Creating the Perfect Patio

This title shows you how to design and plant an outside space, with practical advice and 550 inspiring step-by-step photographs. It shows you how to create lovely and easy-to-maintain garden courtyards, patios, terraces and backyards. There are decorative ideas to suit all kinds of outdoor spaces from urban backyards to small garden spaces. You can choose a style to suit you – Traditional Lines, Mediterranean Warmth, Outdoor Living, The Edible Garden, A Peaceful Oasis and Modern Spaces – or select elements from each to create your own vision. It features more than 40 step-by-step techniques that provide practical guidance for making key decorative features, such as laying brick pavers, training a grapevine, planting a wall basket, making a parterre, fixing wattle hurdles, constructing a raised bed with sleepers, and lighting plants with uplighters. A final section on maintaining your patio shows how to keep the space looking beautiful, including gardening advice on deadheading, pruning and training, and seasonal jobs.
Whether your patio is a tiny backyard hidden in the urban jungle or a terraced area in a larger garden, it is a personal space where you can garden, relax and simply escape everyday life for a while. This inspiring and practical book offers creative but achievable ideas for your patio space. Six chapters on favourite styles each offer advice on approaches for flooring, walls and screens, plants and containers, structures and furniture, ornament and water features, and lighting. An essential how-to manual and packed with lively ideas, you can use this book to transform your patio into a delightful personal space to give pleasure all year round.

Author Biography

Joan Clifton trained in horticulture and landscape design and is an established figure at the forefront of garden design. Her work has appeared in a number of prestigious publications and she has lectured widely in Britain and Japan. Her books include Garden Elements and Stone, Wood, Glass and Steel. Jenny Hendy trained in Classical Botany and works as an author, lecturer and radio broadcaster as well as running a thriving garden design consultancy. Her previous books include Creative Ideas for Walls, Fences, Hedges & Boundaries (Southwater) and Gardening Projects for Kids (Southwater).