Give Your Small Garden Some Room

Make your small garden feel more like a room in your home with these time-proven ideas for landscape design

Frank Organ

Houzz Contributor. I have been involved all my working life with design, garden design, horticulture and garden retailing. At present I work as a buyer for a large garden centre in the south west of England where I live in the idyllic Devon countryside. My passion for small garden design and the lifestyle it brings has lead me to write about it on my blog, www.yardz.typepad.co.uk for the last four years.

Houzz Contributor. I have been involved all my working life with design,... More »

Garden design has evolved over the years to suit our changing lifestyles, yet we can still learn from the classic garden design of the past. Though the size of gardens and upkeep time have been reduced, and the way we use them has changed, the ideas from past designs can be very relevant today.

Treating a small garden or parts of a larger garden as a room did not just occur in the late 1960s with the work of British designer John Brookes. In the early part of the last century, the designs of the partnership of Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens and the work of American garden designer Lawrence Johnston, who created Hidcote gardens in England, were based around the compartmentalizing of areas — creating, in fact, the first "garden rooms."

Here's a look at some small gardens that use compartmentalizing and other ideas of the past to create a beautiful complement to homes today.

by Arterra LLP Landscape Architects »

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Structuring garden rooms. The strength of compartmentalizing lies in combining the strong structure of hard landscaping with soft plantings. It's evident even in this most modern of garden layouts.

by Outer space Landscape Architecture »

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Structure is the most important thing when it comes to designing a small garden. The bones of the garden hold it together in all seasons and weather conditions. The squared paved area here unites different parts of the garden through its structural use of strong lines.

by Urban Jobe Architecture »

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Creating the bones of the garden. The designers of yesteryear used paving, walls, pergolas and rills to create these bones. Today we are more likely to use decking, gravel and raised beds. In this yard the strong blocks of gravel and the formal water feature hold the design together.

by Tobin + Parnes Design Enterprises »

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Softening the outlines. Once the structure is set, plants can soften outlines and hard edges, and add color and year-round interest. The plants in this scheme cleverly add to the formal paved design without overriding or hiding it.

by The Garden Consultants, Inc. »

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Selecting plants to fit the design. Restricting the range of plants can help to strengthen the layout. Small garden design needs discipline in plant selection. Too many varieties will lead to a fussy design that doesn't feel easy on the eye. In this garden the use of a few species allows the plants to blend with the paved areas and walls.

by Blasen Landscape Architecture »

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We can take ideas from topiary gardens of the past and just use evergreens trimmed into shapes that will unite the small garden design. Or look to famous gardens such as Vita Sackwell-West's Sissinghurst, where her white border is a great lesson on how to restrict planting to one color to unify a small space.

by Bright Green »

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Using focal points. One of the final lessons to be learned from the gardens of the past century is the use of a feature or focal point within a small space. Most small gardens are enclosed by a hedge, wall or fence, so they have no natural focal point leading the eye through the garden. A sculpture, water feature or, in this case, a stunning outdoor sofa creates an internal focal point.

by Arterra LLP Landscape Architects »

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Looking back to move forward. This small garden brings together all we have learned from the past. The structure is very strong, linking all areas of the space. The hard landscape is softened by the restrictive plantings, and the lime green chair provides a great focal point. By looking back we can move forward in the way we design and use our smaller outdoor spaces.

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