Have a Seat

Seating in the garden is a very important feature. Sometimes the seating is part of the decoration of the garden. A number of years ago I found this old wooden chair at the curb awaiting pick-up by the garbage men. I painted it a different color each year depending on the mood of my garden. I'll never forget the day there was a garden club here and I saw a woman step into my flower bed and sit on the chair. That day I realized how important it is to have a place for people to sit while enjoying the garden.

The urge to use the seats as decorations was still strong. My mom found a broken table and two chairs in the garbage and I drove out and brought them home with me. The chairs just needed a good cleaning and new pieces of scrap fabric as covers. The table was fitted with a wire basket and then planted. I showed the table just a few days ago but now you'll see some of the mechanics.

After a two years of being outdoors the seats also broke. I was faced with the prospect of fixing them or doing something different. Is it any surprise I chose the different route? Like the table, I decided I would plant the chairs.

Here you can see a single chair. I took green hardware cloth (wire grating) and folded it into a basket shape that would fit inside the frame. Then I took green floral wire and sewed the basket into place.

Before putting the potting soil in you need to first add a layer of protection. One year I used black landscape fabric, one year I bought a coconut fiber basket liner and ripped it into the right shape, the last year I used sphagnum moss. All worked well, they just gave a different look.

On the back of the chair I made mini living wreaths and hung them. Here you can see the chair all planted. This one had a purple, silver and green theme.

For the table, I thought that I'd use herbs/edibles even though not all were truly edible. I've planted that table for 5 years and this was my favorite combination.

Here you can see them all finished. They lasted for five years in the garden before the legs of the table got to the point that they were dangerously wobbly. Five more years of life before they were sent back out with the garbage.