The Garden Swing

Every garden needs at least one swing.

Here at Old Country Gardens we have two kinds of swings. My favorite is the garden swing. Before I go any further, I have to thank two people for this subject. First thanks goes to my mom who bought me this swing. The second thanks goes to Sisah in Muehlenbeck Germany, just outside of Berlin. Her blog Fliesstalleben is one that I highly recommend.

A few days ago Sisah asked me about my garden bench with the red flowers. Well Sisah, it's even better than a bench because it's also a type of swing we call a "glider". It swings from the bottom instead of from the top.

The opening photo is my absolute favorite one of this spot. It's my daughter Lauren (on the left) and her friend Ana all dressed up for the high school prom. It was one of those moments in life where everything was perfect. We had 16 student couples here for a photo shoot and they spread out all over the garden. The fact that the Lonicera was in bloom at this time made this only more amazing.

A number of years ago my mom took me to a store out east on Long Island that specializes in Amish garden structures. She brought me over to this swing and told me that she wanted to buy it for me as a gift. I was thrilled!

When it was first delivered I had no idea where to put it so we put it in the lawn near some trees. It was a terrible location, there was no reason to sit there and so it was almost ignored. The next year I changed my seedling bed from farm rows to a semi-formal herb garden. It was the perfect place to move the swing.

I had always wanted to grow a Lonicera (Honeysuckle) but didn't know if they were invasive or not. It turns out that the variety I bought, Lonicera sempervirens 'Mandarin' is not invasive here. But just in case, I planted it in a large whiskey barrel planter. And there it remains, still growing strong.

If you want to read about this plant and see some close up shots you can scroll down the sideline of my blog and click on the label "Plant Profiles". There you will have to scroll down a bit until you reach the post titled "Honeysuckle Dreams".

In this photo you can see the large barrel planter at the base. There are also Lysimachia clethroides (Gooseneck Loosestrife) in the planter.


I just spent some time drawing out the actual plan of this garden on paper so I could show it here but then remembered that my daughter Emily has my camera in Washington DC right now. So here's the garden from another angle.


As a closing shot, I thought I'd show you that the swing is lovely in winter too. I'm so happy Sisah asked about it as it's one of my most favorite places in the garden. Now that the weather has warmed up a bit, I will have lunch while sitting in that swing almost every day.