Create a background patio that matches your taste. The result is a great new place to enjoy the great outdoors. View and print a larger version of this design.

Your patio is a curved concrete slab jetting from the back of your home. It holds your picnic table, a grill and sometimes a potted plant or two. Occasionally you’ll stand along its edge, where the concrete meets the grass, and kick your lawn with your foot while you decide if you really need to mow. The dog sunbathes on it. Your patio was destined for better things.

You don’t need expensive outdoor furniture, a gourmet grill and a custom-designed deck to enjoy outdoor living to its fullest. It’s the setting you create on and around your patio – big or small – that brings an otherwise boring concrete slab to life.

Have you ever gone to a restaurant with outdoor seating? When the weather is perfect, sometimes the wait to get a table outside is longer than the wait to dine indoors. It’s hard to resist an opportunity to eat among the flowers on a beautiful, clear-weather day (or night)! Imagine your patio as an outdoor extension of your kitchen. With the right plants and comfortable seating, you can create a whole new dining experience for your family that can be enjoyed for as long as the weather permits. (And you’ll never need a reservation.)

But a patio garden has more to offer than just a nice place to eat dinner. The plants you choose to grow alongside your patio – from flowering trees and hedge plants to groundcovers and perennials – work together to create an attractive outdoor room where you can relax, read or just watch the kids play in the yard. Even better, “outdoor living space” is one of the top three criteria that realtors and homebuyers look for in a landscape. Just think what a well-designed patio garden can do to your property value!

Even if your space isn’t that large, you can still design a wonderful patio garden with big impact, using containers and a few smaller plantings. Clever planning can also allow for flowering each season. From cold-weather pansies to summer annuals, you can create year-round interest to your patio garden – even when you can only enjoy it by looking out the window in winter. As long as the plants you select are ones that fit the appropriate function in the design and will thrive under your particular property conditions (drought-tolerant plants for your drought-tolerant area, sun-loving species for sun-loving locations, etc.), you’ll be set to relax on a patio that was designed for your outdoor living needs – not just for the dog’s sunbaths.

Remember, when you shop for plants, pick the plants you like that match the functions identified on the plan!