LANDSCAPE DESIGN Decorating Styling

Historically Siting Bulbs

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:04:00 PST

Hillary Clinton had 'intellectual exercise' conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt. Remember those headlines?

Oddly, I got it. Even then.

Last month I sited thousands of bulbs after "consulting the genius of the place." I've spoken with landscapes for decades.
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This garden, above pics, has a historic home with little but its pecan orchard intact.
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Next year anyone seeing the drifts of daffodils will think they've been there a century.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Many of you have this skill, "consulting the genius of the place", but don't trust it. It's why I listen so hard to landscape questions. The answers are already in the question.
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Yes, Alexander Pope...Consult the genius of the place......

Landscape Design: What Era Will You Choose?

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 05:31:00 PST

Whitlow House ca. 1830. Keeping the views,

and the house rustic are intentional. Wanting places of repose,

outside of time.

Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Pics taken at a project last week. Landscape Design is about designing elements of TIME & PLACE. Received a delightful comment about my home/garden this month, "You've really created your own little world, haven't you?"

Intimacy In Large Spaces

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:42:00 PST

A folly in the landscape. (aka, a one-room cabin.)

Light from the landscape a palpable force.
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Beyond the door, acreage in open meadow & wildwood.
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Design intimacy into landscapes with acreage.
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Let Nature reign in open meadow & wildwood.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken at a jobsite last week. I wish you could walk thru this door, into the acreage. Know the spirit of this land. The stewardship of its owner, dancing with Providence.

Lunch In The Conservatory

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:11:00 PST

Friends for over a decade, we've kept up for too many years via ambient community, aka mutual friends & social media.

We had lunch in my Conservatory yesterday. Each of us brought to tears several times during meandering conversation. Happy tears. Tears of knowing. Tears of bearing witness.

Mostly laughter. And buzzing with energy.
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Grace comes unbidden, and by nurture. Yes, you want a Conservatory in your landscape.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Smallest Conservatory footprint, if you have a choice, is 12' x 18'.

Fog & Rain Dreary?

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 07:52:00 PST

A local garden center posted on their Facebook page today about the weather (fog, wet, gray) being dreary and we should come in to buy a houseplant. Really? Puppet Barbuda knows good Landscape Design has no dreary days. Returned moments ago from her garden Puppet Barbuda saw:

Laura, above, following from inside. Not so cute when she hangs from the chandeliers. (Notice the terra cotta sun? It's a wall sundial hiding a faucet.)

With Ivy 'Gold Heart', at the front door. Puppet Barbuda is in earnest about no dreary days. Fell in love with this Ivy while studying Landscape Design in England.

Sasanqua's, above, still in heavy bloom. Native honey bees gather pollen all year in my landscape.

Hellebores, above, opening.

Apples & peaking gold dwarf conifer.

Crazily, with a warm January, fall leaves still falling.
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Dreary?
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Plenty of color.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Was in my robe/slippers getting these pics a few minutes ago. Laura followed me, from inside, around the entire house while photographing. Wish I had time for more pics....

Spool Bed In Garden Light

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:12:00 PST

Spool bed, rough-hewn historic cabin, and

natural light.

Flowing from the garden.
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Do you do this too, design your landscape for interior lighting effects?
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Amazingly this light, above, is only minutes before the gloaming.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken at a project last Thursday.

Martha Washington Table In The Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 06:01:00 PST

Martha Washington never knew how many would appear at her dinner table. Extra tables, boards placed on sawhorses, were often set-up in the garden. With a cloth of course.

Yesterday, working in the Ancient Orchard we needed a table.

Quickly, the guys had our Martha Washington table set-up. It had been nearby in the potager.

We were siting fruit trees.

We did use the hammer, keeping invoice sheets from blowing away.
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Obvious, more than 1 Martha Washington table is needed in her garden.
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G*d is smiling, these are FUN needs.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken yesterday. Notice my basket in the top pics? 34 years old. English white willow. Came from Neiman-Marcus in Dallas, Texas during their Christmas Fortnight event. Sales lady didn't want to sell it, it was holding ornaments. La-ti-da, acquired my target. Yes, the lady got huffy. Very huffy.

