Creating that special place to sit

Sometimes a well-placed seat can offer a totally new perspective.

“Holy Swiss cheese! Does it feel good to sit down!” I’ll bet you’ve once said something similar (ok, maybe hold the cheese). For anyone who is vertical most of the day (restaurant and retail folks, hair stylists, etc.), you must take a load off now and then or you won’t make it through the day. For those wise enough to tune in, you’ll recall that recently I wrote about circulation design and moving about in the garden. Today’s topic: Sitting you butt amongst beauty!

The type of seating I’m talking about in this post is a little different. Think of it as meditative sitting or finding a place in your garden where you can see what surrounds you from a new perspective. Or maybe you just try to become invisible if you’re still enough and let nature come closer.

Whenever I create a design for a client, I always try to find a spot where I can tuck in a little bench or maybe even a covered swing. If the property is large enough, I try to suggest a narrow footpath that leads to a secret place where they can hide from the world (or their kids) or where they can close their eyes and open their ears. With some creative planting or just preservation of existing vegetation, this place can be the perfect spot to enjoy their garden from a new perspective.

Even if yours is a smaller garden, it’s still quite simple to do this. Ours is a property that is only around .2 acres and last time I counted (a few minutes ago), we had 5 different places from which I could chill, read a book, or just be the garden. Which of these I choose depends on the season, the time of day, or my mood. In the middle of summer, I love sitting on a slightly raised bench and watch the koi in our pond nearly beach themselves as they zero in on the last morsel of food.

I love to sit on this bench and watch the fish. Be close to the elements you enjoy most.

Before the mosquitos take over, we love to drop down into the Adirondack chairs that are nestled in a small alcove in our front yard and enjoy a nice beverage, listen to the birds, or watch the squirrels act squirrely. This is possible thanks to a hedge of abelia that is just tall enough to hide us from view from the street, at least I think it hides us.

As far as actual style and materials go for garden seating, it’s wide open. We once had to take a large oak down that was dying only about 10’ from our house. I had a section saved and talked to a buddy of mine who was much more chainsaw-savvy than I was into carving out the perfect bench. It eventually rotted away but it was so cool while it lasted. We also have old seats from our former minor-league baseball stadium that I snarfed up before the bulldozers arrived. These are still around even though it took me a couple of years to realize the need to keep them protected from the weather (they never saw a drop of rain under the cover of the grandstand.

Salvaged seats from our long-gone minor league baseball stadium. (Good news! A new downtown stadium opens next spring!)

Our “trunk bench” on the left. Glider (right) sitting in its own mini-garden.

So, there isn’t much groundbreaking, scientific information here but just some easy garden advice (which is what I am best at). Look around your outdoors and see where you would like to spend a little more time and picture how you might create a small sit-down spot. Even if it means doing a bit of redesign, I promise it will be worth the effort.

Till next time,

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