My six for this Saturday focuses on different seating areas around our garden. Perfect places to catch the early morning sun and enjoy breakfast, to write, read, sample a Gin and Tonic at the end of the day or just ponder the meaning of life and the COVID crisis.
While others enjoyed a heatwave the breeze here has been decidedly chilly which has not encouraged me to get in the pool and do my pre-op knee replacement exercises to build muscle. Brrrrr….
1. Morning Sun
We don’t really use the back terrace as it catches the north breeze from the Atlantic. However, on still mornings this is the perfect place to take breakfast and enjoy the early morning sun.
2. Another favourite area to enjoy breakfast outside are the wooden seats sheltered from the Atlantic breeze by the olive hedge which started life as a twig of a tree purchased in the centre aisle at Lidl. For some reason, we never got round to pruning it and as you can see it grew into a substantial hedge.
3. This seat is tucked away under the Washingtonia palm tree and in a quiet and more shady corner. The perfect place to retreat from the midday sun.
3. One of my favourite areas is this small sunny terrace which looks across the pool area. This area is also the home to some of my favourite hibiscus and succulents, including Madge, the Madagascar Cactus Palm.
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5. Another favourite space is at pool level. Although during the summer, you will frazzle like an ant under a magnifying glass as it is in full sun for most of the day. The UV is high here so a parasol is a must between 10.00 and 16.00 during the summer. When we designed the pool we wanted it to be part of the garden so tried to make it as natural as possible.
6. Last but not least we have the Gin corner. We used to have a swing chair but after a couple of years, it rusted away and was replaced by some sturdy all-weather plastic rattan style chairs. It is the perfect place to catch the last rays of the sun.
Floating on the lilo is another great place to enjoy a peaceful drink and write poetry. In fact, the inspiration for the Mosquito poem came courtesy of the lilo and a pesky mosquito which would not leave me alone.
That’s it for this week. Phew, just made it under the wire and it’s still Saturday!
To catch up with other Six on Saturday bloggers why not pop over to the Propagater’s Blog.
Piglet in Portugal 
Hi Piglet, I found these images inspiring. I’ve recently moved into a new home in Portugal (central) and we’re talking about creating some outdoor sitting spaces around the land. Ours will be a little more woodland and wilder than yours, but thinking a bit more landscaping where the sitting areas are. You’ve elicited a few ideas 🙂
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Your garden is looking great, and I love all your seating areas. The olive hedge is spectacular.
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thankyou 🙂 We are pleased with the Olive hedge as it is a lucky accident 🙂
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Lovely views of your garden from different aspects. My favourite would have to be the sunny verandah with all its potted plants and view of the pool.
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That’s also my favourite place 🙂 Although there will soon be so many pots there will be nowhere to sit!
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I can relate to that!!
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All great spots to enjoy the outdoors. Your garden is looking beautiful 🙂
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thanks, Sami. My garden is my passion.
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Your house and garden are fantastic. I can imagine you spend your days gardening and being outdoors
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Thank you, Harif. Now you can see the lilo I float on where I craft some of my poetry. It’s extremely restful.
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Very nice overview of the garden and the swimming pool. This is where I would like to be now!
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Your garden is wonderful, Fred. You guys are having hotter weather than we are at the moment, yes?
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Lots of places to sit and enjoy different views of your beautiful garden. I’m very impressed by the Lidl olive hedge.
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Yep, that’s why I like the seat in your avatar picture 🙂 The olive hedge is quite bizarre. If I’d wanted it to be a hedge it would not have grown as a hedge.
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It looks so Californian. (Some might say that California looks so Mediterranean, which is sort of close to Portugal.) What species is the Washingtonia? I suspect that the Washingtonia robusta is likely more popular there.
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Hi Tony, yes I am told our weather is similar to some zones in the US. It is the Washingtonia robusta. Unfortunately, a bad choice as it regularly loses the lower leaves. We can only just about reach them now.
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I suspect that the climates there are more comparable to the climates of coastal California than anywhere else in America. Washingtonia robusta is popular here because of the climate. If your climate was more humid like the Gulf Coast or southern Atlantic Coast, palms that prefer humidity would be more common than Washingtonia robusta. Washingtonia robusta used to be the most common palm in the Los Angeles region as well as around San Jose. Unfortunately, they get so tall that they need to be groomed by arborists.
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Our weather here is windy and very humid. I never understood humidity until we moved here. IT’s not hot humidiy but ocean humidity especially at night after the sun goes down. My poor washingtonia certaonly needs grroming. shame you are so far away, tony.
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?! I could not groom it. I have not climbed in many years. I worked for some excellent climbers though!
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