25 ideas for decorating small gardens

Not everyone is as lucky as gardening at home. However, when you have it, you want to make the most of it, so that it becomes a relaxed and elegant place where you want to spend time. The problem is when you have to decorate small parks. Now, if you know a little bit about the different strategies of landscaping and how to take advantage of small spaces, you can have a great place. Do you want to give us some ideas?

Take advantage of the edges by decorating small gardens

Don’t think that because you have a garden, you have to fill it all with plants. On the contrary, when it’s small, it’s overloaded, all it’s going to do is make you feel uncomfortable. So, you should take advantage of the edges.

So, send the main floors of your garden to one of the corners. These can occupy the entire corner or just a gap to place plants on the other side, forming a symmetrical image.

Do you know the advantage of this technique? What does not matter the garden’s dimensions, because insight it will seem a little larger because it does not load it so much?

A parterre with different plants

A garden decorated with a single type of plant is boring and monotonous, so you should consider putting a parterre with different plants. These can be of different species and colors.

Thanks to this, not only will you bring something more color to your garden, but it won’t seem so bland. In the central area of the garden, you should use this technique, or under the window. No matter how small, a few plants combined with flowers will create a beautiful visual effect.

Don’t forget to use the stone

Don’t you think it’s a little bland to put the plants under the trees, and that’s it? You should play a little and try materials like stone.

If you have a small garden, putting a whole stone area where the plants will be found is essential. Also, if you opt for plants that do not require much water, when it rains, the stone will prevent so much water in the soil and the plants from drowning.

Another option would be to use the stone to delimit the area of the plants. You can put a rock barrier and leave the earth uncovered. It is a nice visual effect for decorating small gardens, very striking and exciting.

Use wood

Like stone, it’s good to incorporate a little wood to add warmth. You could make different pot floors with wood, put some gravel, and place the plants there.

This material is excellent for delimiting each plant’s space and the different levels, and one of the most used in landscaping.

Combine materials

How about combining wood with a stone? You could make a slightly higher area with the wood, all handmade because it is quite simple, and put there the most striking plants. Then make a small, irregularly shaped stone barrier and fill it with gravel, placing some plants that require little water. Or leave it empty, so it’s just one more decorative piece of the garden.

Vertical gardens

One technique used in floors to introduce green into decoration is to assemble what is known as vertical gardens. The pots are placed in a piece of furniture that attaches them to the wall and is spectacular.

So, when your garden is small, and you don’t have much space, you bet on the vertical gardens. At the base, you can move some soil to put some plants that do not grow much, and on the walls, put flowers or bright plants.

With stone pots, or using the tactics that exist to hang the vertical gardens inside the houses, you’ll soon see your garden take something of shape.

Choose plants according to garden conditions

One of the great secrets of landscaping is to know how to choose the right plant according to the conditions that occur in the garden. Think that a plant that needs a lot of suns would die if your garden has a lot of shade and vice versa.

So, if you have a garden with lots of suns, some flowers that we could recommend you put would be daisies, geraniums, roses, carnations, petunias, tulips or dahlias. You could also put gazanias, lavender, and verbenas. If you’re going to get a Zen garden, it’s nice to put bamboo to decorate the pots or an aloe vera plant.

Let’s go to the opposite, and you have a garden with little sun. What kind of plants could you put on this one? Well, we would recommend the plant known as”Joy of the House.” Usually, the plant is put on the balconies, begonias, gardenias, hydrangea, azaleas, or camellias.

A miniature garden

Another of the most used options in houses is to have a miniature garden. It is easy to achieve because there are plants that do not grow much, like bonsai. You can put a few shelves in the garden and distribute them through it.

Or create a small space in the corner of the garden to put plants that do not take up too much space or grow too much. For the entrance of your house, if it has a garden, it is also a good idea.

A minimalist space

The garden doesn’t have to be too loaded to be a cozy space for you and your family. About this, the minimalist style knows a lot.

So, in your garden, put a few large plants combined with other small ones, with a coating of gravel floor, with a stone (or wood) edge, with an irregular shape. You’ll see how something so simple will bring a lot to your garden.

Try cacti

One of the plant’s par excellence when it comes to decorating small gardens, are cacti. Of these, there are dozens of types, and each fits a specific type of weather. You could put a couple of small cacti along with other slightly larger plants to create contrasts.

Or simply create a whole garden full of cacti. Taking care of them with great care and dedication, you would soon see how the result obtained would leave you speechless. What’s more, they’re not going to need pots that big.

How about putting a garden under the stairs?

You don’t have an outdoor garden, but is that going to stop you from having an interior one? There are many spaces at home that you can take advantage of for this, such as the area under the stairs.

Putting a gravel floor, with slightly thicker stones to highlight the edge, and a few plants that do not require a lot of lighting, you will already have a beautiful small garden to dedicate a little time to each day.

And put something on the window windowsill?

In cities, it is forbidden to put plants on the window windowsill but in a private house? You can put whatever you want!

