When you decorate your home, furniture is typically the base and focal point of your living areas’ décor. Then, you use accent pieces like artwork, lamps, and other accessories to complete the look. Your patio is a great extension of your indoor living space, and using some of these nine different outdoor landscaping ideas around your patio just like you’d use accessories indoors can help accentuate your patio furniture and make a beautiful impact on the overall look of your patio.
1. Create Outdoor Rooms
If you’re still in the design phase of the patio itself, consider adding some built-in elements like a bench around a fireplace. Use the same flooring material to keep things consistent. Consider coordinating patio furniture for a cohesive look between the “living room” and “dining room” area of your patio. Matching wicker furniture is beautiful and has a natural look – perfect for the outdoors.
2. Light Your Landscape
Strategically placed lighting can illuminate walkways, highlight features like trees and architecture, and extend the amount of time you can spend outside enjoying your patio.
Technological improvements have made lighting your landscaping easier and more affordable than in the past. Low voltage lights conserve energy, and most fixtures use LED lights, so they rarely need to be changed. You can use solar powered lights for pathways, and string lights can add a touch of whimsy to your outdoor decor.
3. Accentuate With Planters
Garden planters add interest to your outdoor space. Since they come in a wide variety of colors, shapes, and materials, it’s not hard to find some that compliment your patio. If you have a patio furniture set that is neutral, like wicker furniture, you can add some color with your planters and what you decide to plant in them.
4. Take Advantage of Natural Scents
We burn candles indoors to freshen things up, but there are natural options for having a great-smelling outdoor living area. Plants like jasmine and lavender give your patio a refreshing and soothing scent. Place them closer to the patio for a stronger scent, or move them farther away for a subtle background scent.
5. Utilize Small Trees for Shade
Your yard may not be blessed with well-established shade trees, but that doesn’t mean you have to scorch in the sun while you try to enjoy your patio in the summer months. Consider planting trees in either permanent built-in planters, or movable containers on your patio.
Small species and dwarf varieties of trees are great for containers. Japanese Maple trees provide great shade and beautiful fall color. Many types of fruit trees do well in containers, too.
Also, if you have a furniture set on your patio, trees in moveable containers give you the option to rearrange your whole set-up and still have shade where you want it.
6. Plant for Year-Long Interest
If you decide to use planters for annuals, you can change out what is planted in them for the season, so you have year-round interest. Think bright flowers for spring and summer, mums for fall, and rich evergreens for winter.
Planting for warmer months is easy, but also look for later blooming plants, trees with spectacular fall foliage, and evergreens that will give you some color in the colder months.
7. Create Ambiance with Water
A built-in water feature can add a serene feel to your patio, and also attract birds for you to watch. The soft sound of water running creates a peaceful ambiance for you to enjoy, and it can bring life and motion to your yard.
Even if your yard doesn’t allow for a built-in feature, you can still enjoy the soft splash of water with a small fountain or other standalone water feature.
8. Exploit Color and Detail
Planting around your patio gives you a great opportunity to choose plants for their up-close features. Rather than getting lost amongst larger plants, delicate and detailed plants and flowers can be enjoyed while you relax on your patio. Plants like Heuchera, or coral bells, have beautifully detailed foliage – and they make great border plants.
9. Plant a Living Wall
Living walls, or vertical gardens, can add color and texture to a patio. If you live close to your neighbors, they can also give you some much-needed privacy. The dramatic and beautiful look created by a living wall will also make a great conversation starter when you have company over and you’re all enjoying your outdoor patio.
There are so many fun and innovative ways to enhance the look of your patio and make it a beautiful outdoor living area for you to enjoy. If you would like more information, visit our website and speak to one of our friendly and knowledgeable staff members at Design Furnishings today!