Urban Gardens
Landscape Design
Turn Your Outdoor Space Into a Sanctuary
12 inspiring urban gardens offer ideas for reinventing your city backyard, rooftop or terrace
City gardens often present a challenge. With space at a premium, they are generally small, frequently have unwanted views and little privacy and — in the case of rooftops and balconies — may not have any natural soil for planting. That being said, overcoming these challenges is well worth the effort.
Imagine stepping off the city streets and coming home to your own private, leafy oasis. Perhaps you take a moment to listen to the rustle of leaves and trickle of an outdoor fountain or watch a wild bird hop through the foliage. Having just a small slice of outdoor space can offer a welcome respite from the noise and nonstop pace of urban life.
Here are a dozen design ideas from urban gardens to inspire your own tranquil outdoor retreat, whether it’s a narrow city backyard, a tiny balcony or an urban rooftop.
Imagine stepping off the city streets and coming home to your own private, leafy oasis. Perhaps you take a moment to listen to the rustle of leaves and trickle of an outdoor fountain or watch a wild bird hop through the foliage. Having just a small slice of outdoor space can offer a welcome respite from the noise and nonstop pace of urban life.
Here are a dozen design ideas from urban gardens to inspire your own tranquil outdoor retreat, whether it’s a narrow city backyard, a tiny balcony or an urban rooftop.
1. Layer your plantings. Stepping out on this London terrace feels like being whisked away to the tropics, thanks to the layered plantings of bold tropical foliage and hot-colored flowers. For a particularly lush look in a city garden, allow enough planting areas to accommodate small plants in the foreground, fillers for the middle ground and taller plants for screening. Here, an L-shaped planter behind two seat-height storage benches provides enough soil to create a layered planting bed.
Bamboo along the back wall and pots overflowing with the umbrella-like leaves of an ornamental banana (Musa sp.) form the tallest layer of the planting and provide garden screening. Purple lily-of-the-Nile (Agapanthus sp.), coral-flowering canna lilies (Canna sp.) and broad-leaved elephant’s ear (Alocasia sp.) fill in the midlayer of the composition. Red pops from potted kangaroo paw (Anigozanthos sp.) are seen in the foreground planting.
2. Add a water feature. Your garden will not feel like a tranquil retreat if you can hear the sounds of busy streets or highway traffic. Mask the noise of the surrounding city with the soothing sound of running water. Even a small water feature that incorporates a fall, splash, gurgle or trickle can be very effective in distracting a listener from unwanted urban sounds. Additionally, water will attract wild birds and insects to your urban oasis, providing them with a much-needed resource.
See how to make your own tranquil garden fountain
See how to make your own tranquil garden fountain
3. Consider the design from above. Think about how the garden will be viewed from inside the home. For sunken patios, consider adding graphic elements to the design that are particularly pleasing when viewed from above. Here, an irregular paving pattern of mica schist stones surrounded with stabilized crushed aggregate add year-round interest for those looking down at the garden.
4. Take advantage of containers. Don’t let the lack of soil on your rooftop, balcony or elevated terrace keep plants out of your garden design. A handful of large containers planted to the brim with lush foliage and colorful perennials can transform an urban space. The could-be-barren rooftop seen here is a lush urban escape — perfect for relaxing in a hammock and watching the sun sink below the New York City skyline.
To get an urban-jungle look, choose containers large enough to grow a variety of small trees, shrubs, perennials and herbs. Here, waist-high planters provide enough soil and space to support shrubs, flowering perennials, ornamental grasses and even a tomato plant. A tall plum-colored smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria) acts as a screen for neighboring buildings.
See more of this transformed rooftop getaway
See more of this transformed rooftop getaway
5. Add a soft area. Expanses of green grass look appealing but can be impractical in city gardens. Limiting the lawn to a small patch cuts down on the maintenance but still offers a soft spot for throwing down a blanket or playing a game of cards. In urban gardens without the soil for grass, get the same appealing soft look with a durable outdoor rug or artificial turf.
6. Design for privacy. When you’re surrounded by neighboring buildings, hanging out in a city garden can feel less like a relaxing retreat and more like a public display. Create more privacy by screening the garden with fences, awnings and tall plants. Here, a midlevel terrace surrounded by skyscrapers feels secluded, thanks to a shade pergola planted with vines and slatted fencing covered in potted orchids.
7. Create more planting space. Urban gardens often create nontraditional planting spaces, and thinking beyond planting in the ground can open up your options. Here, a custom cedar planter box has become a treasure trove of culinary herbs. Stainless steel trays protect the wood and add a metallic accent.
8. Blur the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces. Due to the density of city living, apartment square footage often comes at a premium. Expand your living space by creating an easy transition from indoor to outdoor space. Here, glass doors rotate to open the living room to the outdoor lounge. In cold climates, double-paned, insulated glass is well worth the investment to minimize heat loss in winter.
This London home has sliding floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open the living room and kitchen to the surrounding garden terrace. In spring and summer, the fresh scent of roses climbing over the trellis fills the home.
Find the Right Glass Door for Your Patio
Find the Right Glass Door for Your Patio
9. Carve out space for storage. Take a step back and look for areas that are being wasted — the space beneath a deck, under benches or behind dense shrubs — and make use of them for storage. As these spots often come in odd shapes, it can be worth it to go for a custom build for a perfect fit. What could easily have been wasted space under the stairs of this sunken courtyard in Brooklyn, New York, can be used as a storage area for garden tools and outdoor gear.
10. Add lights. Make an urban outdoor space shine in the evening with a variety of outdoor lights. In the same sunken Brooklyn courtyard, uplights create soft washes of gold across walls and greenery. Path lights illuminate the way to a curved seating area around an inviting outdoor fire pit.
See the transformation of this sunken backyard in Brooklyn
See the transformation of this sunken backyard in Brooklyn
11. Let the details shine. Carefully chosen details can have a big impact and help the area feel less like an urban space and more like a garden. Here, a trio of tiny potted plants set under glass cloches gives the feeling of a curated botanical collection. A wall-mounted steel planter with a patina of rust provides a planting pocket for an aeonium and a trailing sedum.
City Planter: Potted
City Planter: Potted
12. Soften or cover industrial fixtures. There’s nothing like a massive air vent, smoke stack or wall of concrete to remind you that you’re in an urban space. Many city lots come with unwanted fixtures of urban life, but this doesn’t have to be a deal-breaker in creating a garden. In the rooftop meadow garden seen here, a pyramid of metal and glass that tops a light well for a New York City apartment building has been softened by grasses. In the background, vines cover the metal air vent, making it far less visually distracting.
See more of this Brooklyn rooftop
See more of this Brooklyn rooftop
The imposing concrete walls in this sunken courtyard could have felt a bit jail-like and oppressive. The designers of this New York City garden attached trellises and used the walls for growing lush green vines. Billowy perennials and feathery ornamental grasses help soften the space even more.
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