i think this might be my pics

Here is a link that might be useful: myspace garden gallery

I'm not seeing them. Anyway, it doesn't matter how big the lot is. If there are certain plants you love, put them where the soil and exposure are suitable, and let them have the space they need. Even if you plant one of the tall native conifers it will take years to reach a large size. (You don't want to plant a potential headache for somebody else, of course, it should be a place where one of these could grow for a long time without becoming a liability).

Clematis are great in small spaces. If you have a fence around your yard you can cover it with clematis. With our mild climate you can select varieties to give you flowers March through October. There are thousands of varities to choose from.

Most nurseries now have small, compact shrub varities that are suited to the new small yards. I am sure they would have dwarf varities of many of the shrubs you like. I agree with the above poster, grow what you love. If you only have a small area grow the plants that you enjoy the most. Pots also are great for patio areas, and can be used to grow shrubs as well as annuals and perennials.

You can get more plants into an area by layering. Check out the cottage gardening forum sometime. I have 2 acres which is a huge drain on my time and effort because of all the perpetual weed problems, so I rather envy your small spot at the moment. My favorite shrubs are my Aronia, they are loaded with fruit that lasts me all year. Those Rhodies bloom such a short time and then have to be deadheaded, and are always getting too twiggy and needing to be cut back.

The problem with most of the new construction nowadays is that the footprint of the house is getting to the point where it covers about 80-90% of the lot. The other issue is that most of these small lots consist of one level yards and are generally way too symmetrical. I would compare buying a home nowadays to buying the cameras of yesterday where you had a priority (for example aperture priority). Unless you are extremely wealthy, it's hard to buy a new dream home on a lot that is big enough to build your dream yard/garden. If your priority is home you sacrifice your dream garden, if your priority is garden, you sacrifice your dream home. Of course this is a generalization but it's generally the rule and not the acception :-(

We faced that same dilema and we decided to sacrifice the dream home and build that dream garden while we were young enough with the understanding that we could always choose the other priority later. I started 5 years ago by listing every plant I wanted on yellow legal pads. My lot is an 80's size lot that is odd shaped and multi-levelled. I have crammed virtually every plant I wanted (that one of the good GW people didn't talk me out of)into 5 totally different type design areas surrounded by a million pounds plus of hardscape. I'm way overbuilt gardenwise for the neighborhood but that point is moot once I walk through the gate :-) I'm still far from done but I'm finally starting to smile at my little creation. When I have a tight space and I'm set on a particular type of plant, I just search till I find a small one. Sometimes I think when you are restricted by space you get creative and design a unique grouping that you would have never imagined otherwise.

Just some random ramblings from an amateur owner to design/build.......

Tom's tips for tight lots. :)
Consider abandoning the usual pattern of grass surrounded by beds. Don't even think of the deck as the focal with beds surrounding it. Instead make your small areas into fancy paths. 10' wide feels small for a "yard", but it can feel generous for paths.
First think of reasons for a path, destinations. For instance Deck entrance connected to a petite water feature in one corner, to a tiny bench/sitting area in the other corner, to the compost/mini shed area on the side, to the garbage cans area farther along, etc.
Next, torture the path. Stretch it out by placing eye-blocking plants right in front of the path so that the path has to keep curving around them (eye level height at least). At any one spot your path may only be wide enough for plants on one side, but keep alternating which side they're on as you curve around the sight-blocking shrubs.
This has a similar effect as the ever popular garden rooms for bigger lots. It can give you a secret garden feel with a lot less room.
For picking plants, start with the structure plants first; little perennials later. Skinny evergreens and the eye-blocking shrubs give you a solid foundation to build on.

There are hundreds of dwarf Rhododendrons, many suitable for pots on the deck. Yes, they only bloom in spring but some start in Feb and others go to May or even June. Many of the dwarves have great foliage too and some have fall color.

I agree, plant trees and shrubs first and fill in with perennials and bulbs later.

thank you for so many responses.

