Be Inspired By The Tropics
Try planting a tree fern for a holiday vibe
Who needs to travel halfway round the world when you can bring tropical garden ideas straight into your own backyard?
Leave an area of patio free to create a bed for a striking tree fern or two. These beautiful trees are happiest in a sheltered, humid and shaded position, and their architectural fronds create a fantastic feature for your patio.
Give Me Privacy Or Give Me Death
The vast majority of people like to have at least a little privacy along their property lines. There are three ways to go here:
Non-gardeners may prefer to erect fences to gain privacy, while gardeners often achieve it instead through the use of plant material. A row of arborvitae bushes used to help screen out unwanted attention from the neighboring house is a good example of an informal hedge.
No Worries Stamped Garden Spoon
It can be stressful to label every plant in your garden. This spoon decoration is a reminder to slow down and enjoy the outdoors. It can be used in a potted plant or a large, sprawling garden. Shiny metal draws the eye and creates some textural interest in any garden while the letters add some humor.
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Stay On Top Of Weeding
While were talking patio ideas on a budget, keeping on top of the weeding is a cheap way to make any patio a whole lot lovelier. Its inevitable that weeds will take the opportunity to make themselves a home between the pavers, so get in the habit of rooting them out as soon as they appear.
We like this Patio Weeding Knife from Annabel James because its specially made for the job, helping you hook the offenders out from narrow spaces. Itll work beautifully on moss, too, so you can keep your patio greenery-free.
Ideas For Outdoor Decorating On A Front Porch
A front porch is a great place for a hanging swing or comfortable chairs. Rocking chairs are traditional favorites. With a garden stool to hold snacks, you’ll be ready for guests to drop by.
An outdoor lamp lets you entertain after the sun goes down. Also, consider a ceiling fan with a light. It will keep you cool in the summer and help shoo bugs away.
Don’t forget to give your front door a decorative boost with outdoor lamps or sconces, a fresh coat of paint, a new doormat and a kickplate.
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Use A Wooden Bar Cart For A Pretty Vignette
Give your patio gardening ideas a unique look with upcycled furniture
Love the idea above but looking for something that feels a little more unique than freestanding shelves? Try reusing a wooden bar cart, like the one above. It adds a vintage charm to a patio space, and, what’s more, can be easily moved around handy for cleaning, or for when you want to give your plot a refreshing rearrange.
Arrange flower-filled containers on top, for a lovely addition to your patio gardening ideas. You can use the bottom shelf to store watering cans and other garden bits and bobs, too an easy solution for garden storage ideas in a small space.
Enliven The Space With Colour
Image credit: Dobbies Garden Centers
As with interior decorating, think of how using colour can help invigorate an outdoor space, especially a small garden. The use of a vibrant colour painted on walls and fences helps to add depth to the space.
A flash of bold colour allows the plants to really pop against the colourful backdrop creating an illusion of a sense of space. Not to mention the mood-boosting power a splash of colour can have on the senses.
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Outdoor Garden Decor Ideas
Garden statues add a personal touch to your outdoor space. Put a gnome under a tree, stake plastic flamingos around a kiddie pool, light a path with a solar-powered lighthouse or tuck a pretend turtle under leafy plants.
Landscaping is also important when you’re looking for outdoor garden decor ideas. Plant a flowering tree, shrubs or beds of annuals, bulbs and perennials.
Patio Potted Plant And Flower Ideas
I remember the first time I was struck how potted plants and flowers could really enhance a patio, just as much as gardens enhance a backyard .
It was when I saw my now mother-in-laws deck in late Spring for the first time. The large deck exploded in color but was done in a way that didnt encroach available sitting space.
The deck has a railing on all sides and she uses the railing and corners for a myriad of potted plants and flowers.
She tiers them in the corners so its a cascade of colors from floor to above the railing.
Its something else. My enjoyment of the deck would not be same without those potted plants and flowers.
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Poured Concrete Patio Goals:
- Small & easy to manage: the most important thing to me was that this new outdoor space was small and easy to manage. I wanted less of everything. Less mulch, not as many plants, and a much smaller footprint.
- Low maintenance: I definitely wanted low or no maintenance. In my experience, no outdoor space is maintenance freebut a poured concrete patio comes very close. There will be no need to seal it for several years and it wont rot.
- Easy to clean: I wanted something that was easier to keep clean. Our home is in the middle of what used to be a dense woods. Even though countless trees have been removed, there are still so many left. Tree debris wreaks havoc on an outdoor space and I was very tired of cleaning out the spaces between our deck boards several times a year!
