I’m a nut for benches. For seating of any kind, but especially benches, like the one above I’ve had since 1986, when I surprised myself by paying $350 for it. Turned out to be a good investment.
On the left is where it sat for 25 years completely untreated, in the wooded part of my garden. On the right is where it’s been for the last 14 years, with a coat of stain to match the dragon overhead and the crossvine blooms, too. As out-buildings, sheds are rarely attractive but by putting the doors out of sight, sheds walls can be places to display art or put some seating.
But let’s see what other benches I unearthed from my review of 20 years of garden photos, which I did for purposes of tagging them with, for example, “bench.”
At Brookside Gardens outside of D.C., this bench calls for me to stop and admire the rose garden in May.
The benches of Dumbarton Oaks.
Beatrix Farrand, designer of Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., sure got the message about the importance of seating.
Above, gardens clockwise from upper left: Portland, Ore., Atlanta, Ga., Winterthur Garden in Delaware, and Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia. Some look less comfortable than others, but I like how they look, anyway.
Another public garden near Philadelphia is Chanticleer Garden. It’s more famous for its numerous Adirondack chairs, but there’s a nice long bench in its kitchen garden and OMG this stone bench is a work of art!
Finally, a private garden in suburban Maryland that’s famous for its large peony collection adds even more over-the-top color with this bench and matching arbor. I’d love to see this spot later in the season when it’s draped with vines – and that has me wondering if the color is TOO bold, even for ME.
MORE Garden Features
These photo collections started when I learned (from GardenRanter Ben) that I could search for tags just using Windows Explorer – no extra software! So began a fun winter project – scrolling through thousands of photos taken over at least 20 years, and tagging the hell out of them. For my enjoyment and yours. The others are:
Love the benches but the pictures make me want to go outside. Sleet and freezing rain today is not very inviting and going to be cold all week. Not as bad as where you live, but Spring fever is starting already.
Oh, wait ’til I share “lakes, ponds and pools”!
I am hugely impressed by a functional bench that has lasted outdoors for more than 35 years. I don’t have that many years left but would love to know if the bench is still available for sale somewhere. I imagine it’s Teak? Heirloom for sure. And over that time the cost-per-use (including visually) is pretty priceless.
Well, I don’t remember where I bought it but am pretty sure it’s Teak, too. The legs DID rot where they met the ground for many years and I had them repaired (sawed off uniformly and attached to treated wood pieces that now sit on the ground instead. With groundcover hiding the new parts.)
The benchmark or even a few chairs are all over my 2acre woodland garden (Olderwood , Apex , NC). If I do a mental inventory I count 11 places to sit and ponder the space or meditate. They are so important as you say to engage humans in your gardens. And slow visitors down to sit awhile.
Two acres. Eleven places to sit. Wow.
I wish I had taken a photo of the bench by itself, but this gets most of it. It’s at the confluence of the Tar River and Fishing Creek, the property lines of our 44 acres near Oxford, NC. I’ve never liked traditional benches and the design for this one was by a NC State University student for a master’s degree project as I remember it (don’t know if you saw these on campus, Suzanne). My husband copied and made the smallest — for one — in teak. We loved it and planned to site them in several places.
I tried C&P onto this form, so it will appear twice — if it does. Diamond the Doberman and Mister the goat are playing Bull and Matador. The other four goats Mister guards are nearby with no desire to join.
I see my effort at sending the photo didn’t work, so the commentary is rather pointless.
I also didn’t mention that we had to move to Raleigh 6 years ago next month because we aged out of being able to keep up with care and maintenance. Sure still miss the peace, quiet, wildlife, mountain laurel on river banks, and the river both almost a still ribbon in heat of summer and a raging, rising fury filling its floodplain during a hurricane or severe storm.
I had a Cedar Bench I really loved, but wood-boring bees riddled it with so many holes that I was afraid to sit on it.
I too love benches. But to paraphrase Christopher Lloyd, “No color in the garden can be too bold.”
Quite!
Absolutely!
Susan, I love that your photograph-categorizing project is resulting in so many posts – for us! Great pictures! Do you realize that you bench has cost you $8.94/yr.? That’s a heck of a good investment.
Benches can be garden art. I’m amazed at how may pictures I have of benches in the gardens I visit. One of the best was a cozy one I saw at Royal Botanic in Glasgow-there was a colorful wool sweater knitted all the way around it.
I hate it when the benches are placed in a spot that looks good but are unusable because they are in the middle of a flower bed and you’d have to stomp on plants to get to it. Or the are on a slant. These are all lovely benches.