I have a couple of benches set up in two of the garden areas. I don't get to sit on them as much as I'd like, but I do sit on them. I've most often sat with my wife and talked. Of course, I'm sitting there seeing a weed that needs to be pulled or a bloom that needs to be deadheaded and I'm not often able to rest or relax. Still, I like being able to share the garden with someone who likes it almost as much as I do.

One of my sons hangs out on the garden bench all the time. Our recently departed cat used to be especially partial to the bench in the front garden.

First I was going to say no. Then I remembered a few times I have sat in the swing, but I can't see much of the garden from there. Then hoovb mentioned recovery. Oh, yes, I do sit in the garden -- gasping for breath, gulping Gatorade and desperately trying to cool down, hoping I'm not having a heat stroke. But, Paula, you make me wonder if I'll ever just sit in my garden and admire what I have created. I guess I should make a point to do just that, shouldn't I? It should be a requirement for gardeners, i.e., raise your right hand and say after me, "I promise to sit in my garden and admire what I have created."

Sherry

P.S. I'm not comfortable with being a "creator". Sounds like a job above my pay grade. I would amend the vow to say "admire what I have labored in/at". Yeah, that sounds better.

Sherry, having seen your "before" and "after" pictures, you have my heartfelt permission to say "created". I think we can all agree on that. I doubt that I'd have the energy to plant a dandelion in your heat/humidity, not to speak of all the landscaping you did in your front yard.

Ingrid

Tut tut, Ingrid, there you go complimenting me again. It was an exhilarating time and an amazing experience, but it must have been someone else. I can see where old gardeners in their old gardens could sit and muse for hours on all the creating and laboring that went before. Truly, a garden is a creation, just not a six-day one. A lifetime creation to savor and to dream in and to cherish all the souvenirs of life. Hmmm, maybe it won't be such a bad thing to be an old gardener.

Sherry

I'm enjoying this post----Due to several surgeries my gardening is very limited but I do enjoy sitting in different areas and enjoying the birds and the blooms----

I've had to learn how to just LOOK at all the things that need to be done---Of course my garden would never make it in a magazine but I enjoy what is left of it and happy to be able to do that.

Plus I enjoy all the pictures of the lovely gardens here on GW---

Thanks to all of you for creating your gorgeous gardens--

Florence

The only time I ever sit in the garden is when I am sitting right on the ground (or on a pillow on the ground), usually under a rose, determined to do a good job on the small patch that I can reach from that spot.
And every time the same nursery rhyme pops into my mind and makes me laugh at myself:
"Litte Polly Flinder,
sat among the cinders,
warming her pretty little toes...."

The only time I have to sit down is when my husband is serving a meal that he has cooked - he hates it if I am not ready and waiting to admire his masterpiece:-). We eat a lot of dinners outside (though not right now), and sometimes breakfasts too. Other than that, never. There is always something to be done (weeding, tying a stray branch, making sure the mulch is not too thin). What attracts me to roses in particular is that they are so changeable - this one is growing a new basal, this has three buds on a cane that only had one bloom last time, this one is sending out new laterals, but this one is not, this one needs deadheading, this bloom is still fragrant and this has brown edges. I can't find the time to sit down...

Masha

Well, I also have a few benches scattered around strategically and I end up collapsing in them after pruning or deadheading, but I'm not much for sitting around relaxing. There's always a weed or two that demands pulling or countless roses that need deadheading or fertilizing or the grandchild that I'm now raising that must be driven somewhere or cats demanding food or rescuing from other bully neighborhood cats that somehow I just never find the time to just sit :(. Strange that I've been 'retired' for 4 years now and I'm busier now that ever. I swear next Spring I WILL sit a spell and just read a book on one of those delightful benches.
-terry

I don't have a seat yet, but eventually I'd like a small table and chairs just outside my kitchen so that we can sit out there and enjoy it while we eat dinner or breakfast or whatever.

I obviously need to get a birdbath, stat, so I can see hummers taking baths!

