Showing posts with label espalier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label espalier. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Espaliered Draperies

Oakleaf Hydrangea, below, draperies outside at the Bay Terrace. A pair espaliered each side the largest window.
Blooms, colorful fall foliage, exfoliating winter bark. Sometimes a bird's nest.

Each year this most terrible time arrives. Awful. Faded blooms & a year of vigorous growth it's time to PRUNE. I natter on about espalier this-or-that but it's never easy. Pruning off faded glory. Why? I know it will produce next year's beautiful show.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken last week in my garden. Oakleaf Hydrangea are native.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Draperies in the Landscape

Last Sunday, below. Considered draperies for your landscape?
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Took the pic in Susanne Hudson's garden.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Foundation Plantings are Ridiculous

Why a stupid row of evergreen meatballs when you, below, can have this? Why give away your real estate? Foundation plantings are a tired concept.
One espaliered shrub adds a lushness legions of sheared green meatballs will never approach.
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In your mind, at this moment, take away your foundation plantings. Good, have fun destroying a landscape and creating your garden. One matching your interiors, architecture, intellect & spirit.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken when I was in England. Got rid of my foundation plantings over 15 years ago, la-ti-da.

Monday, April 5, 2010

HER CLOSET & QUINCE

Windows along 2 walls, a fireplace & stairs to the attic. Make it a closet, of course! Her garden, below, as well considered as her closet.
Her quince, above/below, last Friday.

And the same quince, above, from her porch.
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Vanishing Threshold.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Monday, March 22, 2010

A NEW GARDEN ROOM: ROSE TERRACE

ROSE TERRACE, unfinished & already a dowager, hosted me Saturday. Shirt sleeves, wine, book.

Incomplete, ha, the charms of ROSE TERRACE are prodigeous.

ROSE TERRACE is under the crape myrtles, below, and my office window.

ROSE TERRACE, below, last month. Delightful, the potency of shirt sleeves Saturday.


Of course, below, I was in the chaise, circa 1930, taking pic of the teak adirondack with fallen camellia blossoms, C. 'White By The Gate'.


Antique roses weave into crape myrtles shading house & ROSE TERRACE. That idea came in Claude Monet's garden, circa 1990. Couldn't get home fast enough to order the roses. Today's era? Order via cell phone from Claude's garden. "Claude', one of the dead men I have a THING for.
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Prior to being the ROSE TERRACE this was a hydrangea patch.
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Prior to being a hydrangea patch this was an herbaceous border.
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Prior to being an herbaceous border this was ---can't believe I'm admitting to this --- otto luyken laurels I planted before I knew a thing about gardening.

Hydrangeas repurposed, below, at the border of ROSE TERRACE. Shot pea gravel, 3" deep -- no landscape fabric, with stone & brick for edging.
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New Camellias, Tea Olives & Gardenias are espaliered against the wall of ROSE TERRACE.
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Lanterns + Candles await to be hung from the Crape Myrtles.
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Terra cotta pots await my luncheon appointment with a topiary wholesale nursery next week. Honestly, it would be impossible to make this stuff up. AND it's work. My career.
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(Of course no one wants my job when it's hot/humid & blood is trickling down my neck from mosquito bites or I'm picking up dog s---t in a client's garden so they'll only see my contractor's beautiful installation of my design. Oh, lest I forget, falling off the second story of my home before a winter open garden & getting up and working more while it's still dark outside so the 10am start time is EFFORTLESS. Ha!!!!!!!!!)


Dowager? Incomplete, ROSE TERRACE is already gorgeous & functioning.
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NOTE: Adirondack on flagstones, prevents irratic sinking. For proper photography & when guests are present hide flagstones under shot pea gravel.
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Inspiration? Enjoying wine/canapes at a girlfriend's, realizing I didn't have a similar spot.
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Can't wait for warmer days ahead, girlfriends & ROSE TERRACE.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Thursday, March 4, 2010

PURE ROMANCE

Deepest winter, camellias in bloom, a pierced brick wall, a boxwood sentinal,

perennials peeking through, the dormant vine enticing me to come back.
This bit of garden, last week in Charlotte, NC, displays many desires.
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I want to know how to make cast stone urns, a pierced brick wall, forge an iron gate, paint a watercolor of this scene, write a poem about nature's delight & of course garden here.
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Perhaps this is why my contractor told me, "You are a gay man in a womans body." Ha, most of my girlfriends want to do these things too.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic taken last month at Wing Haven.






