Whether you’re fairly new to gardening, or you’re looking for fresh ideas to reinvent your outdoor area, we’re here to help at Bridge Street Stone. With more than 30 years of experience with patios and outdoor spaces, we’ve picked up our fair share of tips and tricks throughout the years, so our five top tips will have you eager to start designing your space for alfresco living! Use them as a springboard to create your own personal haven with our rustic and versatile Indian sandstone paving in mind.
Create a cottage garden
Enjoy a quintessentially British garden with traditional English lavender in white ceramic pots or grow fragrant sweet peas and roses in borders around the patio in a plethora of colours. Hydrangeas are a lovely choice for breaking up boundaries and hard edges, as well as salvias for more sunny areas. Small varieties of flowers like petunias and verbenas look lovely in pots made of natural materials such as woven baskets and grouped together on your patio.
Take on a modern minimalist vibe
For calm ambiance in a chic minimalistic style, it’s always worth considering a medium-to-large size palm tree in an elegant pot or place some smaller, neatly-shaped topiaries in smooth stone containers around the patio border to compliment your Indian paving. Kandla grey has the perfect tone to blend into this theme. Use raised beds around the patio to plant greenery and keep them trimmed to maintain their shape.
Save space with vertical gardening
Vertical gardening is becoming increasingly popular due to its space-saving qualities and aesthetic looks. There are many ways to achieve this, from placing hanging baskets on walls to growing climbing plants up a wooden pergola. This has the added benefit of providing shade for your patio furniture in a sunny garden as it will create a natural cover over the top. You could even create a “living wall” for visual interest with ferns, ivy and heucheras for a splash of colour.
Bring the Mediterranean home for rustic character
Indian paving is truly exceptional when used as a basis for a Mediterranean theme, especially in our Golden Leaf and Fossil Mint varieties - a top choice for a South-facing garden with plenty of sun. Use olive trees with muted blue-green foliage and bright blue agapanthus in terracotta pots and if you have the space, dot some small cypress trees throughout the garden to create a seamless feel throughout. Create shade for your seating area with a pergola and grow climbing plants up it such as clematis or passiflora.
Charm your visitors with a lush jungle
Exotic plants will always have the wow factor so why not experiment with them in your garden? Natural stone paving combined with tropical plants like the Gunnera which comes in various sizes, bamboo, palms, ferns and brightly coloured flowers like bromeliads, lilies and the stunning bird of paradise plant are an unexpected but winning combination. Just make sure the plants you use get enough protection in the colder months or bring them indoors if they need it.
That should be enough to spark some inspiration! You’ll find them perfect for creating your garden masterpiece with your favourite plants and theme in mind. With plenty of ways of styling every variety of Indian paving and with a wide choice of plants, your guests will be simply amazed at how well-put-together your garden is. Not only that, but you’ll have a glorious retreat to enjoy every day of the week which is the most essential part of having a beautiful garden.