Wednesday, April 18, 2012
One of the glories of gardens is the space and visual stimuli they provide for quiet contemplation and for reading. The garden design books give lots of examples, lush, austere, expansive, cozy; whatever your available space and inclination allow. Reading or drawing while sitting amongst plants is a great pleasure.
Here are a few pictures from garden design books of contemplative spaces suitable for reading, and adaptable for city or suburban environments.
Welcome into the garden through a wooden moon gate arch and down a path to relax and enjoy the sunlight or the shade with a good book. 
From: Well-designed Garden
Or enjoy a garden bench among poppies, foxglove and catmint 
You
You may enjoy sitting in a woven-willow arbour in the rose garden which has had its lower criss-crossing stems stripped bare so that the pattern remains visible but the canopy becomes dense by midsummer. 
From Dream gardens
Sit and enjoy chair for reading nestled in a lush composition of texture and color. 
A
A bench made of living pin oak planted in its traveling crate. The leaves are pruned off the lower shaped areas to make the piece look more attractive. 
From Eden on their minds
Enjoy a garden floor with a variety of size, shape, and colored stones that adds its own organic vitality mingling with the plants. 
From Stone in the garden
And relax into your surroundings in a comfortable chair and sit among the colors and textures of stone, terra cotta, flowers and greenery with your book.
From Town gardens
For more ideas, find these books and more in the 710-719 section of the non-fiction in your local library.
With thanks to Sun Chong at Little Falls for her editorial advice.
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