This garden design in Co Galway integrates a sheltered patio area complemented by clever planting combinations and a mix of textures.
In this article we cover:
- Details of the garden design with patio
- Access to the patio from the house and within the garden
- How to add privacy
- Planting combinations for a contemporary house in Co Galway
- Adding sounds and texture
- Top 4 garden design tips for a sheltered patio area
- Garden plans with inspiration photographs
Owhen designing a garden seating area is to make sure it’s likely to be used.
A main seating area should look inviting, particularly from indoors, and be easy to reach – if it’s too far away from the house, it can be a delightful haven of colour, scent, and sunshine, but you won’t be inclined to make the trek to the end of the garden.
It makes more sense to have a usable space just outside and a more informal area further away for occasional use.
And finally, it needs to feel comfortable when you’re in it – so if your home is in a windy, exposed location, or you’re in full view of a busy road, screening measures will make all the difference.
This Co Galway home benefits from lots of sunlight at the front, making this the ideal place to create a paved seating area for family use. A Liscannor stone faced office room is placed to the front at an angle, providing a contrast with the rendered walls and an interestingly shaped space.
Access
When creating a screened patio, access needs to be considered to and from several points.
In this case, two sets of doors lead from the kitchen / dining room to the back garden. This section needs to be reachable from the front door and parking area. And from the rest of the front garden, via side access.
A contemporary horizontal timber screen runs from the office and continues at a right angle across the garden, with an angular ‘archway’ providing a link to the lawn beyond. This brings a sense of privacy without cutting off the rest of the garden.
Beyond the screen, a curved sweep of mixed planting flanks the driveway to enhance the approach to the front door.
Flagstone paving with wide, shallow steps extends to both sets of doors, with plenty of room for seating and planting.
Planting combos
A combination of raised and ground level planting, with generously wide beds, allows a blend of colour and greenery to bring the space alive.
Mediterranean style planting featuring drought tolerant plants extends into the pebbled area – these plants do surprisingly well in this part of Galway, despite the frequent rainfall, thanks to the good drainage provided by the limestone rocks below the slightly sandy soil.
Planting design for a garden like this needs to be careful. The owner’s preference leads the way – contemporary and wildlife friendly in this case, with a blend of flowering perennials, grasses, and suitably sized structural shrubs.
For an area just beyond the kitchen and visible through two sets of glass doors, you need to consider planting for the entire year, not just the colourful days of summer.
Hellebores and bergenias, as well as flowering in winter, provide glossy foliage in striking shapes all year round. Pinus mugo, carex and pittosporum provide evergreen structure.
With these plants providing interest in the bleaker months, the flowering perennials can party from spring through to autumn, with long flowering varieties of erysimum, salvia and astrantia bringing ops of jewel like brilliance.
Texture
The pebbled area offers a textural contrast to the flagstone paving but remains visually linked to it by a row of flagstones set into the pebble, drawing the eye along towards the entrance to the wider garden beyond.
Evergreen star jasmine clothes the timber screen and provides a backdrop to a sculpture placed opposite the bifold doors, with a shallow Corten steel, or weathered steel, water bowl at ground level reflecting the changing sky.
This will be visited by garden birds when the coast is clear, to drink and bathe. And for wildlife lovers, watching them from indoors in winter can be magical. Encouraging birds and pollinating insects into your garden is one of the best ways to keep it naturally healthy, creating a balanced ecosystem where many of the ‘pests’ with designs on your plants end up as meals and snacks for busy wild creatures.
They’ll also reward you with the buzz, hum and birdsong that makes the garden feel truly alive.
Garden Design Tips
Seating areas. When investing in a paved patio area, make sure it’s easily accessed from indoors as well as comfortable – if you can’t relax and switch off in the space, you won’t be inclined to use it. In this garden, informal seating areas are dotted around the wider space to be used occasionally.
Carefully select the plants near the house. You’ll be looking out at the garden more than you’ll be using it in the Irish climate, so plenty of green and structure help to brighten up darker winter days and provide something uplifting to look at.
Make sure you’ve considered entry and exit points, with plenty of room for family and visitors to come and gocomfortably. This patio space allowsplenty of room for furniture andplanting, without bstructing the gate and doors.
