Many people with small spaces feel that they are at a disadvantage for creating a successful garden. While large spaces allow for a variety of garden styles and different use areas, small spaces are usually singular in use and style. These restrictions have always made small gardens a challenge for gardeners and garden designers.

Although a small space can limit what you can have in your garden, there are also many advantages to enjoy. Through design process and careful plant material selection any small space can be converted into a garden oasis.

Small Space Advantages.

Once you get over the fact that your garden cannot accommodate a swimming pool, outdoor kitchen, dining area for 14 guests, hot-tub and tennis court, you will also realize that you don’t have to pay for all these things. A small space helps your budget focus on quality over quantity and can leave room for some perks like lighting, outdoor speakers, quality furnishing and garden ornaments. Small gardens generally require less maintenance and are easily embellished with container planting. Small spaces are usually more intimate due to their size and proximity to the home. With a few well placed garden screens and/or a pergola you can turn your small garden into that much coveted garden room.

Design Process.

Your initial decsions in the design process will ensure that your space is both functional and beautiful. The first and most critical decision is to determine how you will use your space. Since you cannot fit everything you need to prioritize. Answer questions like: “Do I want to be able to eat outside? Will I barbeque? Will I store my recycling here? The answers to these questions are what designers refer to as the “program” for your garden. Perhaps your program is “I want a place to sit alone and read, listen to the birds and escape.” Or, “I want to have a place where I can barbeque, listen to music and entertain up to eight people”. Determine which programs fit in your space and pick the one that is most important to you.

Consider also that your small garden may support more than one program if you are willing to move things around. For example, flower pots and a cozy hammock might get pushed to the side to make way for a barbeque and outdoor dining set. You can also free up space in your small garden by thinking vertically. Garden trellises, pergolas and/or living walls are great ways to have lots of plantings without taking up valuable space with planting beds.

If the design process seems daunting and indecision is bogging you down, consider hiring a landscape designer to help you out. Their knowledge of the design process and ability to communicate through drawings can help avoid costly mistakes.

Plant Material Selection.

Beware of the pruning argument! While most woody plants can be pruned to maintain shape and size you may not want to be in constant battle with plant material that “wants to be bigger”. Select plants whose size at natural maturity fits into your available space. If you want plants that are going to be too big, look and see if dwarf cultivars are available. As with any garden you also need to know the growing environment your plants are expected to survive in. Light, water, wind and soil conditions are the key environment factors to be considered. A predominant use of perennials, with some compact shrubs, flowering vines and one or two larger ornamental shrubs or trees is an appropriate planting palette for most small gardens. To augment your palette, consider using annuals either in planting beds or containers.

If you take all these things into consideration, you will be pleasantly surprised at what you can achieve in your small garden. Your easy-to-maintain, garden room oasis, will make anyone with a riding lawn mower green with envy.

• Alex Mut is a landscape architect and project manager for Oriole Landscaping Ltd., in Toronto. He holds a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Toronto and is a member of the Canadian and Ontario Societies of Landscape Architects. He has designed and managed the consturction of hundreds of residential landscape projects. For more information, visit www.oriolelandscaping.com.