Above: A Lost River Decanter has a cork stopper and holds 25.4 ounces (about one bottle's worth of wine). It's $48 from Terrain.

Above: Made in the USA, the decanter is modeled after a moonshiner's jug (also made in the USA).

For more entertaining ideas, see The Ultimate Indoor/Outdoor Dining Tableware.

To the casual tourist arriving at the visitors' center of the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge east of Houston, Texas on Galveston Bay, everything seems quite serene and natural. You might notice that the building is new, almost luxurious as wildlife centers go.  The adjoining boardwalk trail into the cypress swamp is in perfect repair.

But there is reason everything looks so pristine.  The visitors center and the boardwalk are new, a tiny piece of the massive restoration needed at the refuge after its devastation by Hurricane Ike.  The storm came ashore with 110-mph winds and a 20-foot surge on September 13, 2008.  It destroyed virtually every structure in the refuge and laid waste to a vital haven for wildlife.

Photographs by Jeanne Rostaing.

Anahuac was established in 1963 and is a 34,000-acre preserve on the upper Texas gulf coast.  It is home to 300 species of birds and other animals including alligators, bobcats, river otters, turtles, and snakes... all thriving again here as the area recovers.  

No doubt those familiar with Anahuac see longterm changes from the storm, but to a group of New York City Audubon Society birders, it was a peaceful and beautiful place to begin a recent eight-day Texas excursion. 

We chatted with volunteers in the visitors' center, picked up maps, browsed the impressive array of nature guides, and then strolled the 1,300-foot boardwalk through the cypress swamp to Lake Anahuac.

The trail was quiet, its shade dotted with the bright colors of early blooming wildflowers. The native Texas lantana displayed its distinctive bi-color blooms.  Pale pink Showy Evening primroses carpeted the ground. And although we spent time gazing down at the murky swamp water, there were no alligators to be seen… that came later in another part of the refuge.

The trail ends on a pier amid Bald cypress trees, their trunks surrounded by water and cypress “knees,” the woody extensions of their roots which grow above the surface of the water and provide the roots with oxygen. 

Spanish moss hung from their branches and caught the breezes coming off the lake.  Although the cypress is a native tree, this landscape seemed exotic, almost foreign to our easterner eyes.

Most of our birding was done from the windows of our van as we drove the Shoveler Pond Auto-Tour loop.  Particularly gregarious was the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, who regarded us calmly from his perch on a roadside fence. 

A Swainson’s hawk looked like a sculpture sitting on a fence post until he flew away. Later we spotted an alligator near a boardwalk along the loop. Because the refuge is so vast, you can see many different types of topography from bayous to prairies.  It would take many days to even get a small sample of everything that is offered here.

The Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Get information for planning a visit at the refuge's website.  And download a Map of the area.

Planning a trip to Texas? We have more things for you to do. For another of Jeanne's favorite excursions, see Texas Treasure: Where to Find the Bluebonnets.

To make it easy to recreate the look, we partnered with sponsor Home Depot to help you gather the essentials for a simple and stylish gathering. 

And to make sure you're completely prepped, we've included one of our favorite (and easy) grilled recipes. If you're cooking this in our neighborhood this weekend, don't be surprised if we stop by.

Above: In Julie's backyard, the table and patio are ready for guests to arrive. Let the grilling begin. When hosting al fresco, keep it simple: basic dinnerware, a washable tablecloth, drink tumblers, and comfortable seating. Photograph by John Merkl.

Above: We keep grilling utensils and spices ready on a wooden cutting board; it does double duty for carving after cooking. 

Above: A must on our cookout lists: a humble chopping board. Put its name to good use with with vegetables and fruits, or display a variety of cheeses. The Lipper International Bamboo Cutting Board is 2" thick and features a channeled edge to catch liquids from spilling over; $24.99 from Home Depot.

Above: High-performance grilling tools will make charring a steak or flipping a veggie burger all the easier; the Weber Three-Piece Stainless Steel Tool Set is $34.99 from Home Depot.

Above: Could you survive the summer without a quality grill? Whether you're looking for a minimal kettle model or a larger size such as this Classic 2-Burner Convection Gas Grill,  Home Depot offers a wide array of grills for all size outdoor spaces and budgets.

Above: Here's to clinking glasses: The Libbey Gibraltar is a multipurpose glass for lemonade, water, and iced tea, but we'd also use ours as wine glasses; $45.48 from Home Depot.

Above: Group accoutrements, such as straws or extra knives, in a simple Metal Pail; $10.77 for a three-pack from Home Depot.

Above: When the sun finally sets, spark up the fire pit and gather around to digest. Seen here: the Real Flame Hampton Fire Pit; $279 from Home Depot.

Now, the real reason to throw a party: perfect grilled fish à la British food editor Allan Jenkins. Here's his simple recipe: 

Above: Got fresh herbs? Photograph by Allan Jenkins.

Barbecued fish

Ingredients:

• One fish per person if mackerel (or one for two or three if sea bass or sea trout), scaled and cleaned
• Herbs from the garden (French tarragon, thyme, rosemary, marjoram).
• Olive oil and salt.