Thursday, February 4, 2010

VANISHING THRESHOLD: Your Frontdoor

Two questions your front door answers. Whether you think so or not.

Do I want to see inside their house?

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Do I want to see their garden?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic from Homes & Gardens via Brabourne Farm

Saturday, January 23, 2010

LUSH WITHOUT SPACE

Want to add lushness without taking up space? Put a vine on your house. Or espalier a woody shrub. Not much, above, but loads of lushness. And little maintenance. Rich, welcoming. Don't you want to know what the inside looks like? And the garden? Already sense you would like the owner?
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Slow down, dahlings. 3 questions, above, are quite serious. And part of designing your landscape.
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Ask those questions of your frontdoor & back patio area.
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Color, empty pots, scale, path, axis, light fixture, bell pull, enfilade each play a role too. But I'm only speaking of the vine today. Isn't it amazing how the simplest of garden pictures is, in reality, a full landscape design course?
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic from Kathryn Ireland

Friday, November 13, 2009

HOW TO ADD INTEREST TO YOUR WALLS

Gertrude Jekyll, world's 1st landscape designer, said the first thing she considered when designing a landscape was what to put on the wall. I literally set her book down when I read that sentence. To digest. Why?
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No symposium, book, magazine, college professor ever, EVER, said to put anything on the house.
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Jekyll's sentence rocked my world. Hope it rocks yours.
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Gertrude loved to use CLEMATIS MONTANA on walls.
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In Italy, I discovered every conceivable plant espaliered. EPIPHANY: use espaliered shrubs instead of vines. Much, much-much-much, easier. No wires, no trellis needed.
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Shutters, tool bouquets, art, faux doors, faux windows, birdhouses & etc. are also in your quiver; adding interest to your walls.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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On my wall, above, she's hanging on the nail vacated, for the moment, by my dovecote which is in the repair shop. The Yellow Pages delivery person smashed it to smithereens. (A Christine Sibley piece bought at her gallery/garden before she passed. Every piece of hers was bought off the 'seconds' table, 90% off.) Do you have a landscape larder for garden emergencies?????????

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

TAKE PICTURES OF YOUR LANDSCAPE

Climbing Rose 'New Dawn' on my garage. RIP. Dead, last year, of drought. Wow. Coming across this picture made me 'lose' the rose again. Remembering when I planted the rose, after Hurricane Opal blew thru Atlanta killing my mature 'Lady Banks' rose. Too much drama!
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Still in the fantasizing phase on what to plant now. Happy I've got this picture. Take pictures of your landscape. I promise you they will become little gifts to yourself.
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Off to Texas visiting family for a week............
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Thursday, June 11, 2009

LANDSCAPE ECONOMY: ARBOR, GRILL, SINK

Landscape ideas with charm aren't always expensive. Copied from a 1920's garden book, the arbor. At least I've seen similar arbors in old garden books. Not part of the 'landscaped' garden this outdoor kitchen has loads of character for little cost.
Repeating the arbor, below. Repetition is as important as simplicity in a landscape.


Vines on a house, or espaliered shrubs, are easy. Adding lushness with little effort.
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In a perfect world my slides from Italy would be digitized by now. I've got pics of a villa, which should be posted here, using the same idea above but the style is centuries old Italian. Great style transcends genre.
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What's happening in my garden today? Pulling akebia vine from hydrangeas, camellias, azaleas, viburnum, & more. Ugh. Then a bath and off to design a backyard.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

LANDSCAPE DESIGN: WASHINGTON PARK, ALBANY, NY

Gertrude Jekyll, world's 1st landscape designer, said, When I design a landscape the FIRST thing I consider is what to put on the house.
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Near Washington Park Jekyll's edict is planted. And there's a thrilling roof. Stone shingles are larger at the gutter, tapering toward the ridge.
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Having something on your house does not always mean a vine. I prefer espaliered woody shrubs. No wires or trellis needed. Vines are often too much maintenance vs. an espaliered woody shrub. Nearby, below, what my LANDSCAPE DESIGN EQUATION advocates. When you create a landscape design begin with trees. What survives in a landscape? Trees, meadow & stone focal point. If you care about low maintenance, organics, sustainability with rainwater only, creating a realm of beauty to live amongst & leaving something for the future. TREES.
With age the trees have become more spectacular than the house, below.

