Home | Bonsai For Beginners | Growing Roses | Growing Grapes | Hydroponic Gardening | Organic Gardening
Fruit Trees | Frog Collectibles | Aromatherapy | Contact

In The Garden | Landscaping & Gardening






Life's a Beach - A Shore Theme in your Outdoor Space




Create a "beach garden" in your backyard
Twentieth century American architect Phillip Johnson (the Glass House and the Seagrams Building) once said, "I hate vacations. If you can build buildings, why sit on the beach?" Mr. Johnson evidently didn't how to relax, but with each new summer, you can. Do you visit the beach each year? Do you wish to? If you don't make it to the shores, its okay, you can create a seaside feel in your outdoor space (patio and backyard for example) and enjoy outings to the beach at home! Here are some quick tips.

Color - Your choice of color will be the biggest stress-reliever in your home "beach." The relaxing hues of the beach are sun-bleached and sand- and water-washed. Think cool and inviting water, lapping on the shore; the pale sand underfoot; the tall pale green beach grasses; the pale pink and coral of shells; the white clouds in a the blue sky.

For your blue, try Kelly Moore Paint's Essence of the Sea or Sail Away, Beauti-tone's French Blue, or Benjamin Moore's Robin's Egg.

If you prefer brighter colors use bright pink or orange, especially in striped fabric or small accessories such as candles.

Furniture - The beach calls for casual wooden seating. Try folding wooden chairs with colorful striped canvas slings, set under a pale colored canvas umbrella that you've propped in a large bucket of sand.

Fabric - What do you take to the beach? Canvas tote bags, terry towels and flip-flops. Use these fabrics for cushions, throws and the seating itself. Install decorative hooks on a wall or on fencing, and hang beach towels as "art."

Motifs - Many beach goers return home with a collection of shells, beach rocks and smooth bits of colored glass. If you have such a collection, use them to good effect in your outdoor space. You can clean up your treasures by running them through a cycle of the dishwasher in the utensil basket. You can also rub baby oil into rocks to bring out the shine that you saw under the beach sun.

A "beach garden" - Imagine different areas of the backyard turned into aspects of the beach. Let your shore theme flow out from the patio into your garden...

The most obvious way to display your shells and pebbles is in a clear glass dish or jar, or a flat plate. Try filling a saucer with them and inserting a votive candle. Or if the shells themselves are large enough, pour candle wax around a wick in the shell cavity itself. Shells can be used in attractive tic-tac-toe games, for stamping fabrics and many other purposes.

You can easily change the feel of your beach theme by the use of different motifs. Perch a sea-gull on a piece of driftwood, drape a piece of fisherman's net over a fence or around a tree, and use a lighthouse or two elsewhere in the space, and you'll be reminded of a coastal fishing village. Folding sling chairs, an umbrella and pots of beach grass give a recreational feel to your space. Or combine the lighthouses with sailboat silhouettes for a more urban shore look. Place posters of sea scenes on outside walls or fences.

Whatever kind of shore you prefer, use these ideas to recreate it at home. Put on a disc of ocean waves lapping on the sand in your portable CD player, kick off your shoes and enjoy the beach!

Debbie Rodgers, the haven maven, owns and operates Paradise Porch, and is dedicated to helping people create outdoor living spaces that nurture and enrich them.

Publisher's Note:  This article opens up a lot of ideas of about dressing up the outdoor spaces you have. Create little spaces in your patio, backyard or garden that reflect the mountains, the beache, the moon or Mars or wherever your imagination ranges!







News about Beach Gardens


New York Times

NJ: We'll become a world leader in wind power
The Associated Press - 6 hours ago
Jon Corzine wants the Garden State to triple the amount of wind power it plans to use by 2020 to 3000 megawatts. That would be 13 percent of New Jersey's ...
State riding the winds Asbury Park Press
Category 5 column: Wound up over wind farm Cherry Hill Courier Post
Garden State Offshore Energy Wins Bid for NJ Offshore Wind Farm MarketWatch
EcoGeek - Wall Street Journal
all 331 news articles


Where is beach renourishment now?
NorthMyrtleBeachOnline.com, SC - 20 hours ago
Great Lakes will then move on into the unincorporated areas of Horry County and finally to Myrtle Beach. Garden City and Surfside have already been ...


San Clemente Seafest fans chow down on chowder, surf
OCRegister, CA - Oct 6, 2008
"It was definitely shaking the pier," said Dale Gain, a worker at the Beach Garden Café's chowder booth. "We even got sprayed a few times. ...


A Flower Fest Full of Surprises
RedOrbit, TX - Oct 5, 2008
By MARY REID BARROW By Mary Reid Barrow You never know what special plants you might find for your home or garden when you shop at the Virginia Beach Garden ...


WHDH-TV

In Hurricane-Ravaged Galveston, Echoes of New Orleans
TIME - Oct 6, 2008
A small sign in the yard remained in place: "She who plants a garden, plants happiness." Her barbecue and garden shed had stayed put. ...
Many died in Texas city because of Hurricane Ike Jamestown Sun
Discovery of 2 bodies raises region's death toll to 35 Houston Chronicle
Letters From Galveston Texas Observer
all 530 news articles


Roatan an alluring getaway
Canada.com, Canada - 1 hour ago
The best beach on the island is called West Bay Beach. It is at the west end of Roatan and is everything you want in a beach. ...


Vacationing in Miami on a budget
San Jose Mercury News,  USA - 20 hours ago
Stop by its verandah restaurant or garden cafe, or spend the afternoon drinking tea here. Adults pay $20; seniors $15; children 6-17, $10. ...


Fire & Police Briefs: Kernersville death under investigation
Winston-Salem Journal, NC - 10 hours ago
KERNERSVILLE -- Police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found yesterday at Farmwood Garden Apartments. Police estimated the man's age to ...
Police investigate body found at Kernersville apartment complex Greensboro News Record
Dead man found at apartment complex Winston-Salem Journal
all 4 news articles


Coast Lines: Oct. 7, 2008
San Jose Mercury News,  USA - 6 hours ago
Pajaro Valley High School and the Wetlands Education Resource Center will break ground on a new community garden and environmental learning center Saturday. ...


The New Icon of Dubai Waterfront - The Atrium – is launched by ...
Al-Bawaba, Jordan - 7 hours ago
Sunland Group’s project cleverly replicates this concept creating a modern atrium in the form of an impressive glass entrance hall, the Winter Garden, ...

beach garden - Google News




home | site map | Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2008 www.in-the-garden.org | Contact | General Partners