The Best Time to Purchase Outdoor Furniture

Have you been strolling through your beautiful outdoor living area this past summer thinking of how much you would like to add a piece of functional outdoor furniture to your landscaped area? As the summer months passed you were probably somewhat angry with yourself that you never bothered to complete this task, or perhaps you found the economy hitting at your wallet and decided to wait until next year. Well, you have probably made a very wise decision as this is really the best time of year to purchase outdoor furniture.

Nothing brightens up your classic wooden Adirondack chair like big beautiful outdoor planters filled with brightly colored bulbs! Although the skies are grey and the leaves are falling from the trees and in most parts of the country we are preparing for the long winter months, it is not too late to start to prepare for spring! This is one chore that I add to my list when I prepare my garden furniture for the winter months. At times I have planted my bulbs as late as the first week of December and still have beautiful results. With a little bit of careful planning you can welcome spring with these beautiful planters filled with bulbs seated next to your classic wooden Adirondack chair or outdoor bench.

Select Your Container Carefully

You have probably spent a considerable amount of time and money investing in your beautiful outdoor garden furniture and you want to insure that it will last for years to come; investing in garden furniture covers is the best way to proctect your furniture.  These covers have become popular not only for use in the winter months, but all year long as they have become easier to use. Most people consider furniture covers the first season they are faced with deciding on how to store their investment. A proper approach will provide you with the same beautiful furniture next spring. There are several factors to consider when deciding to store your furniture for the winter months as opposed to using garden furniture covers:

• Available indoor space to store your furniture
• Weight of the furniture
                                  • Manufacturer’s recommendations

Any change of season means an opportunity to freshen the accents inside and outside your home, and one great way to flex your decorative muscle is to decorate a garden bench to celebrate autumn. The rich oranges, reds, and golds that mark this time of year translate into a treat for the eye for passersby as well as everyone in your household. When you decorate a garden bench to celebrate autumn, this theme will take you from the start of the early fall season into the Thanksgiving holiday.

Although many people—at least those who live in regions that experience colorful, fall foliage—say that autumn is their favorite season, there are plenty who are sad to see summer fade away. If you belong to the latter camp, you can easily cheer yourself up and freshen your garden’s look by adding some chrysanthemum plants for long-lasting seasonal color. Mums, as they’re commonly known, revive the garden with a bright splash of life while the summer bloomers are in a steady decline.

Mums, as they’re commonly known, prefer the cooler air of fall, and they don’t mind the shorter spans of sunlight. As hardy as they are pretty, they shrug off mild frost and will keep your porch, window boxes, and flower beds looking good right up until you’re ready to switch over to Christmas or winter decorations. And that doesn’t have to be the end of the story; with just a little bit of care, your mums will return next year to give you spring color. They’re so easy to grow that even self-labeled “black thumbs” will succeed with the help of sun, water, and fair to good soil that is well drained.

Caring for Chrysanthemums

Just as we all have our unique memories from when we heard the tragic news reports on September 11, 2001, we each have unique thoughts and our own ways of honoring those who were lost. On the somber anniversary of that day we can observe a moment of silence, watch special news programming, or just quietly reflect on our feelings and remembrances. But now that the Pentagon Memorial has been completed, there is an officially designated place where people can go to honor and remember the victims.

The Pentagon Memorial opened on Thursday, September 11, 2008 with a solemn ceremony marked by bagpipe music and certainly palpable patriotism. It specifically honors the 184 people who died at the Pentagon site when a hijacked jet, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the east side of the country’s military nerve center. Fifty-nine of the victims were on board the airliner and 125 were at work inside that wing of the Pentagon.

Polywood Garden Furniture Means Less Work and More Leisure

Weekends at home should be about relaxation and recharging. After a long week of work, nobody needs a list of chores staring them in the face on Saturday morning—especially when that list includes something as daunting as scraping and re-painting the patio furniture. The manmade magic of Polywood will forever rescue you from tasks like that. From now on you can leave that paintbrush in the shed and spend your yard time with a book in one hand and a tall glass of lemonade in the other.

People are so much more eco-conscious than ever, and it shows in the popularity of certain materials related to outdoor living. Instead of high-maintenance tropical hardwoods and chemical-laden pressure-treated pine, homeowners are choosing composite decking for its long life of low maintenance as well as for its gentleness on nature. It only makes sense, then, that garden furniture made of similar material—Polywood—would become all the rage.

Wooden and metal chairs and benches add functional beauty to our yards, but without garden furniture cushions they can literally become a pain after just a short spell of sitting. Warm weather is precious, and nobody needs a sore posterior to dissuade them from enjoying all the hours they can outside among the flora. Garden furniture cushions save the summer, adding comfort and color to your already-beautiful outdoor seating.

If you haven’t shopped for them yet, you’ll be happy to know that outdoor-use cushions have come a long way. These are not your grandmother’s sticky, vinyl numbers—they’re made of tough, weather- and fade-resistant fabrics that will look and feel good for many seasons. Sunbrella tops the heap as far as fabrics’ reputations go, since it shrugs off moisture (rain, humidity, lemonade), dries quickly, and refuses to fade even in the harshest sun. This and other fabrics are also made tough to stand up to heavy use, resisting tears, punctures, and other damage.