The design, shape, size and material are all considerations for any planter box. Understand what makes concrete planters unique and what you should consider when you are investing in a concrete cast planter and you’ll be pleased with the transformation of your patio or garden space.

The Advantages of Choosing Concrete

When you first hear the word concrete, you may think about an industrial or urban looking appearance. Many homeowners shy away from concrete garden planters because they assume it is not aesthetically pleasing. Concrete can be stained and painted to compliment any exterior design. These planters also come with embellishments so you can make an organic statement in your garden with only your planter box.

Read through the benefits of choosing concrete over wood, metal, vinyl, and other synthetic materials and you see why they make a great choice.  We’ve seen them placed at the base of the posts for pergolas and other patio covers, giving the space much more of a presence or ambiance.  While not permanent, they can help make for a lasting impression.

Durability

Concrete is a very durable material that will last for ages. Plastic and wood planter boxes may show signs of aging and fading within months of installation. Concrete planters, however, will retain their shape and their structure for years so deterioration from UV light or weather is not a concern. They are heavy and provide a great anchor point in your landscape design.

Here is a nice eco-friendly choice.

Eco-friendly planter options using a mix of concrete and glass and other recycled or re-purposed materials can make for an aesthetically pleasing appearance that’s ‘green’ too.  This always puts a smile on our face here at Patio Covers Place.  Some of these mixed-media planters are also a bit lighter than using solid concrete.  You can also go with some silk greenery which will give a more maintenance-free option that uses no water.

Weatherproofing your Garden

If you live in an area with adverse weather, concrete cast planters may be the perfect choice. They can stand up to heavy rain, snow, and direct sun contact without being damaged. Most planters will diminish in quality if there are sudden changes in temperature. The concrete applications do not crack, fade, or swell, as other applications do. If you want to provide your plants with the best possible protection, the best way to do that is to install a concrete box. The wall barriers provide natural insulation for the root of your plants so they can thrive amid the cold winter.

A Variety of Design Options

Concrete Planter, 36″ Sq. X 30″ H Square Tan River Rock LARGE CONCRETE PLANTERS Square Planter Concrete planters provide a versatile, attractive & maintenance-free outdoor architectural solution. Ideal for various environments including malls, office buildings & complexes, campuses and more. Designed as garden planters or park planters, these concrete planters add to the aesthetics of a facility or large home. Made using one piece, pre-cast concrete with welded rebar reinforcement. Beautiful exposed stone aggregate finish. Rounded elevated bottoms with drain holes prevent trapping of leaves and debris. Edges are beveled to prevent chipping. Heavy-duty concrete prevents theft and stays put. Concrete components are tested to stand up to 6000 psi.

Planter boxes are not one-size-fits-all. When you are shopping for a box, you need to consider the architecture of your home so you can make the best investment. Concrete cast planters come in a myriad of shapes and sizes. You can find concrete cast in anything from a rectangular box to a oblong shape that is customized for your garden area. If you are shopping for planters, you can browse styles and sizes in your local gardening store to get an idea of what is available. You can request a personalized cast if you are looking for a specific color, shape, and style. You may also want to review the embellishments that are available when you are browsing the inventory.

If you want to add a new design element to your outdoor space, choose a planter that will serve a number of functions. Planters can be both stylish and functional.  They’ll keep your plants thriving and create a great surround for your patio or garden setting.  Such a small investment can make a big difference by transforming your outdoor space.

You can install one or two small planters or a very large cast planter with the right sculptural detailing. If you want a custom planter, make sure you explain exactly what you want to the designer so they can turn your vision into a reality. Make your garden a focal point using live plants or the silk flowering trees mentioned above and by selecting the right planter box. Once your concrete outdoor planters are in your space, you’ll wonder why you waited so long.

The key with much of landscape design is proportion.  Varying heights, patterns, colors and shapes are all important elements to blend well.  With the right balance, you’ll notice that the yard just looks more inviting and attractive.  Sometimes, it is a few simple steps you can take that can help transform your run down, beaten or boring looking landscape.  So, let’s move on to some of these steps.

With the right plans, your landscape will flourish.

