Outdoor Living & Lifestyles - Garden Furniture

I was wondering of anyone knew what the best materials would be to use, to build furniture for an outside garden?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! :)

Hi Luverofplants,

If you are considering wood, teak is excellent, but I would only use sustainably harvested teak. Alaska yellow cedar is also good as well as CCA treated southern yellow pine.

Newt

Oh okay. What is CCA treated wood?
Thanks for your advice!

I just realized that I should NOT have recommended the CCA wood as it's been discontinued, although existing stock can still be sold. What I should have recommended is preservative treated wood, the kind that decks are built from. You should find this helpful about the alternatives to CCA treated wood.
Alternatives to Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) | Pesticides | US EPA (http://www.epa.gov/oppad001/reregistration/cca/alternativestocca.htm)

Newt

One thing I've seen is that any type treated wood shouldn't be used in direct contact with soil (such as planter boxes) for any plants (herbs, tomatoes, etc) that will be consumed.

Also, one other wood that works outside very nicely is cypress, although there have been issues with it being over harvested in the southern US.

There's a material I heard of that comes from Vietnam. It's advertized as a "non-endangered" wood. It is know as Mahogany Shorea Hardwood. Also I understand Bamboo is a great outdoor wood.