Yikes! I can't make up my mind between bird feeders and a bird bath.

They need both, you know. :)

In my childhood home, we had evening lights. At night the house would be awash in a soft golden glow. I really liked that. In my own home, I love the way light catches a particular crystal chandelier my husband gave me. It feels so warm, just like evening should.

I need the roses up my front porch which has only one or two opened blooms right now, and the fringe tree in full bloom growing outside my kitchen window- heavenly fragrance right now. An old fashioned row of peonies, and I want banks of Annabelle hydrangeas( not yet) I have a dinky front porch with loveseat and rocker smooshed on it, but my indulgence would be a spacious front porch complete with vintage wicker pieces and fabrics. And a haint blue ceiling.
I want a cutting bed of flowers. I never get around to it.
A yard, need to always have my own space.
Will always need an SUV or pickup to carry stuff and the dogs(well they dont ride in the pickup just stuff) even if I have to give up something else to have one.
Oh and a work one- a window in my office!
thats a lot I think!

I'm having a hard time deciding! I can't imagine a garden of mine that didn't have many deep purple petunias. I plant my garden with them every year, as I love their smell. To me that smell says "Summer". Or, the tiny white lights I string through the trees. We love to sit out there on Summer nights and I think they add a lovely, romantic atmosphere to my garden. Although it's pretty during the day, I've designed it as a Night Garden. It's many white flowers and tiny white tree lights give it a very ethereal look in the moonlight.
Lynn

Fresh flowers on the kitchen table.

For me, it is our pergola over the stone terrace off our dining room. It is covered with wisteria. In the spring, the flowers have a spicy clove smell; as summer wears on, the dense leaves shade that space and make it a cool, sheltered retreat on hot summer days.

When we remodeled the house, I told the architect she could go wild, but the one thing she could not touch was my wisteria, or remove the terrace. She designed the dining room so it has 2 French doors that open onto the pergola. I'm forever grateful!

Let's see:

A garden (and pots) of Herbs -- and this year's star -- sweet-smelling Jasmine vine:

And indoors:

Books/bookshelves
Candles
Lamps

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

All your answers sound so pretty, even romantic.

But my indulgence is "Bubba" my yard man and I would get a job at a 7-11 working midnights to keep him. He's out there now just working his little butt off, bless his heart.

Oh this is fun. As I sit here reading I'm hearing all of the birds cheeping - so I'd guess my bird feeder / bird baths. I've very slowly worked in the backyard - that's where we like to hang out in the evening. My azalea's have special meaning - the hand carved limestone has special meaning, love the little lights, oh see I could go on and on.

Art for my walls. Vivid, vibrant, colorful paintings, photos, and ok - maybe a print or two. I can't imagine my home without its cluttery walls. ;-)

Just lovely Teacats!

"A yard, need to always have my own space." I soooo agree to this Cooperbailey! Our private backyard, no up close and personal neighboring houses, I must, MUST have. Our flowers surrounding the area, the smell of the fresh mint planted underneath the arbor (on which wisteria climbs - another wisteria lover!). Our very own oasis. It calms and soothes us, a great retreat after a stressful day!

Inside, family *stuff* and things we love, and of course, the *pup*.

tina

7 idyllic acres of privacy ;o) I love our home.

Oh, this is supposed to be outside? Duh.

Then it has to be my hummers. I have the ugliest red plastic flower feeder, but it brings little battles of 6-10 humming birds outside our living room window. It is great fun to watch.

James. I call James. James has been my faithful gardener since 1990. He has planted about 500 roses for me. I could not manage without James, and of course, my dear husband who assists and calls it supervision.

Oh, this is easy! These are our pride and joy. They're all around the house. I took these pictures last summer. We planted the seeds about ten years ago and have never had to do anything since but watch them come up all over the acre!

Moon Flowers with Morning Glory growing in it.

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Morning Glory, which grow along our fence on the acre, and up the trellis in the front yard.

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And these are our Crepe Myrtle.

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Inside the house, I need to have comfortable chairs, and cashmere blankets everywhere. And light. I need those 2 story palladian windows with lots of light.

Outside, definitely a scent garden & a herb garden. My whole garden is based on scent - I even have fragrant camelias (Scentsation). And a daybed to nap or read. And an outdoor fireplace where I can sit and sip wine at night. :-)

paintchips: Recently we got a hummingbird' nest among our vines. It's really low to the ground, barely above the gardenia and my kids would come and watch the eggs. Then the baby bird hatched, grew and flew away. DS kept the empty nest (w/ one tiny unhatched egg). It's so amazing!

This includes inside too! I just figure that my roses include the inside scenting the interior and also as cut flowers.

Okay - so , real, real inside for me?

Honestly I'd have to say a wonderful scented Fall jar candle on the 1st really crisp day in Fall. I send everyone out for the day then crack a window, curl up w/ a good book in my leather chair a throw and my cat in my lap, a pot of tea and some great background music. If a light rain falls - even better.

The reason such a simple candle is my indulgence? I'm not a scented candle person because I have horrible luck w/ wicks and I don't have money to throw away (who does?). I know I burn them correctly but even then it's a 50/50 shot that I get the 'tunneling' even w/ Yankee Candles. This Christmas I decided to treat myself to 2 while on vacation and one burned perfect - the other tunneled.

Also my nose tends to become so quickly 'used' to the scent that I don't smell it anymore so I limit scented ones to Fall and Christmas.

It's been a few yrs. since I've been able to indulge but Dh & kids owe me this Fall!

Buy Tyler candles. They are not the duds you normally find, albeit a little expensive. High Maintenance is my favorite fragrance but you might like one of the Holiday fragrances.

