We are a neighborhood of front porches. Most of the houses on our street are from 70 to 130 years old, an era when front porches were a necessity to enjoying the summer near the shore. It is one of the joys of summer to sit on the front porch, after dinner, amongst the potted plants and wind chimes, having a cup of coffee and watching the world go by. I have noticed that people buying houses in the neighborhood take great care and expense to restore the front porches, and have even said that is what first attracted them to the area.
I don't know how common this is, but on hot summer evenings when a thunderstorm brews up, everyone goes out on their porches to watch the storm come in. Children sitting on their father's lap, adults sitting on porch rails, yelling comments like we are at a spectator sport," Wow did you see that that lighting in the north!" or "Ron, you left your truck window open". It is apparent that word of how dangerous electrical storms can be, has not reached our neighborhood. As the rest of the neighbors hear all this yelling, they come out and join in. We all watch that last jogger or bike rider racing up the street, before the heavens open up and we all get rained out, and we always say the same thing as we head inside, "This will be good for the gardens".
I would garden all day every day if I could, but I have never had a great fondness for potted plants.They require a great deal of time that I would rather spend out in the garden. I usually do just enough to fill the obvious spots. Luckily, my daughter likes container planting and now does all the hanging plants and pots. The above photos are her porch, the house next door.
In the above photo you can look through four front porches ending in a tan house that has no porch. Even though we may not have the time to while away the hours on our front porches, everyone loves to decorate their porches for summer. Even neighbors who don't garden, do hanging plants and potted plants on their front porches. They may shame me into doing a better job with my own porch plantings.
Here is great web site called " the Evolution of the American Front Porch".
"Nobody thought much about the front porch when most Americans had them and used them. The great American front porch was just there, open and sociable, an unassigned part of the house that belonged to everyone and no one, a place for family and friends to pass the time."
--Rochlin, The Front Porch, in Home, Sweet Home
