32 Small Garden Design Ideas to Maximize Space

Is your small garden feeling overlooked, cramped, or cluttered? With these small garden design ideas, you can make your mini balcony or boxed patio feel like a secluded, spacious garden oasis.

Whether you’re starting from scratch, redesigning a small garden space, or simply looking to apply a few clever design hacks, you’ll find something here that can help your small garden look and feel bigger.

Courtyard garden, balcony, or small backyard… With clever placement and plant selections, you can create the illusion of more space in any garden — no matter the size.

The design features and styles that you choose can make a big difference. By playing with color, height, textures, and perspective these small garden design ideas can make your garden feel more spacious.

You’ll find inspiration on how to make the most of vertical space, and which plants, paving colors, and furniture to choose to trick the eye into thinking your garden has no limit.

Choosing a style for your garden space…

Before you get into the planning phase of small garden design, it helps to begin with a style or theme in mind. For example, are you creating something sleek and modern, or do you prefer the romantic style of an English cottage garden? If you need a little inspiration, check out our post of small garden style ideas to find some inspiration!

There are also some innovative planting layouts for small gardens (like keyhole gardening) that you may want to try!

Small garden design ideas for mini garden spaces

I’ve filled this list with some of the best small garden design ideas for gardens with limited space. From useful space-saving tips and planting ideas to clever design tricks to make your garden feel bigger. From savvy plant selections to clever paving designs…

1. Use tall, narrow plants

When space is short, use height! Using tall and narrow plants allows you to fit more into your small garden. In small gardens, short, wide shrubs take up valuable real estate…

For example, placing a narrow conifer like Juniper ‘Blue Arrow’ or a tall hollyhock at the back of a border still gives you enough space to plant in front of it. This allows you to create a mix of heights and interest, while still covering a boundary wall. This will ultimately give your garden a secluded and enclosed feel, without large plants overwhelming the space.

2. Divide the space 

One of the most unexpected small garden design ideas, but one of the most valuable! Dividing your garden space into sections may seem counterproductive, but it can help you create intrigue and depth in a small garden. 

Wandering into another section of your garden gives you the joy you would feel moving between a larger garden. It’s also a great way to create a separate space for kids to play in!

Related Read | How to make a small garden child-friendly

You can use tall and narrow shrubs and hedges to divide the space or install stylish screens, panels, or even an archway.

You could even surround a bench with containers and a mix of plants at different heights to separate your seating area from another part of the garden.

Related Read | 8 Narrow evergreen plants to provide screening

3. Get the ratio right

This can depend on what you’d like to use your space for but try to keep the balance equal when planning your small garden design. Immense borders and a tiny patio area could make the space look overwhelming and small.

Garden designers often recommend a 50/50 approach. With 50% plants, furniture, and objects against 50% open space (your paving, gravel, lawn, or decking area).

4. Create a color theme

An intense mix of colors can look gorgeous, but it can also make your space look busy and full. Choosing a color theme or palette can help your small garden look cohesive and well-kept. It also helps you narrow down which plants you’d like to include! From purple, blue, and white to orange, yellow and pink.

You might be interested in | Plants with different foliage colors

5. A green wall 

Install a stacked planter that you can fill top to toe with plants to create a luscious texture and interest in minimal space. Make sure to avoid plastic lookalikes (they’ll never look as good as the real thing!). A carpet of plants against an exterior wall can even help to keep your space cooler in the heat of summer.

6. Climbing plants

If you’re not able to attach vertical planters, climbing plants are another perfect option for creating a lush cover of foliage against fences and walls. For year-round cover check out these evergreen climbers. Or for showy summer color, you might prefer a clematis or trumpet vine which is also one of the best plants to attract hummingbirds!

If you’re renting and can’t attach anything to the walls, use a planter with an attached trellis to provide something for your plants to climb up. Alternatively, you could use removable, outdoor hooks to give your plants something to balance on as they climb.

7. Vertical veg planters

Growing vegetables vertically is a great way to pack more veg into a small garden while also increasing your yield. You can find specially created vertical planters and stepped planters. Or create a vertical vegetable garden using a DIY a-frame support for trailing vegetables to climb up.

These mini melon varieties and mini pumpkin varieties work well on vertical supports!

8. Interplanting

Not enough space for a border AND a veg garden? Combine the two! Planting useful herbs and vegetables in between plants is an age-old garden technique popular in France. Often called a ‘potager’ garden, it’s one of the best small garden style ideas when space is limited.

9. Compact and fast-growing veg varieties

If your vegetable garden space is minimal, opt for more compact or fast-growing vegetables. You could choose naturally small veg plants, like salad greens, herbs, etc. But there are now dwarf varieties of some classic garden favorites. Including dwarf tomato varieties and even mini windowsill tomatoes!

Related Read | 8 Best High Yield Vegetables for Small Gardens

10. Columnar and cordon fruit trees

Lots of nurseries now offer specially pruned ‘columnar’ fruit trees. These narrow trees can take up as little as 1 square foot. This means you can pick your own apples, pears, plums, and more from even the smallest garden spaces!

11. Mini fruit trees and bushes

Through clever cross-breeding, there is now an amazing variety of mini fruit trees and bushes that we can add to our mini garden spaces! Some of the best dwarf fruit tree varieties for small spaces include the dwarf Meyer lemon and any apples grown on M27 or M9 dwarf rootstock!

You can also find mini fruit bush varieties too, including raspberry, blueberry, and even pomegranates.

