We lucky Tucsonans get to comfortably hang out outdoors for most of the year. Landscape designer Shelly Ann Abbott has ideas about making our patios inviting enough to do so.
“There are a lot of ways to really design that so you can really get out there and enjoy the space year-round,” says the owner of Landscape Design West.
The secret is to have a mix of plants, furniture, accessories and art that provide interest in any season, day or night.
She’ll share her ideas at a Tohono Chul Park class Saturday in the hopes that people discover “that patios are fabulous, colorful, fun and exciting.”
Before getting started on any patio design, Abbott suggests figuring out how and when you’ll use that outdoor space.
Winter visitors, for instance, use their patios only in cooler weather. “Plants that give year-round interest and color are important because these people are only here part of the year,” Abbott says.
Blue glow agave and autumn sage, depending on how much sun exposure they get, can provide that color in all seasons, she says.
Summer patio users may want a shade tree, she adds, preferably something that has an upright canopy such as a Texas ebony or desert willow.
Abbott also likes to use flowering plants that attract butterflies and birds. They provide close encounters with people sitting on the patio.
Here are a few other design tips that she’ll detail in her class:
• Make sure furniture is the right size for the space.
• Consider adding a water feature. Several small designs provide soothing sounds without much maintenance or water splash.
• Place garden art with appropriate plants so that it doesn’t look isolated.
• Make decisions about choosing and placing potted plants around the patio after you’ve chosen furniture and other accessories.
Garden tasks for November
Master gardeners from the Pima County Cooperative Extension advise that you spend time taking care of these gardening chores in November:
• Have sheets, blankets, paper bags and newspaper at the ready to cover tender plants from frost. Warm plants with incandescent lights. Water the day before an anticipated freeze.
• Apply a pre-emergent herbicide before rainy season starts to prevent winter weeds.
• Fertilize winter lawns.
• Increase flower production of cool-weather annuals by snipping off fading blooms.
• Replace harvested leafy and root vegetables with seedlings. To protect them from cutworms, cut a ring out of paper or from a plastic foam cup and put it around the transplant at the soil line.
If you go
• What: Winter Summer Patio Gardens; class on design and care of patio spaces.
• When: 10 a.m.-noon Saturday.
• Where: Tohono Chul Park, 7366 N. Paseo del Norte.
• Cost: $8, $4 for park members.
• Registration: Required before the class. Call 742-6455, ext. zero.
• Information: www.tohonochulpark.org
Contact local freelance writer Elena Acoba at acoba@dakotacom.net
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