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bloominganne

Do you have garden rooms?

bloominganne
16 years ago

Garden rooms are popular right now and there are even special interest magazines on the subject. The general idea being to separate out parts of the yard with "walls" and create distinct areas that are separate from the other parts of the garden.

I am in the process of making a "rose room" in my garden. I have a pergola with seats and I'm going to surround it with roses and other flowers too. Roses will grow up the pergola too of course. The walls will be roses, the floor will be flagstone and the ceiling will be roses on the pergola overhead. It still has a long way to go to complete my vision. There are 3 sides to this room and I intend to make an entrance to it so you can't see it all at once from other parts of the garden.

Do any of you have garden rooms?

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Comments (41)

  • faltered
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I love your pergola! And I think it's a wonderful idea. I hope you'll keep us posted as to the progress.

    This topic comes up every so often. I can't remember who usually posts photos of her wonderful wooden pergola (Mary Lu maybe?).

    Tracy

  • irene_dsc
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That's actually what I'm trying to accomplish with my yard (see my post about projects in progress). My old yard wasn't really big enough to do rooms, and it also wouldn't have worked well since we wanted the vista to the rear. But, I'm trying to make the back corner a room, as well as the veggie garden area. Maybe more in the future, but I think that's enough for now.

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My garden approx. 50'X65' is divided into sections, garden rooms, maybe. Our back yard is completely surrounded by a 6' cedar stockade like fence, why, that's another story, one for the conversation side. Garden rooms, they start out in my courtyard :o), the top of the gravel driveway, the 6' gate encloses a little section where I grow epimediums, hostas, ferns,and other shade loving plants. The fence, is covered in ivy, actinidia and clematis, the house is being held together by the boston ivy growing on it, then through another gate and into the rest of the garden. The back 40, that is 40 steps from the back door, is where I grow my few tomatoes, shallots, lettuce, pole beans, small fruits, some herbs and a couple of roses. It is enclosed by the house, greenhouse and fence which is covered in virginia creeper. The pool room is where we have a koi pool, more like a puddle but it is 4' deep, there is a U shaped planter full of ferns, clematis, hostas, a couple of shrubs. This spot is enclosed by the fence, lattice walls and a fiberglass roof. It's kind of a cool spot but can't seem to get a good picture of it yet, this leads into my mess, still working on it, the michaelmas daisy bed is coming along, the other side of the path I'm redoing, at present trying to clean up, looks like hell at the moment, having to dig everything to get rid of the weeds and just heal everything back in. This little area is surrounded by the back of the shed on which I have just planted a couple of rambling roses, the fence and the pergola, wisteria and clemie's on this guy. This section is going to be my little cottage garden, when I sit on the bench here. It seems the rest of the world is far away, if I look up in all directions I see trees, the sky and darn it, one power line. The laburnum tree is getting taller, soon it will block it out. This is getting long winded so will shut up. We're taking pictures now, maybe DH will put together a slide show for later, my garden is divided up so that you have to keep going around corners, through arches and gates to see what is next. It's not everybody's cup of tea but it suits me.

    A.......

  • fammsimm
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I love garden rooms, and wish I had the room to create some. There is something so cozy about a rose covered pergola and a garden bench.

    It's the perfect place to sit, read and dream! I'm sure yours will be beautiful, Anne.

    Marilyn

  • irene_dsc
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Have I mentioned before how much I love that pergola??? Seriously droolworthy!

    But, the first thing that comes to mind is, any climbing roses you put on there better be close to thornless, or no one is going to want to sit on the benches!

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Annie, just a thought, if you are looking for a rose to grow on but not cover that beautiful pergola, there is a David Austin rose Mayor of Casterbridge, it's a pastel pink and it's nearly thornless. The one I have, what thorns it does have are small, it has a lovely fragrance.

    A......

  • jakkom
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh my, bloominganne (great name, BTW), your arbor is what I DREAM about! That and the sunshine to grow roses up it! Even though I live in sunny Northern CA, our urban lot is on a hillside and too shaded for me to grow roses except in a few select spots.

    We were on a tight budget and had to work within the existing hardscape. The weeds were 6' high all around (over 2000 sq.ft., or almost half the property), but in the backyard, there was a fairly solid shed with an old, cracked concrete patio atop a retaining wall. The backyard being very big (over half the property and sloping downhill), the remaining half had been left to weeds, two big trees, and a large colony of roof rats.

