Small backyard gardens

A small garden space doesn't mean you can't have the garden you want. Here are our favorite ideas for small garden ideas, including small patio garden ideas to help maximize your space!

1. Create an outdoor room

Turn a small patio into a beautiful outdoor room by adding a freestanding pergola. Here, a small wooden pergola is built over a gravel patio and enhanced with a teak seating arrangement. A pergola creates a sense of enclosure and makes the patio appear larger than it is.

2. Gravel cell

Crushed brick or gravel is a beautiful, low-maintenance paving option for small gardens. It is easy to use and less expensive than brick or flagstone. Be sure to spread a layer of landscape fabric under the gravel to keep weeds out. On this California hillside, gravel allows rainfall to soak into the soil instead of running down the slope.

3. Capitalize on trees

If you have large trees and bare spots under them, why not make use of the wasteland by creating an outdoor living space? In this small garden, many trees would be impossible to grow a lawn or a flower border. So, the homeowners paved part of the area with flagstone and added a table and chairs.

4. Install a pool

You don't need a huge backyard to set up a water garden. In fact, installing a water garden is a great way to deal with low or wet spots in your garden. Dig the area, add a pond liner and pump, and you're on your way. Even a small oasis, a garden fountain, can attract a wide range of colorful butterflies and birds. In this garden, the water lily's smaller cousin, the water snowflake, Nymboides humboldtiana, provides color in tight quarters.

5. Double your happiness

Get double the flowers and vegetables in your small garden by adding a trellis or low fence behind each planting bed. That way, you can grow vine crops vertically so they don't spread over neighboring plants. In this narrow garden bed, three tiers of rustic wooden trellis support flowering vines at the back of a perennial border.

6. Choose trees for small spaces

A small yard doesn't mean you can't have a beautiful tree. Check out these squeezable little dots of shadowy beauty.

7. Welcome wildlife

Even a small garden can become a haven for birds and butterflies, and you can choose flowers of your choice. For example, this square bed features bird and butterfly favorites, such as black-eyed Susans and phlox. A bird feeder and birdhouse add to the garden's wildlife-friendly features.

8. Add a saw blade

When you install a cutting strip at the edge of the border, it will be much easier to keep the ground grass from encroaching on your garden beds. This cutting strip is designed to keep weeds at bay and act as a low-maintenance garden path. It provides easy, mud-free access to the garden for wheelbarrows, mowers and other equipment.

9. Remove lawns

Put every square inch of your backyard to work by clearing the lawn to create usable outdoor living spaces. In this small yard, the lawn was torn up and replaced with a gravel patio that supports a beautiful dining table and containers filled with flowers. Plus, homeowners have more time to enjoy the space because they no longer have to mow.

10. Add drama

Give small gardens a big twist by adding an oversized gate or arbor at one end to act as a focal point. It draws the eye and makes the space look bigger. Here, an oversized decorative entry arbor gives some view to this small side yard. In addition, it supports the crown of climbing roses. White lilies in the center bed mimic the white roses and arbor.

11. Curved walkways

One way to create a sense of space in a small garden is to put some curves in your garden paths. A slightly curved walkway is always better than a straight path, as it gives visitors the impression that they are traveling over a larger landscape. Make sure you make your path wide enough for two people to walk comfortably side by side. This curved path is particularly attractive because of the ribbing of the tiles separates each concrete slab of