Patio Gardens Spain

The very fact that the Mediterranean climate is so equable and agreeable means that land in the areas that enjoy it is highly priced. Few people, whether permanent residents or second-home owners, have pockets deep enough or areas large enough for extensive gardens. Together with the particular merits of enclosing space described in Courtyard Gardens, this fact makes the patio a highly attractive and practical proposition.

The patio has a very long history, dating back to Roman times when well-heeled citizens built their residences around a central atrium - an open court. The area might be graced by a central fountain, and was used as an extension of the house which gave onto it. Thus it would be used for relaxation or for taking meals in fine weather. The tradition was carried across Europe by Roman legionaires and found its way to Spain in the courtyards of the Arab conquerors from North Africa. Though the concepts were originally virtually identical, today the terms patio and courtyard are not synonymous.

Here we shall consider the patio principally as a paved area providing a formal or informal link with the house, and serving, in effect, as an 'outdoor living room'. In California the same purpose is likely to be served by a wooden deck.

Choosing your Patio site
if you are starting from scratch you may well have a choice of sites for a patio. However, quite apart from the fact that sitting it next to the house makes sense in terms of convenience and accessibility, this may well be the best spot in terms of land use. If you have engaged in any moderately extensive construction or reconstruction, the area immediately adjacent to the house is probably the one in which the builders dumped their waste. The soil will inevitably have been affected and it is far easier to pave over such an area than to attempt to improve it.

When choosing your site carefully consider how you will use your patio. Unless of course you just want to sunbathe and then a few pots dotted around the patio may be the ideal choice for you.

Large attractive containers with impressive sculptural plants - Chinese fan palms are delicious! (Livistona chinesis), a Lady Palm (Rhapis excelsa) or a Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa), with its decorative and arresting leaves could form an exotic 'wall' of foliage. Alternatively - my favourtite - trellis or wattle fencing, supporting a vigourous, preferably deciduous, climber (such as Vitis vinifera - the grape vine) would give it a greater feeling of seclusion.

Perhaps you want to roof a section of your patio garden extending those days you can sit in the shade when the sun is beating down in the summer months or protect your plants in the winter months. The best permanent cover you can get is glass, but this is an expensive option and extremely heavy and would need strong support. Next best to glass is polycarbonate sheeting. It comes in varities of thickness and is very strong.

You are almost certainly going to be entertaining on your patio after dark and you must consider your lighting options (remembering the night skies and the astronomers!) The choice is enormous and we have already talked about lighting your garden - read our post about LED lights for the garden!

Courtyard Gardens

We promised that we would go into detail about choosing a style of your garden and elaborate on the gardens we mentioned in our previous post.

Today we are going to discuss courtyard gardens :)

Separate courtyards and hedge-enclosed divisions that often bear little relationship to one another or to any obvious ground plan are typical of the Moorish gardens in southern Spain. They reflect the influence of a desert people for whom small enclosures - if only a tent - provided welcome refuge from the heat and perils of a vast uninviting desert.

Similarly, in the Mediterranean regions of Europe, the Middle East and western United States, courtyards provide privacy and shade, respite from the relentless heat of the midday sun. The contrast between this haven and the heat and dust of the surrounding countryside is made all the more delightful by the introduction of water. Bubbling up in a bowl, cascading from a small fountain, lying deep, dark and still in a central well or simply reflecting the surrounding court, its very presence refreshes the spirit.

When designing your garden, then, do bear in mind the advantages of creating an enclosed, shady oasis. You are sure to yearn for it in the scorching heat of high summer. Such an area is quite inexpensive to establish and very easy to maintain. Nor does it demand a lot of space. You can, for example, pave an area as small as 5 metre sq/30 sq yard, and surround it with a hedge of Italian Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens). Pierce the hedge with arched entrances and place a couple of comfortable benches within.

Add, if you wish, a container-grown flowering shrub and a small raised pond (we will talk about ponds also - Gina has one - well it is more like a bloody lake!) ;)

You can work endless variations on this theme, enclosing the courtyard with a wall rather than a hedge, and using the wall to support a colourful climber. Create an interesting pattern of tiles or bricks for the floor area and choose from the vast range of garden furniture the style best suited to your setting - whether in wrought iron, wood or one of the excellent modern plastics.

If the overall effect is harmonious, you will find yourself retreating to sit in this tranquil spot far more frequently than you may ever have imagined.

if your garden is large enough, you could consider dividing it into a number of different, highly individual areas, each one separately enclosed within walls or hedges. Depending on whether you use sombre evergreens such as the Italian cypress or flowering species such as Viburnum tinus, and whether you make your enclosures rigidly geometric or flowingly curvaceous, you can achieve a range of effects from the impressively formal to enchantingly casual.

Try to make each individual area distinct, so that you experience a sense of novelty and surprise as you move from one to the other. You could give each of these 'garden rooms' a separate theme. One, for example, might be devoted entirely to plants of a single colour - white petunias and pelargoniums look wonderful set against a cypress hedge - or to plants from a single family, such as rose.