Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of guest-posting about planning structures for your garden with our friends over at Cedar Store, and today I am happy to introduce them to the J. Peterson Garden Design readers for the first time!

CedarStore.com is a family of five websites specializing in outdoor furniture and structures.  Offering a wide variety of top quality and handcrafted pieces,CedarStore.com, GazeboCreations.com, AllPicnicTables.com, TeakDesigns.com and DesignerBridges.com can boast the absolute authority on both their products and their ideal uses.  A team of customer service representatives and professional project advisors are always on hand to help guide you through selections, decisions, and in the case of our structures: design, customization, and installation.

As experts in the field, CedarStore.com writes a well-read blog, AllOutdoorPatioFurniture.com, to help outdoor enthusiasts and gardeners design their gardens, lawns, and patios to suit their needs.  With five websites and a blog packed full of useful and applicable information, CedarStore.com is not only passionate about their high grade products, but making sure everyone can get the most out of their outdoor spaces as possible!

To learn more: visit CedarStore.com, AllOutdoorPatioFurniture.com, Follow them on twitter with @CedarStore, or, of course, simply call them up at1.888.293.2339.

The following post on using garden bridges was written by CedarStore.com writer, Kathy Moran.

Suffering from a Dull Landscape?  Get Over it with a Garden Bridge!

In recent years, garden bridges have been going up in backyards as quickly as they have in popularity.  The trouble is that some people think that they can’t use one if they don’t have a pond or a stream.  Not true.  A bridge can add a spectacular new dimension to even the plainest landscape.

A bridge will make a striking focal point in your garden, or along a walkway, and can even be used to lead visitors from one area to another.  You can also place it over a strip of decorative pea gravel, smoothed with a rake, in a curving, flowing pattern.  This will conjure the illusion of water, while evoking feelings of serenity almost equal to those elicited by a murmuring stream.

However, if you want to add a water feature, these days, it’s fairly easy to do.  Not long ago, the only way to get an artificial pond was to pour a concrete shell and fill it with water.  It was a painstaking – and expensive – process to install it correctly, and to get the desired shape.  A lot also depended upon the condition of the soil, as well as the climate, because freezing and thawing often caused cracking and leaking.

Now, with the new, flexible, rubber and plastic liners, almost anyone can build a pond.  Much less expensive than concrete, they are also incredibly durable, with the higher-quality ones lasting as long as 30 years.  These liners can be used to design ponds of nearly any size or shape, for all types of gardens, from casual to formal.  Furthermore, because they conform to the shape of any hole, they’re great for making natural-looking ponds.

You can also find rigid, pre-formed, fiberglass or plastic pond shells.  These work well in sandy or soft soil, as erosion and shifting won’t affect their shapes.  However, they are available in a limited number of sizes, and only a few, geometric shapes, so they are more suitable for formal gardens, where pavers, patio tiles, and bricks are commonly used as edging materials.  Because of their unyielding constitution, you will have to be a bit more creative with your border stones and plants, if you want to achieve a more natural look.

No matter what kind of garden you have, you’ll be able to find the perfect crowning touch for it.  Today’s garden bridges are available in everything from simple, plank styles, to elegant, double-rail designs, as well as many sizes and materials.

So, water or not, if you’re suffering from a dull landscape, you can easily get over it with a garden bridge.

Yours Outdoors,

Kathy

Thank you so much, Kathy & Cedar Store! I look forward to more guest posts in the future!

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