Porch Perfection: How to Give Your Outdoor Space a Green Makeover

Whether you’ve always harbored a dream to become a serious gardener or simply wished you could do more than just water your plants, you can make your vision a reality by transforming your porch into a green wonderland. In fact, “porch gardening” is a simple way to ease into the process, give your green thumb a workout, and learn about the particulars involved in cultivating and nurturing plants.

If you’re ready to give your outdoor space a makeover that’s worthy of a picture or two on social media — or at the very least an appreciative sigh every time you glance its way — then here are some easy steps to get you started.

Choose the Right Plants

While you may have some very specific plants in mind, you need to make sure that they’re equipped to thrive in the amount of light available to your porch at any given time of the day. Some plants do best in full sunshine, which means that they need at least six or more hours of exposure to direct sunlight each day. Others can handle indirect light or illumination that may pass through another area before coming into contact with the plant. And other plants are fairly tolerant of shade. Take a look at your porch and determine how much light it receives. That’s largely dependent on the setup and the number of trees around your home. Tall structures can easily conceal the sun throughout the day, leaving some plants at risk.

Consider the Layout

Now comes the fun part of the design process. Using your front door as your guide, it’s time to start creating a layout for your porch’s makeover. The idea here is to determine the best way to create a cohesive, flowing look that complements your home. You don’t want to overdo it with the accents, as this will rob the general look of its impact and contribute to a slightly disheveled aesthetic.

The front door works as a good focal point because it’s usually the “centerpiece” of the porch. Stand back and consider what might work well. Do you want to create a symmetrical look by positioning large planters on each side? If you have a complex entry door handle set in a dramatic color or a showy metal, take that into consideration, too. You can easily balance the look by putting something that matches on the other side — a decorative lantern on the ground, for example.

Add Some Hanging Plants

A wide porch can be both fun and challenging to decorate, as you have plenty of square footage to occupy. To bring it all together, consider spacing some hanging plants apart from one another. This is an easy way to include something lovely and eye-catching, like the Hanging Purple Passion plant, so long as it’s not exposed to direct sunlight.

You can also try something that brings interesting visual detail to the porch, like Hanging Fishhooks or Hanging String of Pearls. Pay attention to lighting needs as you position your hanging plants. They work well on smaller porches, too, bringing a pop of dynamic detail to an otherwise simple space.

Experiment with Different Textures

Textural details are important to the overall scheme of your decorative porch. Very few plants share the same characteristics, after all, and mixing things up is an easy way to bring the entire space to life in a few easy steps. Don’t shy away from transitioning textures to create something that is both artisanal and adventurous.

The delicate spikes of a Snake Plant, for example, are showy enough to catch the eye. How easy it is to see from afar depends on the size of your plant, of course, but compact size is ideal for a small- to mid-size porch, especially when you’re incorporating other plants in your design. For contrast, incorporate the crisp, glossy leaves of a Rubber Tree Plant and the prickly, moisture-rich leaves of a cactus. Remember that it’s all about balance — not too much of any one thing, but just enough to create a design that’s approachable and interesting to the eye.