Part 1: Small Garden Design Tricks Illusions of Size
You've seen in the last chapter just how effective using the right design shapes can be in making your garden look and feel larger. The right shapes are a great start (our compelling storyline) but to really up the ante and take the design to the next level, we need to focus on the details of design. Specifically, how you use the landscaping materials. It's time to let the costume and make-up department really work their magic. The human brain is a wonderful processor of information. It's also very lazy. I mean, super efficient; in order to be so efficient it has to take short cuts when processing what we see. So we are going to exploit some of those short cuts to make your garden look as big as possible. If your eyes see a lot of something your brain will tell you lots = big. So when choosing paving for a small garden design, always pick the smallest sizes because you will need a larger quantity of paving slabs to fill the area. And of course, the opposite is true. If you pave a tiny area with large slabs it will make it look smaller. The example below shows two gardens of similar width, but notice how much wider the bottom example looks using smaller size paving. As you can see, similar size areas but the size of materials makes a HUGE difference in the perception of space.
Combine the size with the direction tactic we covered at the end of the last chapter and you can make an area look much wider or longer. The next example photograph shows the use of even smaller paving and that will make an area look even larger. If it doesn't matter which direction you lay the paving slabs in because you do not need to make an area look longer or wider, then choose a random bond laying pattern, but still using the smaller sizes as shown in the planting proportions picture below. Planting proportions Now, whilst smaller size paving is essential if you want to make a small space look and feel larger, it's not necessarily the same when it comes to the plants. It can look very effective to have large 'jungle-looking' planting in a small garden, especially when combined with the small paving as shown in the picture below. Using large leaf plants in a small space works really well because your brain will interpret the jungle to be a large area even if it isn't. You need to choose the plants with care so that they won't overwhelm the garden. In fact, regardless of your desire to create an urban jungle you do need to adjust the proportion of empty space to planting that we looked at in the first chapter, in small gardens. Here's why: plants grow! Yes,
I know you know that, but what I mean is they always spread out over their allotted space. So if you have allowed a 3ft wide planting border, they will spread out to 4ft if given half a chance. It's just what plants do. So, I find, it's best to let them do their thing but control it at the outset. So in a small garden, if I want a 3ft wide planting border, I'll put it on the plan at 2ft wide, knowing full well that it will get to where I want over time. Now, that can and does look a little strange on the plan and when it's first built because the planting areas look too small. Don't worry, though, it will soon fill out and it will save you constantly hacking back plants. Whilst we're on the subject of plants, now would be a good time to quickly mention some of the other things you need to consider when it comes to planting a small garden. Planting The right plants can make all the difference to how your garden looks and feels. Plants will help soften the look of the hard landscaping materials and help to tie them in to the surrounding garden. The plants you choose should be based on the following: Garden Style Aspect Water Climate Purpose When choosing plants for your garden, you need to start with the style of garden you are you trying to achieve. Is it traditional, modern, formal, Japanese, etc? Once you know this, research the type of plants that are usually associated with this type of garden.
