When we talk about small gardens, what do we really mean? Against the gardens of Versailles or the English landscape gardens of the 18th century, our gardens are small. Outdoor space is a valuable commodity, particularly when it’s compact area yet has to serve many purposes.
In metropolitan areas, gardens are becoming smaller as property becomes more valuble and homeowners have significantly less time to keep their outdoor spaces. No matter how minimalist or hardscape-driven little garden layouts are, it’s the plants that matter most.
Plantings in tiny gardens has to perform many tasks — supplying year-round colour and interest, establishing structure and softening hardscapes, supplying motion and a connection to nature — while keeping a low-maintenance profile.
Let’s look at structure, motion and using floor cover for low maintenance in tiny gardens.
Produce Garden Construction
Structural drama. Plants will need to work overtime in tiny gardens, possibly providing more than only one benefit. Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, zones 6-10, has fresh, green sword-shaped leaves that provide great architectual interest when contrasted against plants. Its magnificent late summer blossoms of burning paprika reddish supply much-needed drama in a restricted space.
Planting note: Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ can be grown from corms implanted in early spring. They form large clumps with time and need to be separated and reduced to prevent them from carrying over. Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ is perhaps the best variety to grow, but others worth growing include Crocosmia ‘Emberglow’, a deep dark red, and Crocosmia ‘Solfatare’, which has yellow blossoms.
Evergreen structure. Box (Buxus spp) are as popular as ever as a clipped plant to give structure. At the 2012 Chelsea Flower Show, we saw just how much they are still a mainstay of many modern as well as traditional garden layouts.
But for a change, try growing Privet Honeysuckle (Lonicera pileata), zones 6-9. This is normally grown as a ground cover with flat branches. It clips attractively into compact shapes, which makes a very pretty ancient spring attribute because its soft green young leaves seem one of the elderly dark green leaves.
Planting note: Lonicera pileata is a shrubby honeysuckle and bears lovely miniature, sweet-smelling honeysuckle blossoms in early spring — so leave the first clipping till after it blossoms.
Construction is vital in little garden planting. Strong trimming shapes like spheres, cubes and pyaramids, particularly in reproduction, bind the planting design together.
Another fantastic alternative to Box is a member of the holly family — Western Holly (Ilex crenata), zones 5-9. Ilex crenata is fantastic as an evergreen in tiny gardens. It is slow growing and, left unclipped, has little, shiny black fruit in the autumn that contrasts so well against its own tiny, glossy leaves.
My choice, however, is the gold number Ilex crenata ‘Golden Gem’. Leave it unclipped to get a wonderful flat-topped gold sphere that offers wonderful color throughout the entire year — especially in spring and winter.
My third small-leaf evergreen choice is Lonicera nitida ‘Baggesen’s Gold’, a favorite of landscapers that makes a fantastic low hedge.
Another shrubby honeysuckle, it is less tidy in habit than Lonicera pileata, using outward-pointing branches composed of small ovate leaves. Lonicera nitida ‘Baggesen’s Gold’, however, has gold yellow leaves throughout the summer that turn yellow-green at the autumn.
Shades Of Green Landscape Architecture
Accent plants. Construction in the little garden isn’t just about solidity of dense evergreens, but also includes the usage of striking accent plants like Flaxes (Phormium spp).
In a little garden,Phormiums may be the crucial ingredient of the planting. Their straplike leaves not just offer a vast array of foliage colour — from conventional green into variegations of green, yellow, black and red purple — but also supply motion, that other critical feature in little backyard design.
Permit Natural Movement
The kings of movers at the backyard are, of course, the blossoms. In a small backyard, these bring the room to life. Swaying with the slightest air current, grasses take the sterility of suburban and urban life.
I locate that the fountain grasses (Pennisetum orientale ‘Karley Rose’ is revealed here)for a few of the greatest movers and groovers, using their fluffy flower heads dancing in the breeze. Planted in clumps they comparison brilliantly against the bulky shapes of clipped evergreens.
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One of the most stunning of gold grasses is Hakonechloa macra ‘All Of Gold’. It is a one of the finest grasses for containers in sun or shade, since it creates fantastic clumps or mounds.
For a ground cover, it isn’t ideal, since it isn’t fully evergreen and will die to an untidy mess in the winter. This aside, it’s still a fantastic grass for smaller gardens.
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The most popular of blue blossoms, common blue fescue (Festuca glauca), zones 4-9, is made for the smaller garden. It punches above its weight, bringing not just superb color but also motion with the discreet rippling of its blades at the end. The foliage is a metallic blue during the summer and spring, though a touch greener in winter. It’s the most delicate of flower heads in spring, held well above the foliage.
Planting note: Festuca glauca can be easily grown from seed sown in the spring. They create excellent plants for hanging baskets and containers — particularly when underplanted with dwarf bulbs, such asGrape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum), for spring flowering. Plant in groups in a sunny, well-drained place to bring out the colour.
Reduced Maintenance with Ground Covers
Though not one of those grasses, Black Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’) is a grasslike perennial that is always connected with them. One of the only true black plants that grows, it creates great ground cover and supplies wonderful comparison with neighboring planting.
It clumps but will disperse if planted in moist soil in a sunny or semi-shaded situation. 1 bonus is that the delightful bell-shaped, pale purplish white flowers that are produced in summer and followed by glistening blue-black berries.
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Golden Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’) is an old favorite in any garden, but it’s particularly beneficial in smaller households, where it may soften hard edges of paving and walls.
It is a great ground cover and loves being planted in full sun, where its colour really shines. Although uncontrolled in character, it’s easily controlled and guided where it’s required. It also provides us the bonus of summertime blossoms — in this scenario, cup-shaped bright yellow blossoms.
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Make the Most of a Small Garden
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