MY FAVORITE PART OF THE GARDEN

This month's Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop topic is Decks, Porches, and Patios.  Like that old question "If a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound if no one is there to hear it?"...I ask, "If you have a garden and no where to sit and look at it...?"  Well you get the point.  That is why my patio is my favorite part of the garden.  We actually have two patios, one concrete and one gravel (which we seem to have named the "gravel pit"):

The concrete patio is the one that we refer to as our "patio" as it is the original (in my first post ever I wrote about how it came to be).  We spend a lot of time on it in nice weather -- and even sat through a 10-minute rain shower on it recently:

This is a view of the patio from the gravel pit (where the gazebo used to reside before it died in the December ice storm).  Note the herb garden on the bottom left of the photo.  It's one of my favorite subjects to photograph from the comfy chairs around the firepit table.  As an aside, I cannot figure out why the windows were placed in this configuration when they put the addition on the house:

The wildflower patch is another favorite photography subject from the patio:

This is our view as we walk around the corner of the house into the garden.  It's pretty obvious when I look at this that I designed the entire garden while sitting on the patio: 

 

This is the view from the chair I sit in most often.  Look how big those zucchini are getting:

I chose to plant the hydrangea on the left where I could see it from the patio, which is how it ended up in a not-so-great location that gets too much afternoon sun:

I can also stare straight at the wall o' plants from here.  Lest you think that all the plants are located for prime viewing from the patio, these are here because it's one of the only places they get a lot of sun and VPH doesn't have to move them every time he mows (and isn't his grass looking wonderful?): 

I can even see my lonely tiger lily at the back of the garden between the 2 trellises made from the corner supports of the deceased gazebo (using the zoom setting on my camera): 

I have one bone of contention re: the patio...we have an incredibly loud neighbor with small children (girls who scream all freaking day long, and parents who scream at each other all freaking night long).  They live on the other side of this oh so attractive bamboo fence which we installed (precariously) so we didn't have to stare at them although we're stuck listening to them:

So clearly the patio plays a huge role in my garden.  From hours spent plotting the next garden move to meals with friends, it's by far my favorite part of the garden.

Comments

[Tina ramsey]

Nice patio, too bad about losing the gazebo and your neighbors.

[gina]

heather - i don't think i've ever seen all your seating areas. Very nice! Thanks for reminding me about the design workshop. I nearly forgot! I'll need to get out there this evening and take some photos.

[Nan Ondra]

Thanks for joining in the Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop at Gardening Gone Wild again this month, Heather! It was neat to see different views of your yard this time to get an even better sense of the layout. (And yes, that lawn looks beautiful!) In regards to your comment about the placement of the windows on your house: You're right, it does seem a little curious, but that empty space might be a perfect place for a large piece of trellis to balance out the other window.

[Katie]

The garden looks lovely! It's so fun to keep track of not just your own garden, but watch as other people's gardens come into bloom as well.

You should plant something there between you and that awful neighbor. Real bamboo perhaps? I bet some greenery would go a long ways towards noise reduction.

[Heather's Garden]

Tina -- Thanks, the gazebo was fun to look at, but we didn't really use it very much, so I'm not too upset about the loss. Now losing the neighbors...well, one can dream. I like the pipe/curtain method you used in your garden for privacy.

Gina -- VPH laughs at me because we can seat 20 with the chairs that we keep out all the time. We have seating for another 20 or so tucked away in the sheds. It's a big garden!

Nan -- A trellis is a great idea to balance out the existing window. I will keep an eye out for an expensive one at the end of the season for next year now that I know better what can grow in that area.

Katie -- Thanks, I'm pretty happy with how everything's growing so far this year. How shall I put this...I can hear that neighbor through a hedge, the whole length of my house away, over a fan and my surround sound tv system at a high volume. That said, that particular hillside is chock full of maple roots, heavily shade, really slanted, and vole infested. In order for VPH to plant the rhododendron and hostas that are there, he had to use an axe to dig the holes. I don't think anything else is getting planted there.

[Lisa at Greenbow]

Your patio is nice. I can see why you would want to be out there a lot.

[Aiyana]

You such pleasant and shady areas to sit. I envy your weather right now!
Aiyana

[Heather's Garden]

Lisa -- Thanks. Since I'm working from home quite a bit these days I am getting to spend a lot of time out there this summer.

Aiyana -- It has been particularly beautiful lately, but I think I'm also learning to tolerate our muggy summers a little bit better now that I'm spending a lot of time outside. We decided that with the cost of electricity these days we're not going to put in the window-unit air conditioners this year, but come August I might be regretting that decision.

[susan harris]

thanks for linking to this on the Rant - I LOVE photos of seating areas and esp of what the gardener sees from her favorite chair!

[Heather's Garden]

Susan -- Me too! You should do a meme on Rant asking people to post about the view from their favorite garden perch.