Rarely. Somtimes I sit on the grass, or lie under a shrub staring out and pretending to be a cat. A lot of my garden experience lies in a vague zone between wandering around and looking on the one hand, and working on the other: look and pull a few weeds; look and prune a shrub. It can morph in either direction. It's a highly inefficient strategy for getting tasks done, but not bad at all as a way to "live" the garden.
Melissa

I've six paved areas to sit in the garden and use them all according to the season. There are three places for eating outside in sun or shade, a bench in the shade of a plum tree, two chairs for admiring the kitchen garden, two chairs for sitting where the last rays of the sun hit the wall behind and deck chairs on the grass under an apple tree. There are other benches, odd chairs and stools elsewhere as well as on the balcony. I can seat at least 30 people comfortably and I also have a table and chairs for children. If I have to make room for more people I can take out some plastic furniture as well. It may seem excessive for a halfacre garden but it has been useful for open gardens when people bring their own lunch or coffee. And if we are only the family we can sit wherever we want without having to drag a chair there.

It's extremely rare for me to sit down in the garden. Some of the benches I haven't touched for years. There is a favorite spot at the very top of the garden with a beautiful view where Michael and I sit once in a while. The other day I put on a pedometer and walked all the paths. It added up to a half mile.

Yes! I keep a folding camp chair in the garage so I can take advantage of whatever shade there is for admiring a view. I am way too old not to stop and smell the roses.

I love to. I have a cedar swing i just bought this past summer and i love it. I also have 2 Adirondack chairs to have coffee in. And i have a hammock to rest in too. My favorite thing to do in the garden is to just sit and stare. Thats how all the decisions regarding my garden get made!

I love sitting on one of the garden benches in the garden - try to do it every day during the growing season. The only problems is that I always end up spotting something that has to be done and end up jumping up and pulling a weed, deadheading a bush, pruning a 'gangly', etc. It helps to take a glass of wine or cup of coffee to the bench and then promise yourself you won't get up until the glass is empty! Here's one of my benches:

{{gwi:211295}}

Yes, occasionally. We have a bricked patio area behind the house with a bench. The patio is surrounded by rose beds, and at times in the Spring or Fall we drag out tables & chairs and have luncheons or tea parties there. Shade is provided by a tall rose arbor/arch with Sombreuil growing on it.

Also there is a side garden with a birdbath in the middle of a circular bed, surrounded by a circular path, with large rose bushes on the outside. It is sheltered from the street & neighbors. There is a bench there where I sit and eat lunch on occasion. Sometimes birds come and take baths while I am there. Of course, like everyone else I see all of the work that needs to be done, but I don't worry about it too much. I love this little garden because I had nothing to do with planning it - it is a remnant of the formal garden planned by my husband's ancestors long ago. All we did was add the birdbath and plant low growing shade plants around it. There are huge overgrown garden bushes (10 feet high by 15 feet wide) on the perimeter of this garden - they have been there forever. I nave noticed that they bloom in sequence, are fragrant, and some bear berries in the Winter - so the garden plans made in the 1920s and 30s are still making the garden magic.

Jackie

Karen, how beautiful. I especially admire the color scheme of the plants you've chosen. It's harmonious but with enough difference in the colors to avoid sameness. That's more difficult to do than one might think. The design of the paved area is very effective aesthetically and practically. Great job!

Ingrid

I have a few benches myself; and a porch swing....but seldom sit, except, as others have said, periodically to keep down the chance of heat exhaustion.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Musings Blog

Thank you Ingrid. Your kind words are very much appreciated!

I have benches placed around my garden. And sometimes I make a point to sit, but like others have said, it's usually just for a small break.

However - most of the back of my house has large windows (almost no windows in the front), and every morning I pull the curtains back and sit in the bed, drinking coffee and looking at that area of the garden. Then, if I am not exhausted from gardening, I exercise in a back room where I use that time to also look at that part of the garden. I get more enjoyment that way, because, although I can still see the weeds, I do not feel obliged to do something about them immediately.

No one else that comes to my house even notices the garden from those windows, even if they are in those rooms. I find it strange, as that is all my attention is drawn to!

