Binding House to Site: Focal Point & Enfilade

A current client, 14 acres, and well tucked into their property, built a new home to look like a historic home.  At the first visit I fell for the ruse, thought they had renovated an antebellum home.
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The lane leading to their gravel drive is a single lane gravel road along an active train track.  Open & wooded their land has all the right drama including level and a few slopes.
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First salvo with their property is the approach at the train track, flow for cars & feet from entry to house, barn, dependencies, orchard & potager.  More importantly, currently past age 50, no detailing care with maintenance, ever.  Not a consideration & won't be tolerated.  Staring down age 80 makes simplicity, simple.
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All of the above is 'easy'.  They're all necessities, and historic templates are well trod as guides.  What bothered me most is the house not being tied to its site, well sited, it has no strings attached to the garden.
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Walking the grounds about the house, with their pack of older rescue dogs, her specialty, the tie that binds house to garden appeared.  Better, it's within an enfilade, travels past the entrance court, past the entry lane, up a slope, lands upon a pasture flat, and continues up another slope finally ending at the orchard+meadow.  What are the chances of this great gift?  Woo-woo.
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The focal point within this perfect enfilade, at present, has a single florescent pink flag staking it.  More, it can be a stone slab on a tree trunk table, a statue or urn on plinth or etc.  Whatever, the focal point must be within a dias, level with the ground, of stone or brick.  Hope you already know why.  Answer is above.  
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The tractor must be able to easily whiz around the focal point.  At speed.


Pic, above, here.

 
Pic, above, here.
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She will love getting the focal point right.  He will love whatever she does, eventually.
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He will be the one installing dias and topper.  You know there will be some grumbling.  Her at the front door of their home, one terminus of the enfilade, yards away, cell phone in hand, "Move it 6 inches to the right, get it level."
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His grumbling will include me, sad for the day he ever heard my name.  This phase doesn't last long.  Glad I know that ahead of time.  Men are predictable.  It takes that first party, after the garden is installed and suddenly they knew how to do their garden from the beginning.  Fine with me, I get to be the Mary Poppins Gardener, arriving when the wind changes, leaving as the wind changes again.  In my carpet bag, knowing where to site focal points & enfilades, hedges, etc....
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Sighting A Hedge for Screening

Hiding a view, the closer your plantings the faster the hiding.
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Neighbor's house, below, is quite close already, the design/placement of planting close, an automatic.
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If the neighbor's house were 100' away, still site the evergreen hedge where it is.  Not near the property line.  Especially if you want to have early morning coffee on the terrace, in your gown.


Pic, above, here.
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The closer the hedge, the faster the screening.
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Put that in your memory bank.
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You may not need it, but a friend might.
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT
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Placing large evergreens for screening recently, 'husband' wanted them in a certain spot, near the property line.  I mentioned a spot closer to his home, providing much faster privacy for his screened/roofed porch. Which was his focus.  He paused long, "That's where my wife said to put them."  Sweet moment, she loved it when I told her.

Middle Class Cost Saving

I did something recently that clients do when we're installing their garden.  Used my middle class skill set to 'save money'.  Oh yes, gonna save money.  Most jobs, clients increase the scope of the project within 24 hours of starting.  What?  Their money tree was bare when they signed the contract, no more funds.  Poof voila, the phone call, "Let's add the entire backyard, and that middle section of the front yard we took out, and go ahead and put in irrigation.  Also didn't mention, around the garage, let's do that too."  Seriously.  From no more $$$ to all that?
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Within working our jobs we'll be off site getting materials or lunch, return and the client has taken a man, or 2, off bid items, for just a little clean-up here/there.  We cannot absorb those costs anymore, hourly pay, social security, workman's comp, vacation, sick, bonus.  Sonny/Cher said it best, The beat goes on.
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Enlarging the project, after starting, pricing for plants won't be the same, it's not the same for us, plus the extra overhead of delivery.  But let's get back to my personal middle class 'cost saving'.  It happened here, below, in our dining room.



