8 mistakes to avoid on your patio

Choosing unsuitable plants

Certainly the most important element for successfully greening a terrace: choosing plants to grow on it.

To ensure plants will suit your terrace, ask yourself these key questions beforehand:

• What is my terrace’s orientation / exposure?
• How large is my terrace?
• What weight can my terrace support?
• What style do I want for my terrace?

These answers will help you select plants suited to your growing constraints (dense shade, strong sun, windy exposure, cold exposure, etc.), to your structural constraints and personal taste. Do you prefer a graphic or natural atmosphere, a wild jungle, a romantic terrace or a small zen garden?

Next, among the wide range of plants available, unless you have an area of open ground on your terrace, make sure to choose species suitable for container growing. Avoid species that are too large or exuberant, easily exceeding 2 m in height and several metres in spread, especially on small or urban terraces.

But we also advise avoiding:

• fragile, brittle plants;
• spiny or thorny plants in small spaces or near walkways;
• plants with excessively vigorous roots, known to be destructive;
• certain fruit trees, which tend to stain surfaces and furniture when fruit falls.

Here are some examples of plants well suited to a terrace, according to desired style.

• For a Mediterranean terrace: lavenders, thymes, elaeagnus, griselinias, callistemon, agaves, sedums, …
• For a contemporary terrace: ornamental grasses, boxwood, alliums, ferns, dwarf pines, ophiopogons, …
• For a Japanese-style terrace: bamboos, camellias, Japanese azaleas, prunus, Japanese maples, pieris, dogwood, …
• For an exotic atmosphere: palm trees, banana trees, hostas, abutilons, strelitzias, colocasias, …
• For a romantic terrace: roses, echinaceas, buddleias, agapanthus, hardy geraniums, …

For further reading, see our articles “Which trees should not be planted near a terrace?” and “Which trees to plant near a patio?”

Do not play with shapes, textures and volumes

To create a harmonious, welcoming display on your terrace, don’t hesitate to play with plants’ different characteristics: single- or double-flowering, pompom or feathery, leathery or light foliage, vertical or creeping silhouettes, etc.

This diversity creates volume. Emphasising verticality also helps to enlarge space by using different heights, thus avoiding any sense of clutter.

Choose plants in pots of various sizes or shapes, and also hanging plants and climbing plants… For structures, you can also play with trellis heights or other supports.

If you want to create mixed pots with different species or grow different plants in the same container, choose plants with similar cultural needs (substrate, exposure, fertilisation, …). Group shrubs that prefer heather soil and acidity, rock garden plants that require a poor, light substrate, etc. Conversely, do not combine plants that need regular watering with plants that rarely require water.

For this terrace, plants have different shapes, sizes and textures

Getting lost in colour choices

If you want to create a harmonious atmosphere on your terrace, we advise choosing one or two dominant colours at most : soft pink for a romantic touch, red for a lively atmosphere, orange and yellow for a more exotic style, purple for a modern note, etc.

Do not underestimate white flowering, which showcases other colours and adds a great deal of lightness.

Match colours of your plants with those of your terrace furniture (small cushions, pottery…) for a cohesive look and an even warmer atmosphere.

Omit staggered flowering

If the terrace is mainly used during the warmer months, it would be a shame not to enjoy its view for as long as possible during the year. To achieve this, don’t plant only species with similar flowering periods; opt instead for staggered flowering. This way you can enjoy a flower-filled, planted terrace for many months, even throughout winter.

evergreen shrubs and conifers will be decorative throughout the year. Also consider shrubs that flower in autumn and winter (autumn-flowering camellias, witch-hazel), bulbous plants (colchicums, ivy-leaved cyclamens), climbers (winter-flowering clematis, winter jasmine), ornamental fruiting species (creeping wintergreen, skimmias) or decoratively wooded shrubs.

Do not consider the view

If you are lucky enough to have a terrace with a clear view, choose lightweight plants that do not hide the landscape. But if your terrace is overlooked by one or more neighbouring properties, or if the view is unattractive, it is useful to create a proper privacy screen.

Here again, you can certainly use plants as natural privacy screens, creating a genuine green screen and protective cocoon. If you use your terrace almost year-round, for permanent screening choose varieties with evergreen foliage (photinias, fargesia, aucuba). Otherwise, many deciduous species will also work well (miscanthus, hornbeam, dogwood).

On this terrace, a planted privacy screen has been deliberately installed to shield occupants from prying eyes

Underestimating wind impact

Potted plants will always be more susceptible to gusts than plants grown in the ground. Their root system having less space to develop, plants will naturally be less stable.

It is therefore essential to choose balanced, heavy containers to prevent your plants being carried away by the first gust. Lighter pots can be weighed down with stones. Wooden or aluminium planters or troughs are more resistant in windy conditions. Beware of decorative pottery or terracotta pots, which can also break in strong winds in exposed areas.

In very windy exposure, it is perfectly possible to tie pots together, to a balustrade, or to secure them firmly to a living wall. If your pots are mulched, place them in sheltered spots or opt for expanded clay balls or mulch slabs, instead of leaf-litter mulches or chips that are too light and likely to blow away.

There are many plants that withstand the onslaught of wind and spray thanks to their natural robustness or reduced wind profile: dwarf trees, climbers, shrubs… Conversely, avoid fragile plants or tall-stemmed silhouettes unless they are securely staked.

If your terrace is very exposed, consider installing a windbreak, which can be artificial (screens, trellis, metal panels). You can also choose a natural windbreak by selecting robust, dense hedge shrubs such as cherry laurel, Japanese spindle or aucuba.

For more, see our article « Break the wind on a terrace: the plants you need!».

Ignoring shade

In summer, temperatures can quickly rise on a terrace in full sun. If your terrace faces south or west, you will receive several hours of sunlight each day. Shade can therefore prove essential to protect from the sun’s scorching rays and to provide coolness.

You can install a pergola or a small arbour, charmingly draped with a beautiful climbing plant, like passionflower, honeysuckle or wisteria. Enjoy also light, natural shade from shrubs, such as saskatoon (Juneberry) or lagerstroemia (crape myrtle).

Ideally choose plants with deciduous foliage, which will let sun and light through during winter.

Find more tips in article: « Shading a terrace: which plants to choose? »

Forgetting that potted plants need care

Plants grown in pots, tubs or window boxes are naturally more sensitive and fragile than plants grown in open ground. Substrate and nutrients become depleted, water evaporates more rapidly. Climatic conditions also have more extreme effects: drought, cold that affects roots and above-ground parts more, etc.

When planting, choose suitable substrates. Choose good-quality potting composts or potting composts specific to your type of plants (heather soil, for Mediterranean plants, for flowering shrubs, …). These generally provide better water retention and greater nutrient content, according to growing requirements. There are now patio and small-garden versions, less bulky and cumbersome than standard bags of potting compost.

Regular watering and feeding are recommended to encourage development and health of container plants. If away for long periods, going on holiday or simply to save time day-to-day, you can easily install semi- or fully autonomous irrigation systems. For example, drip irrigation systems perfectly suited to container growing, or ollas.

Also consider wintering less hardy plants using fleece or protective covers and a thick mulch.

Gwenaëlle has summarised everything in the ABC of pot planting!

Look after your potted plants on the terrace; plants there are more sensitive than in open ground