7 Inspiring Ideas for Small Gardens From UK's Chelsea Flower Show
Think big for your small space – this was the message from talented professionals at this year's garden show. Here's how
Sarah Alcroft
4 June 2022
Houzz UK Editorial Team
Held from 24 to 28 May in London, UK, the 2022 RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Chelsea Flower Show was packed with ideas for our residential gardens, from ways to design for wellbeing to incorporating sustainable gardening practices. One of the key messages, though, was that no matter how small your garden – even if it’s a shallow two-metre-wide balcony – it’s possible to create a secluded haven, grow veg, and even have a water feature.
Amid all the gorgeous garden designs, there were numerous inspirational ideas for those of us with compact plots. Here are seven beauties.
Amid all the gorgeous garden designs, there were numerous inspirational ideas for those of us with compact plots. Here are seven beauties.
1. Go on a journey
A snaking path that leads through lush, varied planting can bring a sense of discovery to even a small outside space. Not quite being able to see around every bend invites exploration and blurs the boundaries of the garden.
In The Boodles Travel Garden (pictured) by Thomas Hoblyn, the beds were mounded slightly to further hide the view and add to the sense of a bigger landscape. A rill hugged the sinuous path, emphasising the shape, while blue irises subtly led the eye along it.
A snaking path that leads through lush, varied planting can bring a sense of discovery to even a small outside space. Not quite being able to see around every bend invites exploration and blurs the boundaries of the garden.
In The Boodles Travel Garden (pictured) by Thomas Hoblyn, the beds were mounded slightly to further hide the view and add to the sense of a bigger landscape. A rill hugged the sinuous path, emphasising the shape, while blue irises subtly led the eye along it.
2. Surround yourself with plants
However small your outside space, you can trick the eye into thinking you’re sitting amid dense greenery by packing in leafy planting. This reading corner on a 2 x 5-metre balcony – The Blue Garden by Tom Wilkes-Rios – was surrounded by plants at numerous heights, including masses of succulents, for an immersive feel.
Such thick foliage creates privacy and can also be effective in muffling noise – useful in an urban environment.
Is your garden or outdoor area in need of a creative revamp? Find landscape architects and designers near you, browse images of their work and read reviews from previous clients
However small your outside space, you can trick the eye into thinking you’re sitting amid dense greenery by packing in leafy planting. This reading corner on a 2 x 5-metre balcony – The Blue Garden by Tom Wilkes-Rios – was surrounded by plants at numerous heights, including masses of succulents, for an immersive feel.
Such thick foliage creates privacy and can also be effective in muffling noise – useful in an urban environment.
Is your garden or outdoor area in need of a creative revamp? Find landscape architects and designers near you, browse images of their work and read reviews from previous clients
3. Think big
When it came to designing the balcony attached to his 18th-floor apartment, Jason Williams created an oasis outside his home.
Keen to share his ideas, he transferred his design to The Cirrus Garden balcony at this year’s show to inspire others to create a haven with lots of interest in a tiny space. He wove together a colourful range of wildflowers, perennials and edibles, a seating area, and even a waterfall and barrel pond filled with Japanese rice fish. A row of grasses (on the right) added height, screening and movement.
A mix of balcony planters, stacked pots, large planters and arched pergolas ensured there was room for everything.
When it came to designing the balcony attached to his 18th-floor apartment, Jason Williams created an oasis outside his home.
Keen to share his ideas, he transferred his design to The Cirrus Garden balcony at this year’s show to inspire others to create a haven with lots of interest in a tiny space. He wove together a colourful range of wildflowers, perennials and edibles, a seating area, and even a waterfall and barrel pond filled with Japanese rice fish. A row of grasses (on the right) added height, screening and movement.
A mix of balcony planters, stacked pots, large planters and arched pergolas ensured there was room for everything.
4. Create a sense of grandeur with dramatic materials
This compact space – The Still Garden designed by Jane Porter – was made even more impressive by the inclusion of a slate backdrop, which nodded to the towering sea walls of the UK’s Outer Hebrides. While taking up relatively little room, it suggested the garden was simply a small part of a much bigger landscape.
The native planting added to the sense of wild seclusion – and the beauty of a container garden is you can pick your soil, so you can create a landscape of your choosing.