Our home built ca. 1900, with a central hall, 9' wide x 50' long, 3 rooms off each side.  Originally our home was meant to have doors shut during certain seasons.  Four fireplaces, central hall door shut, warm rooms, cold hall.  So.  In the dining room, above/below, why not close the doors?  I knew it would save greatly with the HVAC bill.  Brilliant.  Yes?



A hint of the central hall, below.  Do notice, all the doors are open.  This story is after the disaster of middle class thinking.






Off topic, above, Mr. Salmon Tureen.  He reminded me of a salmon spawning river, inches wide, deep into an Irish estate I studied during a historic garden design trip.  Had a dinner party, and a guest that lives nearby asked me if I bought it at XYZ shop.  Yes.  She had her eye on it for months.  No worries, she can borrow him.



More off topic, because it's easier than the middle class cost saving blunder.  Blue/white china is to the left of the fireplace, colored china is in the walk-in closet to the right of the fireplace, built-in shelves, obviously meant for survival with rings here/there on the shelves from glass canning jars thru the decades.
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Symmetry of clients using their middle class thinking to save money, and mine, is rather a pay back, every terrible pun intended.
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Here is my best middle class cost saving brain.  I shut the doors to the dining room, and guest bedroom, and their air-conditioning registers/intakes.  Yep.  The rooms are large, with 11' ceilings.  Why not shut them?
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Several weeks later, the air-conditioner quit.  Late Friday afternoon, of course.  Do you know how hot/humid it is in rural middle Georgia in summer?  A client owns an HVAC company.  Pitifully called, described what the a/c did before dying.  He mentioned it may be 'frozen' and I should turn off the a/c, and turn on only the fan.  Then, told him of my middle class cost saving, shutting doors/vents. Quite polite, he said it probably played a role.
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Blessedly, doing as told, which I can do in a pinch, the a/c worked again.
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Their man arrived Monday to check the unit.  Aside from ancient HVAC, he had a picture from his work on the unit under the house.  Within the unit, insulation had pulled away, covering the cooling coils.  Go me !!!  Middle class cost saving.  
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Decades of clients & their middle class cost saving thoughts.  Mine, a rather nice bookend.  Oh my, where my best thinking got me.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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Have not painted the dining room yet.  We can't decide on a color.  Neither of us with a strong emotion for any color to even suggest.  Red until inspiration arrives.  Will replace the chandelier with one that is historically correct.  It's on the list.  The List !

Tiny Garden Respite

Probably slapdash, below.  Yet fine tuned, inherent.  Barrel & half barrel collateral from their Vins & Liqueurs.  Even the colors echo from building to barrel.  Sited in equal asymmetry as the architecture, and function.  Finally, the trinity of pots/plants on the table, each a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, yet matched disparateness.


Pic, above, here.

Adore how little the 'garden', how great its statement.
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Furniture in-the-garden maximized to function, yet warm invitation to comfort & hospitality.  Table/chairs echoed just inside the door, repetition.  And those fonts.
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A sliver between building and road, yet a respite from those worlds.
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An odd affliction, adoring  little-giving-much.  Especially potent when it's woven into a livelihood.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Before-After: Grave Site Garden Design

Hardest job I've done.  He hired me, the 1st time, about 4 years ago.  Now, he's under the black frames, below.
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He & his wife became the fun couple on Facebook.  Always together, mostly in the Caribbean during winter, home a few days, perhaps a quick trip to France, perhaps etc.  The clothes, the food, the conveyances, myriad events, their precious dogs, smiles, fun times, fun bearing witness.  Glad someone is 'living the life'.  More to it of course.  His hard work at a company he built over decades, and his earnest stewardship of more than 200 employees.  His funeral at the largest church in town, standing room only.  Graveside service, below, filled the cemetery curbs with cars.
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For too many weeks after the funeral, she's had to come to this barren patch.  Alone.  Nothing.
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She asked for their cemetery plot, 6 spaces total, rectangular shaped, to look like their backyard.  I designed/installed it, but hadn't been back recently.  Made an appointment to see her, at home.  Terrible appointment, both crying throughout.  Thru the tears, I got what I needed to exactly design their grave site.  On the upper deck, from their kitchen/family room, she said, "This was his favorite spot in the world to be."  In addition, "We love the Caribbean and want it to look like that."      



