Pots on patios that don't look naff

[leplan]

We have moved into a house which has a lovely garden, most of which was landscaped by the previous owners.

There is a very large patio which is about 5 metres square (garden 18m in total).

I think the patio looks bare and needs something on it. However it is so big I worry that pots will look naff.

There is a retangular veg raised bed to one side, about 2m of bed with shrubs and bark to the other side and about a metre flower bed between the front of patio and the lawn. The path to the rest of the garden is in the top right corner (next to the veg patch). There are no walls or anything so the patio just drops to the flower beds.

Ideally, I want to use pots for herbs and veg, rather than prissy flowers, although some colour would be nice.

How to you group pots so that they look effective, and how many of them do you actually need. I thought I might need big pots but they will look silly with basil in them!

Decide what will not be in the way of outdoor living ie BBQ. Get a book from the library. I say that because it will have pictures. Or Google. Have confidence in your own taste. Use corners to best advantage with a really big tall, pot/s with an evergreen/variagated shrub, Hebe? Bay? and group smaller, random pots round that for example. Is it walled? room for trellis? will you be re doing it your self when things need repotting? Consider that.

Thanks, that's really helpful. I think I'm struggling a little as there are no walls to the patio area, so the whole thing is higher than the rest of the garden (albeit only a little bit) so it feels very exposed.

Shall get myself off to the library.

If there are no walls, then the main consideration would be "people traffic". Would you prefer people to be directed away from one side perhaps? If so, arrange a feature of pots, some very large, in that area to block it. Will you have a table and seating, and prefer to be looking at the plants etc. Lots to enjoy if you get the principles right.

There is no real people traffic except down one side. We have those tri-fold doors which lead out onto the patio, then the left hand and front side lead to flower beds. There is just the one path which leads off from the top right corner so the thoroughfare is bottom right to top right.

I'm hoping to have a fairly big table (6-8 seater) and there will be a barbecue to fit in somewhere as well.

I was thinking maybe 2 or 3 large rectangular planters along the front side, to create a wall effect, with smaller round pots in clusters to break up the gaps.

Although that would mean you wouldn't be able to see the shrubs in the bed from the patio, which might be a waste.

Oh it's so confusing!

An odd-numbered group of pots is better than even-numbered. Why not try 3 pots, varying sizes, this summer and see if that's enough?

leplan - see, you are getting an idea just by thinking out how you want to use the space. Cluster the pots, you can always move them around. They need not obliterate the flower beds, choose plants carefully to compliment what will be behind, a glimps of something behind can add depth and interest. Get the big pots first. From experience, avoid pots with an inner lip that is turned inwards as the plants do not come out easily for repotting some years down the line. Go for a smooth, tapering shape if you can.