    The sad hardscape we inherited looked like this:
    {{gwi:669773}}

    After 13 years of doing nothing with it, we finally started our landscaping. First we did the front, then the sides. Then in 2003 it was time to do the back. As it was so large we did it in two phases.

    The old patio is cracked and faded, but we just cleaned it up and planted around it. The big accomplishment was the flagstone path and steps my DH did to link the backstairs with the patio. Before it was nothing but adobe clay and SLIPPERY! This is from 2003 - the plantings have now grown up to completely hide the neighbor's porch.
    {{gwi:669774}}

    The storage shed, which was more a haven for spiders and roof rats than accessible storage, was transformed by our favorite handyman. One-third (out of sight, to the RH side) remains water-tight, organized storage. The other two thirds was dry-walled, painted, and transformed into a shaded 'lanai'. There's no glass in the window, no need for it since rain never comes in through there. My husband couldn't believe I wanted to put a rug out there! But now it's his favorite thing (soft plush olefin, just hose it down).
    {{gwi:669776}}

    Then we landscaped the far end of the backyard. I don't have any good wide-angle photos, unfortunately. But it's completely private, with a second patio of dry concrete. Two curving beds now surround each of the two mature trees, and I'm busy trying to grow some taller plants to soften up the fence lines.

    If you stand on the back of that concrete patio in the photo above, and look down into the lower end of the property, however, you can get a sense of the second 'garden room' we created.
    {{gwi:669778}}

    Although this isn't quite a garden room, I'm including it because so many of us deal with privacy issues combined with narrow side yards. This is a composite taken from just below the upper concrete patio's retaining wall, looking upwards towards the front of the property. As you can see in 2001, it's narrow, sloping, and dismal-looking. But now - this was taken in 2005 - it feels like a secret, secluded walk down to the second patio, completely private.
    {{gwi:669780}}

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    J..... A Standing Ovation, it's absolutely charming, as to cracks in pavement, it has that old world charm look about it. Your paths look so inviting I'd love to take a walk down them.

    A......

  • FlowerLady6
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    BloomingAnne ~ Your pergola is beautiful and will make a lovely secret garden room. Do keep posting pictures as the growth progresses.

    Mary Lu is the one I believe who has a wonderful pergola and if I'm not mistaken does have a garden room or two.

    A....~ I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures you have taken of your place.

    Jkom ~ I just love the way your place has turned out. Before and after pictures really show what was done and how things are now. You've done a fantastic job.

    FlowerLady

  • todancewithwolves
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    In my next life I will *lol*

    Lovely photos!

    Edna

  • bloominganne
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    aftermidnight, Love the sound of your garden rooms. I've learned to appreciate gardening in the shade. We would all enjoy seeing your pictures.

    jkom51, Thank you for your pictures, you have done a great job with your garden rooms. What a wonderful transformation. I see that you live in Oakland. I was born in Alameda and grew up in Oakland. It's a wonderful place to live ... I still get homesick at times.

    Thank you for your compliments on my pergola. You are all so kind. I will post pictures of my progress.

    aftermidnight & irene dsc, Thanks for the suggestion of a thornless rose. I looked up the Mayor and he looks very handsome. I have already planted Lamarque but maybe I should swap it with my Madame Alfred Carriere which is nearly thornless. Otherwise, I'll have to come up with a new spot for Lamarque .. I get nervous thinking about moving my roses though, so I would wait until this fall when the weather is cooler. I hate to lose any of them in the intense heat of July and August.

    I have two David Austin's, Heritage and Abraham Darby, and both are new but doing very well.

    bloominganne

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Anne, your going to love Abraham Darby, beautiful color, lovely fragrance and a repeat bloomer. I grow mine as a climber, so far my favorite D.A.

    A......

  • mary_lu_gw
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    As several posters have mentioned, we do have a garden room, one we have been working on since 2002.

    I have not tried "thumbnails" before, but thanks to the great instructions posted on the gallery, I will give it a shot.

