Garden Share Bristol

Valentine's Day has come and gone, but why limit romance to just one day of the year?  Today, members of the Garden Designers' Roundtable are talking about romance and the garden, a place near and dear to all of our hearts. For garden lovers — and lovers of gardens — there's no better place to connect with your special someone. Step outside and shut the door on the "business of life" inside your home or office. The garden has a different sensibility and a slower rhythm.  It can awaken and appeal to all of your senses and bring your life back to a calm, centered place.  Then, let the romance begin . . .

Here's my simple, no fail recipe for adding romance to the garden:

1.  Buy a bench.

• Not just any bench, one that's comfortable to sit on for more than 2 seconds. Look for one with a shaped seat and back support.  Cushions are another option, especially if you're craving some extended together-time.
• Find a bench that's compatible with your existing design style and other furnishings. It needn't be completely matchy-matchy, but you want an accent piece, not a sore thumb.
• Get a bench that's just big enough for two people to sit on comfortably (remember, three's a crowd).

classic teak comfort (in my own garden)

stay as along as you like

beautiful for a brief tete' a tete'

2.  Put it in the garden.

• Ideally, the location for your bench should not be on the porch, or deck, or patio that's adjacent to the house and two steps from the door, but away.
• Choose a spot that, when seated on the bench, you get a whole new perspective on the world.

rustic Adirondack style

custom mountain cool

Design by Lise Mahnke

3. Make it your special place.

• Create a greater sense of intimacy by lowering the overhead plane. The boughs of a tree, an arbor or umbrella will filter the light and protect you from the elements.
• A hardscape backdrop or screen of  lush plantings will enhance the feeling of enclosure and privacy.
• Add a focal point that resonates with both of you, like a sculpture, water feature, or collected ephemera.
• Fragrance? You bet.  It needn't be a sticky sweet floral (unless you like it!) — herbs like rosemary and sage are wonderful, too.

shady hideaway

Design by Patty Brittingham

Denver Botanic Gardens

4.  Use it.

• When seated in the garden, side-by-side with your special someone, it's easier to touch; to hold hands or rest a head on a shoulder.
• When seated in the garden, side-by-side with your special someone, it's easier to talk; to say the things that are in your heart.
• When seated in the garden, side-by-side with your special someone, it's easier to communicate.  Isn't that what romance is all about?

Denver Botanic Gardens

Read more about the Garden Designers' Roundtable and romance in the garden, here, or click through to today's participants, below:

I'm a bit behind the curve in writing about garden trends for 2013.  Probably because I'm not a trendy kinda person.  I'm more about quality classics; things worth investing in that I can enjoy for the long haul. So I just have two words for you today regarding "trends" because I think this idea is a culmination of current gardening passions, low-stress lifestyles, and low-water realities: edible natives.

Forget about boiled aspen bark and cattail roots. I'm talking about easily accessible berries, nuts, and foliage that you can toss in with your breakfast cereal or dinner salad, cook up into a sweet pie or jam, or decoct into a refreshing beverage. These are plants that are available at better nurseries / garden centers along Colorado's Front Range and are already being used in gardens and landscapes of all sizes.  My list focuses on woody plants — those that form the structure of the garden and are your greatest investment.

Nuts
Gambel oak, Quercus gambelii (nuts ground into a flour or meal)
Pinyon pine, Pinus edulis

Berries, best sweetened and cooked
Boulder raspberry, Rubus deliciosus
Golden currant, Ribes aureum

Chokecherry, Prunus virginiana

Sand cherry, Prunus bessei

'Pawnee Buttes' dwarf form of Prunus besseyi

Buffaloberry, Shepherdia argentea

Berries, sweetened for a lemonade-like beverage
Three-leaf sumac, Rhus triloba

Smooth sumac, Rhus glabra

Berries, fresh or dried
Serviceberry, Amelanchier utahensis is the native variety, A. canadensis is available commercially

Are there more choices? You bet. Native grape (Vitus riparia) hawthorns, thimbleberry and elderberry, not to mention all the perennials and herbs (often considered weeds) like horehound (Marrubium vulgare), mint, and chicory. These plants aren't as readily available for purchase, but might be fun to plan a foraging trip around.

Designing a landscape with edible natives means understanding the growing conditions necessary to keep the plants healthy, and combining them in ways to best show off their growth habits, foliage textures and  colors.
Have you been growing edible native plants in your yard?  I'd love to hear about it!

little bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparum

Although quality matters, most people still choose the actual cheap way to avoid it. And one of the cheapest ways to own a house is choosing duplex home plans.

This kind of homes is generally found within the city. They’re very well-liked. There tend to be various considerations when sketching the duplex home plans. The creating style with regard to both parts might be similar or even different. Both parts ought to be equal within area along with other facilities.

Duplex House Plans

You should ensure complete privacy with regard to both components. A heavy wall is actually mandatory to make sure no seems can go through. Ideally, the halls of the house are supposed to be aside from each additional. The two portions might have different entrances in the corners of the house. Both should either face the leading or the actual sides of the house.

The duplex home plans should be carefully attracted. The lavatories and lavatories of each part ought to be close to one another. This helps prevent the diffusion associated with bad odor to additional rooms. The house should be made to allow sunlight to the rooms.

Duplex House Plans

Duplex House Plans

Duplex House Plans

Duplex House Plans

 

Similar Posts: Small Duplex House Plans, Modern Duplex House Plans, Two-Story Duplex House Plans, Duplex House Plans with Garage

How to Select the Duplex House Plans

 

 

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