7 days ago
16 ways to make the most of a small garden, with Chelsea gold winner Jo Thompson
It has been a busy year so far for garden designer Jo Thompson.
Her latest book, The New Romantic Garden, was published in February; in May, she created the gold medal-winning The Glasshouse Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, and now she has released an online course, The Fundamentals of Garden Design, with Create Academy.
While she has designed gardens all over the world, what unites them all is a love of planting – 'I can't bear the sight of a bare pergola,' she says – as well as a desire to make spaces that feel like they have always been there, and 'create an atmosphere'.
Her own garden in Kent is no different. It's small by country standards, as she lives in the middle of a village, so many of the ideas she applies to smaller projects are rules she lives by. Although she does have to break them sometimes: 'My garden is a laboratory where I try out varieties I may want to use in projects for clients.'
Here are her tips for creating a sense of space and atmosphere in a small garden.
Limit your materials
First of all, get out into your garden and look at the material that surrounds you. 'You can't necessarily green out everything, but you can distract,' says Thompson. 'Remember that once your garden is full of beautiful things, the eye won't be attracted to that rusty padlock or gate that bothered you.'
If your house is made from brick, then perhaps that's a material you repeat in the garden. 'Try to keep your choice of hard materials to three maximum – for example, brick, oak and stone – otherwise it can look too busy,' says Thompson.
Keep fences simple
Thompson isn't a fan of painting fences. 'Once you paint a fence, you've got to keep on painting it, and that's something to remember.'
Instead, she recommends keeping wooden timber fences simple and letting them age naturally: 'Too many decorative details in a small garden can look really busy. I prefer to let the plants do the talking.'
Instead of trellis with fancy filigree details, she recommends just a small enough amount of trellis that lets plants such as honeysuckle and clematis grow on top of themselves.
'You don't want the fence to be a feature in itself: that draws the eye and makes the garden feel smaller.'
Plant in bulk
In a small garden, you need plants near the windows that draw the eye as you look out. Thompson favours perennials that create airy veils you can look through; think plants with naked stems such as salvias, verbenas and rudbeckia.
The classic mistake Thompson always sees in a nursery or garden centre is people with 20 plants in their trolley, but only one of everything.
'However hard it is, restrict yourself to fewer varieties, but more of them,' she advises. So instead of one lovely flower or plant, have five of them. 'Put three of them together, and then two of them a little bit further away,' says Thompson. 'Then repeat nearer the house, so you've got that sense of harmony and the eye isn't zigzagging about.'
Have fun with bulbs
Bulbs are great for small gardens, where you can plant tiny ones into pots and have them near your kitchen window.
'Have things like Iris reticulata and muscari on a bistro table – the flowers that you're not necessarily going to see if they're at the end of the garden,' says Thompson.
'You can chop and change, and move things elsewhere from season to season.' And then, of course, you can plant the bulbs out in your beds: 'There's an allium for every space.'
Plant a rose
Roses are plants that Thompson returns to again and again, for their beauty. She is sure there is a rose for every garden. 'They're not as high-maintenance as people think. They can cope with hot weather, especially if they are in the ground and have sent their long tap roots down,' she says.
Blush Noisette is a small climber that doesn't get higher than 8ft or 9ft. 'It's a great rose for a small space.'
Thompson recommends looking for repeat-flowering roses that offer bang for their buck: 'English roses are great for that. Olivia Rose Austin is a very popular one, with a lovely, pretty pink colour. Look for scent: go to David Austin or Peter Beales now and smell them. You'd want to be planting them in November.'
If space is very tight, then roses can work well in pots, so long as you water them: 'Olivia Rose Austin thrives in a pot, as does Emily Brontë, and Kew Gardens. The latter will bloom all summer.'
Keep furniture compact
Sitting outside and perhaps having a little barbecue is part of enjoying a garden, but be realistic about how much space you have.
'You don't need a built-in barbecue and permanent sofas,' says Thompson. Instead, if your space is really tiny, have folding garden furniture that you can store in a small shed and bring out when the weather is good.
Add a statement parasol
If you want to make your space more jolly, then think about investing in a fabulous parasol. Thompson is a fan of the East London Parasol Company. 'They're not cheap, but there are loads of really good ones,' she says. If you want to spend less, check out Dunelm.
