A Patio Feast by David Domoney
29 March 2019
With spring here, it’s time to focus in on our patio spaces and what better way to do that than create a feast for both the eyes and mouth.
Get creative, with these great ideas for a decorating your patio with plants that will provoke awe among any lucky visitors and enable you to make the most of your outside spaces.
Kickstart your future patio feast with ornamental trees and plants, strategically placed for maximum enlivenment. These are best grown in containers, as you can move them easily if you decide to change the layout of your patio. Trachycarpus fortunei and other palm trees will look particularly wonderful and bring exotic Mediterranean tones to your garden.
 Olea Europaea (Common Olive) |
 Trachycarpus Fortunei |
Keeping to the same theme, an Olea europaea (common olive) is a favourite of mine when it comes to ornamental trees. For it to bear fruit, it must be exposed to long, hot summers and should be protected during colder weather but it livens up corners nicely and is fairly low-maintenance.
For an ornamental shrub that packs a punch, plant golden Forsythia for colours that radiate throughout spring or look to featuring some Camellias for a splash of warm blooms. To match the style and colour of your ceramic containers, suitable paving might be Pavestone’s ‘Provencal’ limestone paving in ‘Crème’ for light-coloured pots and porcelain ‘Dolomite’ for darker troughs.
 Forsythia |
 Camellias |
Take some inspiration from the fabled Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Although its existence has never been proven, the Hanging Gardens have been described as a series of rising terraces adorned with lush plants, trees, ripe fruit and flowing waterfalls. When we take these grand designs and scale them down to fit into our gardens and balconies, we can conjure up a small slice of ancient wonder, ideal for making use of walls, fences and small spaces.
The perfect paving to create this awe-worthy aesthetic would be one that is a sandy colour or off-white and great examples of this are the ‘Modak Stone Pavers' or the Discovery porcelain range in ‘Sun Grande’. These slabs will give your patio that time-old feel and also give off a warming-effect–no matter what March weather is thrown your way! If you don’t already have a wall, but want to create this garden, then look no further than ‘Golden Buff' Burford Walling, which is perfect for building upon the Babylonian vision.
Now we need to bring the walls to life and there are several ways we can do this. Climbers like Campsis, with colourful tubular flowers, or wall shrubs, like Garrya elliptica ‘James Roof’ with its unusual drooping catkins, are great examples of plants that will shower your walls in intrigue.
You may need to put up a trellis to train and encourage these plants to stick to the wall.
To put the ‘hanging’ in ‘hanging gardens’, seek vertical growing options which include wall hanging pots and living wall systems. Both can usually be bought at garden centres and living wall systems can even be installed by professionals.
For a quick and easy fix, attach a wooden pallet to the wall and place the pots in the gaps until the pallet is hidden behind the lush foliage.
Plants like Heuchera and Ajuga are perfect for this purpose, as are herbs like thyme and tasty trailing tomatoes or frilly purple ‘Lollo Rossa’ lettuce work well.
Have youn ever thought about creating a garden wall by your patio seating area that is entirely edible, like in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory childrens film? Why not?
If you do then there really are only two things to consider. Make sure you can provide enough water manually or build in a hose irrigation system so that these plants can thrive.
Adults and children alike love the three dimentional planting, which really does bring your patio area alive.
For interest on all sides, surround your patio with edges, beds and borders for attractive appeal wherever your gaze falls.
Fill empty plots with plants and shrubs that explode with vibrant spring colour.
Early spring bedding plants such as showy pansies.
Bulbs like dashing daffodils, purple Muscari Armeniacum, spritely blue Scilla Siberica.
Perhaps the more unusual plants such as the spotted Pulmonaria Officinalis or even the striking Helleborus?
Plant strawberries and tomatoes for easy pickings or courgettes, spring onions and chives for light seasonal delight in the kitchen. Don’t put off planting hearty root vegetables either, as these
can be harvested for refreshing summer soups later on in the year.
Once you have designed and built your special patio area, consideration should be given as to how to keep these spaces clean, neat and tidy. I like to line them with stone edging or a slight raised wall. This not only stops the soil spilling over but also gives your patio that elegant and sleek finish.
Naturally, it depends on the style you are going for, but I recommend Pavestone ‘Rope Top Edging' for pomp and panache, ‘Mill Edging’ for simplicity and character or a 'Natural Stone Edging' for a rustic but immaculate finale.
