patios

**Saxon Holt s*@saxonholt.com**

> Do we have someone here who's an expert on patio gardens?  I need to quote
> one for an article in The Grapevine, a MD lifestyle magazine.

Not sure what an "expert" is but I photographed a wonderful book: "Small
Patios: Simple Projects, Contemporary Designs" (Chronicle Books 2001) that
was written by Hazel White.  There is no better book in my mind and I can
send you a copy if you wish.  You probably do not want my expertise and
since Hazel is not on this list and writes so beautifully I will quote from
the opening of the book:

" The desire to live outdoors grows as our homes and cities become crowded
and work takes place more and more indoors.  But the desire is fickle.  We
leave the comfort of the house only perhaps if we see sunlight playing over
the seat of an outdoor chair and a trumpet vine's flowers blowing soft and
rosy in the air.  A patio needs a special quality.  To set our feet in
motion, it must be convivial like an outdoor room and yet also be open to
the flowers, trees, and sky.  Then we are drawn irresistibly by the
adventure of finding a sheltered place in the wild, a tug so strong that
it's probably written in our bones."

And how about this zinger:

"Patios connect us to the wild: to the breeze scented with the heat or
moisture blowing in off the hills, to the cycles of sunlight and darkness,
and to our memories of childhood.  They also connect us to our gardens.
Lured first by the chance to read or sleep in the sun on the patio, we start
to daydream and putter ... "

Saxon Holt

Saxon Holt Photography
Gardens and Ornamental Horticulture
415-898-8880
http://www.saxonholt.com

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