'I have a bright orange one that's quite retro,' says Thompson. 'Whatever your tastes are, you can really go with it. Just remember to bring them inside [if the weather's bad].'
Look up
Thompson is partial to a pergola, if there's space, as a way to add height: a vital consideration in a small garden.
She also advises making use of fences and walls to add climbing plants that draw the eye up, creating the illusion of more space.
Have unexpected moments
Small pots clustered together are a favourite thing of Thompson's. She also likes auricula theatres: display structures used to showcase auriculas, a type of primula. They usually feature tiered shelving units that provide shelter from rain and sun, while their dark backgrounds enhance the visual impact of the colorful blooms, allowing for close-up viewing or viewing as a group.
'Even a little bookshelf on a wall where you put your terracotta pots with one or two little spring bulbs is quite fun as well,' says Thompson. 'It looks really pretty, and uses no ground space at all.'
Avoid brightly coloured pots
Good pots that are frost-proof are worth investing in. However, Thompson advises going for softer colours in a small garden; pinky terracottas and orange pots that will calm down with age.
'I probably would avoid too many bright colours, because they do grab the attention and can make it feel small,' she says. 'Steer away from those bolder colours, and towards the calmer ones for a smaller place, if you want it to feel calm.'
Don't go overboard with storage
Think about what sort of storage you really need, and choose the worst corner of the garden. Often, a shed like a little sentry box will suffice. 'That will be simple enough to put in a spade, a rake and some trowels,' says Thompson.
She advises against putting a storage unit in a place where it will become a focal point, and 'don't necessarily have the door facing out; turning it 90 degrees can work nicely'.
Don't default to a lawn – and avoid plastic
In a small space, opting not to have a lawn might be prudent. 'I understand that it's nice to have something underfoot, but a lawn means you will need a lawn mower,' Thompson points out.
If you have a small shady garden, you're unlikely to be able to grow a lush lawn, but don't be tempted by artificial grass, says Thompson: 'A few people I know haven't realised that in a heatwave, when you sit on Astroturf, it burns you. It's also unhygienic; I think that's something a lot of people don't realise. You only need cats and foxes going across it peeing, and it's disgusting.'
If you want a low-maintenance alternative to a lawn, permeable surfaces such as gravel will still allow you to embrace clusters of pots and seating. 'You've got to think about the drainage, and then have paving stones if you want to be able to walk barefoot through your garden,' says Thompson. 'Not everything has to be a square of lawn.'
Be careful of mirrors
Some mirrored glass behind a climber can give a sense of the garden going on for longer than it does – but, says Thompson, 'more often than not it just ends up looking like you've put up a mirror to make your garden look bigger. Especially if you put it in a sort of arch directly facing you, it's the one thing you always see.'
Instead, if you want to add a mirror, place it behind plants: 'And then you just get an idea of light, just those sort of speckles of light.'
Choose simple water features
The sound of water flowing is lovely if you live in the city and want to distract from traffic sounds, but Thompson prefers to keep it simple and avoid anything too trickling.
'Those water features with pebbles and things coming out of stones that you see in the garden centre can be too much,' she says. 'A simple trough with a spout is lovely, because if you're going to be constantly looking at it, you don't want to go over the top. You want something easy to maintain.'
Forget symmetrical borders
A common sight for Thompson is gardens with rectangular borders of 20cm, 'which is totally and utterly pointless, because you can't grow anything apart from climbers', she says.
Instead, give up on the idea of your garden being symmetrical and look at where the sun hits it: 'Make your sunniest border your deepest border, and give plants at least 45cm. You can plant things like geraniums that you can cut and they will keep coming back.'
Create winter interest
In a smaller garden, you won't have a choice of beds to dedicate to the different seasons. Instead, Thompson says, simplicity can be calming in winter. 'Have blobs of evergreen such as Ilex crenata or euonymus that give a little bit of structure in winter, but then get lost in summer.'
Easy additions, for example, pots with winter-interest bulbs such as snowdrops and early spring croci set on a bistro table, will help to keep your garden looking good throughout the year – whatever its size.
