Landscape Design for Small Gardens: 7 Tips

Are you planning to design a new garden yourself, are you in the middle of a garden renovation, or do you have plans to revamp your garden? With these garden design tips for a small garden, you can create a beautiful and inviting design for your small garden all on your own. These tips and suggestions will not only help you create a beautiful garden but also one that’s functional and practical.

Keep the garden design simple

Especially in a small garden, it’s often better to keep things simple and uncluttered. Make clear choices and try not to cram too many ideas and elements into your garden. Otherwise, it will quickly become very busy, chaotic, and cluttered. Don’t use too many different materials, shapes, and colors. Opt for straight lines or simple shapes. Limit yourself to one or a few major focal points (trees and plants, structures, pots and planters, or garden decorations) and don’t be tempted to include a lot of different small elements in your garden design. Be bold in your choices!

Measure your garden!

Take the time to measure your garden before you actually start designing it. Especially in a small garden, it’s very important to know whether there’s enough space for your ideas and whether your design leaves enough room to walk around and move about. You wouldn’t be the first person to be just a little too optimistic when planning… To measure is to know!

To determine what should go where in the garden, it’s a good idea to start by drawing a rough sketch or a layout plan. But if you’re really going to design your garden, draw a scale plan! Draw all permanent features and structures in their correct locations and at the correct scale. Be sure to include any features you want to keep on your garden plan, drawn to scale.

The best spot for the patio

Where would you like to sit? Where in your garden does the sun shine during the times when you like to be outside (or can be outside)? That could be a good spot for a patio or a seating area. Do you have a garden that gets plenty of sun (e.g., a south-facing garden)? If so, you might want a patio in the shade.

Consider not placing your patio right next to the house. With a flower bed full of plants along the side of the house, you can enjoy the greenery even from inside, and with plants surrounding your patio, you’ll be wonderfully sheltered among the greenery!

Evergreen plants for texture

Evergreen plants (also known as plants that retain their leaves year-round) are especially important in a small garden. It’s very disappointing to look out from your home in the winter at an empty, bare garden. By incorporating enough evergreen plants into your garden design, you create a green structure in your garden (also known as the “green framework”). Think of evergreen hedges, low hedges, larger evergreen shrubs, and evergreen climbing plants, perennials, evergreen ornamental grasses, and groundcovers. With these, you can easily give your garden more shape and a green appearance, or, for example, divide your garden into several garden rooms with different functions.

Vertical Gardening

Go vertical! With vertical elements—such as structures (e.g., a pergola), green walls and fences, climbing plants, taller shrubs, and even a tree—you can make the most of your small garden’s limited space. A garden with varying elevations is also much more exciting and visually appealing.

The centerpiece of your garden: a tree

Every garden deserves a tree: No matter how small your garden is, a tree is a great addition! Not only does a tree add height to your garden and its design, but it also provides privacy, shelter, and shade, and serves as a hiding place (and sometimes a food source) for garden animals, birds, and insects. There are trees with beautiful blossoms in the spring, beautifully shaped foliage, fragrant flowers in the summer, spectacular fall colors, and/or striking trunks and colorful branches in the winter.

What are sightlines in garden design?

What can you see from your home, the patio, or the seating area? And what would you like to see? What would you rather not see? A line of sight is your field of view from a specific spot. So it’s a sort of view through your garden. Use these sightlines to highlight your focal points and conceal less attractive elements with a cleverly placed feature or plant. You can also create an interesting and exciting garden by ensuring you can’t take in the entire garden at a single glance. A small tree or larger shrub with a translucent quality, a low hedge, or taller ornamental grasses that you can see through will make your garden appear larger. This adds depth and encourages you to walk further into the garden and explore.

Choose the right plants

It’s especially important to choose the right plants for a small garden. Opt for plants that are attractive in different seasons. For example, plants with beautiful blossoms or flowers, tasty berries or fruits, stunning fall colors, graceful and colorful branches, or peeling bark. This is also known as ornamental value. Long-blooming plants are also perfect for a small garden. Keep in mind, however, that very few plants are attractive year-round or bloom for a very long time. So make sure to include plenty of variety and arrange your plants so that your garden isn’t just beautiful in one season or limited to a small corner.

Choose your plants carefully based on the spot you have in mind. Learn more about the plants (you can find a wealth of plant information online, such as in our trees and plants guide), or at least check the label when you buy them. This will save you a lot of trouble and ensure your plants thrive in your garden.

Are you planning to design a new garden, too? Share your garden design!

Want to learn more about how to design a small garden yourself? Check out our Garden Design and Layout main page, or dive right in with Garden Design and Layout or Garden Decorating and Creating Atmosphere.