For me, I still have small children so lawn space is a needed part of my yard, and I already have a bit of hardscaping in with my curbing.

Since I am a brand new gardener, everything is intimidating to me but this is what I have and am confused about space needs for something like climbing vines and climbing roses. I thought that would fill in the negative space of a fence box nicely. do they need alot of ground space because I would still like to plant other perennials?

i have about 6-8 inches between the curbing and the fence. can roses go there?

Well your garden looks very cute. The flower beds are very small though. If you need the lawn for your kids then I would add climbers to the beds and grow your flowers vertically. You don't have much privacy from the neighbors on the side closest to your deck. I would put another 2-3'latice topping on the fence you have to give you more privacy. If you are planning on painting your fence now would be a good time before you put climbers on it. Most climbers need something to grab onto. You can put screw hooks in the posts and run fishing line or wire between them for vines like clematis. You can tie the rose canes to the screw hooks or put a trellis up against your fence and tie the canes to them. You can grow clematis and roses in those small beds,they will just need more water and fertilizer to compete with the sod. You can plant them 2-4 feet apart. I think 1 or 2 climing plants per fence section would be plenty. Climbing roses and clematis are a great combo. The type 3 pruning group would be the easiest when paired with a rose. They both bloom on new wood and could be pruned the same way each spring. There are thousands of varieties to choose from in all different colors.

I would try and keep your color scheme simple to unify your yard more. I think too many different colored flowers may look bad in a small area. Pick the 2 or 3 colors that you love the most and go with shades of those colors.

Those two wooden planters by your deck are great. I would put some trees in those. Columnar evergreens would look nice planted with spring bulbs and annuals. You should plant minor spring bulbs in all your small beds also. Snowdrops, crocus, iris reticulata, scilla, and many more can be planted for blooms Feb-April. You can plant your perennials in with your bulbs and the bulbs will bloom and grow when your perenials are dormant so you get a longer bloom time in you small garden. When the bulbs go dormant your perennials will start to bloom and cover up the browning foliage and you will get more flowers over a longer period in a small space.

Good luck with your garden. You don't need to do everything this fall, a garden is always a work in progress, enjoy the process. If you have kids one soccer ball can play havoc with your carefully planned flower beds. I would relax and enjoy your yard. They have a way of evolving over time.

A picture's worth a thousand words :-)

You are severely limited in what you can do with the need to maintain a lawn area for kid's play and that curbing. (personally, I think concrete curbing in a garden should be outlawed, but that's a different issue and a discussion for another time) The beds are awkwardly small - so small that even a mature perennial will fill their depth in no time. Three feet is considered a minimum bed depth for most perennials and deeper is better. You have no ability to do any sort of layering and virtually no room to plant much of anything of a shrubby nature that can offer year round interest, other than low growing, dwarfed forms that will not provide much presence.

Vines will add some vertical interest. You could also look into plants that have been trained as espaliers (often fruit trees, Camellia sasanqua and pyracantha are trained in this manner) that can provide a two-dimensional presence with minimal width. You may be able to do a couple of climbing roses, but even they will develop sufficient mass over time that they will impinge on the bed depth and need consistent pruning attention. I'd consider container plantings for a small tree or two or some larger growing shrubs, but you may have to sacrifice a portion of the lawn to give them room to develop a proper canopy. And if you need to walk between the deck and the fence, don't plant anything there - there simply isn't enough room to comfortably accommodate both access and plants.

Sometimes we are forced to make difficult choices. Do we leave enough open, grassy area for the kids to play or do we have the garden of our dreams? In a garden of that restrictive a size, it is hard to do both or do them well. I might consider waiting a few years until the kids are grown enough to not require a backyard play area, then pull up that dang curbing, reduce or eliminate the lawn area and design a real garden. In the meantime, make do with what space you've got and fill it with seasonal color - 6-8" is not gonna allow for very much more.

