Plants for small spaces, a topic that is becoming more and more prevalent with outdoor space and gardens becoming a “nice to have” rather than a “must have”.
However, this is no death sentence for a beautiful and inspirational garden space, in fact quite the opposite. For the garden designer this challenge is gleefully accepted and to great delight, delivered upon. Whether you garden on a 2×1 city balcony or in a 4×4 concrete small back yard or have the benefit of a little more space, we have some top tips and a selection of beautiful plants that will help you deliver a BIG WOW.
Even the smallest gardens can transport you to another world entirely, whether that be through enveloping you in a jungle-esc feeling of green and dappled light or through the illusion and impression of a much larger space designed to draw you to an open space at its centre. By their nature, small gardens often have the bonus of creating gardening opportunities not offered in a larger space.
In many garden designs both lawn and patio areas are desired for many practical reasons. A lawn unites a garden and creates an attractive foil for borders but a patio offers a year round all-weather surface.
Shade also challenges small gardens, whether it is cast by high walls or buildings or from inherited tree or shrub shade from the neighbours garden. This however is easily adopted into a clever planting scheme, inherited landscape is there to be enhanced not hidden!
Paths & Walkways
When planning and designing a small garden it is very important to include a way to walk around the garden, a route to be followed, a humble garden path. By adding winding, flowing paths that you can never quite see to the end of from their beginning, you invite discovery in to your garden. A great way to do this is by incorporating “garden rooms”. Garden rooms are spaces that are independent to the main garden and often are obscured from the outside. Created through clever planting and by utilising vertical space. What better way to create a wall then to plant an espalier fruit tree? Flowers in the spring, lush foliage throughout summer with fruit arriving to be enjoyed well in to the Autumn. Pyrus communis ‘Conference’, the conference pear holds RHS AGM and is one of the favourite dessert pears. Covered in white flowers in April followed by the production of long, yellow to green pears in mid to late summer.
Another benefit of espalier fruit trees is the space below the first branches, here lies the perfect planting space for spring bulbs and perennials. Use a low growing perennial such as Alchemilla mollis, a staple for any garden, offering scalloped bright green leaves which catch droplets of water that flow like quicksilver in the summer light. From June through until September a frothy haze of tiny yellow flowers appears just above the foliage. Perfectly suited to being planted on mass below an espalier fruit tree or for softening the edges of paths. A low growing grass can also soften edges whilst creating a free flowing display Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ is a wonderfully colourful example of the genus, giving an eye catching display from its bright yellow and green foliage. The narrow leaves of this hummock forming perennial keep their colour throughout the year. The foliage stays with the plant all the way through the frosts and offers structure even when turning from orange to brown as it colours fade in to winter.
Using vertical space
Any garden needs an entrance and what better way to create an entrance than an archway, capitalising on the benefit of vertical space. Trachelospernum jasminoides or Star Jasmine is a wonderful evergreen climber that is more than happy to be grown in a large pot at the base of an archway. Offer this plant support on an archway to create an entrance with style and beauty from with flowers that pack real power of scent. By adding any form of support, whether that be as large as an arch or pergola, or as simple as a trellis or supporting wires, you can really maximise the flower power of a small space by adding a vertical display of joy that, with good planting choices, can offer pleasure in every season.
Honeysuckle are perfect for clothing porches and rustic arches or grown alongside boundary hedges and even above your winding path. Lonicera japonica ‘Hall’s Prolific’ is a particularly vigorous growing and free flowing honeysuckle, offering a mass of sweetly scented tubular flowers from April through to late August. In milder winters and in sheltered gardens the deep dark green leaves can stay with the plant all year and in truly hot summers the flowers are followed by small dark purple berries.
