Patio garden

Another project!

My new patio is nearly done! Photos soon.

It looks a little like a helicopter pad at the moment.

I absolutely hate pots  I'm not good at watering but I really want this to look amazing so I will up my game and it will be an area that I pop out to often. 

I will grow some herbs in pots but would like some colour on there too...food or flowers.

What do you grow that works well if cared for.
I won't have hundreds of pots - I don't want lovely rat runs/hiding spots. 
I have rosemary and my Christmas tree ready from last year!

What trees work well for you?

#and I have an above ground pond / hoping to collect my 8ft cattle trough tomorrow. It won't be for fish - just a few plants and some kind of water feature

Can’t wait to see photos.
Like you say herbs do really well in pots. The things like thyme, sage & hyssop give a good show of colour as well. Your bulbs obviously do well in pots. If you lasagna planted them ( thanks veggie   ) with spring & summer flowering bulbs it’d look great for ages. Other things that do well in pots pansies, violas, azaleas, roses, primroses, polyanthus, cosmos along with most other annuals. Sweet peas for some hight. Pretty much anything except you beloved dahlias     I think. 
As for veg. Carrots, lettuce, salad leaves, tomatoes, rainbow chard, peas (kelvedon wonder), spring onions, radish, courgette ( fairly large pot , granted   ). No doubt there are others but that’s what spilled out of my tiny little brain just now. 
Can’t help with trees sorry.

Exciting times, Scarlet.
Can't add much to SC's suggestions - maybe prostrate rosemary and lavender to trail down from walls/pots, Japanese maples with bright red leaves (I had one in a pot for years, Bay tree, Blue berries have good autumn colour and you can control their soil in a pot.

I've a couple of mini patio roses that are very forgiving and seem to accept my neglect. I've also got hostas which are potentially lovely but are only food for slugs! Azaleas perhaps, Japanese maples? I'm sure anything I come up with Scarlet you will, have already thought of, your knowledge of plants way outshines mine.

It looks like most of the things I'd suggest have gone all I can add is nasturtiums they're pretty flowers that you can eat along with the pods.

I've a couple of mini patio roses that are very forgiving and seem to accept my neglect. I've also got hostas which are potentially lovely but are only food for slugs! Azaleas perhaps, Japanese maples? I'm sure anything I come up with Scarlet you will, have already thought of, your knowledge of plants way outshines mine.

Everybody has a few favourite plants and I believe every day is a school day. 

I get a bit blinded by a flower or variety- so always up to try something that works well for others.

I have very few pots- never been easy to water them but this patio I will have to walk through to access the garden and where I will have my coffee. Honestly can't wait to use it!

I love growing in pots even though it is an absolute bind in the summer!
I have lilies and dahlias in pots that do well, but do need a bit of attention - food, water, regular repotting and beetle hunting.
There are a couple of troughs with agapanthus which so far have thrived on neglect. But they don't look good/flower for long.
I have hostas in pots, tucked away in the shade - I've always loved them and they soften up the boundary between deck and walls, hide downpipes, that kind of thing. They seem to cope with only being repotted and divided every four or five years but do get a compost top up every year. They get slugged  but not as badly as ones n the ground.
I also have a flat bowl filled with sedums which are happy in the heat.
And hellebores do well in pots for me, too.

I'm hopeless at doing seasonal pots (I asked on here, got loads of suggestions and failed to do anything, again!) so rely mostly on perennials.

The bigger the pot, the less watering they need! I was forever killing things in little containers when I was growing outside, but my big containers usually survived a few days of neglect. I would strongly recommend really big containers over lots of little ones. Things that grew particularly well for me in containers were chard, beetroot, runner beans, sweet peas, potatoes, oca, radishes, lettuce, pea shoots, dill, mustards, claytonia, nasturtiums, and kale.