20 Ideas for Four-Season Patios

We spend a lot of time on our patios, reading, resting, watching the birds and squirrels and entertaining. Enjoy it more by taking it from bland to cheery throughout the year with these easy ideas.

1. Add colorful pots in a variety of shapes and sizes. Ensure they can be wintered outdoors. Fill with a variety of annuals for color from spring to fall.

2. Make a herb corner for the kitchen with clay pots and fill them with various culinary herbs for easy reach.

3. Fill some larger pots with small evergreens. Alberta spruce or mungho pines are good examples. Consider your gardening zone to determine if the plants can safely get through the winter in pots.

4. Pots of miniature roses make a pretty scented statement on the patio. They are inexpensive and you can bring them inside in the winter to decorate your home.

5. Plant a rose standard in a large urn for style. In colder zones, lift and transplant to the garden bed in autumn with protection.

6. Surround your patio with a trellis or rustic arbor and plant the base with climbing roses.

7. Make your patio a room-with-a-view. Surround only three sides for privacy, but leave an wide opening to your garden.

8. Decorate the patio with vintage metal garden furniture, repainted in bright colors. A good rustproof paint will keep them bright for a very long time. Add flowery textiles to the seat covers.

9. Add some natural decor – tall twigs or branches in an urn offer instant style, especially useful during the winter.

10. If you have access to wild grape vine or can source it out in garden decor shops, add swirls to the standing fixtures around your patio, like the walls of your house or a trellis. Affix fairy lights to them for evening enjoyment – perfect for outdoor dinner parties.

11. Plant night-scented stock or jasmine to be enjoyed on warm summer evenings on the patio.

12. Surround your patio with white flowers and white flowering shrubs for a “moon garden.”

13. When the flowers are finished for the season, add a vase of cut flowers to your patio table.

14. In the winter, fill pots with soil and add an assortment of evergreen cuttings. Pick some with red berries and some with various shades of blue to green. Wild juniper is lovely as its branches are loaded with blue berries in the fall. The winter birds will love it.

15. Plant dogwood near your patio. The stems turn red in the winter for color against the snow.

16. Add a humming bird feeder to a corner of your patio.

17. Age your patio stones. Spread a little yogurt here and there and sprinkle on some sheet moss. The yogurt bacteria will help the moss to take hold and grow.

18. Add some vintage architectural elements. Old wiry gates instead of new ones make an interesting statement.