This compact space – The Still Garden designed by Jane Porter – was made even more impressive by the inclusion of a slate backdrop, which nodded to the towering sea walls of the UK’s Outer Hebrides. While taking up relatively little room, it suggested the garden was simply a small part of a much bigger landscape.
The native planting added to the sense of wild seclusion – and the beauty of a container garden is you can pick your soil, so you can create a landscape of your choosing.
5. Hang your tools
No room for a shed? It’s easy to create a hanging storage area for garden tools on a wall or fence. In The Potting Balcony Garden Sponsored by Viking (pictured), designed by William Murray, the storage had been given a central role rather than being hidden away. The bold yellow wire grid against the black wall made it deliberately part of the scheme.
As well as the grid providing plenty of space to hang tools, baskets clipped on above head height allowed for extra storage and for pot plants to be displayed without getting in the way.
No room for a shed? It’s easy to create a hanging storage area for garden tools on a wall or fence. In The Potting Balcony Garden Sponsored by Viking (pictured), designed by William Murray, the storage had been given a central role rather than being hidden away. The bold yellow wire grid against the black wall made it deliberately part of the scheme.
As well as the grid providing plenty of space to hang tools, baskets clipped on above head height allowed for extra storage and for pot plants to be displayed without getting in the way.
6. Screen with pleached trees
Here’s another clever idea from The Potting Balcony Garden. A good way to bring in height without taking up too much room is with pleached trees.
Across the end of the balcony on the left (and on the right, not pictured), an apple tree was neatly spreading its branches along a slim screen, and would, in time, create a lovely leafy screen without encroaching on the tiny space.
Browse small Australian gardens to inspire your own
Here’s another clever idea from The Potting Balcony Garden. A good way to bring in height without taking up too much room is with pleached trees.
Across the end of the balcony on the left (and on the right, not pictured), an apple tree was neatly spreading its branches along a slim screen, and would, in time, create a lovely leafy screen without encroaching on the tiny space.
Browse small Australian gardens to inspire your own
7. Grow veg vertically
Keen to cultivate edibles in your mini patch? Why not make use of vertical space? This OmVed Gardens exhibition in The Great Pavilion had an heirloom curved squash, which can be used as summer squash or left to develop into winter squash, making its way up a rustic willow obelisk.
It’s easy to create a similar structure using willow, hazel or bamboo, or you can buy ready-made obelisks.
Keen to cultivate edibles in your mini patch? Why not make use of vertical space? This OmVed Gardens exhibition in The Great Pavilion had an heirloom curved squash, which can be used as summer squash or left to develop into winter squash, making its way up a rustic willow obelisk.
It’s easy to create a similar structure using willow, hazel or bamboo, or you can buy ready-made obelisks.
Or why not try growing strawberries or cherry tomatoes on the side of a shed or along a fence? Here’s an abundant crop that takes up little space – and is handily at comfortable picking height.
Your turn
Have you created a garden in a small outside space? Share your tips in the Comments below, like this story, save the images for inspiration, and join the conversation.
More
Want more from this stellar event? Check out Wild Flowers: 7 Top Trends from 2022’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Your turn
Have you created a garden in a small outside space? Share your tips in the Comments below, like this story, save the images for inspiration, and join the conversation.
More
Want more from this stellar event? Check out Wild Flowers: 7 Top Trends from 2022’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show
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Hi Linda If you mean in the first photo, that's actually a little stream. The base of it was cast from sand ripples on the beach. It makes the water lovely and glittery in real life
I went on different sites but there is no explanation as to what exactly that rill in the first picture is made of. Metal? Cement? It is an interesting idea. Very beautiful. Goggling 'meandering rills' comes up with nice pics too, but not quite what Thomas Hoblyn did. I am interested in what it was made of, and how, and how long it would last.
I too am interested in how the stream was constructed. Is it a product that can be purchased as is, or is it a custom piece of creative art made for the project? If it is a custom cast piece, what is the material? If it is a product that can be purchased, can you provide any sources? Is the ”stream” running through a circuit with a recirculating type pump system? This tiny landscape with the snaking path is an incredibly clever and well executed design? Is the path cast in place concrete? It seems there would include a piping system for the water feature and electrical for the pump. With that already in place I’d expect a drip/mist water wise system and perhaps strategically placed landscape lighting along the pathway. I am completely intrigued by this design, please tell me more? Thomas Hoblyn gets top honors from me if I were naming awardees!