Gardening in Small Spaces

Gardening in a small space has its challenges, but with little imagination and a few design tricks, any homeowner can create a beautiful garden. In Gardening in Small Spaces, the experts from Fine Gardening magazine offer practical advice and innovative ideas for creating wonderful gardens out of small areas. More than 15 talented designers will help you design a garden that suits your home and lifestyle, no matter what the size of your yard. Even the smallest urban lot can be transformed into a place of beauty, privacy, and comfort.

Discover how to:

• make a small garden feel larger
• design your garden as an extension of your home
• choose plants appropriate for small gardens
• create comfortable garden rooms
• make your garden feel like a private haven
• create an inviting front yard landscape

More Design Guides:

Gardening in Containers
Creating Beds and Borders
Exploring Garden Style
Landscaping Your Home<

Introduction

PART 1: Design Strategies
Clever Strategies for Designing Small Spaces
Expansive Solutions for Small Gardens
Reshaping Small Spaces
Garden Rooms
Pruning for a View

PART 2: Creating Privacy
A Courtyard Garden Makes a Private Haven
City Lot, Pastoral Paradise
Hang, Stack, Trellis
Plants Enclose an In-Town Lot
From Tiny Yard to Private Paradise

PART 3: Compelling Garden Spaces
Front-Yard Gardens Make a Strong First Impression
A Front-Yard Retreat
Extend Your Living Space with a Patio Garden
A Cozy Sitting Garden
An Intimate Garden for Entertaining
A Miniature Mountain Landscape
A Courtyard Garden
A Classic Courtyard

Credits

Index

Many of us live in urban or suburban areas. The neighborhood is great, the house was affordable, the school system is ideal for our children, but the lot is small and often surrounded by other homes on all sides. Fortunately, small yards and great gardens are not mutually exclusive entities.

Designing small gardens is all about illusion; about making a small space feel larger. These design tricks are based on the same principles used in all garden design -- providing visitors with a sense of discovery, creating a sense of depth by choosing plants of various heights and textures, achieving unity through the repetition of color, plants, or building materials, and dividing spaces into rooms for different functions.

Just as important as making the space feel larger is creating privacy. We all need a retreat that makes us feel miles away from the noise and commotion of the outside world -- a place where we can enjoy the Sunday morning paper in solitude or in companionship with friends dining al fresco in the evening.

Collected here are articles from some of America's best garden designers who will show you their tricks for creating wonderful gardens out of small spaces. From planning to choosing plants and materials, they'll prove that the smallest town lot can be transformed into a garden paradise.