Click here for past issues of the Globe Magazine, dating back to June 22, 1997

Letters to the Magazine editor:
Mail can be sent to Letters to the Editor, The Boston Globe, P.O. Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378. The email address is [email protected] or use our form.

Branching in

A good garden ornament, say Jane and Crozer Fox, can also work its magic indoors.

Dual passions - gardening and interior design - inspired Jane and Crozer Fox to launch a business dedicated to blurring the line between the two. Their Essex shop, Tuohy and Meade - named for their mothers' families - is an Aladdin's cave of garden furnishings, topiaries, and household objects for any landscape, outdoors or in.

Housed in a small red barn on Main Street, the shop has a mix of high-end antiques, yard-sale specials, new handcrafted items, and architectural salvage. The old pieces - trellises, fountains, finials, iron gates, columns, urns - wear their rust and peeling paint like badges of honor. "We don't take the age out of a piece," says Jane. "It adds texture and richness that's great anywhere, especially inside the house."

Since Tuohy and Meade opened five years ago, the business has grown in scope. The Foxes now take on interior and landscape design projects, consult on other designers' work, and style catered events with pieces from their shop, anything from antique limestone cherubs representing the four seasons to an iron plant stand shaped like a cello.

Both Jane and Crozer brought skills from their work in boating to the current venture. Crozer was a boat builder. His yard, Able Marine in Southwest Harbor, Maine, had a world-class reputation. "Cro's creative, great with his hands," says Jane. "He can repair anything, and he makes a wonderful line of garden bugs." The bugs Jane refers to - grasshoppers, dragonflies, daddy longlegs - are whimsical copper ornaments designed and fabricated by Crozer.

Jane was in retail, "in ships' stores, purchasing and displaying merchandise," she says. "That's how I learned my approach to design." It's a style one client enthusiastically describes as "effervescent, fizzing with energy. The house invades the garden, and the garden invades the house."

Lately, Jane has noticed a new sophistication in the way people use garden furnishings, whether they're intended for interior or exterior landscapes. "It has to do with the explosion of interest in gardening," she says. "People add accessories to dress up and personalize their gardens. Then they realize that winter lasts too long. They want to enjoy the garden year-round. That's where we can help. We show them that gardens don't have to stop at the front door."