Any aspect · tight spaces

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 design free · no card needed · UK plants
A garden designed in the small garden design style
Built by professional gardenersReal UK plants & planting plans Photorealistic in about two minutes
Small garden design

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.

Signature planting

The plants that make the look.

The planting plan lists them in full, with how many to buy 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

long-flowering, weed-smothering ground cover

Ferns

lush texture for the shady corners small gardens always have

Hostas

bold leaves that fill a spot fast in a shady bed

Salvias

long-flowering spires that earn their keep in a tight border

Japanese anemones

elegant late colour that lifts a small space in autumn

Box or evergreen balls

neat structure that holds the design through winter

Heuchera

year-round leaf colour for the front edge

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 many to buy 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 design is free, so you can see your own garden reimagined before you spend anything.

Questions

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 many to buy, 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 quantities, 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 the first design really free, and what does it cost after?

Your first design is genuinely free, with no card required. After that, subscriptions start at £19 a month. The professional planting plan is a separate one-off you only buy if you want to make a design real.

Go deeper

More on small garden.

Your small garden is one photo away.

See it redesigned in about two minutes. The first one's on us.

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