Ideas for a boring patio

12 years ago

I have always wanted a lucious pretty patio for my condo, but I never seem to get there. It is north/north-east facing, and pretty shady. It is a slab of concrete surrounded by a 6' wooden privacy fence on all sides with the exception of the side with my house. I cannot take up the concrete slab, therefore I need to go with container gardening. I am planning a small bistro table and two chairs as well(the white chairs will be going!). Currently, I have a non-thriving lemon tree in one corner and various other small plants.

Any ideas on how to make this cohesive and relaxing? Ideas for elevating plants which are inexpensive, so I don't just have a bunch of pots on the ground?

Any good shrub/patio tree ideas?

Below I've posted some photos of my patio, pre-leaf-raking, and just so you know, my dogs are Cocker Spaniels, so you can use that for scale.:

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

cynnagirl
12 years ago
You could put up a few trellises and choose some climbing vines, like honeysuckle, climbing hydrangia, chocolate vine, clematus, or english ivy. They'd add depth to the fences around you and decorate nicely.

Some astilbes can go nicely in large pots, and give colour throughout summer. Large camillas - they bloom from January on and are gorgeous. Begonias are also lovely.

I'm in the opposite situation facing west and need heat loving, drought resistant plants, so I'm a bit envious - I see so many plants that can't grow here. I'd love to see what you end up doing. :)
dickiefickle
12 years ago
judging by the green mold its pretty wet there
bnewma4
Original Author
12 years ago
cynnagirl - I believe I will be putting up a trellis with some clematis(i just need to find some) and I will be giving my poor lemon tree to a friend with more sun and putting a camellia in its place. For my hanging planter-thing I purchased some Creeping Jenny.

Also, the front of my condo faces South/South-West so I don't have much trouble there with perennial purple coneflowers, petunias, and zinnnias, but this summer I'm thinking I want to go a little different route..not sure what though! And good luck with your garden!

dickiepickle - Yes...its is pretty wet and humid...Louisiana tends to be that way, and my wavy hair especially doesn't like it :(