Creating an outdoor room

-
I treat my backyard as another room in my house. I spend time there, in addition to gardening and relaxing, doing some physical therapy exercises, which I have been doing for over ten years. I like the idea of an *outdoor room*. Done correctly, it's a cozy, inviting space. But I've seen some *outdoor rooms* that just don't work. Here are some stray thoughts:

• Use outdoor furniture. Not furniture that looks good in a catalog, or a showroom. Furniture that can be left outside, in the rain, and in the sun. I've seen furniture in backyards that obviously hasn't been used in years, they're either covered with dust and cobwebs, or the cushions have gotten all moldy. It probably looked good the first day it was all set up, but that's all! The chaise lounge there is a plain aluminum one from Target, and the table next to it is plastic, probably from K-Mart. By the way, the arm protectors are made from pool noodles.

• Install artificial turf. Real grass rarely works well underfoot, and it requires endless maintenance. And tile, or stone, or concrete, surfaces are just awful for lounging around. I've had artificial turf here for over seven years, and it's the best thing I've done.

• Surround yourself with plants, and flowers. My backyard is a tiny space, but at least I'm not just looking at walls and dirt. If all you have is walls and dirt, I guess I can't blame you for not hanging out in your backyard.

So that's my outdoor room. As you can see, I do my yoga stretches there, along with napping. I don't leave the yoga mat, or the roller, outside, but if I did forget to bring them in, it wouldn't be a disaster. This is a wonderful, intimate space, perfect for reading (actually I usually just listen to audiobooks).

It's late September here in the Phoenix, Arizona area, and we're about to get about six months of what I call *Chamber of Commerce weather*, the nicest to be found on planet earth. Excuse me, I'm going to go back outside and enjoy a little bit of it now. Maybe I'll do some stretches, or maybe I'll just lounge around!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to tell if your cycad (sago palm) is alive or dead

-
Image
Cycads are strange plants. They're beautiful, and look like small palm trees, or large ferns. They grow very slowly, and can be very expensive, even common ones like "sago palms". But sago palms, in spite of their common name, aren't palms at all. They belong to a group of plants called cycads. They are wonderfully weird, and grow in strange ways. And sometimes they lose all of their leaves. Of course, if it were a palm tree that lost all of its leaves, you would know that the plant was dead. But it's not true of cycads. So don't dig that cycad up and throw it away! Not yet. If you've recently transplanted a cycad, and the leaves have all faded away, hang on. Take a look at the top center of the plant, at what I call "the pucker". There you will see some stubby, soft fronds, no more than an half-inch or so. At least that's what you should see. That means that the plant is still alive, and has dropped its leaves to focus on building r...
Read more

Rooting sago palm pups for more plants

-
Image
Once a sago palm ( cycas revoluta ) reaches a certain level of maturity, it starts to create pups. Like agaves, these are little plants that are exactly the same as the parent plant, only smaller. And yes, you can trim them off and grow them into new plants. This is how to do it. Cut them off from the parent plant with a sharp knife. If there are any roots at the bottom, try to save them, but chances are there won't be any. That's not a problem. The next step is rooting them. Douse the cut part and the bottom of the plant with some garden sulfur and some rooting hormone powder. Rooting hormone powder is pretty easy to find at your local Home Depot. I had to go to a real nursery to get garden sulfur. Anyway, the idea is to keep the little plant from rotting while giving it time to grow its own roots. Sago palm pups being rooted Bury them fairly deep in some free-draining mix. It should include volcanic pumice, if you can find it, and if not, you can use perlite. I ...
Read more

Growing sunflowers from Pennsylvania in Arizona

-
Image
It's October 21st, and I just received some sunflower seeds from a friend in Pennsylvania. Their season is ending and the season for planting here in Arizona is just beginning, and I'm kinda wondering if the seeds are wondering what's going on? It's spring again already? If you're new to the Phoenix, Arizona area, and are from back east it must seem kinda strange that fall and winter is our flower season, but it is. By springtime it will start to get so hot here that the flowers will die, and of course back east the season is just beginning.  Sunflowers growing in Peoria, Arizona, about a mile from where I live I've seen sunflowers blooming around my neighborhood of Glendale, which is a suburb of Phoenix, in the winter, and although I've never grown them I understand that they're easy to grow. I guess I'll find out - I learn best by doing! The seeds arrived safely, and it's my understanding that they were still connected to the spent flower (I do...
Read more