So yesterday I decided that I needed to put some effort into the patio, I’ve got a Weber and a table, chairs and umbrella, but there is still lots of space and it needed a little life. After some chatting to Being Brazen (Thanks Hun!), it was decided that cacti would be a nice approach; Fortunately, the nursery (Stark Ayres, The Garden Center, on Liesbeek Parkway) closes at 7PM, so I had time after work to shoot down and grab some. I think I did a decent job, but there’s still a lot of work, the patio is quite large.
As you can see, it’s just a corner, I think I need to get something bigger behind it to give that area some height. I have two suggestions so far, either a Cypres tree or a Yakkas, anyone else got a cool idea? I also wondered about putting the pots on top of something to give them some more height, but I can’t quite figure out what would be good to use as a stand, apart from a table and I’m not too sure that a table is the best idea.
Oh, and I’d just like to state that potting cacti is probably one of the biggest missions I’ve ever experienced!
weber sorted…i’ll bring the jack, striplion steaks, you just get the weber going!
Awesome! When you booking your ticket? ;)
Good job on planting those guys, Chris! :)
There are a couple of things you could go for, I’m not sure if any of them would work for you?
1) Wrought iron (or another kind of) pot-holder stands. You’d have to shop around, but they’re available in various heights and can be quite effective for displaying plants at different levels.
2) Wall mounted pot plant holders-then you can make them the height you want.
3) If you decide to go for a table, you could get one of those mini mosaic tables in a colour scheme that will work for the patio. You can either get a set: the table and two chairs so it can double up as seating and a braai-side table when you have people over, or you can pick up an over-run/”reject” table from places like furniture factory shop outlets. The Mr Price ones sell at R400-R600. Here’s a picture of what I’m talking about:
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-7736032-chair.php
Let us know what you do!
:-), about those pipes behind then, wanna try the decorate them to hide them approach?
@Jo – Wrought iron or a mosaic table would be quite awesome; what I had in mind was getting a fairly large table/desk (for lack of better descriptions) and then creating an area perhaps with a little fountain and some bonsai’s, although I would need to do some more research on specific bonsai’s to ensure that they would survive in this location. Builders warehouse might not be a bad place to go and have a look, I might do that later today..
@andré The pipes are awful, but unfortunately they are required..