Are You Doing These 6 Things to Make Your Garden Feel Smaller?
With good intentions, we can sometimes unwittingly shrink our gardens, so make sure you swerve these common mistakes
Want to make your garden look bigger? Avoid these common errors that may be making it look and feel even smaller. From thinking your garden is too wee for a tree to going for the classic rectangle with lawn and borders around the edge to ‘open up the space’, there are many design misconceptions about how to make more of a little plot.
Read on to discover the sometimes counterintuitive techniques loved by Houzz designers to stretch a small space.
Read on to discover the sometimes counterintuitive techniques loved by Houzz designers to stretch a small space.
Mistake 2: Discounting trees
Worried there’s no space in your small garden for a tree? Don’t be. So many of the petite plots on Houzz have more than one, and the right tree in the right place can draw the eye up, adding a sense of height, as well as privacy and enclosure. Trees can also attract wildlife and provide shade – for you, but also for plants needing reprieve during the hot summer months.
But what is the right tree for a small space? According to designer Patricia Tyrrell, one that grows slowly so as not to dominate the space, looks good across the seasons (everything in small gardens needs to work hard, as there’s little to fall back on) and has small roots.
Her tips? Cornus florida (dogwood), some species of which only grow to 3m, is a slow-growing option that looks good in both spring and autumn. She also suggests Rhus typhina, commonly known as stag’s horn sumach, as well as olive trees and multi-stem birches.
More: 10 Trees That Work in a Small Garden
Worried there’s no space in your small garden for a tree? Don’t be. So many of the petite plots on Houzz have more than one, and the right tree in the right place can draw the eye up, adding a sense of height, as well as privacy and enclosure. Trees can also attract wildlife and provide shade – for you, but also for plants needing reprieve during the hot summer months.
But what is the right tree for a small space? According to designer Patricia Tyrrell, one that grows slowly so as not to dominate the space, looks good across the seasons (everything in small gardens needs to work hard, as there’s little to fall back on) and has small roots.
Her tips? Cornus florida (dogwood), some species of which only grow to 3m, is a slow-growing option that looks good in both spring and autumn. She also suggests Rhus typhina, commonly known as stag’s horn sumach, as well as olive trees and multi-stem birches.
More: 10 Trees That Work in a Small Garden
Mistake 3: Making a feature of your fence
A feature fence, devoid of plants and gleamingly bright in tone, can be a real space shrinker. The reason? It highlights the one thing you want to minimise: your boundaries.
Blur those, perhaps by painting them black, as seen in this lovely plot designed by Jilayne Rickards, and they’ll feel further away (and your garden, magically, larger). Cover them in climbing plants and they’ll, quite literally, disappear.
Discover more about how this garden was created.
More: Should I Paint My Garden Fence Black?
A feature fence, devoid of plants and gleamingly bright in tone, can be a real space shrinker. The reason? It highlights the one thing you want to minimise: your boundaries.
Blur those, perhaps by painting them black, as seen in this lovely plot designed by Jilayne Rickards, and they’ll feel further away (and your garden, magically, larger). Cover them in climbing plants and they’ll, quite literally, disappear.
Discover more about how this garden was created.
More: Should I Paint My Garden Fence Black?
Mistake 4: Creating a wide open space
Even the smallest, boxiest space can become a wildlife haven through which you can enjoy meandering. And a meandering route is something that comes up time and again in the plots we talk to garden designers about on Houzz, because if there’s a sense of intrigue, there’s also a sense of more space than you may well have.
Take this gorgeous spot designed by Georgia Lindsay by way of inspiration. Its layout cleverly confuses the eye, inviting you to wander through rather than stride straight across. The striking, staggered screen breaks up the view, allowing just a glimpse of the seating area at the back.
Planting also messes with the classic rectangle of lawn with beds either side. Instead, Georgia has designed two key beds that jut into the middle of the space and overlap to create a stepping stone path that turns, inviting you to wander along it.
