Outdoor serenity: Add life to your yard

Porches and patios unite a house with a yard and provide a portal from an interior to an exterior. Colorado's climate, with its sprinkling of 70-degree days in December and cool summer evenings make these outdoor areas near-year-round living rooms.

And when a porch or patio is all you have for outdoor space, it can be an extra challenge to make those rooms garden spaces.

"More and more, we're seeing new homes being built with front porches to help neighbors create a stronger sense of community," said Annie Huston, an owner of Birdsall & Co. and Columbine Design.

Porches are covered, walled and often partially enclosed. Old-fashioned porches once brought to mind senior citizens in rocking chairs, but anyone can enjoy a porch.

Tulips, daffodils and other flowers brighten this Denver patio. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

Whether soothing a baby to sleep in a porch swing, reading on a chaise lounge, or entertaining guests, a porch offers a sheltered experience of the outdoors.

Ceilings and walls make a porch an enclosed space. On a patio, you have the option of walls if you want and not if you don't. Some patios create walls with hedges or vine-clad fences, or get shelter from an overhanging roof.

Patios, on the other hand, are often open to the capricious sky. If yours is, and you crave a sense of enclosure, let a tree provide a leafy canopy. Market umbrellas, pergolas or awnings can also grant protection from the elements.

"The patio can become a second living room," said Laurie Jekel, owner of The Last Detail design shop. "The patio should be an extension of the house, very homey, decorated much as you would an interior."

And whether it's a porch or a patio, gardening in containers will add color and life.

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Outdoor serenity: Add life to your yard