Charming plants, well-chosen furniture and other tips on how to prepare your garden for outdoor dining season

“I’m in my homebody era,” says Alannah Monks, creative director of Oriana B. “That’s the vibe I want to create. I just want to be at home with my family, and eat outside four days a week, and hardly ever go anywhere.” Monks lives in the countryside in North County Dublin: “We’ve no formal landscaping. For me it’s all about personality — I’m a home person and in the summer I get to take that outside — it’s not about perfection.”

Even a beautifully landscaped garden can feel uninviting. “You can have a garden that you love, but it still doesn’t feel like home. You need the finishing touches. It’s the same with interiors. Architectural spaces are often not that liveable.”

Her approach is to work on the living spaces within the garden. “Making these areas feel enclosed is a big part of making the garden feel cosy.” If your garden furniture is heavy, Monks recommends lifting it with a parasol. Her own parasol is black-and-white striped (€69 from Oriana B). “It’s affordable and it packs such a punch, and it’s light and easy to carry, but we also have heavier fringed parasols (€310) which look magnificent. Then pack your space with soft things like shrubbery plants and cushions,” she says.

Monks’ own garden has basic furniture. Her outdoor sofa comes from Ikea. “It’s only new so I couldn’t say whether it’s going to last or not,” she says. “I’ll tell you next year. But with our climate, nothing you put in the garden is going to last forever. You can spend thousands on fancy furniture, but it still mightn’t survive a January in Ireland.” Her table is an industrial picnic bench. “It’s tough, hardy and ready to go — but a table cloth can make it extraordinary. When the sun comes out I dress it up nicely.”

Suggesting that people eat outdoors in Ireland tends to send them rushing for midge-repellent and a jumper, but Monks is an advocate. “Casual outdoor dining in Ireland is definitely a newer thing — we weren’t raised with it — but I’d always say that the garden is part of my home, whether or not I use it 365 days a year. Using it can be as simple as a morning coffee or a takeaway pizza in the evening. We live in a busy world and we often end up eating separately or in front of the TV. When you go outside to eat, it becomes a more communal experience. You’re forced to interact.”

Fun pieces like the Horse’s Head planter (€110) are good for engaging kids. “I love the planter because it has so much personality. My daughter has planted ours with trailing plants so they’ll look like a horse’s mane. It makes her feel involved in the garden — that it’s not an adult-only domain.” If the planting is heavy on greenery, she suggests going full colour in the tableware. “Go for a really eclectic finish so that the table is telling a story.”

Her current favourite is the Amalfi dinner set. “They come from Italy and they’re based on a traditional hand-painted design but these plates are printed so they can go in the dishwasher. They’re super-hardwearing and I’m a sucker for anything red!”

Her regrets include not putting money into properly thought-out landscaping: “Our patio tiles are so plain and boring because I rushed to put them in. Slate or limestone would have been so much nicer. But perfectionism is a big mistake. A garden is a snapshot in time. It’s only ever going to look perfect for 10 minutes.”

Marion Keogh, garden designer, agrees. “A lot of the time a landscaped garden can look clinical and sterile, but there are plenty of things you can do with furniture and accessories.” In general, the more you spend on garden furniture, the better it’s going to look.

“Mine is a French brand called Fermob from Formality in Dublin,” says Marion. “It’s made of powder-coated aluminium and it lasts for donkey’s years. It’s expensive, but you get what you pay for.” She also likes the Irish brand Finn & Elder, who design outdoor furniture. It’s not cheap. The Valencia Table & Bench Set, made in acacia wood with cement fibre tops, costs €3,200. But it’s an impressive piece that looks like it’s going to last.

If your furniture is inexpensive timber, consider a lick of paint. “Bright furniture lifts a garden on a rainy day, so think about hot pink, bright orange, or a shade from Farrow & Ball called Pelt,” she says. “It’s a deep aubergine and it looks great outdoors.” Obviously, don’t do this to high-quality hardwood furniture: “In that case, it will only need to be oiled every second year.”

If your patio is lacking in greenery, she suggests you buy three big pots (70 to 80cm diameter) and plant each with a small tree, like a Japanese maple, or a large shrub. Then, layer the planter with trailing plants like ivy, or ferns, or lavender. “All you need do is water it and feed it three times a year and it will do you well.” If the patio is in a windy spot, avoid planting tall trees in planters. They might blow over.

If the lighting is wrong, use small portable lamps to add ambient lighting, just as you would in the sitting room. “You can’t go wrong with fairy lights on a tree — they’ll make the garden look cool and creative, like a mini-festival.”

Portable lights that you bring in at night are much better for biodiversity than those that shine through the night, she adds: “A lot of the time I design gardens for insects, but I don’t tell my human clients that. Humans tend to think they’re the most important people in the garden. They’re not, actually!”

When buying plants, she recommends smaller garden centres like Howbert and Mays in Dublin. “They’re better able to give specialist advice than some of the larger stores,” she says.

And think about seasonality: “If you only buy one tree, make it a hawthorn or a crab apple or a mountain ash. They have a good shape in winter, berries in autumn, spring flowers, and dappled shade in summer. A garden is a multi-sensory experience. You’re hearing the swishing of grasses and smelling jasmine and lavender. That brings colour to your soul.”

The Garden and landscape Designer’s Association (glda.ie) is a reliable source of professionals across the country. See also orianab.com, @marionkeogh, howbertandmays.ie and finnandelder.com.