See phase I of this project by clicking this link:
To see a photo of our backyard from 2015, click
Let Your Borders Overlap A Plain Patio
How you approach your space depends on how big it is, whether your patio is overlooked and on your home’s style too. Bright planting can help add life and interest, enhancing the space of a tiny patio, and if you have a large patio that your neighbours can see into, you may want to consider taller planting, parasols and other creative ways for a more secluded feel.
Whether you have a large or small patio area, you can blur the lines between where your patio ends and where your garden borders begin by letting potted and container plants stylishly spill over. Create a little zest and add lots of color by choosing all different types of plants.
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Slow Things Down With A Running Bond
The “running bond” is another brick pattern used in outdoor patio construction. In spite of its athletic-sounding name, this pattern strikes the eye as being smoother and has more of a soothing effect on the psyche than does the herringbone . That effect is perfect for the patio in this picture, a resting place in the middle of a garden.
Let Decorative Elements Play Up Sound
Hearing the trickle of water is an all-but-irresistible lure to exploring a garden. Listening to its music, you want to track it to its source, and in the Bealls’ landscape there are many. A fountain with an octagonal basin creates the liquid soundtrack for the herb garden. Another, echoing the columnar shape of Italian cypress trees nearby, bubbles amid flower-like agaves, drawing hummingbirds in droves. Both pieces were pottery-yard scores.
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Define The Layout With Design Accents
Choosing natural materials and soft furnishings to decorate your backyard patio with, doesn’t mean that it can’t look super modern and refined. Bamboo is beautiful in texture and painting it will give it a more defined look to help set your patio layout apart. Complement bold features with bright cushioning, rugs, coffee tables and more to make your space pop.
Pretty Monogram Succulent Planter Decoration
Monogram planters are perfect for people who love to personalize anything they own, or for those who want to make a statement. And while there are a lot of tiny plants you can put in them, succulents are just the perfect size, and create a startling element to your already lovely garden.
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Great Ways To Decorate With Plants
The Spruce / Krystal Slagle
For the most part, interior design is just what it says it is – a way of crafting and curating the inside of the structures that we live and work in so that they are comfortable and pleasing to us visually as well as physically. It’s interesting, and maybe a little ironic to note how much of that process depends on the amount of the outdoors that we are able to bring in with us. Wood furniture, stone finishes and even animal hides on rugs and pillows are all little nods to the great outdoors that we love to surround ourselves with when we’re inside. But for all of the different ways that we find to sneak nature into our man-made dwellings, probably the most important and most beneficial are with plants. When it comes to good design – whether at home or in the office – you can never underestimate the importance of having plants as part of your daily living space. In fact, when I am working with clients, it is never an issue of deciding whether the space should include plants, but rather which plants are right for the space that I’m decorating and the people who live in it.
Hang A Relaxing Hammock
image credit: Matthew Williams
The ultimate in alfresco relaxation, a hammock can be squeezed into the smallest patch. Plus, it will instantly transform your garden or patio into a chilled-out scene to rival any beach bar in Ibiza. Hang under shade for a protected snoozing spot. When not in use both ends can be hung from the same hook, to fold it away to allow the space to used alternatively.
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Tie Furnishings Into The Overall Scheme
The style of any tables and chairs you choose has a big impact on the look of your outdoor spaces, of course. But they should also feel cohesive with the other decorative objects and materials you use. The Bealls found a pair of inexpensive rust-finished iron dining sets at a pottery yard. With extra chairs scattered around the paved “carpet,” they make a casual lounge for cocktails and conversation.
Porch Flowers And Plants
If part of your porch is uncovered, you can grow flowers like purple Supertunia ‘Royal Velvet’ petunias and yellow Sunsatia ‘Lemon’ nemesia.
Proven Winners/www.provenwinners.com
If part of your porch is uncovered, you can grow flowers like purple Supertunia ‘Royal Velvet’ petunias and yellow Sunsatia ‘Lemon’ nemesia.
Youll find exotic-looking bromeliads for full sun, while others like shade. Most crotons also need sun to show their brightest colors, but others take partial shade. Look for crotons with red, yellow, orange, purple, bronze and even black foliage. Don’t overlook colorful coleus some take sun to medium shade.
Design Tips for Porchs
- Pair graceful ferns with other shade lovers, like snake plants, which have stiff, upright leaves, or caladiums with heart or arrow-shaped foliage.
- For added interest, pot up containers of ferns with trailers like dichondra, creeping jenny or variegated ivy.
- Create a unified look by repeating the plants on your porch. Use a trio of matching plants in different spots, or make a row of palms along one edge of your porch.
- Vary the heights of your plants. Put containers on plant stands or stagger them on steps, or opt for tall plants, such as dracaenas, ficus and palms.
- Weave strings of miniature outdoor lights through your plants for nighttime ambience.
