A Garden for Narrow Spaces

20 years ago

I went to visit my sis in TN a couple years ago. She

worked in a consignment shop in the downtown area. Her

boss lived in an apt in the shop building. To get to the

apt, you had to go outside, through a courtyard, and

between two buildings. When I saw what she had done to

the courtyard and the narrow "hall" between the buildings,

I had to run for my camera. Want a tour? It was like

something out of Better Homes and Gardens!

This is the courtyard on the corner of the street, which

the shop owner had created herself.

Now we come around the courtyard and approach the "alley"

between the two buildings which leads to the shop owner's apt.:

As we go thru the gate, this is what we see:

Standing near the apt door and looking back toward the

courtyard, this is how the "alley" looks:

A very nice use of small spaces, don't you think? It

inspired me to do my New Orleans garden. (I'll show you

in another post) I just loved all the iron and the plants

in exotic pots and the planters hanging on the walls. It

was just so impressive, it filled my head with ideas.

Whaddaya think?

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Comments (11)

pitimpinai
20 years ago
Absolutely charming. Who needs an acre of grass when she can create somethinglike this?

Thank you very much for sharing. I need to put up something like this on my back wall.
gjmancini
20 years ago
That is absolutly gorgeous. Love it.
gloria
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chloehoover
20 years ago
The front courtyard is especially lovely -- but I see you say this was a couple of years ago - I wonder what size all those shrubs & trees are now? That seems to be one of my greatest challenges -- to find dwarf or small things that will not outgrow their space in 5 years.
But I love the lushness of these photos!
butterflychaser
Original Author
20 years ago
The lady who owned the gardens above picked lorapetalums (chinese fringe flowers), crape myrtles, wiegelas, azaleas, viburnums, a red Japanese maple, and other small growing shrubs or bushy plants. The courtyard was a nice vacant lot on the corner and she crammed it full. Her hallway was mostly potted houseplants since the area was paved.

I had only seen places like this in magazines. To see it up close was inspiring. This year, my New Orleans garden will be something like this. I hope!!
good_gardener
20 years ago
This garden is great! It's a good use of the space...and a really smart combination of shade and low-light plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Compact Garden
janetr
20 years ago
Very nice. The use of arbours in the alleyway is positively inspired. It creates the impression of a ceiling at a human level, instead of just a very tall narrow space.
ladybug A 9a Houston area
20 years ago
This is great! I need to do something like this at home!!
JenWestie
20 years ago
Lovely, very inspirational for the area between my house and garage!
almendra
20 years ago
This is like a passage to a secret garden, but the passage is the jewel in itself!
Thanks for sharing!

Almendra
fernsk
20 years ago
Wow - how nice. This is a great post with ideas for those of us with "postage stamp" garden spaces. Sometimes I read about small yards that would fit 10 of mine in them and get frustrated for ideas that are on an even smaller scale. I went to a landscaping seminar at a local greenhouse - everyone laughed and said that I don't have a yard - I have a border... I went back to the border seminar and asked for ideas [ha ha ha]. These pictures were great

Fern
containergirl
20 years ago
I love it. It's so charming.