Tiny Yards: Less is More

by Maureen Gilmer
Do It Yourself

Downsizing is everywhere from the boatyard to the back yard. While it's not always good news in the business world, it can be liberating at home after the kids leave for college. A smaller home makes sense because it demands less maintenance inside and out. It can also mean better security if it's in a gated or village-like community, where the house is protected when you decide to travel.

When you downsize your house, throw out the old ideas about creating expansive outdoor living spaces. A whole set of new rules apply to solving problems unique to tiny yards.

Small yards offer unique challenges to gardeners who have downsized. (Photos courtesy of Maureen Gilmer, Do It Yourself.)

The reality is that potentially oppressive buildings, walls and fences surround many smaller spaces. This leaves nothing to look at while you spend time outdoors. The challenge is to make these walls recede from view by providing specific opportunities for visual exploration. In a spacious suburban yard, you used large focal points such as a flowering tree, a gazebo or a swimming pool. In the little garden you must use a multitude of exquisite small focal points. These are spread throughout a space so there is something to look at from every point of view.

These focal points may be plants themselves, or created objects that are enhanced by surrounding plants. The changes of the plant foliage and flowers will make the appearance of the created object differ in every season. This illustrates why it's essential to maintain a strong relationship between garden art and plants to fully exploit the varied context.

Created objects for small gardens can't be an ordinary concrete lawn gnome or birdbath. You'll be inspecting it up close so the object should equal the quality of antiques or art inside the adjacent living spaces. You'll want to extend the character of those rooms into the garden with the same degree of taste.

For example, shy away from the garish glass gazing balls that might look great in an expansive cottage garden but are overwhelming in small spaces. Instead, sequester a half-buried polished granite sphere amidst maidenhair fern, miniature ivy or variegated ajuga groundcover with its lovely spires of sapphire blooms.

A tight corner can be filled with a lovely fluted urn that is far taller than it is wide. Evoke a sense of worldly timelessness with a porous unglazed antique finish that may over time take on a desirable green patina of moss. A brilliant Ming green glaze presents another more luxurious effect, with a glossy finish that reflects bright azalea flowers or simply suggests light and shadow in the surrounding space.

For the spiritually inclined, figures of meaning help create a space for contemplation and reflection. An old bronze Buddha contributes an undercurrent of Asian tranquility to a small garden. This can render the space perfectly suited to Eastern meditative practices.

Another solution is to utilize walls and fences as a means of displaying creative elements. A solid board fence or stucco wall can seem to vanish after you hang a weatherproof bamboo screen on its face. Screen densities can vary from open grids to a tightly complex pattern. Train delicate spidery vines such as clematis upon that screen so that it serves as a traditional trellis and offers more opportunity for seasonal change.

Faux antiques can go a long way to incorporate classical beauty into small spaces. Manufacturers have produced museum-quality replicas of ancient Roman marble friezes. Fiberglass is so lightweight that even a weak fence can support the weight with minimal anchorage.

As you downsize to a more beautiful and carefree home, remember that the garden, however small, deserves special attention. And though it may be spatially challenged, there need be no lack of beauty to demand your every attention.

RESOURCES:
GardenForum.com
The creator of this site is Maureen Gilmer, a noted gardening and landscaping expert and author. She can also be reached at www.moplants.com, E-mail: mgilmer@syix.com.

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