Sitting Pretty
Garden Furniture With A Pedigree
By Catriona Tudor Erler

                Fads and fashions for garden furniture have come and gone throughout history. Today, we have a wealth of garden furniture styles to choose from, with looks and design that signify different places and times. For example, an ornate cast iron table, bench or chair (or a modern aluminum substitute) recalls the new metalwork technology which the Victorians used to such good effect in their garden furnishings.  A classic stone bench takes the garden back further in time, while furnishings made of high-tech, modern materials establishes a sense of the present and look towards the future.
                Many regions of the country are known for distinct styles of garden furniture. The Adirondack chair is named for the mountains in northeast New York, and bentwood rockers are made by craftsmen dwelling in the Appalachian mountain range. Use your garden furniture to help set the time, place and tone of your garden. The following are a few of the outstanding styles from the hundreds of looks you can select for garden furnishing.

Bentwood Furniture
                Although now made all over the country, the craft of making bentwood furniture originated in rural parts of the south, Amish Pennsylvania, western New York, Ohio and Indiana.  Each region has its distinct style, but they are all characterized by a pleasing combination of naturally-formed and milled wood. Bentwood furniture is made by bending and nailing fresh, supple branches or suckers from trees around a pre-formed frame. The best wood for these charming, rustic creations comes from fast-growing trees such as willow, alder and cottonwood.  Generally, craftsmen use the wood that is most locally available so that in the southern United States you’ll find bent willow furniture while Indiana and Ohio craftsmen will generally make theirs of cottonwood or alder. Whatever the region or material, the well-made versions are contoured to fit your body so you can sink into one with pleasure, and sit comfortably for hours in happy contemplation of your beautiful garden.  

Adirondack Chair
                It is no accident that the Adirondack chair is so comfortable. In the early years of this century, its inventor, Thomas Lee, had his family test different combinations of angled backs and seats until he got it exactly right. Then he added the wide, flat arms suited to hold a cup or glass.  He made the prototype for his family’s home in Westport, N.Y., on the southwest shore of Lake Champlain. Local friends and neighbors asked for copies, and the design became known as the Westport chair. 
                Shortly afterwards, Lee gave one of his Westport chairs to Harry Bunnell, a local carpenter who was short on work to see him through the winter. Lee suggested that Bunnell make a few copies of the popular chair to sell. Bunnell did more than make a few chairs. He added a foot rest and a storage compartment, and in 1904 he filed for a design patent in his own name. The patent was issued on July 18, 1905.  Bunnell sold hundreds of these chairs to the fashionable camps and resorts that sprang up in the Adirondack Mountains between 1870 and 1930. As a result, the design eventually became known as the Adirondack chair.  

Chinese Chippendale
                In the mid 1700s, when England was colonizing the Far East, public interest in things Oriental grew. The well-known furniture craftsman, Thomas Chippendale, recognized the trend, and responded with a line of furniture in the Chinese style. The design, which featured chairs with fretwork backs and straight legs, was an immediate hit with his customers. A pleasing blend of plain, straight legs complimented by the patterned back, the Chinese Chippendale style has become an enduring classic. Because they have clean lines, Chippendale chairs and benches, which are historically suited to an 18th-century, Colonial-style garden, look well in almost any garden setting.

Lutyens Bench
                Sir Edwin Lutyens, the famous English Edwardian architect who designed the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., also designed furniture. In the garden world, he is perhaps best known for a distinctive garden bench with scrolled arms and a sinuous back design that rises to a peaked curve in the center. Considered one of Lutyen’s most elegant furniture creations, the original bench was created in 1902 for the garden of Little Thakeham in Sussex, England. Although the design is just a century old, it is considered a classic and is copied for both expensive and budget-priced garden benches and chairs. 

Cast Iron and Aluminum
                The industrial revolution opened up a new world of technology and building materials. To recreate the tone of a Victorian garden, opt for the florid, ornate cast stone and cast iron furniture. If you cannot afford an antique, there are modern reproductions of the Victorian garden furniture made of cast aluminum. The aluminum is lighter and more rust-resistant than the iron - a successful example of our generation’s new technology improving on the beauty of the old.
                Whatever style you opt for, ideally the bench should be comfortable. Position it to enhance the garden design and to entice visitors to sit for a spell.

Catriona Tudor Erler is a freelance garden writer and photographer who divides her time between Smith Mountain Lake and Charlottesville, Virginia. She is the author of  eight garden books including “Poolscaping: Gardening and Landscaping Around Your Swimming Pool and Spa,” “The Frugal Gardener: How to Have More Garden for Less Money,” and “Complete Home Landscaping.”