Here’s a garden notion: Make the ideal of the shady spots in your garden with a conventional shade garden. Crushed brick or gravel is a beautiful and low-upkeep paving choice for little gardens It’s also simpler to use and less expensive than brick or flagstone. Just be sure to spread a layer of landscape fabric underneath the gravel to hold weeds from popping by means of. On this California hillside, the gravel also allows rainfall to percolate by way of to the soil alternatively of running off down the hillside.
A modest vegetable garden sits in front of the guest home at this sophisticated Georgian property in Oxfordshire The guest residence was the conversion of a former garage behind the home, which suggests that pals who come to stay can be independent.
Lean louvers (old or new) against an exterior wall and fill slots with hearty plants such as succulents or mosses. Very good Housekeeping Lab tip: Succulents are nearly indestructible, but can get scorched in direct sunlight. Put them on the shady side of your property.
Adding soft furnishings to your outside space can bring even the most miniscule garden to life. No matter if it be colourful rugs, vibrant cushions or strips of fabrics streaming from the trees, colour tends to make a compact space appear all the far more inviting, and adds a entertaining element for a celebration.
The strict, geometric layout of Jinny Blom’s compact garden is reinforced by a backbone of structural planting: good big squares of box – ‘I’ve constantly loved box in squares, extended just before Christopher Bradley-Hole did it at Chelsea,’ she says with a twinkle in her eye – and a bold peppering of huge-leaved, exotic plants that give the garden a distinctly modern feel.