    {{gwi:669782}}


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    These pictures were taken in 2005. I will have to get new ones this summer. Couldn't find any really good ones from last summer. Some things have changed as I removed some roses and replaced with others. The roses on the fence now are at or above the fence. The first rose on the fence opened tonight.
    Marylu

  • Steveningen
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Bloominganne, Lamarque is a gorgeous rose and will look splendid growing up that pergola. I can understand your concern about thorns though. That's why we ultimately went with Iceberg for our arbor. Madame Alfred Carriere would be just as beautiful should you decide to move the Lamarque. Whatever you decide, this is going to be stunning and I can't wait to see it come to fruition.

    My back garden is in its third year and I'm finally getting a sense of "rooms" (after watching P. Allen Smith every Sunday since we moved here). It takes a while to achieve that affect. Trees and shrubs play an important role, so you have to be patient when you start from scratch.

  • gfult
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We inhereted a wonderful little garden space a few years ago. This photo is taken standing between two privet hedges. This photo was taken in June. On the right is a tall (overgrown in this photo) Rose of Sharon which has no leaves at all right now but is covered with big flowers in August (then they slime my patio for weeks - oh well). I had dabbled in gardening before but this was such a beautiful oasis and the plants were great for a beginner like me. Now I wonder how I missed out on gardening my whole life!
    Unfortunately, most of the yard is dug up right now because my husband decided to level the yard and build a small retaining wall a couple of feed in front of the kousa dogwood that is straight ahead in the photo. I didnt think we needed to change the grade but I will get more flower bed space out of it so I went along with the plan. He hit a lot of ledge and tried to chisle it away daily for a week or so then rented a jackhammer for a day. Now he has braces on both hands and we are experiencing trying to figure out what to do next.

    jkom51, you have given me some great ideas. We want to expand the patio to the right and left with some sandstone set in pebbles. This area is mostly shady and we have a dog so the grass is ridiculously hard to keep growning. I LOVE your side yard, that is my ultimate creative goal...someday. What is the tall shrub on the left accross from the brick?

    Since you are all here, can I get some advise? The bed that is kind of hidden in this photo along the right doesnt have the cottage garden feel of my sunny beds on the other side of my house. Creating the cottagy look in a somewhat shady space like this feels less intuitive and plants that do come to mind like astilbes and hydrangeas dont show up at plant swaps very often. As much as I love gardening, I do need to watch the budget so I need to choose what I buy carefully. I recently moved the peony to the sunnier front bed so I am even more in need of some taller, cottage perennials. I did get a columbine last year but this spring it is just a tiny little sprig, Im keeping my fingers crossed.


    {{gwi:669791}}

  • jant
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Some pretty rooms here! Gfult...what are those trees in your last shot? Very pretty!

  • carolann_z8
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Anne, I love the pergola.

    Your garden room sounds a lot like one that I've been working on for a couple of years now. It's a woodsy garden room tucked away in the back of my land. I can't wait to see your garden room when it's finished. Be sure and take pictures as you go along so you'll appreciate all the work involved.

    jkom51, what a transformation. You have really worked hard. It's really nice and you should be proud.

    Marylu, I am totally in love with your yard.

    gfult, I like what you've done too and also wonder what the trees are.

    One question, do you have to dead head roses on large arbors so they will bloom.

  • myoneandonly
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Anne, your pergola is so lovely. Do you have it anchored in the ground? Did it come as a kit or assembled? I want one very much, but I looked at Walpole Builders (?) online and they were so expensive. I need something more reasonable.

    JK, I am starting from scratch, and as an (ahem) older gardener, thirteen years is going to make me a pretty old bird, so I've got to get going. Your efforts are remarkable, so inspiring.

    Mary Lu, Wow, someone in another post was talking about your garden, and I can see why! Can you describe the fence you have? It looks quite tall, and since we will be attempting to keep deer out of our garden, I'm wondering about yours.

    Gfult, what a welcoming patio you've created. I'd love to relax there with a tall, cool drink.

    Steven, Your potager is one of the most creative uses of space I've seen. I hope everyone here has been able to see it.

    DH and I are moving to our new home in a month. It's a pasture, with nary a shrub nor a flower.


  • jakkom
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    gfult, the tall shrub opposite the brick wall is a yellow cestrum. An heirloom plant, incredibly vigorous and fast growing; in our zone it is evergreen although even our mild winters knock it back some, so I'm not sure it will survive in your zone.