Instructions:

Cut diagonal incisions at 1-inch intervals along the fish skin and rub with the herbs, salt, and oil. Leave to rest for at least one hour. Cook on the barbecue, allowing from five to 12 minutes per side (depending on the size of the fish).

Sponsored by The Home Depot. Shop Memorial Day Savings Today.

Above: Winners will receive a hand-wrought iron Symi Lantern in black matte finish with a hand-stitched leather handle from Casamidy, one of our favorite purveyors of stylish goods for the home, customized just for us (we will also be profiling each winning project in a post).

Our five contest categories cover some of our favorite aspects of outdoor living. We are inviting entries from all readers—city dwellers with fire escape gardens, gardeners with enviable vegetable patches or prize roses, and landscape designers and architects who use Gardenista for inspiration. The contest categories are:

Best Architectural Garden Feature

Best Indoor Garden

Best Urban Garden

Best Edible Garden

Best Outdoor Room

See our contest Terms & Conditions for all rules, and Frequently Asked Questions for more information. 

Enter the contest using the form below (all fields are required). And readers, don't forget to come back and weigh in during the voting period.

Good luck!

Once you fill in the form and upload the images and click submit, you will be returned to the completed form. You can then submit images for a different category using the pre-filled form.

For questions not answered in our Terms & Conditions or FAQ, please email feedback<at>remodelista.com. 

Photographs by Kendra Wilson.

Above: Posh cow parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing' seen in Robert Myers' show garden. Vibrantly painted backdrops are also a trend but beware: strong color needs sun.

Anthriscus Sylvestris 'Ravenswing' is $2.98 per packet of seed (available seasonally, as fresh stock becomes available) from Seedaholic.

Above: And even posher, Orlaya grandiflora makes a number of appearances in the show gardens and in the Great Pavilion. Part of the fun of wandering around Chelsea when it opens to the public is hearing people thinking aloud as they translate what they see to their own gardens. There has been a lot of: "Oh, it's that plant again. What is it?" After which other members of the crowd chip in with various ideas but no definite answer. Shown here: orlaya in the garden of Christopher Bradley-Hole.

Available seasonally, a 4-inch pot of Orlaya is $4.95 from Annie's Annuals.

Above: Speaking of Mr Bradley-Hole, his angular platforms of box, yew, and hornbeam were part of a male-oriented topiary leaning. The women, very much in the minority, chose to create looser green structures and parameters.

Above: Roundness was another Chelsea trend this year, from Jinny Blom's little mounds of Baby's Tears in the garden she designed for Prince Harry, via Roger Platt's loosely clipped box balls, to these blobs of lavender in pebbles, alternatively shorn or allowed to flower. The whole show would have looked unrecognizably different if the flowers had actually bloomed. This alternate clipping could look very effective in a small town garden with plenty of light.

Above: Reliable color came from the "blue poppy" which is not a poppy at all but Meconopsis lingholm. It likes cool growing conditions, thank goodness, and was perhaps the most photographed plant in the show gardens. The specimens here are part of Nigel Dunnett's water roof garden, water conservation and sustainability being other big messages in this centenary year.

A 4-inch pot of Meconopsis Lingholm is $9 (available seasonally) from Far Reaches Farm.

Above: Growing things in a good-looking family garden is an ambition of many. We don't all want to harvest industrial quantities of food on an allotment, but we'd like to grow a few vegetables among the flowers. This ideal was realized very convincingly in Adam Frost's show garden. Here, salad leaves provide an edging which is both decorative and edible.

Above: The opium poppy made several appearances. Since almost all of them were in bud, one must assume that they were richly purple like this papaver somniferum from Avon Bulbs in the Great Pavilion. The opium poppy is is unlikely to succeed in a neat and tidy garden. Those of us who enjoy a bit of self-seeding let them alone, hoping they will open up as doubles, in a magnificent shade of magenta or purple. Special strains should be kept away from their more insipid cousins if you don't want them to revert.

Above: Show Garden designers may be reluctant to go down the cottage garden route but they reference it, perhaps unconsciously, all the time. Aquilegia Kristall, shown here, is a refined version of the classic cottage garden columbine and was spotted in gold-winning gardens designed by Paul Hervey-Brookes, Harry and David Rich, and Martin Cook. 

Coveting it? Aquilegia Kristall is available to UK gardeners for £7.49 apiece from Crocus.

Did you miss any of Kendra's daily reports from the garden show? Catch up at Gold Medals Awarded at the 100th Chelsea Flower Show.

And thanks to all of you who have already sent in your submissions; we're loving them, especially the fact that they range from simple rooms to more involved professional projects.

Here's the entry link: Gardenista Considered Design Awards. Remember: the deadline to enter is June 14.

Photography by John Merkl.

Above: Casamidy made us a custom version of the hand-wrought lantern in a black matte finish with a hand-stitched leather handle.

Above: A detail of the hand-forged hinged door. Owners Jorge Alamada and Anne-Marie Midy were not always fans of wrought iron, but after moving to Mexico they reconsidered. "By approaching artisan techniques from a different vantage point, we found iron work to be incredibly expressive and adaptable; working with this material is how we started Casamidy," Jorge says.

