Small garden design and ideas
Small garden design means making every metre count: one clear layout, a patio or path that leads somewhere, planting taken up the walls and fences, and a few plants repeated so the space feels calm rather than crowded.
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12 real small garden ideas
Small garden inspiration in 12 pictures, every one a real garden redesigned with the app. Tap Before to see how it started, or Get this garden to try the look on yours.
Small garden landscaping ideas
Tired lawns and bare corners turned into landscaped small gardens of paths, paving and deep borders, most with no grass left at all. 5 gardens
Paved path through planting
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Coneflowers and geraniums under a tree by a stone wall
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Dry lawn turned into a cobbled path and seats
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Raised beds, gravel and a small pond
Get this garden →Small patio garden ideas
Patios with a sofa or a table, the paving edged with planting, pots and olives. 3 gardens
Slabs in pebbles, olives in pots and a corner sofa
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Lawn swapped for a sandstone patio and a sofa
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Patio with steel planters and a seating corner
Get this garden →Very small garden ideas
Garden ideas for small spaces: a side passage, a path beside the house, a raised bed against a fence and one corner by a terrace. 4 gardens
Side passage turned into a slim lawn
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Path by the house through foxgloves and roses
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Dahlias and dark leaves by the terrace
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Raised bed of salvias and sedums against a fence
Get this garden →How to design a small garden
The few ideas behind every garden above, and how to use them on a plot of your own.
What makes a good small garden design
Good garden design for small gardens comes down to a few ideas: one clear layout rather than lots of features, a path or patio that leads somewhere, planting taken up walls and fences, and three or four plants repeated along the borders. Every garden above was redesigned that way, down to a corner of just 7 m² by a terrace.
Small front garden ideas →Small modern garden ideas →Small garden ideas on a budget →
Making a small garden feel bigger
Plant up rather than out: a climber on every fence, one multi-stem tree for height, and taller plants at the back of each border with low ones in front. Run the path or paving the long way to pull the eye down the garden, half hide the far end behind planting so there is somewhere to walk to, and keep to one paving material. A handful of plants repeated reads as one garden, where one of everything looks busy and cramped.
How to lay out a small garden
Start with what stays: the house, the fences and any tree worth keeping. Then decide where you will sit, usually where the evening sun lands, and put the patio there, even if that is the far end. Join it to the house with a path and give the rest to planting. In a long, thin plot a path that bends feels longer than a straight one, as in our narrow garden ideas makeover, and there is often room for water too: see our small garden pond ideas.
Small garden ideas for the UK
Most British gardens of this size sit behind a terrace or a new build, overlooked on three sides and in shade for part of the day. Watch where the sun falls before choosing plants: ferns, hostas and hardy geraniums for the shady side, salvias, lavender and grasses for the sunny one. Tall planting along a fence, or a pergola over the seat, gives privacy without building a wall.
See it on your own garden first
Garden Design App builds a design around your actual garden. It reads a photo of your space, keeps your house, fences and trees where they are, and redesigns it to fit the room you have, so you can see an idea at its real size before you build it.
From an idea to a plan you can plant
When one of the designs clicks, the Pro and Max plans turn it into one of our small garden plans: every plant named, how big each grows and where each goes, with a month by month flowering calendar so the garden has something in flower from spring to autumn.
12 plants for a small garden
The plants that do the most in a small space: height without width, leaves that last, and flowers for months.
- Multi-stem trees
- Climbing roses
- Clematis
- Hardy geraniums
- Ferns
- Hostas
- Salvias
- Japanese anemones
- Clipped evergreen balls
- Heuchera
- Erysimum
- Ornamental grasses
More small garden ideas
A narrow strip of lawn becomes a paved path through lavender, salvias, coneflowers and feather grasses to a small table, in our small back garden ideas makeover.
An overgrown town garden under a tree becomes a winding stepping-stone path through grasses, geraniums and foxgloves to two chairs, in our small shady garden ideas makeover.
The strip down the side of the house where the bins lived becomes a stone path through ferns, hostas and a Japanese maple, in our side of house garden ideas makeover.
Small garden design questions
What is the best layout for a small garden?
A good small garden design layout is one simple shape that suits how you use the space: a patio where the sun lands in the evening, a path that leads to it, and planting along the edges. Keep the middle open and the boundaries planted, so the garden feels wider than it is.
How do you make a beautiful small garden?
Choose three or four plants you love and repeat them, take colour up the fences with climbers, add one tree or tall shrub for height, and put a seat somewhere you will actually use it. Most of the gardens above do just that.
What is the 3-5-7 rule in landscaping?
It usually means planting in odd-numbered groups of 3, 5 or 7 of the same plant, so they read as one drift rather than single dots. In a small garden, groups of three are usually enough.
Should a small garden have a lawn?
Only if you will use it. Several of the gardens above swap a patch of lawn for a patio, gravel or a path to a seat, which leaves more room for planting.
What plants work best in a small garden?
Plants that give height without width, such as climbers, a multi-stem tree and upright grasses, a few evergreens so it still looks good in winter, and long-flowering perennials like hardy geraniums and salvias.
Can I see these small garden ideas on my own garden?
Yes. Add a photo of your garden, or your small backyard, and see it redesigned in about a minute. Your house, fences and trees stay where they are.
Are the plants real, and can I buy them?
Yes. With the Pro and Max plans every design names its plants: garden centre favourites and RHS Award of Garden Merit winners, chosen by a professional gardener, with how big each grows and where each goes.
Is it free?
Your first 3 designs are free, with no card needed. The Pro plan is £29 and the Max plan is £49, paid once, with nothing to cancel.
Can I try more than one idea on my garden?
Yes. Make different designs and compare them on your own garden. Your first 3 are free, and Pro, one payment of £29, gives you 20 designs over 14 days, two at a time, so you can see several looks side by side.
Why does my redesign look like high summer?
We show your garden at its peak, in full flower, so you can see how full it can look. It is an artist's impression: your real garden changes through the seasons. Every paid design comes with a flowering calendar, so you know what flowers each month, and evergreen shapes help it look good in winter.
Make the most of a small space, starting from one photo.
Try any of these small garden ideas on your own garden in about a minute. Your first 3 designs are free.
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