How to Utilize Space for a Small Garden

Do you have a small garden and don’t what to do with it because it is just too small for any imagination,if so then think twice because there are lots of things you can do to improve your small space. The wonderful part about small gardens is that you can actually indulge and create elaborate schemes using annuals, tender perennials, perennials and long flowering plants without too much expenditure in money and maintenance time and often larger scaled gardens would be too difficult to maintain complicated mixtures such as this, unless of course there was a hired gardener. Another great thing about a small garden is that they are usually enclosed and because of this there is no problem about having your own secluded area.

Ways To Utilize Space For A Small Garden:

-In a small garden where everything is visible all year long, each plant should be attractive for as long as possible. To a certain extent it is sometimes more preferable in a small garden to have plants that are reasonably attractive throughout the year then those that are beautiful but short lived.

• No matter what size garden you have it should never restrict the imagination because it limits the gardens satisfaction and artistic qualities of the garden.
• Be sure never to clutter your garden with too many large plants,invasive plants or ornaments,it can make your space look twice as small as it actually is.
• Be selective about plants and shrubs you choose by finding out both how wide they grow and how tall they grow, there is nothing worse then planting a plant or shrub in a space they will overgrow in a few years and you will have to get rid of them because you did not anticipate their growth.
• Creating a good background of foliage is always helpful to flowers. A rich green hedge,a purple or red leafed shrub or even a haze of small flowers can set off the front effectively.
• Grey and silver foliage is as versatile as white flowers and of course lasts longer. They help to knit unlikely shades of color together well. They also bring color to darkened areas.
• Container gardening is always a way to use patio space increasing the size of your garden, but too many containers can make a garden look cluttered.
• -A mirror in a garden is an effective technique for increasing the extent of the garden as well as doubling the flowers and foilage from the reflection.

Making the most of the space you have:

 The secret to a good garden is knowing how to use plants so that they work together because every tiny space has to be encouraged to give its best and provide ongoing interest and appeal.There are many ways you can grow more then you think in your beds and borders which maximizes your space at the same time.

• Clothing the walls and fences creates structure in a garden, grow climbers and wall shrubs on fences and walls.
• Train clematis and other climbers to grow through mature shrubs as they naturally do.
• Sow annual climbers like sweet peas and canary creeper to grow up wall shrubs.
• Plants climbing roses to grow through trees.
• Plant dwarf bulbs and dwarf annuals in the edges of gravel paths and drives.
• Plant bulbs among border perennials and ground cover plants.
• Plants bulbs flowering at different seasons among one another.
• Plant late flowering plants behind earlier flowering plants;They tend to fall forward and fill the space left where the earlier flowering plants that have died were.
• Do not plant perennials with large gaps between them in the mistaken belief that plants must be separate.

I have included a list of perennial vines and plants for small spaces using their common names,for growing information on perennials visit my article: How To grow And Care For Perennials

Vines:

• Jasmine
• Clematis
• Rose climbers
• Periwinkle
• Varigated ivy

Foilage and Floral Perennials:

• Hosta
• Coral bells
• Bergenia
• Penstemon
• Cranesbill
• Ferns
• Jacobs ladder
• Lilies
• Cyclamen
• Primrose
• Dianthus
• Helleborus
• Tulips
• Daffodils
• Hyacinth
• Violas
• Herbs
• Festuca grass
• Peony
• Coreopsis-Tickseed
• Cerastostigma
• Campanula
• Salvia
• Corydalis
• Cerastium

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Copyright © 2008 Tanya Kime-Wallace