    The story attached to it is that my gardener, who has the usual clientele of "I want something that grows fast, needs no care, never gets pests, and has flowers" (who, me? says I, looking innocent) one day realizes that in the very back of his property, behind a detached garage, are some very tall 15' shrubs. They have been there since he bought the property decades ago, surviving total neglect as well as several severe absolutely-no-water summer droughts.

    Eureka! he thinks, and takes a cutting to the owner of a local nursery. "What is this, anyway?" he asks the owner.

    The owner does some research and identifies it as a yellow cestrum. Now, the pink and red hybrids are shorter and much more floriferous (I have the pink and a friend has the red), BUT they definitely need more water and a bit more pest prevention than the old-style yellow.

    The owner got a bunch of trimmings from my gardener, rooted them up, and now the yellow cestrum is back on the retail market, in a limited fashion at least, after an absence of more than fifty years!

    So remember, you never know what kind of treasures you may be inheriting with old gardens!

  • girlgroupgirl
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You all have lovely garden areas! That sure is a nice arbor Anne! I don't see any around much nice as that one.

    I don't really have any garden rooms, the areas I am working on are meant for strolling. I would like to have two or three sitting areas eventually.

    However I have designed gardens for others with rooms. One woman had a small back yard - wanting a total garden space. We had an area for BBQ/Bar with a short knee wall. It was an excellent place to plant herbs. There was a tiny vegetable garden area as well. In the back was a "room" for tools and compost, and a secret area for a lounge chair for reading. Each area was screened off from the next with a mix of easy shrubs like camellias and hydrangeas. We fit a lot in that small area!!

    GGG

  • bloominganne
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Marylu, Your garden room is perfect! What an inspiration. I hope my project turns out so beautiful. I especially like the brickwork and the fountain.

    As for my pergola ... we have a very talented handyman who is renovating our house. He was about to start on the guest bathroom when suddenly we had company coming so I asked him to wait on the bathroom and to make a pergola and two arbors. Found the plans in a book I already had and he built, painted and installed them. They are anchored in cement. We're lucky to have found him.

    Here's a picture of one of the matching arbors (please ignore the metal pole on the right, that needs to be removed):

    {{gwi:669793}}

    My lot is sloped and there is a terraced area above the rest of the backyard. The previous owner had put in two sets of brick stairs to the upper level. The arbors are at the top of each set of stairs. I've planted roses and clematis to grow up them.

    I sure appreciate your encouragement!

    bloominganne

  • mary_lu_gw
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    bloominganne, how lovely! Yes, you are lucky to have found such a "handy" handyman! All three matching! I am sure it looks lovely! The matching arbors at the top of the stairs are perfect. You are well on the way to having a beautiful garden room. Please keep us posted with pictures as it matures. A long shot showing both arbors would be great! ;-)

    Also thank you. We love our garden. It might not be what some would like, but we really enjoy it. This week the fountain gets set up and running. We always wait until after the "stuff" falls off the trees in spring otherwise it is so hard to try to keep it clean. Can't wait. It just doesn't seem right to be working in the garden and not hear the sound of water.
    Marylu

  • gfult
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi, Thanks for the compliments, I wish I could take the credit but the former owner left this space behind.
    The tree on the left is a Kousa dogwood. To the right of the dogwood are 3 very tall weigela variegata. To the right of the weigela is the Rose of Sharon. This spring the Rose of Sharon was pruned by about a third.

  • memo3
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am working on creating what I think are garden rooms ;)

    What I call my front yard, because it faces out into the farmyard, is going to be primarily grass. We are fencing in the yard this week and I have put in a narrow bed all along the fenceline curving around to the side of the garage which isn't attached to the house but sits further out in the yard than the house does. It will be used to to play croquet or badmitten when the kids and grandkids are here. I have a brick path/sidewalk that divides the front yard in half. On the west side of the front yard is my cottage garden bed. It's about 25x30 feet. I have a shrub bed along the south side of the house.

    Going around the house on the west side to the north and directly north of the cottage garden is where my patio is going to be. We worked on putting in the fence posts that will enclose that area today. There will be a gate and arbor leading off the patio and into the backyard at the north end of the patio. I have a bunch of old garden lilacs, that I dug up a couple of weeks ago and stuck in a big tub of water, that I will plant on the west side of the patio. When mature they should lend some shade to the patio. We will also be making a removeable canopy over the patio with a canvas tarp so it has some shade during the day. I have a lot of dirt work to do out there yet before I can lay in the brick patio.