Leaving a lot of the story out, he was murdered, by his grown son.  She was home when it happened.



More than wanting to design their cemetery plot to remind her of their backyard & Caribbean, I know she has the murder trial ahead of her.  His grave site must step up to the plate & nurture her during darker days to come.
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Designing their backyard, they had asked for a Caribbean theme too.  And we put in a pool.  A portion, from the outdoor shower to the pool, thru a patch of lawn, has a checkerboard square.  Travertine surrounds the pool.  In addition I spent several sessions vision questing Caribbean cemeteries online.  She wanted the same travertine at the grave.



Our mason poured concrete, above, for the travertine.  I knew the grave site must have her palm trees, and his beloved red Japanese maples.  Turf for the checkerboard, and the small amount of groundcover, Big Blue liriope.  His eyes were the color of the Caribbean, stunning.  Sourcing  plants, below.



Studying Caribbean cemeteries it's obvious the pair of colors to use, green-white.



Ok, next, the seriousness of designing a garden for a nationally owned cemetery.  Layers of rules, and constraints.  I was given the name/number for the manager of the cemetery.   In addition, I wanted the garden design for the grave site to be malleable to input from her sister & brother.  No children, she's being supported emotionally by her siblings.
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A few days after giving her the garden design, she called & said it was good.  That's when I called and introduced myself to the manager of the cemetery.  Told him the constraints she had given me for the garden design, and more importantly, I was a team player.  Whatever the cemetery needed, I could abide by.  Happy to make changes.
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Sent the plan to him as an attachment, and a couple of weeks later, received approval.  Total approval.   Amazing, the plan went to their national headquarters, and passed, zero changes.
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During construction, met with the cemetery manager on site.  Graveyards are not what they used to be.  The section we worked in has irrigation for each grave.  You want, you pay.
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More, he said the room with casket display was being remodeled as a party room, with space for caterers.  And, more people are choosing cremation, causing his industry to change.



Cemetery allowed us to make a cut into the curb for entry, above.  Pair of red Japanese maples will be pruned into a bower arching over the entry.  Boxwood edging will be pruned to knee height.  A bench is on order, and soon, annuals will be planted at the entry.
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She will augment cemetery maintenance for the grave site with private.
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As hard as this grave site remains for her, cannot imagine the days she has yet to unfold, in the court room with his murderer.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

In Lieu of Green Meatballs

Friends in a 30+ year old home, with its original green meatball foundation planting mentioned taking them all out.  Wildly, I mentioned, Perhaps Not.  Especially since there are almost 40 green meatballs.  Plenty of scope for the imagination.
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Have fun with pruning for a couple of years, below.


Pic, above, here.

 
Pic, above, here.
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Oh my the challenge of those straight lines, and foliage from top to ground.  Bravo.
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Have no idea how these evergreens, above, are pruned.  I know I would have to pull several strings as guides, getting perfect perpendiculars and right angles.
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Anyway.  If your foundation plantings have become a morass of cliched green meatballs, perhaps a few perfectly formed green meatloafs?  For a change, and whimsy.
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT

Muse Answers the Right Questions Not Only those Asked

An interesting project is on my vintage portable wallpapering 'desk'.  Hired for their swimming pool, it has entirely too many plants.  The pool is rocking an outdoor kitchen, dining room, living room, huge Las Vegas style fire ring table, waterfalls, and other such things money can stuff into a small space.  My clients are the 2nd owners of the home.
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Knowing what to do with plantings directly at the pool didn't matter, Muse put the brakes on.  Client, a bonafide plant freak, has been pestering me, politely, about pool planting plan now-now-now.   Muse did not budge.  Finally, a few days ago, not thinking in the least about this pool/garden, Muse spoke and poured visuals into my realm.  Oh gosh.
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I sourced pics to print, and too wildly, discovered a couple of quotes directly related to this job.  Muse, for sure.  Made me laugh out loud in my office.
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Above the pool, built into a slope, is a lovely meadowed pasture rimmed with trees of our Piedmont.  Muse decided upon an orchard with summer house, exactly there.  I rather knew this at the 1st visit, but kept my mouth shut, I was hired for plantings at the pool.
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Muse decided upon simple Dutch styled gardens with heavy influences of Sir Edwin Lutyens & Frank Lloyd Wright.  If you know anything about both men, you know Frank baby stole shamelessly from Lutyens.  Bless his greedy heart, and his Muse for paying attention.  




Muse strayed provacatively throughout my clients entire property.  Their sloped front yard, must have a dry stack stone wall, and existing plantings streamlined into a nice Dutch/Lutyens/FLW.



This sloped property, above/below, owned by Matt Lauer & for sale, was Garden Designed by Miranda Brooks, it has 25 acres.  Seems like a lot of property to design, yet once started upon farmesque property even 300 acres isn't so much.  Crazy but true.






What a hoot, Muse.  Met with my client yesterday, she thought I had the completed pool planting plan, I did.  But that was the least of it.  Spilled the beans with her about Muse and why the pool plantings, in the scheme of things, are minor, compared to where her garden wants to go.
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More, client is a bit past age 50, Muse has spoken for her 80 year old self.
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Simple hedging, above, exactly the Dutch/Lutyens/FLW inspired work Muse vision quested into my head.
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At this point in the game husbands are very afraid of me.  If they brave it out, most do, they begin in later years to ask their wives, "What does Tara's Muse say about.......?"
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Muse is shocking in the most delightful of ways.  Finished, finally, a plan in Canada several weeks ago.  Muse was obdurate with it too.  I know to trust Muse, but it does begin to feel like life on a banana peel, awaiting the magic.  Back to Canada, a tiny minuscule garden.  Knew what to do, but Muse wouldn't let loose.  Finally.  Muse fixed their problematic deck.  Levels and size were involved which meant zoning issues.  Whew, Muse pushed it but all was approved.  Needed a Facetime appointment with owner of their construction team.  Loved him.  Loved.  Like the men on my team, taking what is designed and adding their magic/Muse too.
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Built gardens are a team effort.
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Don't have a garden Muse?  Read the best garden books written from across centuries, and tour gardens that are the best in the world.  Garden Muse adores that type of sustenance most.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T
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All pics, here.  

Foundation Planting vs. Eco/Sustainable/Nature

There is a broader horizon for foundations.
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Builders must receive a certificate of occupancy ahead of selling a new construction home.  Most USA jurisdictions have a minimal landscaping requirement for that certificate of occupancy: square footage of lawn, number of bushes, and number of trees.  Builders are doing their job, it's not on them to change standards.
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Beyond that outline the types/placement of bushes/trees is not defined further.  Decades pass, the builder's landscaping remains.  No concern for trees to shade in summer/warm in winter/block winter winds reducing HVAC expense and increasing property value, mature growth that won't break foundations/walks/drives/rot roofs or siding.
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Civic duty is met, a baseline standard, and keep it tidy.  Little relation to eco, sustainable, Nature.  That trinity is ours to define.  One of life's great gifts, if we take it.
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Centuries before American foundation plantings, there were gardens, below.
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A garden design course, below, in a single photo.
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Better, eco/sustainable/Nature.  Increasing lifestyle & property value.
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Pic, above, here.
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This garden, above, feels like it's been let out of the jail of foundation plantings.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Garden Design: What Change Would You Make?

