BIG DREAMS for SMALL SPACES

Imagine that you had the chance to design and build your dream garden. Where would you start? 

The first step in the design process is imagination and thought.  The design of landscape, of spaces, is no exception to this fundamental principle.  Many of us are innocent owners of plant-lead gardens, too often the result of must-haves, who could resist, so rare, so beautiful, so only a little out of zone; all worthy impulses of a Gardner in love, nimble survivors of the great Canadian deep freeze and card carrying Nursery Club members at The Sale…  When you live on the Southern Island the impossible is possible and temptation surrounds.  

In the grand scheme of imaginative design, plants play a supporting role.  Big dreams begin with thinking. Think big about what a garden is to you. As you think, put your thoughts into words.  Start a list of what have you always wanted in the ultimate garden. 

A waterfall? A koi pond?  A lemon tree?  A flowing wildflower field? A hot tub under a gazebo surrounded by roses (…hmmm, plan for thorns).  More practically, do you need to reserve space for your RV, dog kennel or firewood?  Do you want to compost on a grander scale or collect rainwater?  Ask family members for their input.  Add the 18-hole golf course and Olympic swimming pool to the lengthening list with a wry smile. 

When it comes to designing your dream garden, think big.  Big dreams can fit into small spaces.  Thinking is the most important step. No boundaries.  Take your time and go all out. Take as much time as you need.  Don't skimp.  Allow all of your dreams and ideas to come forward.  Keep adding and adding until the list is your vision and fulfills your dreams.

Parallel with your thinking is observation; the second step.  Look at gardens in your neighborhood or when on holidays. Take pictures, look in magazines and clip your favorite images of gardens, plants, effects, preferred hardscape, colours, and furnishings.  Create the very same collection ideas you might present to a decorator of your home. The garden is the exterior of your home.  Look inside, what colours and textures do you choose, does artwork have a theme, deeper still peek in your closet, which are the happy, fun to wear colours?  In other words take clues from your own choices.  At the same time examine why a garden might not appeal.  Too much pink, not enough drama, uncoordinated, ugly?

To truly visualize and understand your choices better, lay out your collection of photos, clippings from magazines, and open your books to pages that appeal.  The storyboard is an excellent exercise.  Place all your clippings on a large broad (say 24” x 36”), intersecting and adjusting until they all fit.  Secure in place.  Study this personal collection of ideas; you may be surprised to see unexpected colours and combinations, a variety of themes and styles.  As a designer you are closer to knowing what elements in a garden appeal to you. 

Turning back to your growing list of the ideal garden, sort the items in like groups.  Such categories could include: 

• Location including a view sited in the tropics (not exactly Victoria, but this is a list of ideas…)
• Social Features such as a lounge and entertaining elements in the sun, a garden room or conservatory, a productive vegetable area, play area with grass;
• Hard Aspects featuring noisy water, gravel, flagstones, wood, artwork, a green house;
• Design Elements:  Green out of every window, mature plants, warm or cool colours, movement, winter interest, sense of privacy or entirely open;
• Practical issues such as invisible parking for cars and an RV, effective water management, service area needs. 

Review this list and prioritize.  Now is the time to step into your own reality stemming from thoughts put into words and ideas in pictures. You may be surprised to find some elements already in your garden – trees out of many (but not all) windows, a huge lawn begging to be reduced or a simple expansion of the patio or vegetable space will enable you to enjoy your garden more than before.  Some of the ideas from your storyboard may have a place in your design, or be passed by as too ambitions for the moment. 

The gilded fountain may have to be severely downsized to more size-appropriate proportions.  The resident raccoons may trump the koi. Deer dinner guests may impose limitations.  The importance of the creative process of thinking, selecting and substituting cannot be overstated.  Good design comes from thinking big.  Visuals may lead you to find the design elements that resonate.  Other steps in the design process – lay of the land including site assessment, analysis of conditions, inventory of site conditions, and free-thinking bubble diagrams will lead to the concept(s) and final phase, and, at last, plants, plants, plants. 

For us, Dame Sylvia Crow, a Landscape Design Architect from Britain, offers the following wisdom:

“Paradoxically there are two approaches needed to improve our use of plant material; one is an ability to see each plant as a whole individual, with all its characteristics, and the other is to be able to subordinate the individual plant to the picture as a whole.”

Gardeners have a special affinity for and fascination of plants, good design will enable Gardeners think big for their small spaces.

Quick Plant Design Tips:

• Vary the sizes of the spaces you designate in a landscape.
• Simplicity over variety for the most part.
• Incorporate 1-3 focal points in a small space.
• Plants should be in proportion to rocks, foundations, deck height, etc.
• Right plant, right place and right purpose.
• Know your conditions and match plant type
• Mature Size – Always select plants based on their mature height and width, design small details to be viewed up close.
• Form – Plants with airy forms can serve well as screens & scrims.
• Texture, Mix & Match – Mix textures to create depth and interest within a landscape.
• Seasonal Interest – fruit, flower, nut, bark, branching, etc all contribute to interest.
• Interplant ornamentals with edibles.
• Views - Use tall plants as back drops to show off other plants.

Sources

• The Residential Design Course taught by Patty Brown at Glendale Gardens, 2010. 
• Weisenhorn,Julie. Landscape Design for Small Spaces. Department of Horticultural Science, University of Minnesota, 2010.
• Olde, Ruth. Landscaping Made Easy by Design. Peanut Butter Publishing, Vancouver B.C., 1999.
• Roni, Jay. Gardens of the Spirit. Sterling Publishing Co. New York, 1998.

This article was originally written and published for the HCP Newsletter – September issue.

       Written by: Deborah Campbell, MG with the VMGA Communication Committee