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You are here: Home / Archives for Recreation / Tricia's Garden

Outdoor Furniture- Spicing Up Your Backyard

May 20, 2013 by Tricia

Outdoor Furniture Can Spruce Up Your Backyard

When you want to add extra living space to your home, look no further than your backyard. You can create a comfortable and attractive space just by adding outdoor furniture. The area can have multiple uses. Use it for parties, as an outdoor office area, or just for relaxing.

Tables

When choosing an outdoor table, consider what you will use it for the most. Will it be used as a breakfast table, a party table or as a worktable? A breakfast table to seat two people can be just a small pretty table. It doesn’t need to be as sturdy as a party or work table.

The type of table you should choose also depends on if you have a screened-in patio or not. Some outdoor tables have glass tops. These are attractive and easy to clean, but could be damaged during a hailstorm if left out in the open. If you want a similar look to glass but without the fragile nature, choose a table with a Plexiglas top.

Wood, vinyl or wrought iron are also popular items and more durable than glass top tables.

If you plan to host large parties or picnics, your best option may be to buy a few picnic tables. These seat several people at once and hold up well to the weather.

You should also purchase end tables or coffee tables if you are buying outdoor sofas or loveseats. You will need these as places to set drinks or other items.

Seating

Outdoor seating has come a long way and is far beyond plastic lawn chairs. While there is nothing wrong with lawn chairs, keep comfort in mind when creating your backyard living space. Wrought iron, wicker, resin and teak are among the materials to buy for your outdoor sofas and chairs. Washable cushions are often included. If not, you can buy them separately.

Hammocks and hammock chairs are a great idea if you want to create a relaxing space for reading or napping. If your yard lacks trees, you do not have to give up on having hammocks. You can purchase hammock stands or poles for hanging these.

Swinging chairs are not just for porches. You can find freestanding swinging chairs for your backyard. Most sit at least two people.

Accessories

Unless your patio is already covered, you should consider buying a patio umbrella or canopy. This way, you will be able to enjoy your backyard even when the sun is glaring down or on rainy days.

Some patio tables come with patio umbrellas, which are usually removable. Another option is to purchase a freestanding patio umbrella. These can be more convenient as you can move them to any area shade when desired.

Adding an outdoor rug can make your new backyard living area feel more inviting. There are many styles made of weatherproof or weather resistant materials.

After you have purchased your outdoor furniture, the only thing left is to add some decoration. This can be a simple as adding a few potted trees or plants to the area. However, you can make it as simple or as elaborate as you want.

Featured images:
  •  License: Creative Commons image source




Filed Under: Featured, Home and Lifestyle, Home Decor, Recreation, Tricia's Garden Tagged With: accessories, backyard, breakfast, canopy, cushions, decorating, decorating the home, furniture, furniture design, hammock, home, lawn chairs, living space, loveseats, outdoor furniture, outdoor rug, parties, Party, patio, patio decor, patio furniture, patio umbrella, resin, seating, sofas, spice up, tables, vinyl, weather, wicker, wood, worktable, wrought Iron

Finally! Some Rain!

August 10, 2012 by Tricia

I’m so happy that we’re finally starting to get some rain. It’s been so very hot and dry here in Toronto for the last two months that my poor garden has been having a terrible time.

It’s been cloudy and overcast this week. It wasn’t looking like rain yesterday, even though it was cloudy, but at one point in the afternoon I was surprised when I looked out and saw that it has started to rain lightly. I really needed to water my garden yesterday so I was happy for the rain … then when I woke up this morning it was really raining and it’s been raining all day.

I know most people probably wouldn’t be happy to see rain, but we really need it. I’m sure anyone with a garden understands .. unless your someone who’s been getting too much rain! I know that’s been happening in some areas too. It’s either drought or too damp this year it seems.

Anyway .. here’s one of my very happy roses. It’s Sharifa Asma. A lovely old rose fragrance and full petaled flower. I just love this rose.

Sharifa Asma Rose

Filed Under: Gardening, Home and Lifestyle, Recreation, Toronto, Tricia's Garden Tagged With: cloudy, drought, dry, flower, fragrant, garden, gardener, Gardening, happy, rain, raining, roses, Sharifa Asma rose, Toronto, wet

Thankful for the rain

August 1, 2012 by Tricia

Is it hot enough for you?

This has been a hot dry summer for the most part in many areas. Here in Toronto we’re used to having a fairly hot and humid summer but we normally get quite a bit more rain than we’ve had in the last two months.

I’m thankful that we’ve had some rain in the last week. We’ve actually had two extremely good rain storms in the last three or four days. I’m sure my garden is very happy now with all the moisture.

