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"Possibility and promise greet me each day as I walk out into my garden. My vigor is renewed when I breathe in the earthiness and feel the dirt between my fingers. My garden is a peaceful spot to refresh my soul." Meems






Welcome to my Central Florida Garden Blog where we garden combining Florida natives, Florida-Friendly plants, and tropicals.

Sunday, August 31, 2014

A Simple Bench

I find myself prefacing every new garden story I tell lately with "one of the first things I did in the new garden..." Truth is, I worked so fast and so steadily for an intense 10 weeks starting June 1. It seems like everything all together at once was "one of the first things I did in the new garden." lol
"Before" the seating area was added.
Truly though "one of the first things I did" was to create some cozy, homey spots in the garden. Seating is one of the simple ways to do it. I moved a lot of benches and chairs over to our new garden from the old one. If you are new to the story of how we moved next door you can read the back story here
The fire pit seating area in the new garden. It's like a big family room.
The old garden had several nooks and crannies for seating groups and places to rest or relax. This one? Not so much. Most of the chairs and seats were moved from the old garden to the new fire pit area positioned to surround the pit. It served as a holding area of sorts until I could spread out the seating to other parts of the garden.
"Before" the seating was added, but after the grass was covered with mulch.
In a future post I'll chronicle the new mulched pathways that links three large planting beds together to create a better flow. Once the grass was eliminated here a simple bench and rearranging the containers was all it needed to elevate the vignette from mediocre to cozy. 

I borrowed this bench from the fire pit holding area to give it a permanent new home. This location is around a corner so to speak and sits in the shade most of the morning and in the sun later in the day.

I used the same potted plants I had tucked in among the existing cordylines and palmettos in the large bed behind it. They came out farther now that the mulch broadened the space and they nestled up to the bench on each side to complete the scene. 
"After" photo 
You can see the difference a simple bench can make if you compare the first photo with this last photo. It altered this now cozy vignette from a sterile out of the way place to an alive mini-focal point. Easy peasy. 

I'm having fun making this garden a home. I hope you're enjoying your last days of summer. Meems

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8 comments:

  1. Very nice as always. Your hard work is paying off as you create yet another lovely garden.

    Have a nice day and a great week ~ Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's been a very fun challenge Lorraine... Once I got in the swing of it. Thank you. Meems

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  2. Yes, one needs seating in various areas so you can rest while out pulling weeds, I mean gardening. :) This looks very inviting.

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    Replies
    1. Or at the very least a place to plop the weeds when your hands get too full Lisa.

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  3. So inviting! I don't have one cotton-pickin' place to sit in my garden! I guess because I'm not much of a sitter. ;0) Enjoy your vista!

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  4. You're creating some lovely areas to sit and admire the garden. Always very important :-) .

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  5. Meems, it's looking really great. You're creating another oasis in Florida my friend.

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  6. I caught the article and thought I would shamelessly plug our site which offers many teak benches at less than $200. We also have various adirondack chairs as pictured.

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Have a blessed day,
Meems


September 2010

Back Garden: October 2010

Louise Philippe: Antique Rose

Tropical Pathway