debora carl landscape designMediterranean Landscape, San Diego

6. Add a focal point. What would otherwise be a nondescript side yard becomes an inviting destination with the addition of a large Italian-style urn filled with branches, a trio of terra-cotta pots mounted to the garden gate and lushly planted borders. Offering multiple attractive areas for the eye to rest makes a space feel larger. When the plants die down in winter, the large terra-cotta pot will still provide a focal point and visually anchor the area.

If you put everything together, you have a garden that’s doing many things for wildlife: Grass provides birds with nesting material and insects to eat.Moths and butterflies lay their eggs on milkweed, asters, coneflowers, wild indigo and grasses.Flowers provide pollen and nectar to pollinators.Ornamental seed heads create winter interest.A thick planting scheme of grasses and sedges combats weeds.All told, you may have roughly 50 plants in a 100-square-foot bed, depending on if you have a path and how wide it is. If you can buy plugs or 3-inch pots, you may spend in the neighborhood of $250 to $350 on the plant material.More16 Ways to Get More From Your Small BackyardBrowse plants native to more regions of the U.S.

Using my very unscientific analysis method, I’d say this garden is 40 percent space and 60 percent stuff — hence the more intimate appearance. The garden has an obvious central axis, and the garden elements on each side of the imaginary line mirror one another. With the exception of the creeping fig (Ficus pumila) on the wall, all the plants will grow no taller than knee high, assuring that the beds will remain uncluttered. This approach retains a feeling of openness and focuses attention on the urn at the center of the “keyhole”.

Medieval enclosed gardens were enjoyed mainly by the wealthy, who could afford the cost of construction and upkeep, but monastic gardens were also enclosed. Monks required seclusion for their contemplative lives, and the hortus conclusus gave them the required sense of security and seclusion.In this garden of today, the high walls, simple gravel path, seating and low plantings echo some of the elements of the early monastic enclosed garden.

Creeping fig on wall. Place the old wall fountain on the back wall between planters with fig growing around it. White vinca looks good. Maybe white peppermint annuals with the broadleaf plant (name?) with red flowers.