I don't do it as often as I'd like to, but in the spring and summer I'll take breaks from working (either in the garden or working at my computer at home) and go sit on one of my two benches or in a chair by my garden table. I have carefully sited the seating for different purposes -- one to view the garden in the sun but not for long, one nestled in the shade and more private for sitting outside longer, and my table/chairs for having meals or propping up some reading material... But I don't do that very often!

Quite often

"Almost every day. Though "admire" is not the right word..."recover" from what ever digging/trimming I've just done is more like it."
Heh heh.

Not any more.

I used to sit in my garden all of the time. It's easier to chill out if you have a Marlboro Red dangling from your lower lip and an icy cold Bud Light in your hand with another eleven of them waiting for you in the fridge.

These days I dig til I drop. Or screw up my elbow again, whichever comes first.

Renee

Oh- Love love love your garden, Karenforroses. I want to climb that little staircase in the background to find out what's up there after I sit on your bench.

I bought most of my benches and a table and chairs with me from England when I moved. That was a much larger garden, and fitting them all in to this tiny garden took some thought.
It does mean though, that it is only a few steps between them, and I can view the garden from every angle.
This is brilliant for planning a planting scheme, as I can sit and stare at the area from one angle, and then move to another seat, to check that what I have in mind will work from that viewpoint as well.
Even though it is a tiny garden, I am trying to split it up into separate mini gardens. The side of the garden rises up through two little terraces.
On the top mini terrace I have placed a big armchair. This gives me views, down over the rest of the garden, with the Mediterranean beyond.
On the next terrace, my wonderful husband has built me a bower with a bench underneath, and Sombrieul climbing over it. This looks over, what will be my lily pond eventually, through a short pergola, into what I have called my winter garden. This micro garden, has my rocking chair in it. It is placed where it will catch the winter sunshine.
At the top of the garden, my husband built another little bower. This one I have planted Marechal Neil each side, plus two Stephanotis, plus Clematis viticella Polish Spirit at the back!!!! Goodness knows how I am going to cope that lot when they are all mature!
Finally, on the patio, I have a table and chairs. This I sit at every morning, with my first cup of tea. We also eat most meals there everyday. The patio is covered by yet another bower. This one has two Colombian Climbers, an unknown rose with a gorgeous scent, that I found on a local market stall, a Jasmine, a Mandevilla laxa, two Clematis viticella Perle d'Azur, and two! pink Bouganvillas.
Yes I know, I am very greedy!
When we have finished all the paving, I would like to put yet another small bench or chair by the front door, next to Abraham Darby.
I make the excuse, that now I am retired, I can take more time to just sit and stare.
Daisy

I have 3 lovely benches, a long picnic table with benches under the shade of our ancient maples, a swing, a group of 3 raised beds with a seat board all around them and a rocker for two on the front porch - and where do I sit most? On my back steps, usually after a long, tiring and sweaty gardening session. It's shady and cool there in the afternoon and from that slightly elevated spot with Rosa Glauca swaying up high in the breeze to my left I can hear both fountains burbling and watch the birds enjoying the water, while overlooking some of the best of my gardens. I think of it as my reward for all that hard work that went just before. But why do I sit there on the old wooden steps when the swing is right beside me? Well, in a way I am snatching a few minutes of time on my way into the house to clean up. Maybe because they are stolen moments, they seem all the more precious. The dog can lay down on the top step next to me and I can lean against her warm solid body, petting her absently while I take in the view and relax my sore joints and muscles. It's an "Ahhhh!" moment. ;-)
Another place I love to sit and enjoy the outdoor view is the screened-in dining porch on the side of my house. In the summer when it's too hot to be outside working in the gardens it is my favorite place for reading, lounging (as in napping!) looking and listening - one is almost outdoors, but with all the comforts of inside.

I've been in Annececilia's lovely garden, and petted her sweet dog, but I'm always too busy looking at her beautiful roses to sit down anywhere!

Renee, if you went up the stairs in the background (in my garden) you'd find more roses, of course!

I have a small patio, but it lacks any sense of privacy so we have never used it.

I like to sit on the front or back stoop (tiny porch-like area) and read the paper, drink coffee, watch the birds and the bees, and enjoy the scents from the garden.