Historic Southern: Flying Buttress

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:28:00 PST

Downtown Atlanta, below, a former cotton warehouse. Swoon yet? The Flying Buttress !!

Copy. It's the 1st rule of Landscape Design.

MY flying buttress, above. Though it's on a client's property, and she did pay for the lovely bricks, ca. 1899, from Milledgeville, Ga, capitol of Georgia during the Civil War, and she did pay for the labor, and, and, and, honestly, I am in love with this Landscape Jewelry !
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Orchard not complete yet. Fruit trees start going in tomorrow. Gates this year.

How To Open A Front Porch

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:10:00 PST

Gravel to the walls, evergreens (few), no rails on the porch, & a fabulous light, below.

Exactly how I described The Cottage project, below, to my contractor. Before I ever saw the pic, above, via Greige Design.

Porch rails will be removed, below, and stone steps added to all sides. Foundation meatballs removed,

gravel spread, light fixture installed. Bricks painted, shutters added to all sides (new color chosen) storm door removed and a potager nearby, it was requested and there is very little good light elsewhere.
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Love this type of work. Tight budget, big impact, little input. Ironically, the biggest improvement will be removing the foundation meatballs. The gravel? Huge impact, and laughably one of the cheapest ingredients.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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No use at present for the iron rail. Cannot wait to discover which project NEEDS it !

Cottage Inspiration: Dining Room Walls

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:39:00 PST

The Cottage, ca. 1940, has wallpapered dining room walls, painted red, with little light.

Tiny budget too. A few days ago, inspiration via Greige Design, a bead board wall with plates, above.
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The ANTICIPATION of creating the walls is palpable. Using Benjamin-Moore HC Lancaster Whitewash with white plates and silver plated platters.
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Soon, The Cottage will have a neo-butler's pantry belonging to a much larger estate. It's dining room where the 'help' dines. (Rather obvious I watched Downton Abbey last nite on PBS.)
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Along with mission statement, narrative & back story inhabit this sweet project.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Cats & Camellias

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:02:00 PST

Low 30's, in only my gown, I went into the garden last week to shoot the current crop of Sasanqua's, (I have 5 cultivars.)

Had bit of a surprise, above, garden cat Torte De Shelle had the correct expression at my attire.

But when the Sasanqua are this fabulous, come as you are.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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With smugness, let me add, Torte De Shelle is atop the fence and framed with the Camellia japonica. They won't start blooming till Christmas day.

Captain Kirk Chair

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 06:59:00 PST

I pay attention to the Captain Kirk chair inside every home where I'm designing the landscape. Views throughout the year will be savored & used as backdrop to all the excitement and muddles life provides.

Where is your Captain Kirk chair? What are the garden views?

New floors installed, sanding/staining late this week. Back came my Captain Kirk chair. House in chaos yet I couldn't resist this spot.
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How could I, the sasanquas are blooming, the Christmas tree lites are on in the Conservatory, and the garden cats about their lives. As Anne Of Green Gables said, there is so much "scope for the imagination."
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I travel farthest in my garden, perhaps honestly, it's farther still in this chair.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Collections During Renovation

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:59:00 PST

A few days ago, at The Old Post Office, in Stone Mountain, Ga Village, I found this painting.

It has a few issues, easily overcome by the $15 tag.

On the back, interesting scrawl, "Dec. 26, 1930, Friday Nite, JGB"
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A story I would like to know.
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Now, it's leaning on a table with lamps, bowls, flotsam-jetsom, awaiting it's debut. A bit of construction in my house this Christmas. Men, machines, materials, saw dust. Cats safely tucked into their new room upstairs, unamused.
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Excited about the new year, construction complete, things placed properly, and a decrease in quantity. Editing.
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Framing garden views from every interior window. Looking into every window, from the garden, making sure it's worthy of being a backdrop for my garden. Double axis. Vanishing Threshold.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Cotton In The Conservatory

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:17:00 PST

In the garden, below, 2 days ago, looking into my Conservatory thru the century old French door.

It's an arcane delight, looking into windows. Seeing cotton (or anything pretty) already 'painted', not real, in the past.

