Small gardens need big ideas.
You can let a larger garden evolve. By ‘larger,’ I refer to any garden that is more than 80ft or a quarter acre.
The most beautiful small gardens that I have seen in the last few years all share a common idea. You can easily see all the plants in a small area, so you need to make sure they look good.
You can be inspired by these three.
Plant-lovers’ garden
A small outdoor space can be a great display for rare plants. You can see the difference in colour and leaf shape because the plants are close. You can find Philip at PhilipHGCC.
In a smaller space you don’t need to use threes, or plant them in drifts. In a patio, courtyard or terrace garden one specimen of each species will do. If you scatter a lot of single plants in a large garden, it can look uncoordinated.
Philip says, “It is all about foliage.” Philip is the Head Gardener of Walmer Castle where he has created a jungle-themed garden within the moat. He is also the Chairman of Plant Heritage’s Kent Division. The jungle-themed theme of his small (35ftx15ft), 35ftx15ft garden is filled with vibrant leaves.
Philip is the author of The Jungle Garden, a book that ‘takes houseplants outside’. Here you can find out more about Philip’s principles for creating jungle gardens.
Urban jungle garden
Philip’s theme is ‘urban Jungle’. He also calls it a “plantsman’s garden”. This is a great look for small gardens, as it’s easy to create the appearance of a dense jungle with multiple layers of plants. Philip says that a jungle can feel like a closed space. If you had more room, it would be possible to create an exotic or tropical garden. However, this wouldn’t feel exactly like a rainforest.
Start with the tree. (See here for How to Choose a Tree for a Small Garden) You can then plant pots and groundcover plants.
For more inspiration on exotic gardens, Steven Edney’s Tropical Garden and Lou Dowle’s garden is also nearby. It is open to the public for the NGS the same day.
Derek Jarman coastal garden
The last Sunday of June is the day when Faversham Garden Open Day takes place. It will take place on 25th of June in 2023. This Derek Jarman inspired garden has been one of the most successful gardens to open in the past.
Guy Felton’s garden is owned by him and his wife. As a retired architectural professional, he is very knowledgeable. The garden when they purchased the house was just a narrow strip of grass bordered with two narrow beds. The garden is 15ft at its largest, and then tapers to 12ft. It’s about 35ft in length.
He said, ‘It didn’t make sense to mow such a small strip of grass’. They replaced the entire lawn with shingle to make it look bigger and lighter. Plants grow from the shingle.
Guy was near Faversham Harbour and while walking through the boatyard he saw an old wooden yacht propeller. The owner was going to burn it, but Guy got the chance. The piece now sits halfway down the yard, dividing the garden into two sections. It looks like garden art.
The exotic courtyard garden
The smallest of the gardens in this article. The garden is about 15ftX15ft in size and belonged to Amanda, a friend of mine. She chose ‘exotics’ for her theme and hired garden designer Paul Thompson McArthur. She says that it was her idea but I am not certain. It may have just come up in conversation.
Details make a difference.
Amanda was very particular about the details in her small garden. Paul was asked to find nails and wires which looked like they had been in place for a long time.
Amanda’s second tip is to keep the garden in mind when doing any housework. The time was right to install an irrigation system in the garden when she renovated her kitchen. “But I had done the garden after building the house. By that time, the kitchen floor was laid on top of the pipes, so it wasn’t possible to remove it again.”
A garden with an automatic irrigation system is a great idea. This will keep your plants healthy, particularly if you’re away from home a lot. It is also an efficient way to use water.
Small garden Tips
Check out this list of ‘s top 12 garden style if you are looking for a single word or big concept to start with. There are ten more ideas for garden styles here.
These posts will help you create the small garden of your dreams: Long Thin Garden, 6 Effective Tips for Narrow Town Garden , and 8 Steps to Narrow Town Garden .