Beautiful gardens don’t have to be big. If properly designed, a small garden or small patio can become a lovely retreat just for you. Here are a few tips to designing a small outdoor space:
1) To create a functional small patio, keep your patio furniture scaled down to fit your space. Installing built in benches or custom shaped furniture can help create extra seating areas where traditional chairs would not otherwise fit. Also, matching the shape of your small patio to your furniture will allow for more room to walk around: a round table on a round patio, etc.
2) Make your small patio or garden private by planting hedges, tall trees, or installing some type of privacy screen. If your space is sheltered from outside viewers, you will create a more relaxed and intimate space. Red tip photinia hedges, Ligustrum hedges, and Star Jasmine on a trellis are all beautiful and green ways to create a private space around your small patio.
3) Use layers around your small patio to add dimension. Using different sizes, textures, and colors of plants can create depth in your garden – creating the illusion of more space. Consider both the plant’s foliage and flower when selecting your plant material.
4) Go vertical. Planting in pots or creating a vertical growing structure will allow for more greenery in less space. Ornamental plants, evergreen plants, herbs, and vegetables can all be grown vertically on your small patio. Selecting colorful pots can also add a pop of color to your garden during the winter months.
5) Use natural colored materials for your small patio. Using earth toned concrete or paver stones for your small patio area will allow for the hard-scape to blend into the soft-scape, creating the illusion of a continuous and open space.