Simple, but huge, change I want to make in the garden, below.  Any changes you want to make?
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With zero knowledge of site constraints, I'll sail ahead with this single Garden Design layer.
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If I knew the site, I may not make the change at all, or make the change bolder.
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A 1910 farmhouse with a loving family, this home exudes happiness & grace.  Our ca. 1900 white home is symmetrical inside, central hall 9' wide/50' long with 3 rooms off each side, excepting the exterior is asymmetrical.  I really want to open their front door, architectural curiosity.
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So.  Have you concluded with your Garden Design session, below?  


Pic, above, here.
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This home, above, has a website, here.  They are homeschooling their children.  A huge & brave choice.  
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On their website it mentions 'he' likes DIY projects, and there's proof he's quite good at it.  He could install my changes, easily.  This home is classic with centuries of architectural roots across Europe.
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Before I tell you my changes, what are your changes?
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Again, I don't know their site, but if it is indeed a farmhouse, aka having a bit of property, my change will suit.
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Move the foundation plantings, add steps around entire front porch.  Yes, across entire front and at both sides.  Poof, form/function.  The house just grew in architecture, classically, and use.
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Notice their bunting is reflected in the windows?  Marvelous.
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Tag line for their website, above, Jesus, Life, Beauty, Simplicity.  Adore a mission statement.  A dear friend is homeschooling her 2 precious children.  Their home is living the same tag line.  Soon, before going to her home, I'll have to ask for the cliff notes of what they're studying, just to be up to speed !
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Separate from homeschooling, I'm noticing a huge difference in client's young children that began about 2-3 years ago.  They are calm & normal, not needy, similar to eras many decades ago.  Finally put my finger on the 'change'.  Little to zero 'baby sitting' with cell phone/ipad.  Ya'll know I'm a woman with infertility and if I notice a change, it's a whopper.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T  

Styling: Eddie Ross

Immediately obvious, below, good staging/styling.  Expected in the 80's, rare in the teens.  So rare, I stopped to read the article, and discover who styled it.  Eddie Ross, for Better Homes & Gardens magazine.  Had the good fortune, lecturing in Virginia moons ago, to have dinner with Eddie & his partner Jaithan Kochar.  Total knock out pair of men, many layers of talent.


Pic, above, here.

Had to smile at their caption, above.  No cooking for me at a party, instead, choosing stewardship of guests & self.  Aka, having a great time.  In addition, choosing stewardship of cleaning/dishes after a party, I don't want guests cleaning, am wildly selfish wanting play time with them.  Cleaning after guests leave, using the time to give thanks, enjoying thoughts of party conversations.  Cleaning as a focused form of stewardship.
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Friend, client, mentor, Mary Kistner had the best lunches, often for just the 2 of us.  Always a well thought out menu, plates/glasses, floral arrangement, music, and a neighbor hired to serve, clear, clean.  Time with Mary was always sparking.  Our Muse's in fabulous dance.  


Pic, above. here.

My 80's 'eye' wants to put a rock under the right side of the pot with the gorgeous hydrangea, above.


Pic, above, here.
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Sublime color trinity, above, blues/grays/whites with subsidiary oxblood.  More great advice in a caption, above, but won't be using cut branches from our field, our guys saw a 3" diameter copper head snake last Friday.  
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

In the Garden: Rosemary for Remembrance

Living rural, going to town, the print shop specifically, is a community hub.  Who knew?  I go a lot.  Luckily most of what I need can be emailed, and ready for pick-up.    Living rural, the people you see at the print shop are the same in the grocery store, entertainments at the town square, restaurants, DAR meetings, antique shops, garden tours, church, etc.
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For the 2 years living rural I've had the good fortune of having a talented, cheerful young woman help me at the print shop. She's not true to the reputation of her era.  Early 20's, married, young child, working full-time and taking college classes, no sense of entitlement, just buckup, get it done.  A few weeks ago she suffered a loss, her grandfather.  Rutt roh, I knew it would be bad, having lost my much too dear grandmother at age 22.  Soon discovered her grandfather practically raised her.  Ugh.
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Had to get her a rosemary plant.  Rosemary is for remembrance.  I know she likes to cook, rosemary is evergreen and blooms in winter.  Her rosemary became a hunt, finally stopped at a small local nursery I've passed for 2 years, no time to investigate, now on mission-rosemary.  They had plenty & on sale.  It was hard, but walked out of the shop with a single rosemary.  My garden still not at the planting rosemary layer.  Patience.  Plant too soon, and I know it will have to be moved.  Her rosemary, at my house before gifting, needing watering/sun, placed on a porch table, its scent strong in the breeze.  Moved away from quite a few mature rosemary, dear friends each.  It's been difficult not going back to the nursery for more.