Front Yard Landscaping Ideas

Think about your home as a picture.  The front yard landscaping should blend in well with that picture and utilize certain elements to frame this picture.  These elements could be taller trees or defined structures on the home (like exterior shutters, a chimney or some other defining element of your home) and will also include the various hardscape elements.

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Hardscape refers to aspects of the landscape that are not living.  This could include elements like pavers, driveways, walkways, water fountains, fencing, retaining walls, and (in the backyard more likely) wooden structures, like a pergola, arbor or trellis.

In the front yard, these structures would be used more commonly for an entrance to the backyard; like a vine or flower covered arched gate opening.  These can also be found in wrought iron designs.

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Part of what makes front yard landscaping ideas different than the backyard is that we don’t spend as much time in our front yards as we do in the back.  The trend of moving more outdoor living to the back has transitioned over several decades.  In the past, front porch designs had more of an appeal, but times have changed.   These types of trends happen all the time.

As first discussed, it is all about proportion and dimension.  Landscaping ideas for small yards will have some different principles to consider, but you can find them used in any size lot, just as separate, divided spaces.  It doesn’t matter if you’ll be doing the work yourself or you have a professional landscape contractor or designer helping you out.  Here are some tricks or tips.

Tiered Designs

One key principle is to add depth or dimension to your space.  Yards with different levels or tiers make for more appealing and intriguing looks.  Even in a smaller space (maybe even more so) having dimension can draw the eye in different directions.  You don’t need to be too elaborate, just create a step or second tier using retaining wall blocks.  You can have one tier be a small patch of grass and the other one can be a filled with colorful flowers.  This way, you also achieve the elements of color and minimize your maintenance of a large lawn.

Another way to minimize maintenance issues is to use native or drought tolerate species of plants.  Often termed xeriscaping, this type of landscape design features plants that can tolerate less watering.  Many of these species will grow more slowly too, limiting the amount of trimming and maintaining necessary.  This is more popular in backyard landscapes because they make for great landcapes around pools.

Country Garden or Cottage

This is a very popular style and is appealing on many levels.  The country garden has a very flowing and flowery look about it.  With its variety of colors and shapes, the design is light and represents the joys of a coming spring.  If you aren’t careful, this landscape will leave you feeling a bit underwhelmed in winter when nothing is blooming and all appear dead.  Having some perennials will give you more life to the space.  This is the design that you will most likely associate with the front porch and old Americana.

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Modern and Contemporary Landscapes

This is more of a concept than any particular type of design feature.  Modern landscape designs are characteristically more friendly to the environment in terms of water use and rely more on properly used hardscapes.  These will often rely on more low cut shrubs in geometric patterns, like squares, circles and patterns.  The bluestone paver and grass checkerboard is a common example of a design theme that is used in combination with concrete features to create a minimalist contemporary feel.  You may also see rock or pebble used instead of grass or living materials.  Very well manicured rather than free-flowing plant life are common elements as well.  Think ‘green and grey’ as a common theme with this style.  A central water feature, like a fountain in a courtyard may anchor this space.

Front Yard Curb Appeal

Your landscape should welcome you and your guests to your home.  As the picture, it should invite you in.  A simple and well planned front yard will help you enter the home easily.  Using a paved driveway or paver walkway to approach the front door is appropriate.  Use large anchor trees sparingly.  Large trees with branches that could potentially become hazards for collapsing on the roof of your home or cars in a driveway should be considered.  One large tree in the right spot can do a lot for your design and provide shade to your home as well.  Keeping your yard well-maintained is a much better use of your time than planting a huge variety of plants that need constant attention in order to look good.  Using the right balance of hardscape features and softscape will give your home a wonderful presence in your neighborhood.  Remember that the color of your home, front door design and exterior lighting are all aspects of landscaping ideas for front yard consideration also.

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The term itself comes from the Greek word “xeros” mean dry. The concept of xeriscape landscaping is traced back to Denver, Colorado in the early 1980s. Because of dry conditions and drought status, water rations were put into place and many homeowners lost their lush landscapes. The idea of water conservation is what drives this type of landscape design.

Here is an example of a native Texas xeriscape with a small turf area.