Actually the rain we received in the last few days was accompanied by thunder and lightening so I know my plants were really happy. Did you know that when there is lightening it puts free nitrogen into the air and the plants just suck that up and that’s one of the main reasons why you see plants have a huge spurt of growth after a lightening storm?

Gaillardia Flower

Oh yes … I’m going to have some very pretty flowers in a week or two! Thank you stormy days! I never thought I’d be thankful for a storm. Believe me, I hate thunder. You’d think I’d dislike lightening but it’s the thunder that I hate the most. It’s the sound .. so I really don’t like it all that much when we have thunder storms, but I know my garden needs the rain and all the goodness that a storm brings. Particularly when it’s been so dry for the last several months.

How has the weather been in your area? Has it been warm and overly dry in your city too? I just remembered that last week they actually banned fires in the city. I don’t know if that ban is still on now that we’ve had some rain, but that’s how dry it’s been.

Breath of Life Rose

Filed Under: Gardening, Home and Lifestyle, Recreation, Toronto, Tricia's Garden Tagged With: city, drought, dry, fire ban, flowers, free nitrogen, Gardening, growth spurt, happy, hate thunder, hot, humid, humidity, lightening, plant growth, plants, rain, stormy days, Summer, thunder, thunder storm, Toronto, weather

My gigantic rose bush is blooming

June 2, 2012 by Tricia

I’ve been using some of my spare time to work in my garden. I don’t seem to have as much spare time this spring as I have other years, but I’m trying!

I’m slowly getting the annual flowers that I purchased a week or two ago planted in the garden and I’ve been trimming and pruning the roses and other plants as I work in the garden. It’s amazing how fast some of my roses grow.

One of my roses – William Baffin – a Canadian Explorer rose, is absolutely gigantic. I was taking pictures of it the other day because it’s in it’s first huge spring flush and it’s just heavy with flowers. I swear there are well over 1000 roses on the plant. There could even be 2000 roses. I kid you not. The rose is at least 16 feet tall and maybe 12 feet wide. It’s almost impossible to take a decent picture of the whole bush in my tiny yard because I can’t get far enough away from the rose to take a full picture.

Large William Baffin Explorer Rose
Large William Baffin Explorer Rose
William Baffin Rose - A Canadian Explorer Rose
William Baffin Rose - A Canadian Explorer Rose, it's Huge

Unfortunately it rained all day yesterday and that beautiful rose plant couldn’t take all the rain. A lot of the big branches in the center that were heavy with roses drooped to the ground and now it’s going to take two or three of us to lift them up and get them standing again. The rose is just too big!

Huge William Baffin Rose after rain storm - broken
Huge William Baffin Rose after rain storm - broken

Considering where the big branches fell it might be a good thing that the outdoor dining set at BistroSets.com that I ordered didn’t arrive yet because that’s just where I was planning on putting it. It would have been toppled over by the huge rose branches. I know most people don’t think of a rose plant as being so huge it could be destructive, but I know it’s possible.

 

Filed Under: Gardening, Home and Lifestyle, Items to Try, Toronto, Tricia's Garden Tagged With: annual flowers, bistro set, Canadian Explorer rose, destructive, first flush, garden, gigantic, huge rose bush, patio, photos, plants, rain storm, raining, thousands of roses, william baffin rose

Looks like the weather is getting better

May 8, 2012 by Tricia

The weather is getting nicer. Finally! April was cool here in Toronto. That probably wouldn’t have been that bad, but when April turns out to be cooler than March and has snow when March didn’t .. well .. I’m happy that May has arrived. So are my plants! My garden is looking lovely.

The other day is was nice enough out that I spent some time working in my front yard. I was weeding the garden beds and fixing up the look of the front boulevard. I have a planted boulevard, but crab grass was starting to grow in the flower beds there so I spent a lot of time pulling it out. Hopefully it doesn’t grow back.

Everyone was enjoying the nice day when I was working in the garden. Lots of neighbors were outside either working on their own yards – cutting the grass etc, or out walking around. I said hello to a lot of people as I worked on my garden. One of the people that passed me was wearing one of those funny t shirts that made me laugh out loud .. but I can’t repeat what it said on here .. it was bad! I just about fell over into a bush when I saw it!

My front yard looks great. Now all I have to do is work on the back yard! The back yard isn’t that big, but compared to my front yard it’s a lot bigger – it will take longer to tidy up. Perhaps this weekend if the weather is nice. How is your yard and garden?

Filed Under: Gardening, Home and Lifestyle, Items to Try, Recreation, The Neighborhood, Toronto, Tricia's Garden Tagged With: cool, crab grass, flower bed, garden, Gardening, March, neighbors, nice, pulling, shirt, spring, tidy, Toronto, weather, weeding, yard

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