That's easy! My yard swing. It's the first thing put out in the spring and last thing put away in late fall. I love to feel the grass on my bare feet while I swing. Our Shih Tzu Amos loves to swing too. He'll actually bark at me to take him out to swing in the evening. Inside the house, there must be books. Lots and lots of books!

I'm with you, I couldn't live withour roses in my garden. Especially during springtime when the once-bloomers put on their show.

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While there are lots of things I would not want to do w/out the one that is most important to me outside is our large acreage. Without that the rest would not be the same. In fact we could have a much nicer house on a small acreage for the same price but would miss the land.

Inside our wood stove is what I would miss if I didn't have it. Probably not really an "indulgence" as it saves us money. My personal everyday indulgence is handmade soap. I buy these and pay whatever they cost as there is no comparison.

Everything outside is a must have for us! Our flowers, Pond, hand tamed fish, birds and chipmonks... Can't name just one thing that's a must have...

surf and turf!
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Joann, has your garden ever been photographed for a magazine? I think a garden magazine could do an entire feature article on your most beautiful garden.

We live in the country and have a beautiful view out the back of the house and everything is private. I often walk around the front yard in my nightie with my morning coffee and no one can see me.
I will always want to live in a house with a great view, privacy and some room to garden - flowers that is.

Inside...hmmm...probably hardwood floors everywhere and a big stone fireplace.

Inside it's books and paintings, especially the ones my husband has done.

We also live in the country, in the hills, very private and wild. I love the garden we've created, and I suppose my indulgence is antique roses. I have about 80.

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I'm not sure if this counts but I wouldn't want to ever do without my beautiful rockscape jacuzzi that overflows into the pool. We built it a few years ago, along with the pool. Love to sit and soak at night with a glass of ice water (or a cocktail, depending on the day that I've had!) and I enjoy hearing the sound of the waterfall into the pool in the morning when the filter's running.

However, after seeing all the beautiful gardens above - I want one of those too (we haven't gotten around to landscaping yet). Oh yeah, I also want a Bubba and a James!

I guess there is not much that I can't live without because most of my indulgences/must haves are not in my current home for one reason or another.

I love and require lots of privacy and space-- from neighbors, the world and my own stuff. I need large rooms and large yard/acreage. I gave up both when I moved back to my hometown when a family member got sick.

I love fresh cut flowers through the house-- an indulgence I gave up in the last few years. It is one of those things that has just slipped through the cracks as my schedule has become more hectic. I am hoping that I will be motivated to bring them back when I have my rooms completed.

A large kitchen that is functional and homey--a place for creating, conversing and just hanging. This was a known concession when I moved to this house. I did believe that I could work with it ... but the reality is that it is very limiting.

A library/quiet room - an indulgence in my last house. I did attempt to create an office in this house with the same vibe but I havent achieved what I had in my last house. I really think the difference is the view-- I look out onto my neighbor's trampoline here. In the old house, I looked out over a wide field and grazing sheep.

A foyer or entry-- yeah, I dont have one of those either.

My outdoor indulgence is my front porch. I have a couple of adirondak (muskoka) chairs out there, and it is a great place to sit and have my morning coffee. I love sitting there and listening to the wind in the leaves and the birds singing. Thankfully we live on acreage and sitting on the front porch is as private as being in the backyard.

funkyart: oh man I totally know what you meant! We moved here for DH's job & kids' school. The location is perfect, but I really miss our old yard & the view. We have no yard & no view here. That would be the one thing that makes my house perfect. :-)

On one hand I'm totally jealous of folks who have large yard, on the other hand, since I've been spending the last 2 weeks cleaning up my *tiny* yard I kinda glad we don't have 6 acres. How are you gonna weed & buy plants for 6 acres -- I would break both my back & my bank :-D

Fresh flowers -- now that's another indulgence I wish I can have more.

I have 6 acres but only a little over one acre is landscaped. The rest are woods or natural. I also have an acre cleared for the vegetable garden I may plant some day.

My front (enclosed) porch. For me nothing is like sitting out there in the quiet with my coffee and the sun coming in. It is where I do my dreaming and planning.
Diane

TTodd, I understand the love for roses. This is one of our arbors. Once we had about 20 arbors, but storms this year took out 4.
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I love all your gardens. The fish pond looks so relaxing.

Patricia, the one thing I want is an arbor. I hope you will send more pics of yours.

Barb

Peonies in the garden, mine are just about to pop open! They don't last long though, so this year I planted some roses and I'm learning how to grow them so I can have blooms all season.
In spring and summer, I love bringing in fresh cut flowers and putting them all over the house. Just makes me happy.
My year-round indoor indulgence is magazines, so addicted!

What's nice about Phoenix is that the roses can bloom all year. As long as they get enough water they will continue to bloom. One of my friends here has so many tall bushes of roses, entire hedges, and minature roses that are 3-4' tall and surround her mailbox post. She lets them go dormant for a while in the winter. She has a whole schedule of fertilizing and pruning them. She waters the potted roses every day in the warmer weather as I am now doing. The ones in the ground get watered every other day mostly but every day in the hot summer. Her and her husband have a large front grass lawn that gets watered every day - sprinkler system and cut twice a week. It's some special grass that loves the sun and heat.
In this rental house I am in there are rocks in both front and the back yards which works for me. I ended up giving my friend and her husband my good lawn mower since I have not used it since I left WI.

What I had to have when I was looking for this rental house was a covered patio and a fenced yard but no pool. I have my sun shades surrounding the patio which creates an outside room. I love sitting out there in the morning with some coffee.

So many of you have such lovely gardens. Thanks for sharing.