Portobello Design: Charlotte Moss: A Conversation and her new book GARDEN INSPIRATIONS

"Setting the table each meal with a tablecloth, flowers from the garden, and a mix of china makes every meal beautiful and enjoyable." "Summertime is picnic time; and the table on my terrace in the country has replaced the picnic tables of my childhood but not the memories."

"This is Charlotte Moss"...

I took a breath, sat up straighter and said,

"Good Morning."

Her voice was rich, generous, of a life well lived, full of grace, full of class as only a Southern woman could possess. You knew from the onset the conversation would be her pouring out of her knowledge, sharing. I was an observer at the hand of a master, lector, gardener, preservationist, designer, friend.

Her book Garden Inspirations is gorgeous and personal. There is no pretense, it's a master artist giving it all away, encouraging you to "erase the fear", breathe, live, enjoy, see, do. To observe the world with an eye of a collector ... bringing beauty into the everyday.

My son asked me one day, "If you could meet anyone who would it be?" A tall order and I had a short list, and honestly Ms. Moss was on the top of it. Not as a groupie, but as one who could just follow her around throughout a day, Observe Learn Absorb. At the end of our conversation I thanked her for the privilege, for I feel I did just that, and it was no less affecting or inspirational because it was over the phone.

Come, spend a day following her around: her garden, her home, and meet the ladies and the gardens around the world that inspire her. With 250 stunning photos, Garden Inspirations is a gorgeous table top book that should be read and then read again. Pour over it, observe it, and apply it. Follow in the hands of a master designer and live beautifully.

"At the end of a design project I always tell my clients

to throw a big party...

enjoy every room with your family and friends."

"Southern hospitality is everything you have heard, read about,

and experienced... but the Key is YOU.

Put every bit of yourself in the details and it will be noticed

and appreciated..."

"Good housekeeping is the foundation to everything."

Terracotta towers are filled with herbs in the kitchen garden or potager. While roses trail across the top of the fence with honeysuckle intertwined. Don't you love the gorgeous crushed shelled path! Sigh. My family would know where to find me, I would never want to leave this gorgeous garden.

"As I walk from room to room in East Hampton, I see that the garden, in its very subtle way,

has made a path that leads to every room.

I think gardens just have a way of doing that while you are not looking."

"I think I came by gardening naturally. The visuals of my grandmother's house are still so clear: flowers and plants in the house, a sun porch full of plants, and many of them

grown from cuttings. This is what surrounded me and

sparked my curiosity as a child."

Gilles Guillot, the head gardener of the Prieure Notre-Dame d'Orsan, France was commissioned to weave willow benches, and frames for the espalier. Isn't it stunning!

"Creating a garden means giving consideration to the house, it's aspect, the views from the windows, the places you will sit outside, the paths leading from one place to the next, and what will greet you at the front door."

"I have been traveling to and visiting gardens for many years. I have photographed every detail so I can carry them back home to revisit time and time again. Every garden has a story.

Some have a way of getting under my skin."

"We MUST have roses"

"Decorating is a foot note to real life for me,

a means to an end: living well."

"The best decorating advice I received came from my father,

who wasn't a designer but a colonel, he told me to observe. Observing never cost a dime and it really opens up your eyes allowing you to 'see'."

Create alternate locations in your garden for En Plein Air dining at it's best

"...There is no single formula for successful entertaining.

I believe that the intangible, or in other words, the ambiance,

is just as important in entertaining as it is in the grand scheme of decorating or gardening..."

"...and, lastly PRACTICE...

Setting the table is everyday decorating. How do you except to have a successful dinner parties, luncheons, or tailgate picnics if you are not doing it every day for yourself and family? You must first be hospitable to yourself"