Have a townhouse? You must see this gorgeous small backyard!

Do you live in a townhouse and are unsure of how to decorate your small backyard to make the most of the space? Check out our townhouse backyard this year—including loads of townhouse deck ideas to turn your little spot into a relaxing retreat!

Have a townhouse? You must see this gorgeous backyard!

I didn’t know if I’d actually get around to doing a backyard post this year, but here I am! I decided last night to grab my camera and take a few shots. We didn’t put nearly as much work into the yard this year as we did last year or the year before—but I suppose that’s to be expected. We’re in less of a “create” mode and more of a “maintain and enjoy” mode.

Not to mention, getting out to stores and buying supplies has been harder this year with the virus. We were on lockdown in Maryland for quite a while, and even now I don’t like going to crowded stores. With all that said, I still have a few townhouse deck ideas to share with you guys. Some are the same as last year, a few are new. 🙂

townhouse deck ideas with string lights, a rope swing, and lots of plants — *Swing source (affiliate link)*

Garden area & deck post planters

We have the same rock landscaping from past years, and we’ve kept plant arrangements largely the same. Veggies in the DIY raised beds (tomatoes have gone INSANE this year), high-light plants along the fence (see the post about staining our fence as well), and pots hanging up the deck posts.

I have a beautiful colocasia “Black Magic” elephant ear plant potted over here this year. Elephant ears are gorgeous and so easy to grow, but this is my first year with this variety. I love the purple and green hues the leaves can take, too.

I’m really proud of how little we bought this year, too. In the eight pots hanging up the deck posts, the basil is from my mom (she gave us one plant grown from seed, and I propagated the second plant), I propagated the string of pearls, I propagated the wandering tradescantia zebrina, and I brought some succulents outside and propagated some. Only two of the pots have porchulaca in them that I bought.

string of pearls plant hanging on a deck post

beautiful plants on a small townhouse deck — *Check out the tips about staining deck posts too!*

Plants on the townhouse deck

The plants on the deck are largely isolated to the far end of the deck so we’d have room to actually put furniture. I bought a gorgeous eucalyptus plant and a large philodendron selloum (philo hope). The rest is from inside. I’ve got a post on how I turned an indoor planter into an outdoor planter and filled it with a snake plant and pothos cuttings.

It’s kind of hard to see, but in the back corner, I put the concrete paver end table. This year it’s a home to shade-loving houseplants that I’ve got outside: rattlesnake calathea, a propagated piece of monstera deliciosa, a monstera adansonii, a ZZ plant I split, and a bunch of assorted pothos plants I’m propagating.

large plants in a townhouse backyard with rock landscaping

Plants on the side of the deck

The side of the deck gets great light, so I’ve got a few hanging plants there. The front one is tradescantia zebrina that I propagated, and in the back is a fishhooks senecio plant I bought for super cheap. It looks great hanging and trailing.

The large elephant ear plant in the front corner is a cutting of a plant I got from my parents last year—I had it indoors all winter. And in that pot I’ve also got a little cutting of purple queen, a variety of tradescantia. Next to it, some black sweet potato vine.

Climbing up the deck post is a moonflower vine—the same thing I put there last year. This year I ran twine up the post and across the bottom of the deck to give it more space to vine, and it looks awesome. We’ve also got a yucca cane plant here, which is the same on we’ve had for three years. I bring it indoors for the winter.

But the real show stopper over here is the banana plant we put in the ground. It’s doing amazing and has pushed out so many new leaves! I love the added privacy is provides and am looking forward to seeing what it does the rest of the summer. We got this plant from my parents. They have about a zillion banana plants in their yard from babies reproducing over the years.

And back onto the little townhouse deck…

The main sitting area is tight, but it’s definitely doable. We have a lovely hanging swing (affiliate link) that is a new addition this summer. If you remember the patio set from last year’s pics, I kept the loveseat piece down here and moved the chairs up to the balcony. The DIY concrete paver coffee table is still a staple on the deck. 🙂 Same rug, too.

Of course we’ve still got the same globe string lights (affiliate link). They’ve held up incredibly well their third summer! We don’t even take them down in the winter and haven’t had to replace any bulbs yet.

We also invested in a two roller solar shades, and that was a REALLY good idea. I love these things. They take the edge off of the sun in the afternoon and provide privacy at night. I like the light tan color because it hides any dirt or whatnot they might get on them since they are outdoor shades.

We got these at Lowe’s after seeing ones my grandmother has. We were super lucky that they length was pretty much perfect for our needs already—we didn’t have to get custom-cut ones. Yay to that. BB loves when bugs land on the inside of the shade and she can attack them. But then she quickly goes back to sleep.