Tips and Tricks for Making the Most of Your Small Green Space
Your backyard design doesn’t have to have acres and acres of landscaping for you to love spending time there. You have lots of choices to maximize the outdoor areas around your home. Here are a few popular backyard landscaping features to give you some design ideas that may spark your imagination.
Levels: Consider designs using patio steps, stairs, pavers, and different materials to create levels. Paving stone, pallets, grass, or turf present different textures, colors, and shapes, and can make your lawn or patio look like it has different “rooms” in it. Arrange furniture and backyard landscaping fixtures within these compartmentalized areas to complement the different designed surfaces. Raised flower beds are another way to use a level to increase your available space as part of your backyard design.
Focal Points: Add a stone fountain, a small pool or water feature, a fire pit, or a great art sculpture as part of your landscape design to draw the eye to that single focal point. You can arrange other features, including plants, trees, and pavers, for that item. When you make one thing the focus of your home landscaping, visitors are less likely to notice the small size of your backyard.
Container Gardens: Flower pots, urn, living plant stands, and other backyard planting containers in vibrant color allow you to grow your own vegetables, green plants, small trees, and beautiful flowers, even if your ground is not full of fertile soil. You can even plant small fruit trees that can continue to survive in the Phoenix, Arizona climate. For the greatest impact on your backyard landscaping, mix the shades, colors, and textures of your containers as well as your porch plants. Since everything is in containers, you can continue to move them around at will and change what’s in them with the seasons to keep something new in the backyard design idea you created.
Minimalist Furniture: Large tables and dining chairs can quickly overwhelm backyard landscaping, especially when you’re working with a small area. Instead, choose small pieces that meet your needs without dominating the landscape you’ve designed. Benches without backs, for example, provide backyard seating but don’t clutter up your yard or patio. Instead of a large fire pit, pull up a seat next to a small fire bowl on a table for a scaled-down version in your backyard design. You continue to get the beauty of the fire without losing the space.
Incorporated Seating: You probably want a new seating idea in your backyard landscape design, but you don’t have to use big bulky chairs. Instead, look for ways to attach bench seating to a wall or another architectural feature in your landscape. Tuck a modern bench with slim lines into a garden space or along a walkway to conserve ground space in your backyard. Incorporated features mean less furniture to create a cluttered look.
Living Fences: One of the more creative landscape design ideas is to use flowers and plants as part of your backyard landscaping to “fence in” your space. Privacy fencing can make a small area look and feel even smaller. In contrast, lush green shrubbery and tall shade trees can accomplish the same thing without leaving you feeling claustrophobic. Living fencing preserves your privacy but doesn’t draw the stark lines between your property and your neighbor’s. It provides natural beauty to your yard, garden, or landscape.
Storage Options: A big storage shed is probably not an option for the landscape design features of small lawns. Instead, look for pieces that do double duty and conserve room. For example, a bench with storage inside it serves as seating as well. Tuck your garden tools, sports equipment, and other clutter out of the way every year when you no longer need them. Some modern units include planters for greenery. A flower potting station for the garden often provides a covered storage cabinet built-in as well.
Side Spaces: When considering design ideas, don’t ignore the grass spaces at either of your house. They may not be as large as the front or back areas, but you may be able to put a small private garden there, a bench, or even a little patio with a simple table and chair. Add some garden plants for privacy or a small tree for a little shaded room, if necessary. Some small trees can be trained to grow along the outdoor wall of your home with careful pruning.
Vertical Spaces: The ground may get most of your attention when you’re working with your backyard landscaping, but don’t forget to look upward. You can find many ways to make use of your vertical room. You can hang flowers and plants from the ceiling of your porch or run them up a trellis. Colorful plants and lighting features open up the overhead space and make it feel much larger. Consider staying away from anything large and obtrusive, though, because you don’t want to obstruct the sunlight. A pergola or an awning, like a fence, can close off the outdoor area and make it seem smaller. The more natural light you can incorporate into your backyard design ideas upfront, the better.
Creative Combinations: Homeowners are not always aware that you can plant vegetables and flowers, as well as some green plants, in the same space when developing backyard landscaping. Doing so saves garden space each year and can even be beneficial for the plants, as they share water, nutrients, and visits from outdoor pollinators like bees.
How Can Mesquite Landscaping Help?
Mesquite Landscaping, Inc. can help you bring your backyard landscaping ideas to life. If you’re not sure what you want for your house, our design can help you get started. At our initial consultation, we’ll discuss some possible concepts that will work for your backyard landscaping. Our design team uses state-of-the-art computer-aided drafting software to build a 3-dimensional model that can be changed as needed. You’ll know upfront what to expect in terms of cost, how long the project will take, and the possible landscaping materials to be used in your backyard.
When you’re ready to begin bringing your outdoor design ideas to life, the knowledgeable professionals at Mesquite will continue to walk you through the installation process step by step and answer any questions you have along the way. We pride ourselves on the best backyard design and workmanship, of course, but we also provide excellent customer service that exceeds our clients’ expectations.
At Mesquite, we can help with every part of your backyard landscaping, including a pool, pergola, artificial turf, fire pit, irrigation, and drainage, even if you aren’t working with a large space. If you’re ready to make the best out of your small lawn or garden area, contact us today to get started on your perfect backyard landscaping ideas. Take it to the next level with an easy and free consultation at your home – call (480) 238-2943 to get started.
Image Credit: Shutterstock / Joanne Dale