Small garden design, sized to your actual space.
Small garden design that works from a photo of your real garden – you enter your bed measurements and it plants to the space you have, so a small garden feels full and considered, never cramped.
First 3 designs free · no card · UK plants
Making a small garden feel bigger
The art of small garden design is making a modest space feel generous. That means planting up rather than out, layering height against the boundaries, and choosing plants that carry their weight across the seasons instead of flowering for a fortnight and then sulking.
Garden Design App works from a photo of your real garden and the measurements you enter, so it plants to the exact space you have. Your fences, paths and any existing trees stay put, and the borders are filled to feel lush and considered – never crammed.
The plants that make the look.
The planting plan lists them in full, with how big each grows and where each goes – so the garden in the picture is one you can actually plant.
Multi-stem trees
one small tree for height without eating the space
Climbing roses
colour taken up walls and fences, not across the ground
Clematis
a climber to green a bare wall or trellis
Hardy geraniums
fills the gaps so no bare soil shows
Ferns
lush texture for the shady corners small gardens always have
Hostas
one pot of big leaves does a lot of work
Salvias
spires giving height without taking width
Japanese anemones
late height that takes up no floor space
Box or evergreen balls
one repeated shape makes a small space feel designed
Heuchera
leaf colour at ankle height, where every inch counts
Erysimum
near-constant flower in a compact, tidy shape
Ornamental grasses
airy movement that makes a small garden feel bigger
Plants that earn their place
In a small garden every plant has to work hard, so the design leans on long-flowering perennials, climbers that use vertical space, and a little evergreen structure to keep it looking good in winter. The planting plan names the full list, with how big each grows and where each one goes.
From idea to a plan you can plant
When you find a design you love, unlock its professional planting plan: every plant named, how many of each, exactly where it goes, and a month-by-month flowering calendar so a small garden gives you colour for as long as possible.
Professional garden designers often charge over £1,000 for this. Your first 3 garden designs are free, so you can see your own garden reimagined before you spend anything.
Where to go next
In a small garden you are close to the planting all the time, so scent is worth far more than it is in a big one. Put it by the door or the seat.
Small spaces look bigger with fewer colours, not more. Pastels or a white scheme both do that job.
Good to know.
Everything people ask about small garden design.
How does the AI garden design work?
Upload a photo of your garden or a single border, and tell us what you'd like: refresh your borders, keeping your garden's shape, or redesign the whole space with new layout, paths and planting. Pick a style, and we generate a photorealistic redesign of your actual garden. When you love one, unlock its planting plan – every plant, how big each grows, and where each goes.
Are the plants real – can I actually buy and plant them?
Yes. Every design can become a planting plan of real, available UK plants, with each plant's mature height and spread, where it goes and a month-by-month flowering guide. The plans are built on real horticultural data and shaped by a professional gardener – not generic AI guesses – so the garden in the picture is a garden you can genuinely plant.
Do I need a special photo or camera?
No – a normal phone photo is perfect. Photograph your whole garden if it's small and simple, or one border at a time for larger or more complex gardens, where each bed has its own light and soil.
Is it really free, and what does it cost after?
Yes, your first 3 garden designs are free, straight away. Free designs carry a small watermark. Pro is £29 and Max £49, each one payment that covers your whole project, and every design you make with either comes with every plant named, plus a clean, higher quality image that is yours to keep. Pro makes two designs at once, Max four.
Other garden styles.
More on small garden.
Your small garden is one photo away.
See it redesigned in about two minutes. The first one's on us.