Pic, above, here.

"I plant rosemary all over the garden, so pleasant is it to know that at every few steps one may draw the kindly branchlets through one's hand, and have the enjoyment of their incomparable incense,and I grow it against walls, so that the sun may draw out its inexhaustible sweetness to greet me as I pass."  Gertrude Jekyll

 
Pic, above, here.

Rosemary is deer proof, and insect/drought tolerant.
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"Flowers could signify a personal friend as well as a distant hero. William Gordon wrote George Washington (1732-1799) in 1786, “Shall I endeavor to furnish your garden…with flowers & plants that may keep up the remembrance of an absent friend.” "

"Becoming a gardener helped a person understand the cycle of life & death.."
 From Barbara Wells Sarudy.

 
Pic, above, here.

Anticipation is great, where rosemary will be planted at my ca. 1900 home.
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More than giving rosemary for remembrance, I hope it's an invitation to her own garden.  A friend awaiting her, a friend that will help her grieve her grandfather, no matter where she gardens in the future, her garden will always be there, supporting her through all the years she'll be without her grandfather, and future losses awaiting their turn at her doorstep.
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"A garden is a grand teacher....Above all it teaches entire trust."  Gertrude Jekyll
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Still Life in the Mission Statement

Part of my personal Garden Design mission statement includes having the accoutrements of gardening look like a Still Life where ever they may be set, zero effort, just-is.  Rarely used, this farmer's hat stays in my mobile office, aka little ugly van, at all times, it came out in the rains last week at a pair of jobsites.  Today there is time to get it stowed properly.





Had to get paint last weekend, above, for a triplet of chairs found for the harvest table.  This particular tableau, above, perhaps the most honest literal translation of USA gardening in the macro.  Seeds to the left, plant killers to the right.  Of course plenty of pollinator killers to choose from too.  Can't make this stuff up.  Providence is paying attention.



Sourcing plants last weekend, above.  Antique shop, where I bought the chairs mentioned earlier, next door to the nursery.  Jobsite receiving the palms, above, first of its type for me, raw & emotional.  Will write about it soon.

  

Came home from a jobsite, above, last week with a gift of  bounty.

  

Pomegranates forming beautifully, above.  Never had a pomegranate until moving into this ca. 1900 house 2 years ago.



Two nites ago, above, dinner on the back deck, homemade lemon pie, and the year's first use of the Haviland 'Morning Glory' china.  Small token of appreciation to Providence, switching of chinas/ironstones, honoring His seasons.



Chickens, above, enjoying first fruits of vegetable garden.  Me enjoying them, every day.  There is no waste from the kitchen.  Toting them scraps last week, I got nailed.  "Toast?", "They like it toasted.", was my best answer.  Chicken Whisperers, understand completely.  Why do I like chickens?  They are wildly amusing, and deeply calming.

    

We had cause to close the back door last week, 1st time ever.  It's on-the-list, but until then it's rather interesting.  This had been the original back porch, where I stood to take the pic, enclosed ca. 1960'ish.  The original roof line here, deep, extremely deep.  Facing south west, it never had the sun.  Fifty foot central hall, 11' ceilings, 4 coal fireplaces, front porch deep/wide facing east, this house was rocking it ca. 1900.  Taking advantage of initial design details led me to think brilliantly.  Writing soon, about that brilliant thinking, many clients have it too, & better labeled, Danger Will Robinson.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T