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I’ve been looking at new homes lately, and I find the homesites in new communities to be pretty much devoid of any natural backyard focal points. At best, the builder provides a small, paved, circular or square patio and driveway with minimal landscaping. No matter how gorgeous your house may be, these spaces can look flat and boring. Don’t panic. If you want to transform your patio into a special outdoor living space, it’s easier than you think. Many kinds of plants and special hybrids thrive in Maryland’s variable climate and soils. 

First, decide how you are going to use the space—will it be a barbecue area, a walkway to gardens beyond, a shaded retreat, or—as in most cases—a combination of these. Next decide on a style. Casual country garden, contemporary, meditative, formal, and tropical environments are all possible. However, make sure your style works with the function and size of your patio and your home’s exterior. For instance, a meditative or Zen garden and drip fountain can accentuate the lines of a contemporary townhouse with a tiny backyard. A tropical garden or cutting garden may brighten a larger home’s grounds.

Now on to the hard part, which is adding a vertical dimension to your outside living space. One of the easiest places to add height is beside the steps leading to your patio. If you don’t have any, don’t worry. Many patio areas are flanked by lawns that are just dying to become gardens. By adding trees or tall architectural components such as a trellis or fence in those “lawn” spaces you introduce vertical elements and new lines, which soften and reshape the original space. Select fences and trellises that are different heights. Angle them outward and slightly toward you. This adds architectural diversity, softens the circle, and gives you space for gardens on one or both sides while further anchoring the patio to the house. Shrubs and grasses next to the taller elements can complete and soften the lines of the expanded space. If that’s too much garden, then bring the fence closer to you. Unless you’re thinking of a contemporary, edgy style avoid making the gardens a mere outline of the paved area. 

With your vertical lines in place, consider your original flat, paved patio. Shrubs are a great addition and help provide year-round interest. To add some depth, plant shrubs in the back and annuals at the front. Tucked into plantings around a patio, benches work as a great transition between heights and beckon visitors to stop and rest awhile. Water features, stones, and rocks work well too, inviting people to take pause and enjoy the sounds of nature.

Patio container groupings are a great tool for adding color and plants. Placed amid permanent plantings, they act as hidden treasures. Containers are like people—they may be round, square, tall, short, brightly adorned, or classic in design. And there is just as much room for variety in the way you place your containers. I’ve even used a beautiful curved wooden sofa frame and a rocking chair to display an assortment of potted flowers. Mix and match, but remember to have a unifying element throughout a grouping. Think about placing pots on their sides, maybe propped up on a log or a rock. Fill them with vines or ground cover so they spill onto the paved patio. What a wonderful way to soften and reshape any hard-surfaced square or circle.

Choose your plants wisely—water-wisely. For your driveway, choose hardy, drought-tolerant plants. Remember that your driveway and patio may be taking a sunbath all day and plants in containers tend to dry out more quickly than those placed in the ground. Think cactus and succulents even if your style isn’t Southwestern. They are versatile and love the sun. Another general rule is to use silvery or variegated foliage in drier conditions. Also, if you’re thinking tropical oasis as a patio theme, remember that those large palms or banana trees must be portable and stored indoors: they will need shelter when winter blows in. 

And don’t forget furniture and the barbecue or fire pit.If you place them in the middle of the patio they tend to become the focal point. So I advise placing them off to the side and balancing them on the other side with containers of plants.

Here are some ideas to keep in mind if you’re working with a professional, or even tackling the project yourself. 

1. Go with curved or uniquely shaped hardscapes. Try to avoid perfectly square or round spaces unless you’re grouping them and using different heights or walkways to create a contemporary, meditative, or formal style. If you’re really into sharp corners then go with rectangles.

2. Adding a low stone wall or shrub line gives you height without closing off the sky and openness of the area. This also works well to define your space while keeping a great view unobstructed.

3. Do plan on including some trees for additional height. But plant them far enough away from your stonework that they have room to grow.

4. If at all possible plan a paved area that has multiple levels.

5. The backyard needs a landscape plan, too, and it should include that patio.