12. Dwarf flowers!

Keeping with the mini theme… you can also find dwarf varieties of some of the most popular garden flowers. From dwarf sunflowers to mini hydrangeas, these compact varieties allow you to enjoy these wonderful plants but also save valuable garden space!

13. Play with perspective

Clever optical illusions can help your small garden seem much bigger than it is… For example, you could make a pathway narrower as it moves away from your house to make your garden appear longer. Another option is to place a light-colored focal point towards the end of the garden — like a seat or light-colored sculpture. The lighter color gives the impression that it’s ‘fading’ into the distance, and further away.

14. Clever paving

One of my favorite small garden design ideas… and staying with the theme of perspective! Paving designs can subtly add the appearance of more space when chosen carefully.

A winding or zig-zag path instead of a straight path can give the illusion of a longer space. A circular patio design can make a rectangular garden feel less boxed in by adding a softer touch. And large, horizontal paving slabs can make your garden look wider!

15. Clever furniture

Save valuable space in your garden by investing in space-saving furniture. There are lots of options available, including stackable chairs, benches that double up as storage boxes, or a foldable table and chair set.

If your garden feels particularly enclosed, corner seating is another great way to open up the space.

16. Use evergreens for long-lasting plantings

When you’re limited by how many plants you can invite into your space, choosing the right plants matters. Mixing in evergreens like dwarf conifers or these popular evergreen shrubs will provide structure, interest, and color throughout the year.

Colorful winter hardy plants like heaths or Loropetalum are great options for a small space. This means your garden will look lush and full of life, even when the showy annuals of summer have faded away. An empty garden always feels smaller.

Related Read | 6 Surprising Benefits of Evergreens in a Small Garden

17. Mixed arrangement containers 

Instead of planting one plant per pot, choose a larger pot and create an arrangement of different plants in one container. Remember to stick to a color theme if you have one.

But choose different heights and styles and flowering times. Include a mix of flowering plants and foliage plants for containers too like perennial grasses or mini hostas.

18. Use scent and fragrance

When space is limited and the eye can’t see far, make your other senses sing e.g. by using fragrance! From aromatic herbs like mint and chamomile to lavender or the silvery and deeply scented curry plant.

19. Love the shady spaces

Shady spaces are common in small gardens — so go tropical! While sun-loving coneflowers or cosmos may not thrive, you can fill shady spots with luscious shade loving plants. From the tropical-looking paper plant (Fatsia japonica) to colorful impatiens.

20. Use curved borders

Committed to a lawn? A rectangular lawn with straight edges can highlight how small a garden is. However, adding curved borders and areas of gravel gives the eye a softer shape to follow and creates the look of more space.

21. Hanging planters

When ground space is limited, don’t forget to look up! Hanging planters are a great way to maximize planting space in a small garden. There are so many beautiful trailing plants that work well in hanging planters too. You could even fill a couple with some trailing tomato varieties.

22. Add a variety of plants

Don’t be afraid to explore plants that you may not have considered before. Adding plants in a variety of textures, colors, and heights is a great way to create contrast and structure. If you plant lots of the same plant (for example a big area of lavender) the space will seem a lot smaller. Different textures and colors create depth.

23. Use plant colors carefully

Another unique way to add depth to your garden is to plant colors wisely… Add deep, bright, and darker-colored flowers near the front of your garden. Position lighter-colored flowers, in pastel and white tones, near the back.

24. Add a water feature

Adding another element to your garden can add a peaceful ambiance. The sound of a small fountain or water feature adds another sense to your garden, creating further interest and distraction.

25. Wide borders

Don’t be afraid to make your borders wider as it allows more space for you to create depth with your plantings. A skinny, sparse border can have the opposite effect by highlighting how little space is available.

26. Use light colors

Light-colored paving, walls, fences, etc. can brighten your garden and give the illusion that it’s larger. For example, you could choose light-colored gravel or paint a wall white to reflect sunlight and brighten your space.

27. Sow veg in succession

If you have a small vegetable garden, sowing vegetables in succession is a great way to extend your growing season and make the most of a veg garden. It keeps it full for longer, and means you benefit from longer harvests!

28. Use lighting

If you like to sit out and enjoy your garden in the evenings, lighting can help you create depth in a small garden space. Using solar lights to illuminate a collection of plants near the front and also back of your garden adds perspective.

29. Add trees!

Don’t be afraid of adding trees and plants with height to your small garden. Some of the best trees for small gardens include Japanese maples (acers), olive trees, and the flagpole cherry tree. These small trees can help to divide the space and give the illusion of a larger garden.

Their canopy can shield the view of overlooking apartments or houses and also the tops of fences or walls, again hiding the size of a small garden.

30. Garden mirrors

Adding a mirror to your garden is a subtle way to enhance your space as its reflection can add depth. Make sure that it never reflects direct sunlight as it could be a fire risk — especially if your climate is particularly dry. And be mindful of placement as birds may mistake the mirror for a space they can fly into.

31. Create natural layers

When you’re positioning plants, try creating a natural, layered look for your borders or container placements. A defined row of similar-looking plants can look very stylish but it can also draw attention to how short a garden is. Be random with your placement and avoid placing plants in straight lines (unless this matches your aesthetic!).

32. Make the most of vertical space

Make the most of vertical space by using every available surface! A few extra ideas to maximize space in your small garden…

• Hang a mixed herb container near a window or door. Just make sure to pick them often to keep them small!
• Choose fencing with a lattice design so you can train a climbing plant up it
• Install shelves or wall planters so you can place plants along the walls
• Repurpose an old ladder by placing pots on each step
• Hang handled pots from a fence and fill them with trailing plants
• Use tall planters to give plants additional height