Garden Designers Roundtable: Expanding Small Spaces

This month the Bloggers of the Garden Designers Roundtable have some big ideas about working with small spaces!

In California the trend has been toward larger houses on smaller lots, and there are many condominium communities with charming but small outdoor living areas that serve multiple needs year-round. Being able to squeeze a lot out of small spaces is an important skill for designers, and can often be more challenging than designing something larger.

I think one of the most important aspects of working with small spaces is thinking about them three dimensionally. My 12' x 13' courtyard was created when the previous owner added two matching wings to the house. It has two sliding doors that enter at different heights, and two small windows.

Imagine this space as a solid cube and consider the area that would be carved out for a person to move comfortably through it. Whatever is left is potential garden, and much of it will NOT be at ground level! A well-thought out design will add the ceiling and soften the walls and add dimension and functionality to every layer in between. Here a work/storage bench, comfy seating, festive outdoor lighting, and bubbling water feature combine under a sturdy arbor with several dozen pots in all sizes, making this a cozy, sheltered spot year-round.

A small space design solution doesn't have to be lavish to be effective. In this courtyard we didn't have the luxury of digging up new beds, and needed to direct the flow diagonally from the gate to the front door. The simple loveseat is placed in the most private, sheltered spot and flanked by pots of perennials. A vine reaching for the arbor and a rustic wall planter bring the design up from ground level.

Same house, from the gate. The planted bed would actually have been sufficient to protect the entrance without hiding it from visitors, but the addition of the two red pots and the antique bell raise the whole arrangement to a new level, giving it style that transcends the modest setting and utilitarian hardscape materials.

This brick courtyard uses these same principles to add privacy without shutting the world away. An open lattice-work fence on top of the existing brick wall, planted with exuberant Cecil Brunner roses frames the semi-circular planting bed. In this garden a limited color palette keyed to the hardscape gives an elegant, restful feel that's enhanced by the sound of the small fountain.

This narrow garden designed by John Black maximizes plantable space by floating the stone steps, then ups the design ante with elegant black pebbles as mulch; it's both garden and path, and as the bamboo and other plants grow the edges will be blurred even more. The horizontal boards that cover the existing fence and the slight meander of the steps also help make the garden feel wider.

Small spaces already feel more intimate, and can be made more so with personal touches like a favorite sculpture (or, um, two!) and choice specimen trees that might be lost in a larger setting.

And of course, one should never be afraid to resort to all-out trickery if necessary. Wondering what's through that gated opening in the bamboo grove? Nothing but a mirrored aluminum closet door, built into the fence!

Combining two of our previous Roundtable topics, Containers make great Focal Points in small gardens! Planting a tree in a pot is one way to make sure it doesn't get too big, and adds just that much more color and style!

Speaking of containers, one of my clients had these enormous terra cotta pots that didn't work in her new contemporary landscape. But arranged in her sunny side yard they make a stylish AND functional edibles garden in a very small space.

Even a 6' x 6' bed tucked in a corner becomes a lovely (and lively) spot with the addition of a bubbling birdbath fountain and a faux creekbed surrounded by small shade garden gems like ferns, hellebores and variegated liriope.

This central atrium was full of plants, none very tall. I introduced a delicate Japanese Maple and a graceful Azara microphylla for height, and added the Asian-style mobile between them. A colorful pot will anchor the corner, but already you can see how much more of the space is being activated.

When working with small spaces one tendency is to use tiny furniture to avoid taking up too much room. But when you think about it, these areas are often used by only one or two people at a time. Some comfortable seating invites you right into the center of things, which is much more functional than leaving your active living space empty while you perch on a plastic chair!

Go ahead, tuck a loveseat or club chair in your designs and watch it become a favorite relaxing spot. Working small gives a designer's abilities the close-up test, and there isn't much room for error. But when the pieces all come together, virtually any corner can be a charming garden that has everything it needs to thrive.

Thanks for joining me today, but don't stop here! The other Knights and Ladies of the Roundtable are also writing on this topic, and who knows WHAT they've come up with. Let's find out, shall we?

Carolyn Gail Choi : Sweet Home and Garden Chicago : Chicago IL
Jenny Petersen: J Petersen Garden Design : Austin TX
Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK
Shirley Bovshow : Eden Makers : Los Angeles, CA
Susan Morrison : Blue Planet Garden Blog : East Bay, CA
Susan Schlenger : Landscape Design Advice : Hampton, NJ
Tara Dillard : TaraDillard.com : Atlanta, GA