Is the most important thing in garden design... a chair? James thinks so. Joe, alarmingly, agrees. Cue a deep sigh from the plants.
This week James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift sit down (eventually) to argue that every good garden starts with where you put your bottom. Where should a seat go? Sun or shade? How many friends do you need before you're allowed a terrace? And is a garden bench really just a sculpture you occasionally sit on?
Along the way: a fish that grows a few centimetres every time it's mentioned, James's garden building with a pretentious Spanish name, a reclaimed teak table flattened by a falling tree the day after it arrived, Joe's claim to have invented the plastic rattan sofa, a deck chair stand-off over a Ritz biscuit, and a radical proposal for trousers with the cushion built in.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
03:25 Joe's big fish in Ireland
04:26 James's West Coast tour of Canada
06:20 Is sitting the key to garden design?
07:32 Where to put a seat in your garden
08:37 How big should your terrace be?
12:39 Why a garden bench is a sculpture
17:04 Designing a bespoke garden bench
20:02 Sun or shade: where to sit now
23:16 How comfortable should garden seating be?
27:13 Why garden chairs need arms
30:54 Built-in seating for small gardens
37:05 Wood, metal or plastic rattan?
41:23 Bring back the deck chair
44:42 The cushion: the most important part
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Not only will you get us but new articles every week from some of the best garden writers around and access to a bulging archive from (without wishing to drop names) the likes of Alan Titchmarsh, Ann-Marie Powell, Tom and Sue Stuart-Smith, Advolly Richmond, Jan Etherington and many others. Come and join the Collective for essays, seasonal notes, reflections and stories.
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About our hosts
James Alexander-Sinclair is a garden designer, writer and broadcaster. He is an RHS Vice-President and was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for outstanding contribution to horticulture in 2022.
Joe Swift is a familiar face on television as a presenter of BBC TV's Gardeners' World and other gardening programmes. He is a garden designer, broadcaster, writer and design director of Modular.
Our only two rules? No dead plants and no dull questions.
