How to Add Color to Your Patio Area

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Sure, sometimes monochromes and neutral garden palettes can have a calm, serene look about them—but we have to admit, vibrant pops of color just bring so much fun and personality to your space! Playing around with funky color palettes and themes is a great way to unleash your inner artist, and sometimes it’s good to shake things up and step outside your comfort zone. Taking a creative risk can lead to a real eureka moment, and there are so many places to draw inspiration for landscape design. Check out our latest patio color style guide for 2020, so you can kick off the new decade with a show-stopping outdoor recreation space that won’t go unnoticed.

4 Fabulous Looks for Bringing Color into the Patio

Looking for a new color palette and design aesthetic to liven up your landscape design? These Fort Lauderdale patio colors are sure to reinvigorate your yard with a burst of energy and vibrancy.

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Cool and Modern With The Color Of The Year

Have you seen Pantone’s recently released 2020 Color of the Year? We absolutely adore it! It’s so timeless, yet cool and crisp enough that it doesn’t look dated or boring. It’s classic blue! This rich, primary blue hue looks just like the sky at dusk — absolutely breathtaking! 

While true blue is a rare color to come across in the plant world, there are a few flowers that we can grow here in Fort Lauderdale that sport this ultra-fashionable color. Key West morning glories, Blue Daze plumbago, King’s Mantle thunbergia, bush violets, and bearded irises all have that gorgeous cool tone and can handle our hot Florida weather. Delphiniums can also be grown here, but they prefer our cooler temperatures and don’t hold up as well when it gets humid around April, so they do best as a winter annual.

Speaking of containers, that’s another fun way to add some color to your outdoor space. Deep, primary blues are so saturated with color, they tend to look best when offset with neutrals like cream or silver, or when they’re accented with a little bit of another primary color, like cardinal red. An ornately-patterned blue and white porcelain pot would look absolutely stunning! 

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South Of The Border Beauty

We can’t get enough of the gorgeous painted ceramics from our neighbors down South. Mexican pottery never fails to brighten up a space, always putting us in the mood for a backyard fiesta. We have tons of gorgeous plant containers adorned with traditional Mexican artistry, and they look all the more festive when filled with vibrant, exotic plants. Our Talavera pottery collection is always in stock, so you have plenty of colorful styles to choose from. Opt for some bright magenta mandevillas, citrus-colored hibiscus, and maybe even a few cacti to get the full effect! For a little extra flair, string up some colored patio lights. Arriba!

Tropical Island Vibes

Why spend a fortune on a tropical getaway when you can have your own slice of paradise right in your backyard? Hot pinks, ocean blues, and sunset yellows and oranges instantly whisk you away into that carefree vacation mindset. Pick out some classic tropical flowers like frangipani, bougainvillea, azaleas, anthuriums, and bird of paradise to plant in turquoise pots. You’ll swear you’re stepping off the tarmac into the Hawaiian islands each time you set foot outside! 

Bright textiles printed with florals, palm leaves and fruits are an absolute must, so if you’re going to add any tablecloths, outdoor furniture or umbrellas, choose something that fits that tropical-island aesthetic. If it looks like a Hawaiian shirt, then it’s perfect! We promise, outdoor furnishings printed with that classic style are much more fashion-forward than actual Hawaiian shirts.

Fun ’50s Retro  

It’s crazy to think that the ’50s began (gasp!) seven decades ago! Yet somehow, the style from that era is still so on-point, even in 2020. ’50s fashion and interior design were all about pastels, pastels, and more pastels! Candy pinks, mint greens, baby blues, and soft lavenders were all the rage. For a delightfully nostalgic design aesthetic that feels like a scene out of Grease, opt for soft, powdery colors that are nice and delicate, yet not too pale that they look white from afar. Light pink dahlias and roses, blue plumbagos, soft purple foxgloves, and foliage plants with subtle mint-green leaves will all complement your retro aesthetic perfectly. 

For a little extra pizzazz, try to find some containers, furniture, and garden art that suit that vintage malt shop vibe. Folks in that era liked curvy, asymmetrical tables and chairs, and big, dramatic umbrellas. You could even try picking up a white plant pot and painting on a black checkerboard motif. For the finishing touch: a flamingo statuette! 


If landscape design and color theory isn’t your area of expertise, don’t fret! At Living Color, we love helping gardeners piece together a landscape design that they’ll be proud to show off. Come visit us at the garden center and we’ll help you get started on your new colorful design for 2020!

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