One of the the lessons, or rather inspiration that I treasure and brought home from our trip to Portland last year was so many gardens had the flair to display whimsy and illogical fun in their gardens without compromising aesthetics.
Whimsy - something that is still virtually unheard of and a rarity in British gardens wherein most gardeners are still fixated with norm and conformity. Brits don't do whimsy naturally it seems, apart from the realms of garden gnomes and wellington boots planted with bedding plants. There are exceptions of course, and I say all of this with affection.
A few months ago I wrote a blog post called 'Patio of Discontent', talking about the patio nearest to the house the only only area left still needing a more permanent and definite makeover. To be honest we're not sure when we'll be able to actually get that 'permanent' thing done, life is just extra busy at the moment. But that doesn't mean we can't have fun and go crazy , and the top patio seemed the perfect place to do that.
Without explaining to much let's just say this year we discovered the joy of whimsy! Let's begin with the furniture...
First there was the succulent table to kick start everything, made from wood recycled from our previous projects. The succulents that have been planted have since continued to bulk up and look like this at the moment:
Next are the two chairs and the bench. It started out like this.
Brown stain is too safe so they were sanded down and repainted in light blue...
Then a candelabra was added. Quite nice especially when it starts to get dark and we're still out in the garden.
Both cats love using them too, especially Twinkles
A convenient place to have alfresco meals too, especially as it's so near to our kitchen.
And I almost forgot to mention, the new fence panels we put up were painted white and the middle brick post now has a pot of Astelia 'Silver Shadow' on it.
A few things that made us smile (not always initially) in the shops made it home and now grace our garden.
And back to Twinkles, just love this shot..
Just a little preview for now. On our next post about the top patio we'll feature the pots and succulent displays. The main theme this year is pot crazy, displaying all sorts of pots and nothing is concealed, including plastic and nursery pots.
Mark :-)