This is my first high cotton. Literally, this year, in-high-cotton. Inside Conservatory, above, looking into my tiny back garden.
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The old pottery jug, above, with broken handle, was a very good day at the thrift store, $2.94.
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From the house seeing this jug of cotton has been a joy. A garden view, it's why I garden.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Choosing Color: Small House, Northern Light, Dark Bedrooms

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 08:04:00 PST

The Cottage, 1200 sqft, is entirely northern light. Benjamin Moore - York Harbor, a yellow, is already lighting the house.

Impatient for the lamps, mirrors, furniture, textiles, art, books.
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Both bedrooms will be York Harbor.
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Bunny Williams, An Affair With A House, has been no small inspiration. She uses yellow. It doesn't seem to be popular at the moment. Bunny transcends 'popular'.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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pic taken at a project last week. Oh no, I've neglected to look into this room from the garden.

Tea & Toilets

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:49:00 PST

Tea, below, at Le Jardin Blanc last week. We toured 2 gardens & did a drive-by of another, all had been in national magazines.

Lemon curd, Devonshire creme & scones were included, of course.

Each place had a unique teapot.

At a project the same day, below. Discoveries about a plaster wall were made when an old toilet was exchanged for new.

Bead board, all four walls, was the solution. Plaster issues? Poof, gone. (Keeping, above, the ca. 1940's wall sink with it's chrome ca. 1950's levers.)

Touring gardens in England I've appreciated signage with arrows. Especially when Tea and Toilets are prominent. Necessities, each.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Simple With No Styling

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 05:43:00 PST

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.

Intimacy In Large Spaces

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:34:00 PST

Moments of intimacy are designed into this home on acreage.

Human scale, framing vistas, entries & etc. using materials with patina.

Plantings: tough, beautiful, fragrant. Feeding the soul, and served at table. Soon, an iron gate will ask you to enter here, above.
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I want her to look at her acreage and love all she sees. No matter the season. Never look at her beloved land and think, "I must do this, that must be done, that's a mess."
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken recently. And small landscapes get the big vista treatment along with intimacy. Must remember this for posting, a little landscape and one with acreage. Amazing how they both 'live'.

Deer In Your Landscape: Garden Designers Roundtable

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 06:57:00 PST

Create a deer proof list and Providence will laugh. Go into their range and discover what survives.

Trout lilies, Christmas fern, ginger, hydrangea arborescens, aster, buckeye, cedar, oak, pine, & sourwood are few things thriving amongst a huge deer population near me.

She's wanting a fruit orchard, above. Her wall will stop 'most' of the deer issues.

Trees too tall to reach are an obvious solution to deer issues, but the checkbook, typically, laughs. Plant the trees you love, at the size the checkbook allows, and use stakes with netting until it is a deer proof size.

Flowers are wine & canapes to deer. The best solution I've seen to keeping flowering shrubs? Fruit tree netting. Not perfect, but the shrubs survive & grow.

With deer, camellia, above, become trees not big bushes.
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Neighborhoods with annuals at the entries, with heavy deer populations, use fruit tree netting. Deer may paw at them, but will eventually leave them alone.
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Any plant on a deer proof list I assume to be deer bait. Young deer can't read your deer proof list, they learn by trying EVERYTHING.
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Some gardeners have success with Milorganite around their plantings. It must be reapplied and some who've used say it was no use.
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Deer proof? Walk woodlands nearby. Like the short list of choices? I don't. Like everything on the list of choices? Well, yes. It's that or nothing. The worst thing is to buy, plant and the deer have a feast. You're out time, labor, money. Money can be earned. Time can be reclaimed by no one.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Garden Designers Roundtable: More Voices About Deer In The Landscape

http://gdrt.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/gardening-with-deer/

« Horticulture and Design Idols!

Gardening with Deer

December 13, 2011 by Scott Hokunson

Quite a few years ago at a conference for the Connecticut Nurserymen’s Association, I sat in on a talk by a local landscape architect who’s topic was “Deer-Proof plants”. Slide after slide he would tell the audience “this particular plant has shown great resistance to deer” or “deer won’t eat this because…”, and slide after slide some member of the audience would raise their hand and say “the deer eat that in my garden”. The poor guy never stood a chance.