What is the graceful little tree in the corner?

With the narrow space on the side I wonder about a little vegetable patch. You could grow some giant sunflowers there and perhaps some climbing beans with nice flowers (scarlet runner beans?) and red and green lettuces at the base. Chard especially bright lights or red is very ornamental. Cucumbers can be grown up a trellis and so can tomatoes (ask nursery for what varietites would do best). Kids might enjoy a mini vegetable garden.

At any rate I would stick with annuals (veggies or flowers) in that narrow space and count on digging out and replacing some of the soil every year or 2. I don't think the width gives you enough space to successfully amend the soil without removing some.

Enjoy your graden! Judy WWW

Thank you for all your answers. I do appreciate it. My husband and I were discussing/planning our fall planting ideas and everything that you all have said is something to consider.

Judywww - that little tree is a Little Kim lilac

You can grow roses and/or clematis on the fence. I agree with adding lattice to the top for more height and privacy.

I have 1" squares nylon pea trellis netting stapled to 1 x 1s nailed to the fence to hold the trellis off the fence a bit so Clematis can grow up easily. DH hasn't let me cover the entire fence yet but I am getting more and more coverage every year. He did put up lattice on top though.

I've seen an entire fence the size of yours fronted by wire livestock fencing held just off the wood by 1 x 1s and completely covered by clematis. They were planted every two feet.

Personally, I would move the curb forward and give up a few feet of lawn across the back. It is just too close there.

NW-
Europeans and city dwellers have been gardening in small spaces for ages and come up with some really creative gardens. Here are a few ideas.

Small space gardens. This one got a runnerup award from the Vancouver Sun.

Look what can be done on a rooftop in raised containers.
{{gwi:1086760}}
Assisted through an Urban Heat Island Mitigation grant, a rooftop garden was planted at the Park Tower Condos. (Chicago Department of Environment, 2001)

Check this small space in Italy:

Look at the Royal Hort site for ideas.
RHS
There are sections on courtyard gardens and city gardens. I love these pics:
{{gwi:1086764}}
{{gwi:1086766}}

I like to browse professional designers portfolios online to get ideas. Many of their before & after projects are online to browse. Many terrific ideas out there.

Have fun, -Au

Here is a link that might be useful: Here are some great looks at narrow area transformations.

Those are great small spaces but none of them come predefined with unmoveable concrete curbing nor do they have a requirement for a lawn for kids to play. The realities of life versus the freedom to do whatever you want in the space and the luxury of a pretty much unlimited budget makes all the difference in the world.

You can buy 8' x 4' framed lattice panels at Home Depot etc. We've put up four of them on our fence and grown vines to provide more privacy. Our panels are long side up with 3 1/2 feet sticking above the top of the fence, giving almost 10' in vertical height if you have a 6' fence.

I have small kids too. They love to help in the garden. I have a narrow bed varying between 10"-24" wide X 10' long, sandwiched between
landscape timbers on 1 side and a path on the other. The kids and I grow vegetables there. This year we've got pumpkin vines. These you
can grow upwards along a fence or deck railings. In Spring, the space used by the pumpkins were used for lettuce which don't
need much room at all. When the pumpkins are harvested, it'll be time for lettuce again.
Elsewhere we grow raspberries, which would do well against a fence, and strawberries make great groundcovers.

On the ther side of the path are my flower beds. That's a carex spilling over the left
edge of the path opposite to the artichoke. It will soften a concrete curbing.

Artichoke, pumpkins, tomatoes with carrots hidden beyond. Here's a pic of the long narrow bed on the right.
{{gwi:1086767}}

A pic of pumpkin vines along a fence:
{{gwi:1086770}}

A good reference book is Gardening in Small Spaces : Creative Ideas from America's Best Gardeners (Fine Gardening Design Guides)
Pics from that book from Amazon.
{{gwi:1086771}}
{{gwi:1086773}}