Landscape design for a small garden

In a small garden following a few key principles when planning will help make your garden look bigger and feel less cluttered. The team at Stone landscapes have decades of landscape construction experience servicing the Christchurch and Canterbury region, here are a few design tricks to help a small space feel larger, warm and inviting.

Whether you have a tiny garden or a small patio, there are plenty of ways you can improve the space. Taking time to choose specific colour schemes, picking plants that will flower for months and using design tricks such as repetition or adding focal points can all make your garden look bigger too. Colours on the cool side, such as blue and purple, will look further away while vibrant colours like red and orange appear closer and will all have a big impact.

For limited budgets think about using gravel instead of paving or a lawn. This also provides more space for plants in a tiny space. Install simple lighting or, if you want a small vegetable garden, sow salad in containers or grow fast-cropping plants like spring radishes and short, fast-growing carrot varieties.

One of the simplest ways to give small gardens a boost is to use your vertical space – use hanging baskets and planters, cover boundaries with climbers or install a vertical garden.  You can also add height with a small tree or tall slim plants like canna lilies.

Get the landscaping-planting ratio right

When planning your patio garden get the balance of planting and landscaping right to make your small garden look beautiful. Garden design for small gardens should aim for a ratio of around 50 per cent planting and furniture to 50 per cent paving or decking. This will help create a patio that is easy on the eye without being overcrowded.

Create height in narrow borders

Narrow borders can feel restrictive and tricky to plant, but using plants with some height makes them feel more substantial. Use tall bulbs such as alliums, agapanthus or canna lilies that will add height without taking up much ground space. Trellis planted with climbers like clematis or jasmin will also add height without growing too wide.

Built in Bench seating

Save space in a small back garden by building seating that can double up as storage space, or build seating into your design. Use a corner bench or put seating up against a boundary to save space on a table in the centre of your patio.

Divide your space

A small garden will look bigger if you can’t see everything at once. Divide up your garden using arbours, raised flowerbeds, screens or hedges to break up the space. The fact that it has different areas or sections will also make your garden more interesting to look at.

Use light-coloured landscaping

Using light-coloured materials can help to bounce the light around and will make the garden seem more spacious than using dark paving or paint colours. This will also brighten your garden if your outdoor space is on the shady side. Try light paving or gravel.

Make borders bigger

Tiny beds and borders can make your garden seem smaller. Reduce the space you have for a lawn or patio and make borders or beds bigger to allow a greater depth of planting. Having generous planting areas rather than lines of plant will make your whole garden feel bigger. Structural planting such as trees and evergreen shrubs will provide a permanent backbone for the garden and add interest in winter.