Comfort creatures – that’s us! Especially in late summer when the humidity rises and lawn tasks lessen. It’s the sultry pause between excessive weeding and mowing and the late season harvest of vegetables and later leaves. I don’t know the ingredients that promote relaxation. I just know that visitors find our yard relaxing, and I suppose there are certain components, such as the hammock, that lure us away from garden chores, resisting the urge to pull an errant plant or even contemplate a project.
There are three elements which unerringly enhance relaxation: 1) water — there is nothing that suggests leisure like a chaise near a pool or a pond, even when it’s noisy with the shouts and splashes of children; 2) a view – always gives us an excuse, especially if it frames the sun breaking through or slipping beneath the horizon, moments so full they leave no room for other considerations; 3) greenery – dense shade reduces the temperature and the color green reduces stress, thus the cooling, calming quality of a leafy canopy, fern fronds and a carpet of soft moss instills a sense of serenity.
For those whose circumstances provide no prospect of a pool, no glimpse of a view, and no significant shade, there are other components that encourage repose. Decks beckon us to step away from the house without venturing far from it, providing an opportunity, however brief, for a few moments of fresh air. Further away from the home, a fire pit, with its promise of a cozy night around a camp fire, always ensures relaxation, and in between, meandering paths of all sorts – woodchips, pavers, brick, fieldstone, or just a swath of grass between the gardens — summons us to a slow stroll. The quintessential resting place is, of course, a hammock, and we have three swaying beneath trees, providing respite from oppressive heat.
Seating invites us to sit. Our lawn hosts an eclectic mix: wooden, wicker, wrought iron, marble, metal, rattan; picnic, church and other types of benches; Adirondack, rocking and other types of chairs; as formal and intimate as the ornately cast tea table and patio chairs under the sourwood tree, or as informal and convivial as the seven slices of pine trunks circling the camp fire. Most of the furniture was obtained at the transfer station — the criteria – attractive and sturdy. Scattered throughout the yard, we take into consideration sunlight and shade and garden views in their placement, and guests choose to sit wherever they want. Usually, small groups are formed at the start of a party, and as time elapses, seats are moved to form larger groups, eventually clustered all together.
When entertaining, quilts spread on the lawn, pillows on chairs, and cloths, bouquets and candles on tables further a sense of intimacy, hominess, and comfort. These qualities increase with ornaments throughout the season and the lawn, and especially where people gather. The closer to the home, the more decoration, bridging and extending the living spaces. In the same way as photographs on the mantle, books on the shelves, and heirlooms in the hutch, the personal touches in the garden familiarize visitors with the family who lives there. Assorted wind chimes suspended from tree branches provide pleasing music, a trickle of water from a spigot or a fountain provides a soothing sound. Garden gates and garden signs serve as invitations, bird houses and baths welcome other visitors to share the yard. Fairy houses, lanterns and chandeliers, sun dials and weather vanes, sculptures, gazing balls, tea sets and watering cans, potted plants in window boxes, baskets and urns, in old troughs and old boots, in wheelbarrows and little red wagons – charming components all. Mary Engelbreit’s website, with ideas on garden ornamentation, is a wonderful resource.
The flowers we plant also lend themselves to the effect we wish to convey. Where annuals, often seen in commercial landscapes, are stiff and controlled, perennials produce a relaxed space. Our gardens are of the “cottage” variety, which mixes all types of plants – small trees and shrubs, bulbs, perennials, grasses and vines. Allow flowers to spill across a path, billow above the porch rail. Welcome wildflowers – daisies and Queen Anne’s lace and asters. Plant in abundance and plant in drifts, groupings of perennials repeated throughout the garden to create a predictable rhythm interspersed with the occasional focal points to provide interest.
The landscape at large plays a most significant role in the overall aura of the yard. It’s important to preserve spaces of intimacy and spaciousness alike, and to reveal simple elements, a view, the gentle roll of the lawn, a welcoming walkway. And though specimen plants – the exotic mimosa or the variegated willow – attract attention, trees like maples and oaks not only offer abundant shade, but familiarity. They’re like old friends. Shrubs serve the same purpose; along with providing attractive privacy screens, old roses, lilacs and viburnum stir a soothing sense of nostalgia. Always employ a map of the landscape when planning for the permanence of trees and shrubs to consider their impact on the lawn and their eventual size. A typical mistake is to place large plants too close together, which not only jeopardizes their health as they compete for nutrients, it creates a crowded appearance. Just as homes can look too cluttered and cause unease, landscapes can, too. Give your garden rooms an opportunity to breathe.
As casual as any setting appears, every detail needs planning and careful consideration of inclusion and placement, from the largest spruce tree to the smallest tea set, with the ultimate result of looking like everything fell into place on its own. Trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses, chairs, benches, tables, ornaments, stretches of shade and of sunlight, of pools of lawn and groves of privacy. Somehow all these elements come together in our yard to create an inviting piece of turf where people simply relax. We can’t ask for more from our garden, or our guests, than that.
Dayna McDermott