4 Awesome Projects for Small Garden Design Inspiration

Article by Aybige Tek In this article, we look at 4 awesome examples of how people achieved excellence in small garden design. Your city maybe getting more and more crowded each day and small gardens are solutions for relaxing areas at your home. Downsized gardens are more economical. Small gardens are easy to design and create. They are easy to maintain. Small gardens require less soil and compost. With less space in your garden, is easier to control weeds, unwanted plants, and diseases and pests. These small gardens, when we add them together, they equate to bigger gardens in the cities. Bigger gardens make the city have a higher percentage of green space. What are the Small Garden Design Options in Your City? Your condo or apartment unit may have a balcony or a small terrace that can be used as a small garden. Single family houses can have small gardens. Any patio, porch, or unused outdoor space can be used for gardening. Green roofs and roof gardens are fine opportunities for gardens. Especially small buildings’ tops, like garage roofs and shed roofs, can be turned into something good for the planet if we create gardens there. Almost any unused space can be turned into gardens if we pay attention. How to Simply Create a Small Garden Design? Foundations, boundaries, colors, textures, pots and plants create small gardens. How can we have a maximum space in a small garden can be a great question from which to start designing. After maximizing the space, a great, firm foundation for plants or grass is important and the boundaries of our garden can be the areas where we get really creative and fun. How Can we Maximize the Space With Small Garden Design? One way is, we can maximize the space by taking out any nonfunctional walls and details and maybe planting grass in the middle and decorating the boundaries of the small gardens.

Awesome Projects for Small Garden Design

1 .Garden Design by Fernhill Landscapes Award winning Garden Design by Fernhill Landscapes has used sculptural garden elements, water, and plants in a meditative combination for the design of a small space. Contrary to the usual grass-and-plants garden concept, it achieved an award because of its concept of focusing the eyes and relaxing the mind. It is a successful small space design because of this meditative feel to it. Lush planting and modern design combined to give a person feelings of wellbeing. The top 3 elements the landscape architect has chosen are hard surface materials for flooring which is Teakwood flagstone, the water element, and planting materials. The effect is quite sculptural. Dark Mexican beach pebbles at the edges of the teakwood flagstones brings in a cultural feeling of natural beauty which also creates contrast with the sandy brown flagstone. In the middle of this small garden, water flows from a custom-made copper bowl into an attractive L-shaped pond. The plants are “Justin Brouwer” Boxwood, “Sum and Substance” Hosta, white Anemones, black bamboo, and grasses.

2. Stylish Terraced Garden by Modular Design Modular design team’s design stylish terraced garden in London is an outstanding example because of using the 6m x 9m space’s volume by dividing it into two parts. This splitting of the volume has created discrete areas for different garden functions with surrounding plants. Before the landscape design, when the living room opened onto the garden through a folding glass door, a person saw only walls. After the design, the upper garden, which can be accessed by seven concrete steps, has greenery as the view and no longer does a person see blank walls. Now from the living room, one sees a nice setting of greenery and materials. The lower portion of the garden looks like an extension of the indoors and the upper deck area is a more intimate and relaxing separate unit of landscape design area. Grays are spectacular; by using ceramic tiles in the garden and concrete flooring, a subtle color gradient is achieved. Another economical solution is adding gray painted walls to the hardscape. 3. Hilgard Garden by Mary Barensfeld Architecture Hilgard Garden by Mary Barensfeld Architecture has both levels and layers of landscape architecture. The house interior connects to the small garden outside and then the topography of the site helps the design by providing levels of ground which offer areas of land, like stairs, step by step. With these steps the house connects to the forest visually and extends to the greenery surrounding the house. Strong landscape design is achieved with the design of Corten panels and LED lights and with the plant palette of trees and shrubs (lemon thyme). The landscape architect has used cedar shingles for two functions in the garden:

• As benches for outdoor furniture
• As planters for plants

The fence features bamboo plants. All these materials and plants, as elements of design, are connected to each other, creating the flexibility of different perspectives in such a small area. The lighting project set behind the corten, because it is cut vertically, creates a fractured look and adds a subtle effect to the garden at night. This garden is located in an earthquake area. Elements of the property are inspired by the Japanese aesthetic, which has influenced the choice of Japanese Maples; another great example of culture added to a garden.

4. Vale do Lobo Garden Iúri Chagas, the landscape architect of Vale do Lobo — Vila 1148 has created a soothing combination of landscape architecture in 600sq meters with building materials and vegetation suited to the local Portuguese climate. The plants the landscape architects has used need minimal care for this climate in the Mediterranean atmosphere. The plants are Olea sylvestris, Quercus suber, Nerium oleander, Arbutus unedo, and Rosmarinus spp. Olea sylvestris brings in that exact Mediterranean look, standing by itself in the garden. Nerium oleander adds color elements with its flowers. Arbutus unedo has fruits and also adds color variety to this space. Rosmarinus spp’s purple colors and lush green is a perfect contrast with the stones and decorations. This region needs water storage for the residential garden and the way this was solved in this project is super smart. The landscape architect has built a drainage system connected to a rainwater collector to collect and use water in the garden in a sustainable manner which is also covered with the lawn to create esthetics. Recessed lighting installed in the Corten steel retaining wall creates the functional boundaries of the garden. Garden walls create perfect night views and a secluded and intimate look to the space. The water line in the deck flooring is another alluring detail.

Be Surprised by the Joy of Your Own Small Garden Design

At the end of a hardworking day or week, these private small gardens can be our stay-at-home vacation areas to enjoy the seasons and the changes they bring. They are economical long-term investments for our wellbeing at home. Also, if each one of us creates one small garden imagine how much of the city could be devoted to green space. Wow! Right ? Just by planting some plants and creating garden decorations we can easily enjoy our own backyards, doing many creative activities with friends and family. Audrey Hepburn said it best: “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow”. Go to Comments Recommended Reading:

• Royal Horticultural Society Small Garden Handbook: Making the Most of Your Outdoor Space by Firefly Books
• Small Space Garden Ideas by DK

Article by Aybige Tek

Published in Blog