My husband and I bought our current home in Oregon’s high desert five summers ago. I often complain about the landscaping, which is random, doesn’t make much sense and isn’t well suited for this climate. In spite of the questionable landscaping, the previous owners did everything right when they constructed three wooden decks for viewing.
Decks for Garden Viewing and More
Two decks face west to the sunset and a lovely view of the purple and blue foothills of northeastern Oregon’s Blue Mountains. We walk out our living room door onto the first deck, which sits several feet above the ground. The deck is fenced and covered, making it a perfect place to relax on summer evenings.
Warm Deck Environment
We step down to a second deck, which is a bare-bones wooden platform with no fencing or covering. Although it’s connected to the first deck, this garden viewing platform is constructed with spacing that allows planting of shrubs on the sides joining the house and the first deck. It’s hot in the afternoon, but wonderful on warm summer mornings. Although potted plants would look great on both decks, the summer sun is baking hot, so growing anything, even on the covered deck, has been tricky.
Morning Sunlight Deck
The third deck, accessible from our dining room through a patio door, is on the east side of the house where it gets morning sunlight. This deck is relatively small, but has plenty of space for at least two wooden deck chairs and several potted plants and hanging baskets. We can see the flowers from our dining room table. Although we live on a backroad with very little traffic, the neighbors love looking at my flowers and garden scenery as they drive by, and I love showing them off.
I enjoy all three decks, and every year, I promise myself I’ll take advantage of beautiful summer mornings for viewing the landscape or a few minutes of reading time every day before I start work. As I write this, it’s late September and I realize I’ve spent very little time reading on the deck. Next year will be better!
