Ideas for Landscaping Small Places

Build a Knot Garden

• Within small places, gardeners can integrate a striking variety of dwarf plants to create a classic European knot garden. A knot garden is a landscape design that uses small plants to create the appearance of a living woven knot in the garden. Small garden spaces allow for one knot while large garden spaces could include several connecting knots. Knot gardens utilize small plants which tolerate regular pruning to maintain their compact growth. A wide selection of small-scaled annual and perennial plants in a medley of colors and composition are available from local nurseries or by seed propagation. Horticulturists from the University of Minnesota recommend plants such as the ornamental onion, sea thrift and germander, which only grow to 12 inches in height, for use in knot garden. In addition, the ornamental onion and sea thrift exhibit pink blossoms in spring and summer. The crimson pygmy barberry, hyssop, lavender and lavender cotton only grow to 24 inches in height. Leafy vegetables such as lettuce and chard or culinary herbs can also be used to create an appealing knot garden. Gardeners who invest time and effort into planting a small space knot garden will enjoy the beauty of this Old World landscape tradition.

Build a Raised Bed

• Raised flower beds allow landscapers to maximize small spaces vertically. Lifting a flower or vegetable garden off of the ground eliminates the possibility of foot traffic harming the bed. In addition, a raised bed creates a focal point in the landscape. Gardeners can create raised beds with timbers, cedar, stones, bricks or even recycled plastic. Easy snap-in-place raised garden kits are available in some hardware and gardening centers. Depending on the location, gardeners can choose sun- or shade-loving plants for the bed. Within the raised bed, a trellis can offer climbing vegetables or flowers a place to expand vertically. Small places deliver maximum impact when filled with an attractive raised bed featuring a variety of colorful plants.

Garden in Containers

• Small garden spaces come alive when they are decorated with containers filled with colorful plants. Colorful pots overflowing with green foliage, flowers or vegetables enhance tiny garden plots. While an unlimited range of planters exist in garden centers, you can also utilize second-hand items, such as rain barrels or old wheelbarrows, as containers. Some containers even come equipped with wheels, which allow gardeners to change landscape designs on a whim. Garden specialists with Texas A&M University recommend not using any plant that exceeds twice the height of the container. In addition, they advise using odd-numbered groupings of plants. For example, a tall, coarse or brightly colored plant can occupy the middle of the container with four smaller plants arranged around it for contrast. The goal of container gardening is a balance between symmetry and a variety of visual colors and textures.