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Turn Patios Into An Instant Garden
Decorative Containers Filled With Color and Design
A lifeless patio can quickly be transformed into garden.
Patios with planters - trellised vines and baskets beaming with color
from annual and perennials. Together when this combination finds themselves
strategically placed in an empty concrete patio an oasis emerges in the
middle of any bustling city.
Ever so slowly the noise of cars and all the excitement that makes a
city come alive melts away into a quiet place to relax. It can be a patio
or balcony but a place blossoming with life and color. Add some well placed
outdoor landscape
lights and the patio becomes a nightime place to party!
Container gardens of color can welcome visitors to commercial complexes
and make entrances to apartments and condominiums more friendly and inviting
to guest.
Color is a powerful tool especially where plants and nature play a part! The
right blend of colors hiding inside flowers can awaken and add life to
areas not usually associated with living plants. This is often the case
with the cold hard surface of concrete or brick
patios and turning them into a garden is not as difficult as you may
think.
It’s Not Landscaping – Think Patioscaping
Patio design using plants goes beyond adding a garden look and feel to
a patio. The same design
ideas and steps can be applied to an outdoor patio but also courtyards
and walkways. Don’t forget the pool and hot tub areas. If you step
back and look you’ll discover patio-scaping has many opportunities
to use hanging baskets and planters full of flowering plants. The only
limits you will face to create a garden on your patio is your designers
imagination and budget for plants and containers.
Flower colors can be alluring and all the container
planter designs on the market can make one go container color crazy.
It is important to not underestimate the required maintenance needed.
Maintenance can be reduce and minimized with proper planning
along with paying attention to the details. This will also keep any unexpected
pitfalls or potential problems from showing up as the garden brings to
take shape.
To make a patio simply irresistible all that is required is a sprinkling
of colorful plantings on the patio placed elegantly. The reason is a no
brainer. Color is catchy! Color will give you the most bang for the buck.
One word – COLOR – is what makes patios sizzle!
Instant Gratification
One of the biggest benefits of patio
landscaping is that it provides instant gratification. In a few hours
you can quickly create a patio or balcony with a big impact. There is
no need for an involved process of bids and pricing on materials. Adding
color does not take a lot of work planning and designing. Color can be
almost instant.
The big smile on your face and sense of satisfaction from
only a few hours work makes the appeal of containers and baskets an easy
choice.
All of us can imagine how a boring unattractive entrance
can have a completely new look and feel when only a few decorative pots
full of flowers grace the entrance. Containers also provide an easy way
to upgrade an existing patio for style color and designs. Planters and
containers come in both low and high-end materials along with low and
higher priced selections.
Adding color to a patio and in general patioscaping can
be done in a few hours. The one area often underestimated is maintaining
the plants in the containers on the balcony or patio.
The topic of watering happens to be the downfall of many
a plant novice both indoors and outdoors. Watering – how much and
how often is the great unknown. Weather can quickly change the moisture
needs of plants in rapid fashion.
Heat waves of 90 degrees and above can cause plants to lose their moisture
quickly and in turn put the plant in stress. Quick down pours flood the
containers cutting off oxygen to the root system and suffocating
the plant. Overall a plant can change from looking great one day to
be heading for the compost heap the next.
Landscape beds planted in the ground dry much slower than
containers filled with plants and the potted plants usually need to be
fertilized more often.
How often to fertilize
depends on the plant variety use outdoors but some professionals who maintain
patios or balconies and terrace gardens recommend fertilizing using a
good general purpose liquid fertilizer every three-weeks. If your schedule
does not work with a regular fertilizer or maintenance program your best
solution would be to use a slow-release fertilizer. Part of a regular
maintenance program will include periodic trimming or deadheading. This
will be keep plants looking neat and clean and encourage a production
of continuous blooms.
Regular Maintenance
Let’s look at what is involved in a regular maintenance
for a moment.
Plantings on patios - balconies and terraces and in pots
in general require a lot more water. It’s often not possible to
water three times per week on top of the other typical maintenance task
required which include pruning and deadheading.
The best solution to handle the watering plants task is to install drip
irrigation or use subirrigation
pots. This makes watering a simple task. Just fill up the subirrigation
reservoir and keep a watch on the drip “sprinklers” to make
sure they come on and are free of any clogs. Drip systems can be placed
on timers and automated to turn on every day or twice per day during hot
days.
The designs in garden balconies or patios and patioscaping
give lots of room for creativity and style. In fact the design possibilities
of pools and patios make for practically limitless adventures of functional
color and textures.
The Basic Design Rules in Patio Landscaping
With so many design possibilities even the professionals
follow basic rules when designing the patio garden including containers.
- Materials and Color – Look at the property’s
current design. What materials and colors would work best and enhance
the existing layout.
- Project Budget – Does the project have any
budget limitations? If so what are the priorities of “must have”
items.
- Maintenance – Specifically
watering plants. How will the watering be handled? By hand or with
automatic irrigation system?
- Containers – Do the containers have drainage
holes? If not can holes be drilled into the pots and planters?
When selecting plants take the time to carefully assess
each plant and its needs. The designer inside of us usually needs to hold
back when using colorful plants even though the temptation is great.