This type of landscaping can be used with a variety of patio design ideas to create an even more harmonious blend of the hardscape elements of the patio structure, the concrete or paver floor and the softer, greener side of things.  As such, you shouldn’t consider this way of landscaping a barren look or that you cannot have any green in your yard. At Eartheasy.com, they’ve created a list of the seven principles of xeriscaping highlighting the benefits that include: saving water, increasing property values, less maintenance, no pesticides or fertilizers, pollution free and allows for wildlife habitat.  Photo credit

These seven principles are: (1) water conservation, (2) soil improvement, (3) create limited turf areas, (4) use appropriate plants, (5) mulch, (6) irrigate and (7) maintaining your landscape. Let’s talk a little bit about these concepts and why they are great landscaping ideas for any climate.

Since all of the principles embrace the notion of saving water, we’ll look at the others to give some better information and details regarding specific xeriscaping goals. In terms of soil improvement, the idea is that the ideal soil both drains quickly and retains moisture. This is true of any area besides where succulents or cacti are concerned. These plants prefer a leaner soil. In order to achieve the ideal soil as mentioned, compost is one of the best additions you can use. Many municipalities offer programs that will give you a compost bin or unit that you can use in your backyard. It can reduce kitchen waste and landscape trimmings, converting them into rich soil naturally.

The idea with creating limited turf areas is that these are areas that will use much water. Ask your local garden or nursery about seeds or grasses that will consume less if you wish to overseed a dormant grass variety in the winter. Similarly, your nursery or local landscape designer will be able to guide you to use the most appropriate plants for your climate. The idea is that these plants will be more likely to thrive in your zone without the use of excess water. You will not see many grasses growing in the middle of the desert, but many homeowners living in the desert southwest still plant grass in their front and backyards because they like the look. Small patches of turf are fine, but using large areas of grass in places where it doesn’t grow native is a waste of natural resources and a landscaping challenge as well.

Succulents like these do not require as much water and prefer more 'lean' soils.

Mulch can help you grow your plants with less water waste. The mulch can be wood chips, course compost, pine needles, leaves and other organic materials that will provide your plants with more protection from moisture escape, will maintain temperatures at the delicate root area and can help with decreasing erosion as well as controlling weeds. It should be applied several inches thick for best results.  Photo credit

While the term irrigation conjures up a lot of water soaking a field, this is actually not the goal. It is much better to use a drip system or soaker hose to allow for water to slowly get into the soil and penetrate more deeply. This water is much more easily absorbed by the plants’ roots and will also slow evaporation and moisture loss.

Finally, think about the many ways that xeriscaping could help you reduce the amount of maintenance you need to do on your landscape. We all enjoy a thriving and colorful landscape, but the upkeep can be daunting. In this same vain, what about that pool landscape? You don’t want to have to be cleaning leaves and such out of your pool or skimmer every day or two just to enjoy some green. In fact, swimming pool landscaping is one of the best areas to utilize these xeriscaping principles.

To read more about xeriscaping and the ideas behind it, we recommend the:

Xeriscape Handbook: A How-to Guide to Natural Resource-Wise Gardening

The more you begin to think about ways to have your landscape function more in harmony with the natural climate of the area in which you live, the better you will enjoy less costly, easier to maintain landscaping elements. Enjoy.

The reason that your patio space will look better with time is because of your landscaping and other elements that you add to liven up the place.  A brand new patio looks, well, brand new.  If you want yours to have a little old-world charm and distinguishing characteristics you can either wait for a period of years or you can get the look from the early on stages.  Now, you can’t necessarily rush the growing of your plants and vines, but you can affect how the hardscape looks.

Hardscape simply refers to those things that are part of your landscape or backyard design elements that are built or are manmade.  For example, your patio cover is a type of hardscape element.  It blends into your landscape design but also requires little in the way of maintenance, pruning, watering, etc.  The same thing is true about your actual patio itself.

