Monday, June 13, 2011

Cool Colors - Hot Day

Drama & color, below. Large pot & fine textured foliage. Cool greens, blue, yellow. These pics are not styled. Turning camera 1ft., below,
same pot with more drama, an agave.
.
A beautiful vignette at A W Pottery in Chamblee, GA.
.
Good landscape design is all about low maintenance & not having to 'style' anything to get a pretty picture.
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
Pics taken last week. Over 95% of the pics on my blog ARE NOT STYLED.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Faux Bois Bench: Well Sited

A lovely incident along the gravel path, below.
(Notice stone edged gravel, decrepit terra cotta, leaf litter mulch? Melts my heart.)
Same bench, same path, from opposite direction.
.
Thus, a good garden. It could be 2 different paths, 2 different benches or 2 different gardens.
.
How to create Double Axis. A class by itself.
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
Pics taken last week in Susanne Hudson's garden.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Decorating Alone

Decorating my Conservatory late Tuesday, alone, I got frustrated. Typically with a client moving things or, most often, with my guys.Multiple trips to attic, garage, mudroom and back to Conservatory I had a sweat going. Along with a mess & the transpiration of TIME; 3 hours passed.
What I completed looked like 12 minutes of work. And there's more to complete.
.
I did what any grown-up pouting girl would do, I called Susanne Hudson with my tale of woe.
.
She laughed and said, "Tara, it took me over 50 hours to get the sea shells organized and my conservatory redecorated." She, too, worked her Conservatory alone.
.
Susanne's redecorated Conservatory & sea shells, above pics.
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
Took the pics last weekend.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Sea Shells In The Conservatory

Seeing Susanne Hudson's sea shells, below, in her Conservatory,I was inspired to gather mine from attic & garage. Before Georgia I lived at Cape Canaveral &
Galveston Bay.
.
Why wasn't I honoring my past?
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
Pic taken last weekend. What parts of your past need to be honored in your garden?

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Gertrude Jekyll: Munstead Wood Inspires Pool

A 40 acre Alabama garden I'm working on has the bones of Gertrude Jekyll's home, Munstead Wood, below.
I've been asked to put in a swimming pool off the back terrace. Seeing these curves, above, I knew immediately how to shape the swimming pool.
.
How do I design 40 acres? I start at the house.
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
Pic via internet. All my travels in England, and never to Munstead Wood.


Monday, June 6, 2011

Daybed In The Conservatory

Pink & brown & hydrangeas & a Conservatory in the garden. With a daybed.With large terra cotta pots as legs.
Our jute draperies
pool, below, outside.

Susanne Hudson & I were on the front page of the paper. Did I know the photographer was coming? Sweat, hat hair, gardening clothes, dirty. We were the happiest women in the galaxy.
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
I took the pics yesterday in the garden Susanne Hudson & I created for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival.
.
Thank you Douglas County Sentinel for promoting the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival. Newspaper pic by Winston Jones.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Beer In The Garden

I adore working men in the garden.At the end of the day this wonderful man, above, earned his beer.
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
Pic from Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival in Douglasville, GA. It's tomorrow & Sunday. You do realize there is NO pun intended with the top sentence?

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Pots, Easy Landscape Edging

Pots, original, as landscape edging? Hardly. A centuries old idea. At my garden, with Susanne Hudson, for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival, below. (PMHF is this weekend, June 4-5.)"It's what we do with what we have.", my mentor Mary Kistner said. I first saw pots as edging decades ago in Ryan Gainey's Decatur, GA garden.
Susanne & I have broken pots & fallen limbs.
.
Perfect landscape edging. Easy & free.
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
Pics taken a few days ago.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival + Before/After

The Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival, Douglasville, GA, is this weekend, June 4-5, 2011.
.
Free display gardens, Free standard Flower Show, Free Festival Market
.
Garden Tour with Tram, $25, residential gardens including nationally recognized gardens.
.
This year's table, below, incomplete, already looks FABULOUS.
Big impact, little input. Love this type of Landscape Design: old table, old wheelbarrow, old light & negligible maintenance.
Same table, below, last year.
From lamps to chandelier, from potting table to dining table.
.
Come see our garden, it's in the free zone. Ha, no excuses!
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
Been working like a young man creating this garden. My body is not amused. Susanne Hudson & I are creating this garden.
.
Top pics taken yesterday, 94f & 200% humidity (please appreciate the effort). Bottom pic, I snapped last year.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Penelope Bianchi of McCormick Interiors

Penelope Bianchi, McCormack Interiors, is a new discovery. Penelope designs 'done' but I adore her 'not done' creations, below.Rare, she is the interior decorator creating gardens too. Of course she can design tidy gardens but I'm partial to, below, her scruffy
gardens.
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
Pics from Penelope's website. I'm slow to the game, discovering Penelope, and will post more pics.
.
Been away the holiday weekend creating a garden, with Susanne Hudson, for the Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival. It's next weekend June 4-5, with vendors, a garden tour ($25 with tram) & several free display gardens too.
.
Our garden is free and FABULOUS. Why make a garden unless you believe it to be FABULOUS?

Friday, May 27, 2011

Focal Point In The Roundabout

I designed the roundabout on axis with: porch, back door, drive, meadow. With a focal point in the center, OF COURSE.A rooster was found, & placed, almost 2 months ago, above. Love it.
.
Last Friday, Patrick, The Rooster Of Hedgerow Farm, was killed by a bobcat.
.
She had tears as she told me the story. You must understand, Hedgerow Farm belonged to beloved Patrick. SHE belonged to Patrick.
.
Now, the rooster in the roundabout is a meaningful memorial. Who knew?
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
Same garden as previous 2 posts. Pic taken last Friday, from the mudroom porch.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Back Porch With A Breeze

Architecturally drawn to mimic original construction at this century old home the back porch has high ceilings, great depth + length, and is in an 'L' shape. Exactly like the original front porch, previous post.Old wicker, found locally, is layered with old primitive tables. Scale isn't 'intuitive', not oversized to reach for the hi ceiling. It's scaled for historical correctness, body comfort & ease of conversation.
No matter the heat of the day, stillness of the air, there is always a breeze on this porch.
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
Pics taken last Friday.