A Pattern Garden | Pattern 8: Patios

Pattern 8: Patios

What is a pattern garden?

Why use patterns in the garden?

The 14 Patterns:

Scale

Garden rooms

Pathways

Bridges

Gates

Shelters

Borders

Patios

Sheds

Focal points

Water

Ornamentation

Containers

Materials

Buy A Pattern Garden at TimberPress.com

About Valerie Easton

Christopher Alexander and A Pattern Language

Pattern 8: Patios

<< 7: Borders | Patterns | 9: Sheds >>

Paved patios and terraces are most often used to tie a house to the landscape, to extend hard surfaces out into the garden. A sunny little patio just outside the kitchen door tempts you to step outside for morning coffee, and a dining terrace close to the house encourages al fresco meals. If there's room for a fire pit, a chimenea, or even an overhead heat lamp nearby, this area will quickly become a place to roast marshmallows, drink a glass of wine, lounge around, and enjoy the stars. Such a corner may well become the most used part of the garden.

This artfully designed little terrace sits behind an Asian-inspired guesthouse on a large rural property, its intimate sense of scale reinforced by the fluffy surround of dwarf fountain grass.

Copyright ©2007 Timber Press, Inc. Text excerpts from A Pattern Garden copyright © Valerie Easton. Photographs copyright © Jacqueline Koch, except photos on Bridges, Gates, and Shelters pages copyright © Allan Mandell; and photo on Water page copyright © Richard Hartlage. All rights reserved. Posted with permission of the publisher.

<< 7: Borders | Patterns | 9: Sheds >>

Paved patios and terraces are most often used to tie a house to the landscape, to extend hard surfaces out into the garden. A sunny little patio just outside the kitchen door tempts you to step outside for morning coffee, and a dining terrace close to the house encourages al fresco meals. If there's room for a fire pit, a chimenea, or even an overhead heat lamp nearby, this area will quickly become a place to roast marshmallows, drink a glass of wine, lounge around, and enjoy the stars. Such a corner may well become the most used part of the garden.

This artfully designed little terrace sits behind an Asian-inspired guesthouse on a large rural property, its intimate sense of scale reinforced by the fluffy surround of dwarf fountain grass.

Copyright ©2007 Timber Press, Inc. Text excerpts from A Pattern Garden copyright © Valerie Easton. Photographs copyright © Jacqueline Koch, except photos on Bridges, Gates, and Shelters pages copyright © Allan Mandell; and photo on Water page copyright © Richard Hartlage. All rights reserved. Posted with permission of the publisher.