Summer trend 2015: a colorful garden

If you feel that summer is one big party and would like to spend it barefoot on the grass all day, then celebrate summer in a garden packed with colour. The garden is your playground. Enjoy an afternoon lounging in a deckchair or an evening with friends in the garden or on your balcony. No outdoor space is too small.

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Create a small vegetable patch with lettuce, tomatoes and fruit to snack on all day long or to make a summer salad. You can also easily grow soft fruit like strawberries, blackberries, raspberries or redcurrants in coloured pots on your balcony or patio. If you have room for your plant to grow a bit, place it in a spacious container or in a bed. If you have a good backdrop of white pots and natural furniture, you can create a cool new mix with coloured accessories. Cushions or pots in mint, pink, yellow, pale orange, pale yellow and sky blue will transform your patio into a party zone. Plant fruit and vegetables and bright yellow sunflowers and roses in all sorts of colours in the containers and pots. There are also fabulous hydrangeas which change colour like a disco light and constantly give your garden a fresh look. 

One plant that you definitely want at your party is the rewarding Mandevilla, which lends instant colour to your garden and patio. You can enjoy the Mandevilla all summer long as it keeps on flowering and climbing. Climber on your balcony? Create a coloured trellis for in your pot. If you fancy a Mediterranean feel on your patio or balcony, a lavishly blooming Bougainvillea creates a southern European mood with its beautiful pink/purple tones. Place it in an especially festive pot. How about a dip-and-dye pot? A fun tip: paint a stool in the same colour. If you really want colour on your patio or balcony, fuchsias are definitely the plant for you this year! The fuchsia has even been voted 'balcony plant of the year'. Let the summer party begin!