College CrescentAsian Garden, London

3. Step it up.Designer: John Davies LandscapeFancy a well designed garden? Find a landscape architect on Houzz.

1. Multipurpose changes and levelsThere are several things you can do from a design perspective to expand the look and feel of a space. If, for example, you’re working with a long thin courtyard, I’d recommend breaking up the visuals leading out into the space so the entire space isn’t revealed as soon as you open the door. More and more property owners are achieving this by angling their decking or changing up their paving patterns to draw the eye to a different spot in their small garden spaces.

Now and ZenYou don’t have to own a Japanese-style house to have a Zen garden. Many modern garden designers have created their own twist on the Zen-like simplicity of Japanese gardens to enhance the minimalist architecture of contemporary homes, as evidenced in this London home. Here, beautiful timber and brick walls form a clean backdrop for the sculptural beauty of the cloud-pruned burkwood osmanthus (Osmanthus x burkwoodii) tree.Cloud pruning is a traditional Japanese technique known as niwaki, where minor growth is cut away from the trunk and branches leaving most of the foliage at the ends of branches. Like many Japanese gardens, the planting here is all green with hard landscaping materials used to add textural interest. Water is of course another key element.

Garden back panelling and design