If your small garden feels cluttered and tiny, you might be making a common color mistake. This video shows you how to use color echoing, a simple garden design technique, to make any space feel larger and calmer without adding a single square foot. Learn practical garden tips to create a more expansive and cohesive backyard design.
Most small gardens use too many unrelated colors that never repeat. The result? Your eye jumps around, the space feels smaller, and the garden looks messy instead of designed.
In this video, I show you how to fix it with the Color Echoing rule – a simple garden design idea that works beautifully in small backyards, patios and couryards.
You’ll learn how to repeat just a few key colors so your small garden looks calmer, more spacious and more intentional without buying a whole new set of plants.
You’ll learn:
– The #1 color mistake that makes small gardens feel tiny
– What Color Echoing means in a real garden (with easy examples)
– How to choose 2-3 colors to repeat in your own small garden
If you enjoy practical small garden design tips for gardeners over 50, you’ll find this color rule very forgiving and easy to use.
This video is part of my Garden Design series for gardeners over 50. Please subscribe if you love step-by-step DIY garden design.
#garden #gardendesign #DIYgardendesign
29 Comments
what is refreshing about your videos is that you come up with really simple concepts that work so well and are so effective, my little garden is so typical I have lots of pots and plants of varying colour and shade , and my eyes are jumping all over the place , I am going to tone it down and match things up, and hopefully calm the space down , thankyou
Did you go around your garden and study your color choices? What did you notice?
This really works for a harmonious look. I use galvanized steel bushels and buckets of various sizes from big box stores, with drainage holes hammered in underneath. This helps with some visual cohesiveness since I cannot help but grow a wide range of plants on the same porch or deck.
Love that you painted your large terracotta pots to match your color echoing rule. Did you have to use a primer or does any good quality exterior paint work?
Many of the perennials that survive Wyoming high-elevation winters are shades of purple – Sedum, Iris, and Russian Sage, for example. Then I have orange/red, like Blanket Flower and Mexican Hat. I can certainly keep my pots and accessories in a neutral color palette, but since my plants are multicolored from a few years of testing what survives alkaline soil and a harsh climate, I may have to hunt up some photos where both cool and warm colored flowers are used. Fortunately, I have two acres so plenty of space.
Omg, when you showed the yellow pots and the hinoke cypress I was like that’s cottage garden in Petaluma.
Loved this ❤❤❤
I really enjoyed this video. I've done this and wondered if I should be more colorful. Your explanation confirmed that my choices help my garden be restful. I do use white to pop the colors. I use some white for decorative lattices and also I add white flowers among the colorful flowers I plant. I like the way it enhances and doesn't distract. Does that make sense?
Wow! What a great video…I just learned something I had never heard before about creating a calm environment with color echoing. Love this! Thank you. 🙂
Wow I had no idea! I am breaking all the rules!!! 😮😮😮 Your tips are so helpful!!! 😊😊😊
Thank you, what a great tip and so simple. Appreciate that these are brief and informative. Keep them coming!
Love this advice 🖤 l see so many gardens with all these different color and different size pots and I cant see the plants in them because of it.😢 All my pots are black ceramic and not shiny. A more modern look is my taste. Happy gardening 🌿🖤🙌
I’ve been doing this in my backyard garden for several years because it felt calmer to me. My front yard garden on the other hand has nothing matching and it’s always felt chaotic to me. Now I’ll be on a mission to make the front feel as cohesive as the back. Thank you.
Thanks for being concise. Well planned, to the point, narration is pleasant, not annoying.
great idea to do a vision board for the garden! I have a hard time with my garden looking cohesive. Thank you for the idea.
I learned this color Echoing by accident. I got tired of seeing all the random pots of every hue in my garden. I decided to go with stone, black, brown and purple hues here and there. I think I have one blue in the mix but for the most part you are right your eye is not “confused” and the cohesive colors are jut relaxing to the eye. Tfs
I just want to say that I really love your videos! I'm learning new things and getting lots of ideas from you. I'm all about a color scheme in my garden. I stick with mainly terracotta pots, and some resin in the same color palette. So when I see you post a video like this, I get really happy that I'm doing it right! LOL. P.S. I am also a Bay Area girl! I'm in the beautiful Livermore Valley, home of Alden Lane Nursery, aka "my happy place".
I don't live by rules in my garden. LOL. Takes the joy and fun away from the hobby. However, please be my guest as we do seem to be living in a society of more and more rules these days. 🧐
This is very helpful advice, thanks for sharing! 😊
Your ideas are great. Mine is a mess because of expensive impulse buying. 🌸
I love this idea, I have just moved into my house and I am starting a garden from scratch. I will do a vision board to start with.
Wow! Thanks for the very good idea for the garden! 🌸
Great tips! I love adding lots of color to my own garden and the exuberance it creates, and you make a very valid point. I don’t strictly follow traditional “good garden design,” as I tend to garden more for the love of the plants themselves. That said, I truly appreciate a thoughtfully arranged, soothing color palette when I see it in other gardens. I’ll be sure to mention your channel in an upcoming video — I know many of my viewers would enjoy your beautiful content and the contrast it provides to my own overabundance. 😄
I have cobalt blue, black and concrete pots, grouped together.
So glad you did this video as I am collecting planters for my garden and wondering what colors to purchase.
Love your style❤ thank you for the tips!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This is exactly what I needed and has brought such peace to me!
Oh so happy to find your channel—just as I’m starting to design my small front yard.
THANK YOU SO MUCH MINE IS MOSTLY WHITE ..GOT FEW TAN CONTAINERS.. LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!❤