You can have a simple concrete foundation poured and call it a patio, but this certainly lacks some much needed character.  Besides, if you have a patio paver walkway or other type of custom brick design, then you’ll get a much better blended feel if your patio brings this theme all the way around.
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Patio pavers are the building blocks of good design.  This is a somewhat general term for the several styles available.  Pavers for patio construction come in both natural stone styles, brick looks or in cast concrete.  There is another category of pavers known as interlocking pavers.  The name comes from the fact that they have a symmetrical shape that are meant to be put together with others of similar shape to create an overall design.  Most places where you get your materials will even have a chart to help show you what types of patio paver designs or patterns you can create with these and also how many you can expect to need based upon your measurements of square footage.

Most of these interlocking ones are concrete patio pavers that can be colored shades of reds, browns and tans.  When all put together, they form a nice blended color palette.  The same thing is true of the brick patio pavers.  While these may be the familiar maroon colored brick, you can also find a brick shape that is made of these cast concrete stone looking styles.  The bricks can be laid in a herringbone pattern which has a nice and sophisticated look or a simple basket weave or butted joint type of pattern as well.  There really is no right or wrong way to pick your design, the key steps are with installation.  Another great thing about having a paver installation is that you can be comfortable with some type of outdoor fireplace and not worry about a fire risk.

Installing Your Patio Pavers

As mentioned, installation is the most critical part of this process.  If you are relying on your patio to be a firm foundation for years to come, you must make sure that it is graded properly.  For drainage purposes, you should have a degree of incline away from your home.  It doesn’t take much to get the water to drain away from your home’s foundation.

All climates and city building codes vary, so consult with your local professional to determine if you need to take any further steps before continuing here.  Once you’ve determined that you are clear to begin, you’ll need to dig out the area where you plan to lay your pavers.  Plan on having a 6” space around the edge of the area you plan to lay, that way you have some room to work and wiggle as you go.  You’ll appreciate this later.

Once you get the basic area dug, you’ll be adding in the base layer of stone or sand.  If you have a large area to build up, go with the decomposed granite to get the height up.  Then, you’ll use the sand as a base layer upon which your pavers will be set.  The process of leveling the sand – critical step – is called screed boarding or screeding.  It basically consists of laying down 1” PVC or rigid metal tube, pouring in the sand and leveling it.  The screeding step is to pull a board perpendicular to these tubes and pull toward you.  This will level the sand to the tubes and give you a nice 1” base layer to lay your pavers on.

Once you’ve got this part finished, you can begin laying in your patio pavers.  If you are making an old cobblestone looking walkway or patio, you can be a bit more haphazard or random with the selection of each paver.  If you are going for a more uniform look, like with bricks for a herringbone appearance, you’ll need to be a bit more precise.  Most newer concrete pavers have built-in spacers to them, so you just place them right up to one another.  Some older bricks are smooth on all edges so you’ll need to leave some space for the sand to fill the joints later.

What About A Flagstone Patio?

The process is very similar whether you are laying brick pavers or flagstone.  The only difference is in the thickness of the flagstone itself and the way that it is set into the sand or decomposed granite or crushed rock as it is sometimes called.  Because of the way that the flagstone is shaped in nature, it naturally has a non-uniform surface.  Laying it flat on a smooth concrete surface would reveal this.

So, when you are going to use flagstone for a patio or walkway, it needs to be set properly to avoid rocking and breaking due to uneven pressure.  Also, there are different grades of flagstone.  If you just plan on light use then ‘walk on’ grade is acceptable – usually measures ¾” to 1- 1/2” thick.  Thicker than that and you are into ‘patio grade’ which is rated for heavier use and placement of patio furniture and the like.  Once you’ve got the right thickness, you can begin laying it out.

Flagstone comes in odd shapes and sizes for a more organic looking pattern.  You simply lay your crushed rock or sand down in about 1” thickness and then work your flagstone into it by sliding it a bit back and forth and side to side.  You can gently tap some spots with a rubber mallet to nudge it into the base layer as well.  Be careful because it is very easy to crack and split with too much force on an uneven lie.

With both the flagstone patio or paver patio, you’ll need to finish the joints in some way to complete this project.  Simple mortar sand can be used to fill the cracks and swept over it at a 45 degree angle.  Then water it to let the sand settle and repeat until you have sand filling the joints.  For wider joints like with the flagstone, you can also grow some moss or other fine living material between it.  As we first mentioned, these little touches can make your patio look even more charming and aged than it really is.