Last month we looked at arranging patio furniture, but it is also important to take a little time and carefully consider the arrangement of your plants and containers too.
Simply put, flowers can transform a patio, turning it into a colourful and inviting part of your home.
We always tell our customers to treat their outdoor space as an additional room and use plants and garden decor as a vital part of this exterior living space.
You've spent the money on your stunning new garden furniture, so why not enhance it even further?
Many new homes now come with patios that are nothing more than a big slab of concrete pavers. However, that can easily be transformed with garden furniture, decor and a few planters.
If you are going to use your patio for entertaining, you will probably be interested in trying to find some ways to upgrade that patio. You need to be creative in the planting department too, take a little time to carefully arrange them on your patio.
Anyone can throw a few containers on their patio, but to make it look good needs a little care and effort.
Lazy Susan’s top tips for arranging plants on your patio
- Set three plants in a corner (odd numbers always work better), using one small, one medium and one large container.
- Choose containers that are different sizes but complement each other in terms of shape, design and material.
- Use different sizes of containers, placing the largest at the back and the other two to the left and right in front.
- Try and pick a different colour, size, shape and texture of flower for each container to create visual interest.
- Stick with plants that do well in the UK.
- Plant your containers so there is a tall focal point, some short or trailing plants as well as something mid-sized in between to fill in the gaps.
- Place small plants on tables, around chairs and one plant as a centrepiece for the patio table.
- Use more containers to highlight your table, and to shape your patio furniture or seating area.
- Place your container in groups at the corners or near the edge of your patio.
- Choose a 4-inch pot for our small tables and a 6-inch upwards size pot for our larger patio tables.
- Suspend hanging baskets on any walls that are adjacent to the patio.
- Turn empty containers upside-down and set a container of equal size on top to create height.
- If your patio is exposed to strong winds or hot sun, choose your plants wisely.
- If you have room for small trees, you might want to think about a small willow.
- Always fill your container with good potting soil.
- Try grouping the plants you are thinking about buying in your trolley at the garden centre to see how they work.
If you need a little further inspo then there's some great gardening content and bloggers on YouTube, so we've pulled a few of our faves together to help get you started.
First up we have our friends over at The Middle-Sized Gardener and their fab how-to-display garden pots in your garden, terrace or patio video (above). There are some great tips on how to arrange your garden pots and planters to fill gaps in your border, add colour to your backyard, terrace or patio, frame doors and pathways and allow you to grow difficult plants easily. Plus they have some excellent pointers on "potscaping" and the art of arranging pots in groups.
Next up is Jan's Garden and her Home Living gang which looks at how to best organise plants in a small space. It is a two-parter so we've popped them both above as they're both worth a watch. If space on your patio is at a premium then Jan has some great tips and tricks.
Plant styling is a real art form and in this last video, horticultural expert, Pinoy Plantito (what else could you be with that surname) looks at plant curation, plant styling, plant arrangement and set-up. Pinoy shares his 5 principles for designing a strong focal point in his tropical garden which include canvas and palette, contrast, layering, visibility, balance and harmony and lastly building a garden design that will last.
And last up we have the always excellent Better Homes and Gardens team discussing how to group container gardens. They go into the finer details of creating a gorgeous grouping of containers where gardening is otherwise impossible such as on a stone patio or timber decking.
