Below are a couple of tips on how to arrange your plants on a deck or patio:
Train plants
Put plants to work by turning your deck or patio into a private oasis. Tall plants or vines trained up trellises can work like green walls in the summer when you’re most likely to spend time enjoying your outdoor room.
Use space wisely
Make the most of limited space on your deck, patio, or balcony by arranging plants in layers. Put some of the plants in pots on the floor, others in hanging baskets, and some in boxes attached to railings.
Raise the plant's position
Lift patio plants to new heights by placing some on top of upside-down flowerpots. Or get a piece of 6-inch (15-cm) PVC pipe and cut it into pieces that can be used as stiltlike sleeves for plants growing in 6-inch pots. If you like, you can paint the pipe with enamel paint to make it look like wood or terra-cotta.
Try crazy containers
It’s fun to grow flowers in old boots or baskets, but how about that bird feeder that got mangled by squirrels? Bird feeders are naturally leaky, so they make fine containers for little petunias or other trailing plants.
Bring focus to color
Raise color to eye level with hanging baskets. Place hanging baskets anywhere you need a spot of color—a lamppost, tree limb, roof overhang, fence, gazebo, or balcony. In all cases, make certain that the baskets are hung securely enough to withstand strong winds and the weight of wet soil.
Easy watering
Like most container plants, hanging baskets dry out readily. Water with a spraying wand attached to a garden hose or use a turkey baster to spritz water into a small basket. Either way, watering hanging baskets can be messy, so position them where a bit of dripping won’t matter.
CJ Mckendry/iStockphoto
Make the most of limited space by arranging plants in layers.