You could work a little bit the earth under the window, put some small plants in this area, and then, in the windowsill of others with a little more color, like some flowers. Now, if your window reaches almost the ground, put some tall floors in the corners, and the ones under the windowsill are smaller.

A Zen entrance to your home

Do you have a small garden before you enter your house? And you haven’t thought about turning it into a little Zen space so that when you get home, it will change your mood? Spaces decorated in the Zen style have been shown to affect the mood a lot.

Cover the entire floor with gravel and stones of different sizes, making a path with stone slabs, leaving a space between each, and on the sides, various plants, based on the amount of light that has your entrance.

With such a beautiful space when you get home, it won’t matter how tired you are, you’ll see how your mood will change a little bit.

A Zen space in the garden

In the West, we have a lot to learn from the East, because the Zen spaces in the gardens are as relaxing as possible.

If you like an area of the garden with bamboo, put a medium-sized fountain, some gravel on the ground, and some eastern plants. We’re sure you’ll love pulling out a chair to sit nearby the sound of water falling.

Another thing you could do would be to put a fountain with a reed. It will be filled with the falling water and then make a nice blow by dropping it to the next level of the fountain.

You could create a rustic style space

If you like the rustic decor style, this one can also be applied to the garden. It wouldn’t take much space, just put a handful of oversized stones stacked, like a pot, fill the area with soil and gravel, put some striking plants and ready.

For entry, if this is wide, it also comes in handy. The bad news is that the stones must be significant, and the path may be a little narrow.

Be a little original

Do you know what upcycling designs? It consists of reusing some objects for a different purpose for which they were initially granted. It is something widely used in the world of landscaping, and it has resulted in plenty of gardens made from reused materials.

Thus, a vessel can serve as a pot and aluminum can you open it to fulfill the same purpose, use plastic bottles to make a garden on the wall, or an old pipe to put the lighting in this space.

With some color

Don’t limit yourself to a single color when you’re riding the garden. Whether with the plants or with the gravel, look to give some life to your garden with gravels of different shades for each area and with plants of different species and tones.

A small garden that starts on the floor and climbs the wall

It is something like what a walled garden is. Only the garden starts from the ground. Stone pots are usually used to mount them, which are climbing in a staggered and irregular way along the wall, a simple and very effective tactic when it comes to decorating small gardens.

Put on a little pond

Apart from taking care of plants, do you also like to take care of fish? In that case, you could put a small pond, because it does not need to be huge, with a few fish, and around it a few plants.

Feeding the fish and then taking care of the plants could become a pleasant daily experience, which will serve you to relax. If you don’t have other animals, it’s an excellent task, don’t you think?

It will help you highlight your territory

Fences and walls separate, not all gardens. Many times, you don’t know where your garden ends and the neighbors. A practical way to mark your territory is through the plants. So, however small, create a small wall of plants, to make it clear that’s where your area begins.

Create a space to relax in

Are you only going out into the garden when you have to water the plants? It is clear that not because a garden is also a space to go out for sunbathing, reading, or enjoying a pleasant evening with friends.

So you should create a small resting area with a circular table. Under this one, you can put a wooden floor. Also, this area can be reached by crossing a beautiful path of natural stone slabs.

You could put a small umbrella for sunny days or a pergola to your liking. Or, if your garden is too small, but the table and chairs near the plants, to enjoy the aroma of these.

Artificial lighting

Although it’s good to enjoy the natural light, you’ll also want to enjoy your garden in the evenings. What’s more, on summer nights, there’s no better place to be to cool off. So, what kind of lighting should you put in?

It will depend on your garden. If it has a large wall, you could put cables on which to hang small bulbs to create a pleasant atmosphere. If this is not the case, put a light on the garden door and then a couple of lanterns distributed through the wall to illuminate the entire exterior.

Another option would be to put small lamps on the floor, which is solar, so at night they will create a beautiful light to generate a pleasant atmosphere and enjoy a pleasant evening with family or friends.

You could also put some little lights in the pond if you have one, or in the fountain, you put in your garden. Of course, this only does in case you’re not going to have fish.

A floral path

How many times have you seen in the movies that there are beautiful paths of flowers that lead to a magical world? And you didn’t think you could have that in your garden? Instead of laying plants on the floor, you could put arches full of flowers, which following it will take you to a resting area in your garden.

If the garden is full enough, you can plant trees on the roadside and feel like a princess of legends. However, it requires a lot of care and maintenance, so keep that in mind when putting it.

Impossible shapes in the garden

It is another common practice in landscaping, combining lawn with stone to create an impossible shape, such as the great circles in the crops of the 70s-80s in the United States.

You could start a grassy path to the relaxation area with the edges with stones, and then these form a beautiful image of a snail. Just above, you could set the table for a free breakfast each morning.

Coffee in the center and plants around

Do you have a small, rectangular garden? In that case, it is clear what you have to do: put a table in the center of the garden, made of wood, and benches. The floor can also have wooden sheets. Just above, a pergola to prevent the sun from disturbing during the summer.