Why is this painted brick, below, working for me? I used to hate painted brick. This painted charmer is near the homes pictured above.

And each of the homes edge Washington Park in Albany, New York. Yes, I was there during the tulip festival.

Original plan, below, for Washington Park. Much of the land has never been privately owned.

Below, the wisdom of what lasts in a landscape (trees - meadow) contrasted with the ephemeral (tulips).

Contrasts, another landscape design tool. Above, see the tree design? Canopy, understory, cone, weeping, horizontal, burgundy foliage, deciduous, evergreen, brown bark, white bark, grey bark.
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There is a template for landscape design with trees. I didn't learn the template in college for horticulture. No. Studied landscapes in France. They don't muck about, as the English would say.
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Pics of Washington Park from their website.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Sunday, February 22, 2009

ATTACHING VINES TO YOUR HOUSE

Gertrude Jekyll, Englishwoman & world's 1st landscape designer, said, When I design a landscape the first thing I consider is what to put on the house. Fascinating. College degree, uncountable lectures attended and not one person ever, ever, mentioned what to put on a house. I design with vines and espaliered woody shrubs on homes.

You can vaguely see the wires on the house, below. Vines with outward growth add a dimension of lushness & softness.
In winter, the wires are barely visible. Entirely cloaked in summer.

Run galvanized wire in horizontal lines 2' apart.
I use masonry screws for brick walls & a jackhammer drill. Copper wire doesn't carry the load of galvanized wire.
Woody shrubs espaliered against a home need no wires or trellising. Use espaliered shrubs for low maintenance.
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I took the pics last month in England at Wisley, Royal Hort. Society.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Thursday, February 19, 2009

LANDSCAPE CAUGHT MY IMAGINATION

This little garden found on Aesthetes Lament stole my heart. A centuries old style. Do you see only a woman standing in gravel? Ha!

Gravel is cheaper than stone, doesn't require skilled labor and lasts as long as a stone terrace. Creating a planting bed in gravel is simple, place cobblestones as edging and presto---a planting bed.

The bed, below, is lush and has stakes ready for tall blooms and twine ready for, most likely, clematis.

A solid urn is a wise choice atop the brick column. Who wants to water a pot that high? Do you want to climb a ladder and replant a pot up there?

An iron gate contrasts materials, shapes and has a keyhole view to another garden room. Ooooooh mystery, I must go thru that gate. Does your garden have mystery? No disgusting foundation planting ruins the front of this home. Obama should have included, Americans cling to their foundation plantings as a source of security. Lushness is espaliered on the house. Easier to maintain espalier 'whatever' than foundation plantings.

A pair of iron clamming baskets frame the sitting man. (Made that up, don't know what those iron baskets are.) Without plants they will hold the design-decorating together.

I want to smell this garden, hear the gravel crunch, meander thru the gate and ask to use the toilet (the English look at you funny when you ask for the restroom) then I can see inside the house. Assuming I'm on a garden tour of course.

Cecil Beaton's eye, the photographer, is knowing. Movie-set designer, gardener and writer he adored decadent amounts of fresh flowers in his home, cut from his garden.

He wrote, Here was the garden at its best & I lay in bed & saw the Picasso & Hockney engravings framed on my side wall, & the pictures were alliterated with the reflections from outside the window of roses blowing in the breeze, & the green marvel of the garden beyond."
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Photo from National Portrait Gallery

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

EDWARDIAN LUST


After lecturing last week in England it was off for the backroads, hedgerows, B&Bs, tiny villages and gardens. I was in the Midlands/Cotswolds/London areas. The garden above is Edwardian. I lust after these landscapes. This is a side view of the home, now a Trust Property. Notice the expert use of espaliered plants. A winter garden and gorgeous. The dormant plants provide summer's glory. The bench is a destination. The round gutter contrasts the many squares. Gravel crunches underfoot. A romantic, functional landscape.