*** views, down over the rest of the garden, with the Mediterranean beyond. ***

Daisy, can you hear me wailing all the way in Crete?? Where are your photos??? And bowers?? You have multiple bowers of roses, clematis and more, but you you haven't shown us? Just your reference to a bower has sparked an answer to my E Veyrat Hermanos "problem", so I'm sure a photo would do wonders!

Everyone's resting moments sound so poetic and lovely. Annececelia, I love your dog. I wish mine would sit with me on the step, but when she's outside, she's in hunting mode and gone.

Sherry

I forgot to mention where I sit most often - on the mossy top of the unused well. The smaller grandchildren love to plonk pebbles through the hole in the concrete cover and listen to the splash.

Sherry, sorry but I haven't taken any photos worth posting yet.
None of the steps or paving have been laid yet.
The lily pond is just a hole in the ground, with a pile of soil next to it.
There are still loads of plants in pots scattered around the garden, waiting for their area to be ready.
Tools and equipment are everywhere.
The finished garden is beautiful in my head, but the present reality, is messy.
As soon as the pond is built, and the paving completed, I will take loads of photos. Promise.

Hollygarden, I too have visitors, who don't seem to "see" the garden.
I am fortunate, that most people tell me that it is a lovely garden, but occasionally someone will visit who doesn't notice it at all.
It reminds me of a time soon after I had moved to Cornwall and my sister came to visit. She had never been to Cornwall before and asked me to show her the area. It was a lovely sunny day, and I drove around that beautiful county for a couple of hours. All the way she was chatting about family matters, and made no remark at all about the beauty we were seeing!
When we returned home, I asked her about one or two outstandingly beautiful places we had seen. She replied that she did not notice them, and in fact could only remember humdrum things like roadworks from our entire trip.
I must admit, I cannot understand people like that at all, but I know they are out there.

Reading through these replies, I want to come and sit in Karen's garden and Mariannese's and Annecelia's and Jackie's and Ingrid's and Sherry's and oh! so many more.
Daisy

Well, right now, there's a foot of snow on the ground and it's about 17 degrees F.

When the weather is warmer, I sit outside quite often. I design some of my gardens, specifically around my seating areas, so I try to use them, quite often.

Here's a picture of my kitchen garden (a work in progress) but it's designed around the arbor.

{{gwi:243812}}

Here's the edge of a little seating area I have in the fairy garden. It's the only shady place in the mid afternoon, so the little chairs went in first (for visiting nieces and nephews) then I built the garden around it.

{{gwi:329994}}

I also have a table and chairs on the porch and another table in the back.

It really doesn't bother me if the gardens aren't perfect, but my mom has a hard time sitting still at her house...always a weed to pull or plant to deadhead. Maybe that's why I don't mind...I like to garden, but I really just want a place to relax :)

lavenderlass, your pictures are magical and transported me to your garden immediately. The horses in the background, the tall trees behind them .....what a wonderful place. The second picture was everything that I think a country garden should be, a sort of structured informality that is instantly relaxing to look at, with areas that beckon you forward to be looked at more closely. Thank you for letting us share this beautiful place.

Ingrid

Thank you, Ingrid. That's very sweet and just the feeling I was trying to achieve :)

I'm embarrassed, lavender lass. I thought those were elk munching on your garden. I read on and on and wondered when you were going to mention those dratted elk that devour your plants! When you didn't, I looked closer - Oh, maybe those are horses, ya think? :(( Your gardens are lovely, and how sweet that you get to share them with your horses.

Re "The finished garden is beautiful in my head, but the present reality, is messy."

That's OK, Daisy. In a way I feel better now. I was thinking while reading your original post, "How in the world did she get all that done so quick??" We'll be patient for pics.

Sherry

I drink coffee early in the morning and have a glass of wine in the late afternoon on my bench in the rose garden. Heavenly! I also enjoy midday on the sunny bench on a cool, clear spring or fall day. The bees and butterflies delight me!

I like to sit on my patio in the evenings with a glass of wine and a book. Right now my seating consists of lawn chairs from a big box store and little plastic tables to put my feet on - however, I do have a rocking chair and lounge chair, it's Brown Jordan from the early 70's that was given to me - there's a place in our area that will powder coat and restring them, just need to get it done!

