What to Consider When Gardening in Small Spaces
There are a few key considerations when gardening in small spaces. Start by defining your goals. What do you want the space to do for you? From there, you can organize space and select plant materials that will meet your needs. As you design your small space garden, think beyond the ground plane. Make use of all available surfaces to add color and interest. This might include hanging window boxes beneath the windows or growing vines on fences and walls. Finally, careful plant selection will allow you to pack layers of color and texture into even the smallest gardens.
Selecting Plants for a Small Space Garden
Small space gardening has been a focus among plant breeders for over a decade, resulting in a vast selection of compact plant materials for even the tiniest of gardens. Look for dwarf or compact varieties of your favorite shrubs, such as Baby Kim Lilac (Syringa hybrid ‘SMNSDTP’), which packs everything we love about lilacs into a three-by-three-foot mound. Use columnar trees and shrubs as focal points or space-saving living walls and backdrops. ‘Skyrocket’ juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) grows just two to three feet wide while adding evergreen color to the garden. ‘Slender Silhouette’ sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) makes a colorful backdrop complete with vibrant fall foliage.
How to Create Visual Depth
Take advantage of the way colors and textures interact with the human eye to create the illusion of depth in the garden. Cool colors (green, blue, and purple) tend to recede from view, making objects look smaller and farther away. Use cool colored plants toward the back of a planting to add visual depth. Warm colors (red, orange and yellow) make an object appear larger and closer. Use plants with warm-hued foliage and flowers at the middle and front of a garden to make the planting move toward the viewer. Plant texture works in a similar way. Most plants have medium textured foliage and should make up the bulk of plants in the garden. Accent these with plants displaying fine and coarse texture to create interest and depth. Like cool colors, fine-textured foliage recedes from view and should be used toward the back of a planting. Coarse-textured plants are bold and visually dominant. Use coarse-textured plants sparingly near the center or front of the planting.
More Gardening Ideas for Small Spaces
Combine the principals outlined above with the following tips to maximize garden space and create extraordinary plantings. RELATED: The 7 Best Gardening Gloves for All Types of Gardeners, According to Our Tests RELATED: 9 Cucumber Trellis Ideas That Will Take Your Cucumber Harvest to New Heights
