How to arrange plants on your patio

Last month we looked at arranging garden furniture, but it is also important to take a little time and carefully consider the arrangement of your plants and containers too. Plants and flowers will turn an ordinary patio into a garden patio, and set the stage for a peaceful and welcoming extension of your home. We always tell our customers to treat their outdoor space as an additional room and use plant accessories as an important part of this exterior living space. Your family and friends will enjoy the harmony and beauty of well arranged-plants on the patio while they enjoy a meal or conversation. You've spent the money on your stunning new Lazy Susan garden furniture, so why not enhance it even further!
Many new homes now come with patios that are nothing more than an ugly slab of concrete. While this is enough for some people, those that have a big garden might want a little something more. 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. Anyone can have that slab of concrete at the back of their house but if you have a carefully thought out garden and patio, it will enhance your whole house and even raise it's value. People who use their patio a lot want to make it as accommodating as possible and a fun place to hang out. This means you need to be creative in the garden furniture department too and how you arrange the surroundings. The more work you do around the patio with plants and trees will ultimately enhance the look and feel of the finished patio. Look in garden and home improvement magazines and I guarantee you'll find all sorts of fantastic ideas for your patio makeover.
Lazy Susan's top tips for arranging plants on your patio

• Set three plants in a corner (odd numbers always works better), using one small, one medium and one large container.
• Place the largest containers at the back and the other two plants to the left and right in front of the large plant.
• Always pick a different colour of flower for each container.
• Place small plants on tables next to chairs and one plant as a centerpiece for the patio table.
• Choose a 4-inch pot for small tables, and a 6-inch pot for the patio table.
• Suspend a hanging flower bracket from the side of the home by the patio door. Purchase a completed basket from a nursery, or fill your own with calibrachoa, scaevola, or trailing verbena flowers.
• Flip unused pots upside-down and set a container of equal size on top of the flipped pot. Use a decorative pot for the bottom or spray paint the pot a complementary colour.

Patio Landscaping Plant Ideas

• If your patio gets some bad weather, like strong winds or hot sun, choose your plants wisely. Wind-hardy plants include things like bamboo, pampas grass, nandina and ornamental grasses. Sun-hardy plants on the other hand include things like sunflowers, roses, daylilies, and lupines.
• If you think of a single giant flower head when you think of sunflowers, then you really need to take a look at some the ornamental varieties that are available. They come in all sizes and colors and produce some stunning bouquets of flowers.
• If you have room for small trees, you may want to think about a small citrus tree or weeping willows, Japanese maples, and corkscrew willows.
• Choose your container pots carefully and ideally you want to get different sizes that complement each other in terms of shape/design. Fill them with a good potting soil, and plant with a variety of plants that do well in the UK.
• Remember to plant your containers so there is a tall focal point, some short or trailing plants as well as something sized in between to fill up the space. Some people refer to these as thrillers (your tall focal point), fillers (the medium sized plants) and spillers (the small trailing plants).
• When choosing your container plants, look for a variety of texture, color and greenery. Some plants will have smooth round leaves, others will have pointed leaves or serrated leaves, while some leaves will be rough textured or vary in terms of colour
• Group the plants you are thinking about in your trolley at the garden centre to see how they work together.
• Once you've got your containers planted, place them in groupings in corners or near the edge of your patio. Use more containers to highlight your table, and to shape your garden furniture or seating area.

An attractive display of flowering plants, lush green foliage and even a few vegetable crops can turn a basic patio into an inviting oasis. Simply by making use of containers to accommodate various plants on a patio will give the you the ability to adjust the patio's appearance as and when the mood takes you. Placing pots that contain small shrubs or trees onto the patio will produce some shade and make it more appealing to lounge on during the summer heat.

• Vegetables
  A miniature vegetable garden can successfully be created on a patio. Vegetable plants that grow in a garden also have the capability of flourishing in containers. A tomato plant grows well when placed in a 5-gallon pot in full sunlight. Consider placing a cage around the tomato plant to provide added support to the bush's bulk as it produces large tomatoes. Cherry tomato plants produce virtually nonstop bite-size, juicy tomatoes that help add color to the patio. Peppers and green beans also grow well in patio pots.
• Trees
  A small tree can enrich a patio from the confines of a large pot or when planted along the patio's perimeter. Choose either single or multistemmed varieties that provide visual seasonal interest. The eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) grows to a height of only 25 feet and displays a spreading canopy that will reach out over the patio to provide shade. Dwarf citrus trees, apples and some stone fruit trees grow well in large containers. A tree's root system suffers exposure to the elements when planted in a pot, so tropical fruit tree containers may need to be moved indoors during inclement weather.
• Flowers
  Consider placing a wide variety of pots containing annuals and perennials throughout the patio. Annuals offer season-long blossoms and often fill in the blooming gap of perennial bloom times. Perennials usually bloom over a two to three week period and then display foliage for the rest of that season. Annuals die out each season when the first hard frost occurs, but pots of perennials will last for a good several years. Hanging baskets suspended around your patio also make a delightful accent.
• Shrubs and Foliage
  Shrubs, such as the rose bush, do well in containers. Some rose bush varieties also create a strong scent to perfume the air around the patio. The prolific flowering lantana shrub (Lantana camara) displays clusters of orange, yellow, pink or white flowers, depending on the cultivar. The banana plant (Musa x paradisiaca) offers lush green or maroon foliage that gives the area a tropical appearance and makes an elegant backdrop for flowers. The plant does require moist soil to thrive.

Anyone with a patio should always be looking for ways to make it look better. What you will find is that any patio design ideas that involve the garden or surrounding area will be some of the best ideas. You can have a great looking patio but if the garden around it looks awful then the patio will not shine like it should. Likewise, if your patio is plain but the surrounding plants, flowers, and hedges look spectacular, the patio will look better than it should. By making sure that your garden looks its best and goes well with the patio is the best way to show off your patio. If you don't have the money to put in a new patio, you can always work on the surrounding area instead.
You may be glad this summer if you take the time right now to plan ways of making your patio area more pleasing on the eye. This does not mean that you have to spend a fortune on your patio too. By carefully choosing the right flowers and plants as well as paying a little attention to the garden landscape around your patio, you can easily make your entire patio area much more interesting. By carefully blending your patio and the garden around it you will ensure they look like they are meant to fit together and it will pull your entire outdoor space together.