A Creative Step-by-Step Guide to Patio Gardening [antikvár]

A PATIO-THE OUTDOOR ROOMA patio is often described as an outdoor room, but it is actually halfway between the house and the garden, containing elements of both. From indoors, there are the furniture, floor coverings and potted plants; while from outdoors there is the weather, which means that you need to use plants, surfacing and 'hardware' durable enough to withstand the climate.This book focuses on patio gardening, with advice on which plants to use, how to plant and care for them, and how to team them together - both with each other and with 'hard' patio fittings, such as paving, walls and containers - to create interesting planting schemes.Patios need not always be the contemporary style suntraps we have come to expect. The basic idea can be adapted to suit houses and gardens of very different styles, simply by using appropriate combinations of paving, screening, furniture and plants. The patio does not even have to be next to the house; if the only place that gets the sun in the evening is down the garden, there is no reason why you should not have your patio there. Conversely, if you prefer to keep out of the sun, you could create a cool shady patio - perhaps using a Mediterranean-style roof of vines.A patio provides a unique gardening environment that makes it possible to grow many kinds of slightly tender or delicate plants, usually sunlovers, that may prove difficult or unsatisfactory when grown in the open garden. There is also the opportunity to make full use of plants in containers and beds or on walls to soften the hard lines of a patio. So, whether you use plants to decorate the patio, or the patio to house your favorite plants, you will be spoilt for choice!Left: A relaxing place to sit and enjoy the vietv. Right: An arum lily crotvns a terracotta patio container.