    On the north side of the house I am working on getting all the weeds out of there so I can plant grass there this fall. This area will have a horseshoe pit for the guys. There is a nice Ash tree there so it will be a cool shady place for them to play their game.

    North of the horseshoe area I will be planting a hedge of some sort the full width of the yard from east to west and hope to have an arbor in the center of the hedge that will lead into the pottager. All the beds there will be raised beds made of pine slabs that we got from the local lumber mill. I'm going to use shingles for the pathways between all the raised beds. Some of the raised beds will be devoted permanently to strawberries, asparagus and rhubarb.

    Further north another dividing hedge and arbor and beyond that is where the hoophouse/greenhouse will be. I want to put in a small pond behind the hoophouse to the east for my ducks and geese to swim in. This won't be a pretty pond, purely functional. At the moment they just swim in a little blue kiddie pool but it's way to small for them and they fight over who gets to get their bath first lol. All along the sides and rear of the backyard is a treed windbreak. On the east side there is a wide alley of space between the first row of trees and the second row. Eventually I want to make that area into a secret, shady garden. I'd like this area to be really cottagey in looks with all the girly doo-dads since the rest of my yard is very rustic with all the arbors and fences being built from red cedar trees that we have cut and trimmed ourselves. I'm want to build a screened gazebo back there in the corner where I can hide out in the shade and enjoy a good book.

    Now coming up on the east side of the yard next to house again and on the north of the garage, we will make this a play area for the grands. It will have a hand made swingset of wood, a tractor tire sandbox, and also a clothesline for me that will do double duty as a place to make blanket tents for the kids. Someday we hope to add a covered porch to the east side of the house. There is a living room window there now and another in the bedroom that would be replaced with doors to lead out to the porch. I think it would be fine place to sit and watch the little ones play.

    Still a lot to be done. But thinking back on the six foot weeds and piles of farm junk that were here three years ago when I came here, it's looking like a completely different place these days.

    MeMo

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    MeMo, it all sounds so wonderful, you'll have to post pictures as you go along. I envy anybody that has a big covered porch. They are to die for.

    A......

  • Steveningen
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    MeMo, now that's some ambition!

    Question: you said the duck pond won't be a pretty pond, rather purely functional. Why can't it be both? Is it someplace people won't normally view?

    Bloominganne, you are so lucky to find a talented handy-dude that is willing to shift projects so readily. If he ever finds himself in Vallejo, give him my number!

    Steven

  • memo3
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you, A.... The porch is still a long way off but it is in the plan. We do a little each year and slowly, slowly all my paper plans are coming to life.

    Steven, I don't plan on the pond being pretty because the geese and ducks are pretty disgusting in their habits. They are basically wild creatures after all and deficate in the water. The pond like the pool will have to be pumped clean everyday and refilled to keep the water fresh because I don't think a filter system will be able to keep up. The pond that I have isn't very large really but should be big enough for more than one bird at a time to get in. They eat plant life too so it's not really reasonable to think that I could put plants in or around the pond as they will just tear them apart. Still I enjoy sitting and watching them take their baths so I want something more suitable than the kiddie pool. Mainly just to make them happy. They love clean water and actually prefer it to the pond that we have down on the east side of the house. I'll just tuck it in behind the hoophouse where the compost pile and such will be and it will be out of site behind a hedge so it doesn't matter if it's pretty just as long as it's functional for them. I have three geese and two ducks now and perhaps some babies coming. One of the geese has been faithfully sitting her nest for several weeks now. Time will tell.

    MeMo

  • trailrunner
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Everyones' rooms sound so wonderful. I am keeping these ideas in my head so I can try and implement them later. MeMo you sound so amazing. Your land must be a really lovely sight.

    MaryLu your paths and garden are just simply some of the most lovely I have ever seen. You are an inspiration.

    Bloominganne; those are fabulous arbors. You are indeed lucky to have such a great builder.

    jkom your before and after is amazing. What all do you have along that long shaded area?

    gfult: what a great space...it has so much potential you are lucky.