Deer have become a major problem in the landscape, and the reasons for the increase in deer damage range from development encroaching on their territory to populations thriving on the lush banquet our gardens provide for them. Whatever the reason, choosing the right plant for the right place no longer guarantees success in the garden, you must also ask “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”

This month on the Roundtable, our designers discuss, “Gardening with Deer”. Follow the links below and find out how they deal with their uninvited “guests”!

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

Genevieve Schmidt : North Coast Gardening : Arcata, CA

Pam Penick : Diggin : Austin, TX

Douglas Owens-Pike : Energyscapes : Minneapolis, MN

Christina Salwitz : Personal Garden Coach : Renton, WA

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

Debbie Roberts : A Garden of Possibilities : Stamford, CT

Exchangeable Lampshade Covers

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:57:00 PST

Lamps, lampshades, wattage, fabrics, dogs, cats, antique ironstone, &tc are layered on my gardening gene.

She loves fabrics, above/below, and made dozens of lampshade covers.

Velcro tabs, below, hold them in place.

In her foyer, below, last week.

Of course I've encouraged (demanded) her to sell lampshade covers.
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And, smart girl, they are sized for a standard lamp shade from the big box stores.
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Garden & Be Well, XO T

Design Winter Shadows Into The Landscape

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 07:32:00 PST

Others wanted to cut the old redbud, Cercis canadensis, down. Men with machines looking into my eyes, awaiting a shake of my head. Instead, a firm, "No."
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Wall, nor garden, are finished, above.
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Later I came upon the shadow. In that moment, it let me know why the universe was formed. And my place in it. Humbling.
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Providence speaks loudest to me in a garden.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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pic taken last week in a client garden

Focal Point: Double Axis

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 06:09:00 PST

North of the cabin, below, is the old farm building in yesterday's post.

Cabin, above/below, is due south. A focal point at north & south, Double Axis.

Cabin is almost a century old. Mulch, above, won't be needed when plantings mature.
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Laying in bed last night realizing this spot is a Quatra Axis. Can't wait till the East/West portions are ready for their pics.
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Exciting events. 3 of the axis points were already there. The 4th pulled the landscape together.
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More than a little pleased !! (Think of Miss Piggy Dancing, flipping her hair a few times.)
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Have zero idea what other people think about in bed at night.
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Garden & Be Well, XO T
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pics taken last week.

Design The Past Into The Future

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:00:00 PST

"There is no future in the past." A narrow, mundane & sad thought. 'With little imagination', as Anne of Green Gables would say.

It's a thrill to Landscape Design century old farm buildings & trees, 'the past', into the future.

Using plantings & methods of the past, and the gardens of ancient Italy as template.
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Creating a sense of intimacy when the space is 100's of acres.
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FRISSON: Excitement at the front end of winter, bare branched trees. Sasanqua's coated in bloom at the tail end of fall.
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Each, at the same moment.
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Creating a landscape taking care of your spirit more than you will ever have to take care of it.
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I love putting a new future into the past.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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pics taken last week at a project.

Signature Style

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 06:17:00 PST

Did you notice, below, the shelf above the sink?

An old pie safe, hung on the wall.

Susanne Hudson has several signatures, this is one.
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Every time I see her pie-safe-on-a-wall-routine, it's FRESH !
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I love bringing Susanne into my projects. Team Tara knows when to bring in specialists.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

A Florida Room

noreply@blogger.com (Tara Dillard) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:10:00 PST

Florida room, below, looking toward the front yard of a 1940 cottage.

Florida room, below, looking toward the backyard.

This cottage is The Velveteen Rabbit. Life shows in her cracks & broken bits but it's obvious she's always been loved.
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Friend & peer Sandra Jonas gustily laughed at my reference, 'Florida room'.
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Whatever.
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I'm calling it a Florida room. What would you call it?
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken last week. Still in the design phase on this project. Honestly, Sandra dahling, these pics are for YOU. Ha, the rest of you have already painted & stuffed the Florida room with furniture, art, sisal, new light fixtures....... I love this phase. Total possibility.