Gorgeous at Christmas: Marble House
A special holiday treat I like to give myself is a stroll through Marble House in early December; it truly puts me in a festive mood. With 500,000 cubic feet… Read More
Living with Style
It’s Beginning to feel a lot like Christmas
I was thrilled for many reasons to return to Texas this month for a talk and book signing at the magnificent sixty-six acre Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden. But little… Read More
A Fashionable Garden: the Texas Rose Festival
I may not have made it to England for garden tripping this year (or last) but a visit to the Texas Rose Festival in Tyler was the next best thing!… Read More
Fall Decorating 2021: Part 2
Last week’s blog “Fall Decorating 2021: Part 1” highlighted fall decorations for the outdoors, including the front door and other chosen spots around the grounds of Parterre. Today, I’m focusing… Read More
A Tuscan Retreat: Castello di Reschio
Tranquil…Secluded…Peaceful. Atop a tree-shrouded series of hills that had once been its own independent fiefdom under the direct influence of the Holy Roman Empire, an eleventh century castle has been… Read More
Anticipating Fall
It’s October 12th and I’m off to Tyler, Texas for their annual (and much-celebrated) Rose Festival. This rose lover has been counting the days. And by the time I return,… Read More
Newport’s Clarendon Court
Clarendon Court (1904) represents everything the words elegant, classical and sublime bring to mind. In this important Newport residence, there is the added distinction of a noted Gilded Age architect,… Read More
Provence: Le Mas des Poiriers
During this bridge month of late August into mid-September, when the gardens are a bit tired (especially after a mini-hurricane), I‘m remembering a garden from Instagram that has long intrigued… Read More
Pampered Pets of Private Newport, 2021
I take great delight in coincidences. For example, this annual blog which usually caps off August, the last post of the last month of summer. When scouting the many photo… Read More
Champ Soleil, a 17th Century-Style French Chateau
By any measure, 1929 was not an auspicious year…except, perhaps, in Newport. For that was the year that an exquisite version of the hunting lodge at Versailles, La Lanterne, was designed… Read More