Upgrade your patio with a garden
Grow a garden around your patio so you can enjoy the colors, fragrance and beauty plants have to offer up close. When you look at the plan below you'll see it's enclosed by the house on two sides and the garange and privacy fence on the other. That provides a lot of protection from the elements and helps hold heat later into the evening so you can sit outdoors on a chilly evening and still be comfortable. Most of this 35×20 foot garden is situated in full sun and the dry-laid stone patio makes it easy to lift, set aside and reset if you need to access pipes or utilities below ground.
Add fragrance to your patio garden
This sheltered backyard is the perfect place to grow fragrant plants. The scent lingers for maximum enjoyment because the breeze is blocked by the house and other structures. Open the windows in summer and you’ll instantly know when the first lily (Lilium hybrid) blooms! Oso Easy Honey Bun shrub rose has a lighter scent but blooms from spring to frost. Pruning is easy, just remove dead branches in early spring.
A a small bed of herbs, such as sage (Salvia officinalis), basil (Ocimum basilcum) and oregano (Origanum spp.), will scent the air when you run your hands through the foliage. Give these plants plenty of sun and you'll have lots of stems to cut what you need for cooking or to share with friends.
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Fruits & vegetables — perfect for patios!
Who says vegetables have to be rowed out in big rectangles? Tuck a few around your patio for easy maintenance and easy harvest. Here they're placed along the privacy fence where they’re out of constant view, yet close at hand for whatever recipe you have in mind. Tomatoes, peppers, beans or zucchini can provide a good sized harvest with just a few plants. By late summer you’ll get enough fruit from these columnar apple tree varieies for a pie or two after you enjoy some of the fresh fruit.
Meet the plants in this patio garden plan
Check out the lettered plan above and see the corresponding plant information in the slideshow below to find out more about the hard-working, sometimes fragrant, plants in this beautiful patio planting.
