designs.  Am I really crazy, thinking the Beehive tree seat could go inside a Florida Room????? !!!

Vines On A Wood House?

Vines on a wood house?  No.  There are ways but I'm too lazy.  Vine clinging to stucco/stone, below,

 a case of desire from Italy.  Can't do it with your wood home?  No problem.  Espalier a woody shrub.

 Whatever your zone, choose a hardy woody shrub and espalier the pruning.

 Abelia, viburnum, hydrangea, camellia, tea olive, and more can be planted & espaliered.
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Use a woody (Why woody?  No wire/trellis needed.) shrub as a 'vine' on your wood home.
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Don't buy shrubs already espaliered, buy big shrubs and prune them into espalier.  On camellia, and many others, this saves over $100+.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO Tara
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Carolina jessamine was growing on my baywindow.  Gone, too much work.  Espaliered a huge oakleaf hydrangea,  2nd pic from bottom.