Ideas & Layouts for Landscaping a Small Yard

Vertical Gardening

• When you can't grow out, grow up. Bougainvillea, morning glory, honeysuckle and ivy are standard and familiar upward growers. Get a bit more creative, and pragmatic. Cucumber, watermelon, zucchini, strawberries and sugar snap peas climb up fences and other supports. Certain fruit-bearing trees, such as apple and cherry, can be trained to grow in an espalier pattern. The tree grows against a trellis or wall in a fan-like pattern.

  Climbing plants provide privacy screening for urban patios and gardens and cover garden eyesores, such as bare walls or sharp edges.

Container Gardening

• Small spaces require versatility. What may be a quiet place to lounge in the morning must transform into a party space for numerous evening guests. Container gardening allows a small space to achieve functionality.

  Choose brightly colored containers for contrast with other garden elements, such as patio and walkway flagstone. Contrasting colors invigorate a garden's visual appeal, making it seem larger. Consider the containers' maneuverability. Large containers should be planted in situ. Other containers are available with wheels. Containers such as this can be placed on patios and removed when necessary.

  The variety of plants from which to choose is astonishing. Annual flowers provide summer colors while perennials such as pussy willow retain interest year round. One benefit of container gardening is the ability to remove a seasonally fading plant from a focal point.

  When choosing flowers and containers consider height and texture, for both plants and planters. Position large pieces and tall plants in the rear and smaller, annual flowers towards the front of your arrangements. You are not limited to flowers. Ornamental and specimen trees, such as Japanese maples and miniature orange trees, thrive in containers.

Water Features

• Water works redirect your garden's focus so that guests spend time looking at bubbling fountains rather than the back of someone's garage. Water features are also helpful in urban garden plots where spaces are often oddly shaped. In these situations, bird baths, baubles and bubbles, upright pedestals or shallow pools with a sitting ledge can fill otherwise "dead" areas. Small, formal brooks, known as rills, add tranquility to a small garden. Shallow pools and rills may require digging and are a bit more difficult than other water features, both in installation and maintenance. Most garden features, however, reuse water via an easily installable pump system.Check your local garden center for do-it-yourself fountains and water features.