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Choose Patio Paving For Indoors And Out
Using the same material continuously from your indoor space to outside will blur the line between your patio and your lounge or cooking area making spaces look and feel larger, however, you’ll need to choose a material that will work in both climates, that’s slip-resistant, frost-proof and will not fade or discolour natural stones will work for these purposes, as will porcelain, which is more affordable and can be made to mimic everything from natural stone to wood.
Hang Plants From Above
When it comes to patio gardening ideas, it’s important to make the most of all the space you have. And that, of course, include the verticals.
This is where hanging basket ideas come in to play. Brimming with the opportunity to get creative, you can plant them with an abundance of cascading florals, foliage, and even herbs.
Suspend from a pergola, an established tree, a railing, or simply a hook secured to an exterior wall. It’s a simple way to give a patio a lift. We love how this duo complements the surrounding color scheme, offering a sultry yet sophisticated vibe.
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Introduce Low Walls That Double As Seating
Image credit: Amy Cutmore
You might only have room for a chair or two, so what happens when friends come over? By adding raised beds surrounded by walls, not only will your plants be easier to look after, youll also create extra places for people to perch. Add some cushions for comfort, in colours to match your plants.
Handmade Glossy Copper Mushroom Garden Sculpture
Whether you are constructing a fairy garden or simply love a touch of whimsy, these copper mushrooms are a unique addition to any garden. Because they are copper without any protective finish, they will patina over time. If you do not want them to slowly change to meld with the landscape, there are some lacquer options to reduce the patina formation.
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Washtub Planter Bursting With Plants & Faux Birdhouses
Rejuvenate a vintage washtub with big flowers, ornamental grass, and a few faux birdhouses. If the flowers and tall grass would overwhelm your landscape, consider using a variety of nonflowering, vining plants. Paint the birdhouse roofs to give this display some colorful appeal in the winter. Most importantly, have fun this washtub planter is all about playing with textures.
A Private Little Hideaway
There is nothing quite like having a sloped area of your garden that can be used to create a quiet little hideaway complete with firepit, table, and chairs. The natural rock wall behind is a good way to keep the soil behind it from eroding away. Surrounding the area with flowers just adds to the natural beauty of the area.
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It is vital to keep your plants healthy and alive. When buying plants check for soil preference, sun or shade need, and hardiness ratings.
Make sure your plant containers meet the height and sun requirements of the plant. You can vary the type of containers you use to create a range of possibilities for patio decoration!
If you want more privacy, use plants to decorate your deck! Create seclusion by planting small trees in containers that block the view of neighbors.
Suggested plants for privacy include:
- Evergreen trees arborvitae, cypress, or juniper
- Flowering standards disease-resistant roses
- Tree form versions of shrubs lantana, hibiscus
Did you know you can decorate a deck to attract butterflies through planting? You will want to pack window boxes, railing planters, and containers with favorite butterfly plants:
- Butterfly bush
- Zinnias
- Verbena
Butterflies are entertainment for children and adults, and the plants support their natural habitat! What could be more relaxing than sitting on your deck and watching butterflies flutter around?
Dress A Fence Or Wall With Climbing Roses
Add a pop of color to your patio gardening ideas with a brightly-hued trellis
Nothing says English country garden quite like a climbing rose, and they’re a great addition to garden fence ideas.
Climbing roses are sun-lovers and prefer a sunny, sheltered spot, adding color and scent with their repeat blooms. They aren’t self-clinging so need to be given a support structure such as a trellis or horizontal wires or train over.
For an extra hit of color, paint your trellis muted shades are perfect for a country look, or go for brights to give a modern edge to your patio gardening ideas.
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How Do You Design A Patio
With all good patio ideas, good design comes into play. And, youll need to think about its position in your backyard, taking into account its size and how many people are going to use it. Think what youre going to use it for, and decide on the style.
Moorhouse adds how ‘An eye-catching patio can transform the look of your outdoor space and enhance your lifestyle too, depending on your requirements and wishes for the space. When starting the design process, there are a few key things to think about:
Firstly, you need to think about where to place your patio whether this be an area of the garden that gets sun for the majority of the day, or a corner that isnt overlooked to ensure privacy. Its important to think about the shape of the space available and what this allows you to use it for.
Before finalising the designs, have a think about the function of the space and the kind of furniture you need to allow for this, making sure it fits well with plenty of room to walk around it. This could include sofas, outdoor kitchens, patio heaters, toys for children, hot tubs or tables for dining alfresco.
Another key thing to consider is lighting, which can make a big difference and add an atmospheric feel, especially when spending longer outside in the summer months. Lastly, set a budget to mitigate any overspend.’