Decorate Your Garden With Cedar Outdoor Furniture

Most people know about the popularity of cedar outdoor furniture. Cedar makes for great tables, benches and chairs because of its natural weather-resistant properties, its long-lasting durability, and its beautiful coloration. But there's one place that cedar is noticeably absent, and that's in your home garden. Spruce up your lawn, flower beds and winding paths with a touch of gorgeous cedar.

The first place you may want to start by extending your collection of cedar outdoor furniture is with some cedar planters. Planter boxes are extremely versatile and can go in just about any type of garden setup. They are ideal for small garden, urban and rooftop gardens, and window boxes are available that attach to the sill if you no garden space at all. Cedar planters are typically rectangular or square-shaped in design and can be very small or very big. Inside, you can plant anything from flowers, to green leafy foliage, herbs, and vegetables. They can be moved around to find the sun or shade as needed and arranged in aesthetic patterns. Many people choose to build their own, because it's one of the easiest cedar outdoor furniture projects and that way you can have the size you need, and at a lower cost. The main thing to remember is that although you need to make sure that the box can hold a good amount of soil, there must also be a basic drainage system in place so that there is no standing water. A few holes drilled in the bottom is the easiest way of achieving this.

The second thing you may want to add is a cedar garden arbor or trellis. Both of these structures have a lattice fence work that extends up along the side. They are specifically designed for holding creepers like ivy, and some types of flowers. This makes them more than ideal for a garden, not to mention romantic and naturally beautifying. A trellis is simply a freestanding wall with the latticework, while an arbor extends overhead into an arch shape. This archway is a perfect backdrop for weddings and professional photos. Many arbors also come with matching cedar outdoor furniture, namely an attached bench, so you can sit and look up at the flora, which acts as a natural shade.

Similar in function to the trellis and arbor is a cedar obelisk. These are also meant to support climbing or especially tall stemmed plants. The difference lies in its design. The obelisk is one of the most recognizable, oldest shapes used in architecture, especially prevalent in religious constructions of the ancient Egyptians. While your garden obelisk will not be made of marble and covered in hieroglyphics, rest assured that it will be much easier to lift. These obelisks are shaped like tall, slim pyramids. Unlike the lattice work of trellises and arbors, they feature a minimal number of crossbeams upon which creepers can adhere.

For either the garden or even a patio or roof deck, a gazebo or a pergola are two especially impressive examples of cedar outdoor furniture. Both are larger structures with typically four posts and an overhead of some sort that provides a moderate to considerable amount of shade. A pergola is more open, typically square-shaped, and the cross-hatch roofing structure allows for climbing plants. A gazebo on the other hand can be square-shaped, oval, circular, etc. The overhead section is generally some variation on a dome or turret ceiling. With a gazebo, this roof can be very open, with loose thatching or slats, or it can be completely covered for protection from the rain and any direct sunlight. Today, most gazebos are made of wood, but they were not always relegated to cedar outdoor furniture. The gazebos of yore, like those in ancient Rome, were made from stone and marble.