Three seasons, three uses: Spring

Make the patio a focal point. Place a birdbath and pots of blooming annuals such as purple nemesia and bacopa in its center.

Edge it with low mounders ― New Zealand hair sedge 'Frosty Curls', 'Oriental Limelight' variegated artemisia ― and add color makers such as breath of heaven, pink marguerites, pink and purple anemones, Swan River daisy, lilac, Berberis thunbergii 'Aurea'. Tuck low growers such as creeping thyme between the bricks.