The reason this temptation is so difficult? Color! Color
grabs everyone’s attention. It’s what catches the eye and
stops people in their tracks. Colors need to be based not on preference
but each individual application and situation. One example blue tones
are great around or near a pool. The blues give a calming and serene feeling.
Yellows - Reds and oranges are warm and bold and give high impact. On
the other side that impact when the plants do not look good can give a
completely different feeling.
No matter what the hot plants or current trends may be just like house
plants you need to make sure the plants have the required elements
for good health such as light. Also when grouping plants together having
the same cultural requirements is a big plus. This makes watering much
easier with everything being on the same watering schedule.
When grouping plants you also need to take into account
the rate of growth. Faster growing or more aggressive growing plants could
crowd out or over grow the slower or smaller ones.
To create a well balanced design use tall
or upright growing plants. Next comes the medium height or mounding
plants and finishing things off with trailing plants and elements. If
the surface is a flat wall or expanse don’t frame things but work
like a triangle. Keep all of upright plants in the center followed with
medium height plants and work out toward the edge with trailing items.
If a planter will be placed in a corner work the design from back to
front. Taller plants and display items in the back with trailing elements
in the front. Proportion and texture are important elements in a patio
garden and landscape
design.
An excellent formula is to break things into 60/40 or thirds. Give the
plants front and center stage aiming for 2/3’s or 60% of the overall
design and let the planters pots and decorative containers show their
stuff with the remaining 1/3 or 40%. If the planter is the showpiece and
focal point use simple plants to accent the pot or container.
Often we focus only design elements - but don’t forget texture
by itself as a natural design element. The use of colorful foliage like
Crotons
or Hostas and ornamental herbs deliver color and texture when combined
with many different flower shapes and color in nature’s palette.
Ornamental grasses can also be used to transform looks with texture and
soft colors.
The plant and container choices almost endless it’s
best to keep the garden patio changes limited.
Try to keep complete color and texture overhauls down to
more than 2 to 4 times per year and change them with the season.
A year-round design would be great but a fall planting and
spring planting often hits the seasonal times with the right amount of
balance. As spring turns to a hot summer and things begin to look a little
unkempt a fall planting refresher is a good fit. When changing things
out for a fall planting include some evergreens for some winter enjoyment.
When planning color planting change out different plant selection can
add some longevity.
Bromeliads are a good example. We have a tendency to think of Bromeliads
only as indoor plants but there is a large variety of colorful landscape
Bromeliads to choose from. Over the years Rockfeller Center has used Bromeliads
extensively during the summer for color.
Perennials will provide much more longevity than annuals
keeping change outs down.
Soil Testing!
Along with plant and container selection in any patioscaping project
there is one very important element that can make or break a project.
Yet for many DIY patio landscapers little time or thought goes into the
selection and it is critical for success. Soil selection of a quality
soil or potting media is an important component.
Some soil testing may need to be done for your patio plant
garden situation. A rich soil may be fine for planting in the ground or
for indoor plants but when going patioscaping where plants are outdoors
exposed to the elements – moisture-holding capacity plays a big
role. If the soil dries out from infrequent watering or hot weather you
must be able to rewet the soil.
You’ll need to learn exactly the “How To’s”
of the soil. This involves:
- Maintenance
- Moisture holding ability
- Drainage
- Other plant care and management practices
By combining the right colorful plants and soil - your patio
can be the hot ticket for people to flock to at your home.
Planting The Planters – A Formula to Follow
Part of the pot plant selection process comes down to numbers.
How many containers and how many plants go in those containers. This is
where the budget comes in! Getting the right balance can be a challenge
but here are a few guidelines to consider to get off on the right foot.
Design plays a big part in plant quantity. When does the
planter need to be bursting with color? If a party is in 2 days then planting
a little heavier may be needed. But keep in mind as a general rule the
fewer plants in a pot the easier the maintenance or care will be required.
The plants will be in a confined space. This translates
into limited water or moisture available and the same goes for nutrients.
Don’t be cheap and plant lightly. Give plants at least
1 inch between each root system or rootball. This gives some room for
each plant to grow some. Make sure you measure the planters inside diameter
when calculating. For example if a planter is 14 by 14 inches inside diameter
then 3 rows of 3 – four inch pots could be planted and look full
right away.
Also remember that when selecting planters getting the right
balance of looks is important but keep in mind that smaller containers
dry out faster than larger ones. Choose according to the design needs
and situation.
When selecting containers don’t forget they need to
be moved around. Don’t select a decorative container that when planted
is too difficult to move if needed. For the homeowner planters and containers
in the 14 to 20 inch outside dimensions will work fine. Larger commercial
projects like you’ll see at theme parks can go much larger since
they have personnel to deal with big planters.
Down at the garden center or wherever you’re buying
your planters and containers make sure you carry a tape measure! Some
manufacturers will provide both inside and outside dimensions other sonly
give outside measurements. Make sure you are planning on inside measurements.
When planting make sure the soil is pressed firmly down
around the plants and root balls. Leave some room at the top of the pot
– about 1 inch or so to allow the water to puddle up and soak in
well and not run right off the top of the pot. After potting any plants
water the soil and the plants thoroughly.
As we spoke of above your best results will come with:
- Planning
- Wise plant selection
- Quality soil
- Time-release fertilizer
Put these together and any patio can be filled with color to create an
inviting retreat for you and guest. Get started patioscaping today.
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