Garden Benches Refreshed

Many, many years ago at a property that I no longer own, a neighboring farmer teased me when I was painting my old, weathered barn. He said "A little bit of powder, a little bit of paint will make it look like what it ain't."

It was true that the old barn had warped boards and a rusty metal roof. It needed more help than a coat of paint. Fortunately, my metal garden benches were showing only a bit of rust and faded color—easily remedied by a good scrubbing and a coat of fresh paint. After seven years in the garden, I was ready to use some color.

I bought the spray paint, Valspar® Satin Leafy Rise, as my color of choice. It's a pale green that looks so much cooler than the dark bronze of the cottage garden bench or the black of the gravel garden bench. I also painted a rusty metal plant stand and a pot.

I'll have a solid color deck stain mixed to match the benches to use on our two wooden bridges. One wooden bridge is in the cottage garden over the flowing stream and the other is over the dry stream in the gravel garden.

For the last few days and the last cool temperatures of June, we've enjoyed sitting on both benches. With temperatures soaring to above 105°F today and tomorrow, we won't be sitting outside on the benches again soon!

Cottage garden bench was painted from bronze to green.
The willow tree has matured over seven years. I removed a jasmine
from the stone fence column as well as two large shrubs on either side of the bench.
I've been replanting the areas with perennials and will finish the make-over in the fall.

The gravel garden bench was black (and rusty) before being painted.
I'm still using containers that I had on hand, but continue to look
for upgrades that I like (or paint all containers to match).
The lavender plants in the urns have just been trimmed and a
few annuals were added around the juniper.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.