Garden aren’t just for looking at. They’re a site to be experienced, a site to be enjoyed! Many peoples design there gardens with this in mind. One way this is done is to blend brick or stone paths around the garden, encouraging people to explore the different plants and flowers up close. These paths are beautiful in and of themselves, usually made up of either individual bricks or large, circular stones placed into gravel.
Taking this idea one step further: why just walk around? Why not stop and stay for awhile?
And thus, the idea of garden furniture was born!
Instead of the stone pathway simple taking you on a small tour of the garden, consider having it lead to a central area where you could place a small bench, such as an iron wrought bench. This encourages people to see the garden not just as a visual or olfactory (smell) experience, but an overall sensory experience that they are a part of. In a spot where you’d place a sitting bench or other furniture, consider adding other pieces of garden decor to flair up the area. For example, people are drawn to the sound of water. This is why water fountains are so prized in the garden. Now wouldn’t it be nice if the stone pathway naturally leads to the bench which is within earshot or even arm’s length of a water fountain? Talk about a great place to read a book! 
If you like the idea of reading in your garden, or just providing a place where folks can relax outdoors in the midst of the garden itself, consider upping the ante and placing an entire table set in the garden. Now obviously the garden needs to be decent sized for this not to overpower the garden itself. But if your design can accommodate a table and 2-3 chairs, a table set in the garden can look wonderful. Not only that, but its presence can solidify the garden as an extension of the home, and even as a social hub, if your friends are of the right crowd – i.e. those who appreciate a beautiful garden and the outdoors!
There are a few different types of table sets designed for the garden specifically. Broadly speaking, tables (and other garden furniture items) can be divided into two types. The first is made of wood that is specially treated to be outdoors, and as such, can withstand reasonable weather conditions. (But you wouldn’t necessarily want to leave it outdoors all year round!) The other is furniture made of metal, such as iron pieces. Outdoor metal tables and chairs are very sturdy and long lasting. One issue though is the lack of padding on such furniture; to get around this, you can usually buy pillows and other padding for these chairs, but it’s not a good idea to leave them outside all the time, or else rain and whatnot will slowly ruin them. Consider using some kind of trunk or outdoor storage item that can be blended into the garden as a piece of decor, and then storing all padding for the furniture inside it!
The prominent use of garden furniture takes a large garden and even a decent amount of money to implement. For the average sized garden, many consider the addition of just a simple bench to be enough for their purposes. However you do it, your friends and family – and let’s not forget, you yourself! – will certainly appreciate having a place to sit and enjoy the garden from within the garden itself.
