Design Tips for Small Gardens
Not everyone wants, nevermind can afford, a large garden. For starters large gardens take more time, effort and money to maintain. Today I have been working in a small garden – only 7m long by 4.5m wide – that is an excellent example of how to turn a small space into a secluded sanctuary…
The trick with small gardens is to distract your eye from the boundaries. Here the boundaries are standard 6 foot high fence panels slotted between concrete posts. Very utilitarian, yet paint the fence panels a darkish green and already they are less obvious. Perhaps surprisingly, black also acts to focus your attention elsewhere and is a good alternative if you are aiming at a more modern, contemporary space. Next we strung horizontal wires upon which to train climbers: Rosa “Wedding Day” is a reliable climbing rose – not too thuggish, unlike most ramblers which (be warned…) are too vigorous for small gardens. Clematis don’t do very well here, for no obvious reason, but the Russian Vine makes up for that with superb autumn foliage
The other trick to distract your eye from the boundaries is to go up… Accentuate the vertical by planting quick-growing shrubs or trees that will soon reach above the top of the boundary fence or wall. Here we have used that old stalwart, Buddleja Davidii, as well as a superb lime-green stemmed Dogwood, Cornus sericea “Flaviramea”, and for contrast the purple leafed Smoke Bush, Cotinus coggygria “Royal Purple”. Evergreen interest is supplied through the winter by Pyracantha, which has a mass of white flowers in late-spring and red berries to feed the birds in autumn. All of these are quick growing, but can be cut back as hard as necessary when they start to get too big for their space
Underneath the climbers and shrubs is a mass of cottage garden planting: Geraniums, Geums, Heuchera, ferns, Oriental Poppies etc etc. A common mistake in small gardens is to use small plants and shove them all to the edges; here the borders are a metre deep at the sides and deeper in the corners, all of which exuberant planting acts to distract from the small dimensions
To summarise:
- Paint any fences dark green, or black for a more modern look
- Cover the boundaries with climbers
- Reach for the sky: Use large shrubs that will quickly grow taller than the boundaries
- If in doubt, put in more plants!!!
- And finally, take the time to just sit in your garden and enjoy…