Our Considered Design Awards are open to everyone: If you love your space, snap some photos and enter here. 

Check out Casamidy in Belgium: Shopper's Diary: Casamidy Opens in Brussels.

Above: Photograph by Petra Bindel. The classic bistro bench, with a metal frame and slats, invites you to recline at an angle perfect for drowsing in the sun.

Above: A 59-inch-long Louisiane Bench from Fermob has 24 galvanized steel slats, is rust resistant, and comes with a three-year guarantee; it is $741 from French Bistro Furniture.

Want to see more of our favorite outdoor benches? See 10 Easy Pieces: Romantic Benches for Two.

Photographs by Erin Boyle.

Without a garden full of alliums of my own, I took a walk to GRDN in Boerum Hill for a little inspiration and an impromptu lesson in allium arranging. 

Allium Purple Sensation is one of the brightest varieties and among the first to pop in the spring. If you have a garden of your own, you can order a set of 12 bulbs for fall planting from White Flower Farm for $12.95. I made one of my arrangements by adding just three stems of this bright purple allium and a few stems of peppergrass to a small glass bottle. 

As Lydia at GRDN reminded me, one of the nicest things about alliums are the way that they change over time in a vase. These tight pods will open over the course of a few days to reveal bright white flowers. I paired two bendy stems of white allium with just two stems of scabiosa to make a sparse but scultpural arrangement in a vintage volumetric flask. If you're looking for a similar vessel, the A ma Muse Etsy shop has a nice variety of vintage labware. Allium stipitatum White Giant bulbs are $17.95 for 3 from White Flower Farm.

I used allium schubertii as the central allium for my final arrangement. On that allium, one central stem branches out in a broom-like shape where each "bristle" is topped with a tiny purple flower. Six Allium Schubertii bulbs cost $16.95 at White Flower Farm.

To complement the colors of the allium, I added spiny thistles, bright green peppergrass, and black and lavender scabiosa.

For an extra bit of texture and volume, I tucked branches of unripened blueberries underneath the scabiosa.

And there they are: three different arrangements, featuring three different kinds of alliums, each one more fantastical the last.

For more of Erin's easy flower arrangements, see the rest of our Bouquets of the Week.

Above: From the French company Focus (not surprisingly founded by a sculpter), the wall-mounted Sigma Focus Barbecue in matte black steel folds up demurely against the wall when not in use. For UK and European readers, the Sigma Focus Barbecue is available through the Focus online shop for €1,094. It is available in North America (shipping in the US and Canada) only through CF + D Custom Fireplace Design. Contact directly for pricing and availability.  

Above:  Easy to mount on any wall, the Sigma Focus Barbecue features a wall plate that protects the wall from smoke. While at a fixed height on the wall, the barbecue offers a range of cooking heights. 

Above:  The firebowl is more spacious than it appears, allowing the barbecue to be used a number of times without having to empty out the ash. 

Looking for something more portable? Michelle offers up a selection of Small Portable Grills.

Photographs by Kendra Wilson.

Above: "Isn't that fantastic?" says top plantsman John Massey. "Yes, if you like cabbages," says his companion. There is a lot of cabbage-fancying in the Great Pavilion, but this is in fact the display from the National Dahlia Collection. As Chelsea celebrates its first centenary, many of the stands have made vignettes of growing practices from the past. This is a typical cottage garden in which order is paramount. Aesthetics don't come into it except in the pursuit of a top prize at the local garden show.

Above: An upturned flower pot stuffed with straw was the preferred method of trapping earwigs, and Vaseline rubbed on the lower stem of a plant. Dahlias were grown trussed up against a bamboo pole for optimum straightness and a sponge was positioned beneath the bud so that when the flower opened it would be held up, very gently.

Above: Hyacinths looking orderly in baskets. Bulb merchant J.S. Pennings-Breezand from Holland says, "In Holland we display individual plants, but the English insist on a display." They have come as close as possible to showing individual plants, while putting on a display. The smell by the way is completely overpowering, in a good way.

Above: The rose displays at Chelsea are always worth the journey. The two David Austins, senior and junior, stand in an idyllic scented garden with roses growing over arbors and trellises. In its midst, cut flowers accompany are part of a table setting for high tea. David Austin Sr., who has been breeding roses since 1963, tells me that cut flowers are doing well for them in the United States. Their overseas growers have optimum conditions in southern California and in South America.

Above: Some stands do not need to try to put on a retro look. Johnny Walkers of Walkers Bulbs shows off his prize daffs.

Above: This kind of neatness is part of the tradition of prize vegetable growing and is not something we'd expect to see in the show gardens, which are perfect but in a more natural-looking way.

Above: Spotted amongst the herbaceous perennials, gardening interior designer Nicky Haslam. "I've come dressed as Vita Sackville-West," he announces.

Above: For lupine nuts, it doesn't get much better than this.

Kendra has been at the Chelsea show all week. For more coverage (and more of her on-the-spot photos), see Gold Medals Awarded at the Chelsea Flower Show.