Bringing life to your front door
Get visible enough plants
You want your plants to be visible from the street, compound, or house, so that you can enjoy them even when you are not sitting on your porch. Also, if passerbys can’t see the plants from the road, then they are not boosting your curb appeal.
In a large garden bed, you can cluster multiple plants together to get a large impact. But unless you have 20 pots on your front porch, this technique isn’t going to work for you.
You have limited space on a porch, so make sure to pick plants that are large and lush looking. This way, even just a few plants will make a dramatic impact from a distance.
Find the shade plants
Most covered porches are going to be shaded or at best recieve only partial sun. Make sure you pick plants that are shade-tolerant for your porch. However, take note of the plants that will not survive in the shade either.
Water, fertilise and change pots
Pots have many benefits over gardens; there require no weeding, less space, and can be placed on concrete.
However, they have one downfall; the suck up water and nutrients out of the soil since they can’t be replaced naturally through rain or organic decomposition. This means your pots need to be watered and fertilised frequently.
Do not forget to always empty saucers after you water plants since letting pots sit in water can damage roots.
Arrangement ideas
You can line your plants along the verander in pots or more creative containers such as gum boots. Also, mounted plants cheer up a bare wall. Hang an even number for a formal look, an odd number for a more relaxed feel.
Where you can place them
Place them along the driveway just below the porch or on the porch. You can use potted plants to define an outdoor space, for instance, to separate the patio from the lawn.
Three porch plant ideas
Hastas
Hostas require absolutely no work to maintain yet they seem to live on for forever. After a year or two, if your plant is becoming rather large, you can dig it up, break it in two, and replant them as two separate plants. Hostas are planted for their foliage and will maintain their bright green leaves through the different season, even when the flowers die.
Ferns
Ferns hanging in baskets on the porch instantly adds a vibrancy and lushness to an area that looked otherwise dead. As tropical plants, ferns do well in the heat as well.
Imaptiens
Impatiens are shade loving and come in a variety of colors. Other than deadheading, watering , and fertilizing they do not need any extra care. They will bloom all spring and summer until the first frost hits. The variety I have planted above is called a New Guinea Impatiens and is a little more fancy than your typical run of the mill variety.
