Porch And Terrace

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

If the theater begins with a coat rack, then a country house begins with a porch or terrace. How to decorate the "face" of a house in summer bright, beautiful, comfortable and harmonious with the surrounding nature and interior decoration of the room?

Balcony containers

When decorating a porch or terrace of a country house, it is impossible to do without balcony containers. Today, trade provides the summer resident with a huge selection of all kinds of containers.

These are plastic boxes of various shapes and colors; floor, table and rack vases, which, if necessary, can be easily moved to a new place; wooden tubs in a rustic style or, as it is now fashionable to speak in a foreign manner, in a country style; all kinds of hanging decoration options: pots, shelves, baskets.

An important quality of containers is their lightness and lack of bulkiness. This will make them mobile, which will help to periodically change the composition, bringing novelty to the interior of the porch or terrace at least two or three times during the summer season. Heavy containers can be secured with small wheels.

When choosing compact and lightweight containers, do not forget that their depth should not be less than 25-30 centimeters, so that the roots of plants are convenient and comfortable to grow in them. The bottom of the containers must necessarily have a drainage layer of gravel and sand, as well as holes for excess water to drain. Under the vegetative layer of the earth, at least a two-centimeter layer of gravel is required, then a three-centimeter layer of sand. The surface of the vegetation layer should not be located at the level of the edge of the container, but it is more expedient to do this 3-4 centimeters lower.

Flower arrangements

The best plants for decorating a porch, balcony, terrace are ordinary or terry pelargonium; petunia, tuberous begonia (ampelous form). Pots with such flowers are placed directly in a container, filling the voids between them with earth, moss or peat, periodically moistening the fillers.

Plants for boxes are selected depending on the illumination of the place to be decorated. There are several options for a two-color box "flower bed" (the first plant is planted from the inside of the box).

• Sunny place:

** Yellow marigolds or red salvia - blue lobelia.

** Red salvia - yellow marigolds.

** Red salvia - lilac petunia.

• Penumbra:

** Red fuchsia - blue ageratum.

** Yellow marigolds - bluish-lilac ampelous petunia or red begonia.

• Shadow place:

** Yellow tuberous begonia - red fuchsia.

Plants for container compositions. From containers of various configurations, you can build a variety of lines and flower communities. For example:

• Six scarlet pelargoniums, three white and one lilac petunias.

• Three lilac, three white and two red petunias.

• One scarlet pelargonium, one blue lobelia, one small-flowered white chrysanthemum and one white petunia.

• Two scarlet zoned and four ivy-leaved pink pelargoniums, one white and three lilac petunias.

• Six scarlet zoned pelargoniums, one white petunia, one blue ageratum.

Plants for hanging baskets. Hanging baskets are good for their mobility. It is easy for them to change their place of residence, and also, it is easy for them to change the assortment of plants. Good for decorating the entrances to the house and multi-tiered hanging planters. The following flower communities are suitable for hanging baskets:

• Pink pelargonium and blue-violet petunia.

• Ampelous fuchsia and nasturtium.

• Ampelous lobelia, pelargonium and purple snapdragon.

Houseplants. At the time of the summer cottage, it is very useful to move indoor plants to the fresh air, provided that their usual light regime and irrigation regime are observed. In addition, today ground perennials are very actively used, which, during flowering, together with a clod of earth, are transplanted onto verandas, and then returned to their original place.