    Caroline

  • myoneandonly
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Memo,

    Not meaning to hijack this post from its original purpose, but you must have more energy than the power company. Just reading what you've done already wore me out, AND you've got granchildren!!! You need to record this in pictures. I hope you have a camera ready and will share your progress.

  • lori_elf z6b MD
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I first saw garden rooms in gardens in England and I thought it was so charming I have been trying to create a similar effect in my own cottagey garden. It makes a garden seem larger and more diverse when you can have rooms of distinct character. I have a rose garden room that is not visible from the house because of an 8' privacy panel. You enter via a gate draped by clematis and climbing roses and step into a room. I have other areas or rooms that I call my "woodlands", "the courtyard", "the side yard", the "veggie garden" and a few others.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Lori's Garden Photos

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lori, your garden rooms have brought back very happy childhood memories. My grandpa's garden, a very english cottage garden looked a lot like your picture (of the other half) The only difference the lath? on his dividing walls of his garden rooms was put on in a square pattern. He had lots of roses, dianthus, foxgloves, canterbury bells and lavender. My grandparents on both sides immigrated to Canada when my parents were very young, they brought there love of gardening with them. You have created a lovely garden, the fragrance from your roses must be amazing, thanks for sharing.

    Annette

  • denise63
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    How do you get your photos right on your post? And shrink them to under 500?
    Thanks!

    Denise

  • PRO
    Nell Jean
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Denise: Your software for uploading from your camera or scanner is usually where the photos get resized to under 500 pixels, . I use Microsoft Picture It; most have the capacity to shrink or save as a web ready photo. I think Shutterfly will resize your photo when you upload to it. Didn't find that feature on Photobucket. See Link below.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Memo's Tutorial on uploading Photos

  • carolann_z8
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Mary Lu, I love the color scheme of your house. I posted pictures of your beautiful yard on our garden club site and a friend of mine has a house with brick the colors of yours. Would you mind posting pictures of the front of your house or would you please email me some? She is wanting some ideas on what color to paint hers and I think yours is perfect for her.

    Carol Ann gardengateclub@sbcglobal.net

  • lauriewood
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Bloominganne-

    Your arbor is flawless! Love, love it.

    Laurie

  • pianolady
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, I do have garden rooms. One is my hidden room under a walnut tree where I use plants as my "wall" making my garden hidden from the street. I also have one for roses, one at the pond, and one inside a fence out front.

    Here's the one under the walnut tree, lots of hostas, grasses, and trees. It's hard to get a decent resized photo, kind of looks like a jumbled mess, but I think you'll get the idea.
    {{gwi:669795}}
    {{gwi:669797}}

  • summer_in_alabama
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    In process of searching creative ideas. Spend lots of time outdoors. Cost effective #1 and thinking outside of the box for ideas. Can't afford expenisive hardscape. Planning is the most important and working in stages as money and time permits.

    In the video link I like the trellis that extends the height of the fence. Good idea. Of course love the outdoor kitchen - some good ideas with planting of herbs.
    I can see doing an outdoor - grilling area under a less expensive lumber(shelter)arbor. Using metal post boxed with wood is great idea for post that won't rot over time.

    I too have always wanted a special private garden area to escape to and melt my worries away. Would also like an outdoor bathing area included. The grilling area would be the social area for special time with family and friends.

    Have so many pics I've searched on internet. May link more later.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Outdoor Kitchen

  • gardnpondr
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    WOW your handy man sure does do great work!!!

  • reneestauffer
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh my! You guys have some breathtaking views to enjoy. Mary Lu, I keep thinking how lucky your neighbor is to live next to you and be able to look down out of his second story window into such lovliness!

    ~Renee

  • armyyife
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You all have such lovely garden rooms. I have on layaway now a resin wicker set for my patio so I will get to start on my garden room. I plan to be relaxing in it quite a bit!

    Lori, your roses and gardens are beautiful, great job!
    Meghan

  • natalie4b
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Garden rooms allow different moods in the same garden, IMO. There is a funky garden room in my garden, an elegant and classy place, a meditation room, a yellow-and-purple garden, a moon garden room, red-white-and-blue area, "beach" garden.
    We spend as much time as we can outside - having breakfast on weekends, drinks, conversation, just watching hummingbirds, butterflies, sun go down. I am the only gardener in our family. The rest of us are enjoying and admiring the fruits of my labor :-).

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