How to Create a Simple, yet Elegant Patio Garden

Do you rent an apartment, live in a townhouse, or think you don’t have room for a garden? A patio garden may be a good option for you. Patio gardens can be created on a deck, patio or in a very small yard. They can be designed with as little as $20 or as much as $300 or above depending on the kinds of plants and pots that you select.

You can create a simple, yet elegant patio garden with just a few kinds of plants and vegetables. My cousin, Cara, who lives in a condo, created a patio garden with morning glories, moonflowers and okra. She plans to add to it next year but her simple design created beauty and added greenness to her patio. She used three planter boxes to train the morning glories and moonflowers (similar to morning glories, except they bloom at night) to climb up her deck. She then planted okra. Several of her neighbors also have patio gardens. One neighbor grows tomatoes and herbs. She uses Topsy Turvy planters for her tomatoes and plastic pots that hang off the side of her deck for her herbs. You can also buy hanging planters for strawberries to add variation.

Morning glories for patio gardens

Morning glories are excellent options for patio gardens. They bloom continuously all summer and easily reseed themselves so that you don’t have to replant if you don’t want to. However, if you live in a cold climate, you’ll want to take your planting baskets inside for the winter and store them in a basement or another cool area. Set them out again in the spring after all danger of frost is past, and the morning glories will once again come up. If you prefer to add some new seeds just to be on the safe side, you’ll most likely wind up with twice as many morning glories. If you do replant, select different colored flowers for variety. Soaking seeds overnight gets them started more quickly.

Canna Lillies

Canna lilies are also a wonderful addition to any patio garden. I plant my canna lilies in back plastic containers with no holes. I then put these inside a bucket and fill the buckets up with water to cover the canna roots. These plants bloom and grow all summer. If you’d like more elegant pots, you can buy a variety of ceramic pots in various colors that you can put the plastic pots inside to be more visually appealing. You can space the pots a few feet apart or even closer if you want to surround your whole patio with canna lilies. They bloom all summer and can be bought in a number of different colors. You can also purchase canna lilies with red-striped leaves.

Wintering Canna Lilies

If you live in a four-season climate, you’ll need to store your canna lilies over the winter. I wait for the frost to kill the leaves, (it does not hurt the tubers) and then bring the black plastic pots inside for the winter. They grow all winter in my basement even with minimal lighting. In the spring, I simply put them out again. If you are storing cannas in the basement, make sure to keep them far enough away from your heating system not to dry them out.

Fruits or vegetables on your patio

Fruits and vegetables can also be trained to climb patio rails. I’ve seen many different kinds of squash grown vertically. As long as they have proper staking you can grow whichever variety you like. You’ll want to make sure that you choose planters with drainage so that your plants aren’t over watered or if you do decide to use cut milk jugs, watch carefully so that your plants don’t get over watered or punch some holes in the bottoms of the jugs. If you live in California or another warm climate, you might choose to have a couple of small orange or lemon trees on your patio

The plants that I’ve discussed in this article require full sun to partial sun. If you don’t have full sun, or mostly sun, in the area where you are considering creating your patio garden, you’ll need to be more selective with the kinds of plants that you use. You may want to consult a local garden center for ideas.

Water Features

Some people like to put small inexpensive water features or bird feeders on their patios to create additional visual and aesthetic appeal. Whatever you decide I’m sure that you’ll do a great job and have fun in the process!