Garden Benches & Seats

Good gardens always have lots of seats, though in reality they can be used more by visitors than by the busy gardener who installed them.

There are lots of seats here in my garden, and as we have strong summer sun most of them are in the shade. I've been often tempted by the advertisements for famous classic gardening seats, but then I come back to reality - budget park benches, railway sleepers on bricks, several large tree stumps and a summer hammock. Unashamedly I also keep a couple of sage green plastic chairs in the Hen House for elegant relaxing in this part of the garden.

Stumpy sitting on the old Wattle Woods Seat

All the seats are great to sit on, for various reasons. When I'm incredibly organised I'll approach a seat armed with suitable cushions, a book and refreshments, and let the surrounding garden ambience soak in.

It might be a ridiculous thing to say, but garden seats are supposed to be sat on. I don't have any rustic seats that look good but offer only splinters and the stress of imminent collapse. I have been tempted, however.

Gardeners have to be reminded to stop, sit down, and enjoy. It's also easier for a mature gardener to recline gracefully on a gently curving park bench than to stretch out on the grass. It's certainly easier to get back upright.

I've had some great conversations with my cats, and experienced some rare New Zealand cricketing highlights while sitting on one of my garden seats. These seat-memories are priceless.

World's Top Garden Seats...
Sat 25th Aug 2007

As an experienced garden sitter, I've complied my shortlist of the very best garden seats I've sat on. Some are grandly situated by paths in huge rhododendron forests, or in frothy, flowery rose gardens. Others are private and shy, hidden away in a friendly backyard.

New Blue Garden Seats...
Fri 29th Dec 2006

Something old, something new, something borrowed something blue... Except my new garden chairs were gifted from a friend, and they arrived in a most dreadful state, with peeling white paint.

Please Be Seated...
Tue 28th Mar 2006

For some reason, garden seats and benches are one of the most hotly searched-for items of garden paraphernalia. Real-life garden visitors remember more about the seating than the planting style, and virtual gardeners are obsessed with viewing pictures of garden chairs.

Garden Bench Number Two...
Mon 7th Feb 2005

After a garden bench has remained in one position for at least three years, it is courteous to give it a name and a short ceremony of welcome to the permanent garden. Garden Bench Number Two - Welcome to the Moosey garden!

Pond-Side Garden Bench...
Wed 16th Jun 2004

There are three Moosey garden benches - I'm still trying out positions for two of them. One sits and sulks all summer in the shade by the pond. So far it has stayed in this potentially prime location.

Dog-Path Garden Seat...
Thu 1st Feb 2001

I've built a wooden seat into the low stone wall by the water race to mark the official area known as the Dog-Path Garden.

Oak Tree Garden Bench...
Thu 1st Feb 2001

The Oak Tree seat is my newest seat. It is situated in the Native Border over the water race, at a place where the dog-path dips down to the water's edge. It defines the end of the native plantings...

Wattle Woods Seat...
Sun 2nd Jan 2000

The Wattle Woods seat is on the main path through the Wattle Woods. It is built from a railway sleeper resting on two brick columns. This seat is in a magic spot, a log of wood in a sea of green Renga Renga leaves...

Stables Garden Bench...
Thu 30th Dec 1999

The seat by the stables is my favorite winter morning coffee seat, when the sun is low in the sky and the air is crisp. It's a heart warming spot straight after winter sunrise, when many other parts of the garden are still in shade.

JAM Garden Bench...
Wed 29th Dec 1999

The JAM garden seat has a real woodland feel to it. The huge Wattle tree branches that cover it have spread even further, and there is a festival of foliage everywhere you look.

Laundry Garden Seat...
Wed 29th Dec 1999

The laundry seat is just a few steps away from the back door, and is built from wood recessed into a retaining bank of stones. This is a morning-sun seat, and is surrounded by herbs, lavenders, and quite a lot of buzzing insects...

Garden Bench No. 1...
Sun 26th Dec 1999

This garden bench was my very first purchased garden seat. It started life, a summer lunch spot, under newly planted oaks and original tree lucernes in the Pond Paddock.