How to Make a Garden

Furniture invites lingering

An alluring destination like the gazebo (A on Site plan) draws visitors along a garden path.

Once people are drawn into our garden, we want them to be able to sit comfortably in places from which they will look at attractive but different views

Placed two old teak chairs, now silver-gray and dotted with lichen, in our pool garden to make it easy to see and listen to the water bubble up through an old Danby-marble wellhead. Another weathered teak bench went under a rustic grape arbor in the herb garden. We also set a bench and two chairs under the gazebo at the bottom of the garden so guests can sit comfortably, even during a light rain, and look down a straight lawn path between two mixed borders. But nowhere can we see more than one set of furniture at a time, so the garden doesn't look too busy.

To create a greater sense of permanence, we set furniture on stone, brick, pea stone, or the wooden floor of the gazebo, but rarely on lawn. Furniture set on lawn feels temporary and has to be moved for mowing. Most often, we set it on stone or brick surfaces within the garden that are connected to a nearby path. In that way, visitors sit nearly surrounded by plants, which are kept at an appropriate distance from the furniture. Set low plants between the paving edge and the rest of the garden so guests can see into the beds; a hedge or taller plants go behind the furniture so guests feel supported from behind. So, near an evergreen hedge, we created a bluestone-paved area that would be roomy enough for a 5-foot bench, three or four chairs, and a coffee table.