I've been looking for an English-looking wooden bench that will weather to grey, Plough & Hearth has one I like, it's made from Eucalyptus wood - anyone had experience with this wood, or suggestions of where to buy?

Ogrose, I have bought garden benches from a firm in England called Alexander Rose. They are made from Karri wood which is Eucalyptus diversicolor.
When new, the wood to my eyes, is orange.
In fact I nicknamed my benches Judith Chalmers, after an English holiday show presenter, who always seemed to have a very orange fake tan on!
Fortunately, the colour faded quite quickly to a lovely silver grey. If you treat it with teak oil, it becomes a lovely warm chestnut brown, without a hint of orange thank goodness.
Daisy

I just found these quotes by one of my favourite garden writers:

Mirabel Osler - "Surely ruminating and lolling, squandering slivers of time as you ponder on this or that plant; perching about the place on seats chosen for their essential and individual quality, are other whole aspects of being a gardener. Why shouldn't we? We sit in other people's gardens, why not in our own."

Mirabel Osler - "Sitting in your garden is a feat to be worked at with unflagging determination and single-mindedness. ... I am deeply committed to sitting in the garden."

Mirabel Osler - "Have you ever noticed how few sitting places you find in private gardens? How seldom the versatility and importance of benches is considered? True gardeners, with their peerless taste, dexterity and inspired planting, never stop ... To sit is almost an offence, a sign of depravity and an outrage towards every felicitous refinement that has gone into making a garden."

I've posted this before but here it is again. I'm very pleased with how it turned out and really enjoy the view from all angles!

{{gwi:329995}}

I have to admit that at this stage of my life I sit more than anything else------LOL LOL

Your pictures are gorgeous--

Florence

A warm nook furnished by blooming roses and aromatic companion plants on a balmy day ought to be heavenly. I'd put the bench so it faced the planting and not a bird bath or other non-horticultural feature - for me the plants would be the thing, unless it was a simple planting of less attention-getting kinds installed specifically to play second fiddle to the bird bath or the sculpture.

That said, I don't have a single seat anywhere on the place myself. Definitely a garden to be walked through (toured) or worked in.

Sherry- LOL! That would be funny...I garden for elk :)

Actually, the horses' pasture is behind the garden. That spot used to be where we had their corral, which is now moved to a different location. As you can imagine...lots of benefits for the plants, with such great soil. Also explains all of my weeds, last year!

Bouquet- Beautiful picture and a very pretty bench.

This is such a fun thread! Thanks for everyones' images, both digital and mental. It is a comfort to connect with everyone else. We hopefully place seats and benches in strategic spots to invite ourselves and others to sit and 'soak in' our gardens, and what do you know? There do seem to be springs hidden in the seats every gardeners' pants! My glass of wine gets warm or my coffee, cold, as I jump up for 'just a moment' to attend an errant weed or misplaced stone, to inspect a lovely blossom or worrisome symptom on a favorite plant. An hour later I remember that I was only supposed to be taking in the view:

{{gwi:329996}}

Or, I am forcibly reminded that weeks have gone by without taking time out to sit and smell the roses....

{{gwi:329997}}

Thanks again to all. Please continue to share photos, too!
Sandra

Here is a link that might be useful: Roses, Color, and Light

Sandra, what a beautiful blog you have!

Sherry

Thank you Sherry! I am so glad you enjoyed it.
Sandra

I think I sit some every day that I am home. What better place for morning coffee or a wee drink in the evening?

{{gwi:329998}}

{{gwi:233503}}

Works in any season.

{{gwi:229560}}

If that bottled beverage wasn't cold when you first grabbed it, it was later.

Harry, what a good face you have...and a gorgeous garden!

Sherry

This is a great post-----and Harry--you do have a nice face----thanks for sharing
I love this picture---it looks like snowmen sitting in the chairs
{{gwi:329999}}

Florence

Thanks ladies.

DW sometimes wonders why I would sit outside on a cold day. I try to explain that I just can't stay indoors the entire day. I like and need to be outdoors.

'still go tent camping with my sons when temps are dropping into the thirties. Not sure I really like it, just need to do it.