Small Garden Design Done Right

Let’s talk about small gardens, because the reality is, most of us aren’t working with rolling acres. This particular space is 10 by 10 metres, almost identical in size to your average new build rear garden. But instead of defaulting to a central lawn and a polite ring of planting around the edge, we turned the whole idea inside out.

The seating area sits boldly in the centre. Two decks overlapping and shifting into one another, with stepped levels to embrace the garden’s natural slope (the back sits slightly higher than the front).

The philosophy to embrace is go big or go home. Big leaves. Big structure. Big personality. We’ve painted the fences black to blur the boundaries and let the planting shine, and then filled the space with bold layers.

A mature cherry tree provides height and shade, while Trachycarpus fortunei gives us that tropical upright drama. Heptacodium miconioides frame the entrance beautifully, drawing you in like a gateway to something special. The ground cover is a tapestry of texture; generous hostas, smoky Sambucus, and one of my all-time favourites, the flowing Hakonechloa macra.

This garden proves that small doesn’t mean simple, and compact doesn’t mean compromise. With a little confidence, you can turn your plot into a personal paradise packed with personality.

#smallgarden #gardendesign #compactspaces #modernplanting #gardeninspiration #boldfoliage #gardenlayout #hakonechloamacra #trachycarpus #plantinglayers #englishgarden

This garden is about 10 m by 10 m, which is on average the size of a new build house plot back garden. The thing is that we’ve not done here is have a main lawn and then some kind of planting around the edge or a main patio just outside the house. Instead, the seating area is right in the middle of the space. So, we’ve got these two decks running through the center of this. It also introduces some steps levels because we are slightly higher at the back than at the front. We’ve painted the fences black so it helps them to disappear into the background. And we’ve used big plants. It’s really important when you’re designing a small space to use big plants with big leaves and bold foliage. And layering is so important. We’ve got this beautiful big old cherry tree. We’ve got something like the trachicarpus fortuni which is adding a sense of height, not taking up masses of room, but does give you some evergreen coverage up there. The hepticodiums that are framing the entrance are now quite large, maybe 4 meters high. Don’t be scared of big plants with bold leaves that are quite tall. The underplanting of these hostas, this beautiful dark leaf, sambukas. And one of my favorite grasses, I go on about it all the time. Hakna cloa macra. Just look at that. It’s perfectly happy in this partially shaded garden. It keeps its rich green color if it’s not in too much sun. Give it some water. And this lush oasis could be yours in just a 100 square meters of