There are many techniques for visually expanding the personal plot. We reveal the secrets of landscape designers on how to make a small garden more spacious. Keep your small garden more stunning and alive by applying our expert tips and see how beautiful your garden will look. Enjoy reading!
1. Fence with Gaps
If you fence off your territory with a deaf high fence, a small garden will be “in a box,” and you will not be able to enlarge it visually. Yes, the kindergarten will become more comfortable, but you will no longer observe what is happening outside the territory: for someone, such isolation causes psychological discomfort.
A fence with gaps gives a different impression – a picket fence painted in light shades, mesh construction, and a lattice. But, again, you leave room for your gaze, which does not bump into a solid wall. Instead, the boundaries are blurred, and the garden looks much wider.
2. Water
A small pond or fountain plays an important role in enlarging the garden. He makes the site more voluminous, acting as an interesting accent and drawing attention to himself. Also, water reflects the surrounding space, playing the role of a natural mirror.
We can make a pond from:
- concrete
- durable film for the pool
- finished PVC bowl
Even reservoirs made from scrap materials: bathtubs, tires, basins, or barrels will play a positive role. But the ideal option is that the reservoir is not round but long and narrow, which will help break the boundaries.
3. Trees with Raised Branches
Avoid lush trees and bushes that are close to the ground. If you can’t see the lawn of your garden, it seems overwhelming. Plants on thin trunks give the area a more “airy” look without obscuring the ground with foliage: this gives the illusion of open space.
Pay attention to coniferous and deciduous trees and shrubs with raised branches. Fir trees, thujas, barberries, maples, ferns, apple trees, and others will do.
4. Playing with Space
Plan to plant trees and shrubs so that you cannot see the edge of the garden from the opposite end. This technique will not allow you to cover the entire territory with a glance and estimate its size. Instead, arrange the plants so that a portion of the garden only opens after you get around a bend.
If there is a dry stream in the garden, let it not end in an open space but “dive” under the bushes.
5. Winding Path
Another effective technique for optical expansion of space is the use of smooth lines in landscape design. The most effective way to complicate the garden is to lay out winding paths rather than straight paths. On the sides of them, it is worth planting small shrubs like camellia, boxwood, lavender – they have lush foliage but take up a minimum of space.
The longer you walk around the garden, the more spacious it will seem, thanks to the paths. But there is one caveat: if the paths lead from the house to the barbecue or summer cottage, the “elongated” path will eventually become annoying.
6. Vertical Flower Beds
A great way for owners of small adjoining territories to place almost everything they want is to equip a vertical garden that strives upward. Flower beds that take up almost no space will save space and become an interesting decoration. Container gardening is very popular in the West: all kinds of flower pots and boxes stacked on top of each other add variety to the landscape.
Loaches play the same role: we should plant climbing roses, maiden grapes, and clematis near the house to smooth the abrupt transition from a green garden to a building.
7. Large Plants
You can also plant the largest shrubs and trees near the house: if you place most of them near the fence, this will create the feeling of a closed space. Moreover, you will deprive yourself of sunlight.
Plant from large to small – let the composition fade away smoothly. For example, the center of the garden can be left open to create a spacious feeling.
8. Mirror
Use a trick that is often found in interiors – enlarge a small garden with a reflective surface. A mirror – even an old one, covered with patina and small scratches – will perfectly fit into the atmosphere of the garden, adding a little magic. Hang the mirrored canvas on a fence, house facade, or suburban building.
Let the mirror reflect the most picturesque corners of the garden – flower beds, a fountain, fruit trees.
9. Weightless Furniture
If you are the lucky owner of a recreation area or are just planning to equip it, get light furniture – a table and chairs with thin legs. If you choose a bench, keep it graceful.
Also, a swing and a hammock, raised above the ground, will perfectly fit into a small garden. This approach will help free up space – and even if only optically, but the garden will seem larger.
10. Order
The problem with many sites is clutter. Piles of bricks, old planks, and twigs, and rusty garden tools don’t decorate the garden but make it even smaller. To not feel crowded, we must take all unnecessary trash to a landfill, and we must mow bushes, lawns, and trees.
The well-kept garden seems spacious, while the overgrown garden seems small and unattractive.
11. Minimalism
Don’t go overboard with garden decorations like pergolas, arches, figurines, and homemade décor. Simplicity is the main design principle for a small garden, and this applies both to small architectural forms and plants. Choose one or two kinds of trees, two or three kinds of shrubs, three or four kinds of flowers.
If asceticism does not suit you, try to plant similar shades: a riot of color will not play to increase the space.
12. Lighting
The more light, the wider space appears. Take advantage of this! If a fence with gaps and low trees will help you during the day, then in the evening, lanterns and garlands will come into their own. Buy solar-powered street lights that don’t require electricity.
Hang the garlands around the gazebo or trees and decorate the garden paths with lanterns on the supports to expand the space in the evening and create a magical atmosphere. During the day, such details will become an additional decoration of the landscape.
A small garden, like any small space, requires thoughtfulness. Heed our advice if the local area seems too cramped: even a small area can look solid if you put in the knowledge and effort.