See more photos of this garden
Even the smallest, boxiest space can become a wildlife haven through which you can enjoy meandering. And a meandering route is something that comes up time and again in the plots we talk to garden designers about on Houzz, because if there’s a sense of intrigue, there’s also a sense of more space than you may well have.
Take this gorgeous spot designed by Georgia Lindsay by way of inspiration. Its layout cleverly confuses the eye, inviting you to wander through rather than stride straight across. The striking, staggered screen breaks up the view, allowing just a glimpse of the seating area at the back.
Planting also messes with the classic rectangle of lawn with beds either side. Instead, Georgia has designed two key beds that jut into the middle of the space and overlap to create a stepping stone path that turns, inviting you to wander along it.
See more photos of this garden
Mistake 5: Sticking to right angles
Another trick for visually enlarging a small outdoor space is to play with angles. As with building in a meander, this idea can turn a see-it-all-in-one-glance rectangle into something visually intriguing.
Here, a Bright Green Garden design uses decking planks to create unlikely angles and it’s almost impossible to see a rectangular plot with these defining the space. The beds at the back of the garden are triangular, emphasising the effect. (Check out those lovely trees, too.)
Explore the whole of this little garden.
Another trick for visually enlarging a small outdoor space is to play with angles. As with building in a meander, this idea can turn a see-it-all-in-one-glance rectangle into something visually intriguing.
Here, a Bright Green Garden design uses decking planks to create unlikely angles and it’s almost impossible to see a rectangular plot with these defining the space. The beds at the back of the garden are triangular, emphasising the effect. (Check out those lovely trees, too.)
Explore the whole of this little garden.
Mistake 6: Not taking advantage of borrowed landscape
If you’re not making the most of your garden’s surroundings – and have the opportunity – then do so. This small city spot looks epic thanks to the foliage in surrounding gardens and beyond.
Whether you have a rural plot with fields beyond or an urban site where you’re boxed in by other gardens, a clever designer will be able to maximise surrounding views and greenery and draw it into your own space.
The plot is blessed with lush foliage all around and designer Emma O’Connell has deliberately created a blurred boundary between what’s here and what lies beyond, on all sides.
Also, perhaps influenced by the tropical feel in the garden next door, Emma hasn’t shied away from big, bold, jungly plants and lots of height, both of which can feel like counterintuitive choices when faced with a small space.
View this plot from different angles for the full effect.
Tell us…
Which of these ideas would work well in your small garden? Let us know in the Comments.
If you’re not making the most of your garden’s surroundings – and have the opportunity – then do so. This small city spot looks epic thanks to the foliage in surrounding gardens and beyond.
Whether you have a rural plot with fields beyond or an urban site where you’re boxed in by other gardens, a clever designer will be able to maximise surrounding views and greenery and draw it into your own space.
The plot is blessed with lush foliage all around and designer Emma O’Connell has deliberately created a blurred boundary between what’s here and what lies beyond, on all sides.
Also, perhaps influenced by the tropical feel in the garden next door, Emma hasn’t shied away from big, bold, jungly plants and lots of height, both of which can feel like counterintuitive choices when faced with a small space.
View this plot from different angles for the full effect.
Tell us…
Which of these ideas would work well in your small garden? Let us know in the Comments.
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While this lovely small space, designed by Arthur Road Landscapes, is packed with plants and flowers, it looks calm rather than chaotic. How? Study it and you’ll see a classic garden design trick at play: repeat planting.
To give any garden a sense of unity, designers tend to choose a limited palette and selection of species. The sense of order this creates – and, case in point, that certainly doesn’t mean sterile or grid-like – makes a garden feel more spacious.
Why? Think about designing a small room to feel bigger – put in too many competing colours, themes and pieces and it can quickly look cluttered and, as a result, smaller. The same goes for garden design.
See before and after photos to see the transformation.
Check out garden designers in your area and read reviews from previous clients.