How to Create a Greek Garden

• Written by Holly Hughes on June 09, 2022

Want to create a Greek-inspired backyard? This article is here to show you how! Read on for simple Greece decoration ideas that will transform your patio, courtyard, front or backyard into a heavenly, Mediterranean garden.

Greek garden ideas

A Greek garden can be simple to achieve once you stick to some basic fundamentals of Greek style. Stone walls, often whitewashed or painted in light colors; succulents and flowering vines twisting into shaded overhead canopies; blue-painted sills, window boxes, and door frames; and terracotta pots filled with herbs and other resilient shrubs are all stalwart features of a Greek garden.

Thus, to create an authentic Mediterranean feel at home, be sure to optimize or create these features where possible in your own garden. Here’s some further tips.

Incorporating natural stone features

Maximize any stone walls or archways you have or you can even build your own to add structure and dappled shade to your back garden. The effect you are going for is rustic, with even dilapidated walls giving a ruin-like appearance that adds oodles of Greek charm to your garden. Whitewash stone features to instantly make your garden look like it belongs on a Santorini coastline.

Use Greece’s national colors in your Greek garden design

After painting walls white, bring the other national color of blue into your garden by painting wooden furniture, planter boxes, or pots a bright sky shade. This will give your home and garden a crisp, clean look, keep it cool during the midday heat, and set the stage for your plants and shrubs to shine.

Shaded spots with climbing vines add an authentic touch

Speaking of heat, if you have the space, consider creating shaded spots in your garden with the help of pergolas.  Use the benefits of this overhead structure to trail climbing Mediterranean plants such as sweet pea, campsis, clematis (which will help continuethe blue theme!), passion vine), and vitis (grape vine). For tips on how to grow clematis at home, find everything you need to knowhere.

Greek plants and shrubs

One of the most distinctive features of Greek gardens is their resilience. The plants and shrubs you can expect to find in a typical Greek garden are all tough and hardy, prepared to survive the often intense weather conditions experienced in the country. This means that a lot of Greek plants are well-suited to tougher, drier climates as they are quite drought- and heat-tolerant.

With that in mind, here’s some of the best Greek plants for your garden. Or, if looking for desert-themed plants that will thrive in a hot garden, check out ourultimate guide to desert garden landscaping!

Pelargoniums

Pelargoniums are definitely flowers to be included in any Greek-themed garden. Their vivid coloring in shades of red, coral, andpink offer the perfect relief from white stone facades and silver-toned succulents, as well as contrasting wonderfully with blue-painted furniture, pots or tiling.

Bougainvillea

On a similar note, a flowering bougainvillea tree that can be coaxed into a canopy over your patio or courtyard is another colorful choice that brings instant joy and a heady reminder of Greek summers into any garden. Its canopy of flowers will be sure to delight everyone lucky enough to experience it.

Succulents

Due to their resilience, succulents are also perfect for a Greek-inspired garden, bringing to mind hot Mediterranean summers and unbearable heat. Plant them in terracotta pots or put them in a flower bed for a low-maintenance option. Succulents are also a great way to bring some Greek garden goodness indoors in the form of a houseplant – find your perfect Greek talisman atPlants.com.

Mediterranean herbs

Herbs are an integral part of Greek culture and cooking, as well as being fantastically fragrant – and resilient – shrubs to decorate a Greek garden. Oregano must of course take pride of place, but lavender, rosemary, and sage, will all work well both in a Greek garden and kitchen. Many of these herbs are also effective at keepingfleas, ticks, mosquitos and other insectsout of your garden.

Olive Trees

Living long lives through all sorts of weather – and used liberally in Greek cooking – an olive tree is a beautiful, useful, and symbolic addition to a Greek garden. If living in a cooler climate, you can grow your olive tree in a pot, moving it indoors during the winter months.

Citrus and cypress trees will also give your home a distinctly Mediterranean feel.

If you have a small garden, or perhaps only a balcony with which to bring your Greek landscaping dreams to life, don’t worry! You can plant your shrubs in pots for an authentic Greek yard. In many smaller villages in Greece, most homes didn’t have any back gardens, and so they favor pots and containers. So, if you’re short on space, opt for the rustic Greek look and plant some traditional shrubs in bright terracotta pots.

How to create a Greek-inspired patio or courtyard

One of the best things about Greek gardens is that they are centered around food and community. That is why knowing how to create a Greek courtyard or patio that can facilitate people coming together as they do in tavernas or in neighborhoods, to eat, talk, and be merry, can really help to take your Greek garden theme to the next level.

This also doesn’t have to be wildly expensive or time-consuming. Applying all of the above tips to a patio or courtyard is enough to create a successful outdoor space with serious Greek ambience.

For Greek courtyards, try and create natural stone walls or structures where possible – a stone arch, perhaps entwined with some clematis or passion vine, would be the ideal courtyard feature. Incorporating cool tiles – perhaps in a fitting blue and white mosaic pattern – and planters or flower beds of succulents, herbs, and even some olive or citrus trees will help solidify a Greek garden atmosphere.

This is equally effective for a Greek patio. The only addition needed for a Greek garden patio is, of course, a long table for luxurious summer night dinners. Comfy chairs, a blue linen tablecloth dotted with small vases of herbs from the garden, and lanterns and tea lights will immediately turn your patio into a Mediterranean oasis.

And who doesn’t want to bring a bit of Greek sunshine and the laidback attitude of the Mediterranean to their summer garden? We hope these tips will help you sprinkle some sunkissed Greek joy throughout your garden, no matter how big or small it may be – good luck!