Choosing plants for small gardens

The size of the average garden continues to shrink across the world because of the scarcity of living space and also it is hectic to maintain large gardens along with busy schedule of the modern life. But at the same time people wish to have their own gardens, however small they may be, at home. When you prefer a small garden instead of a large one, you should be selective enough to landscape the garden suitable to your needs and importantly you need to choose the plants that make a small garden more beautiful.

Containers and pots are best options to make a small garden. A carefully chosen collection of both pots and plants will be decorative enough in your garden.

There are many types of containers available for use in small gardens. Clay pots in numerous shapes from tiny thumb-pots to giant sizes are available at shops. Now, the most important part is to select the plants that matches the design and space of your garden.

The difficulty in choosing plants for your garden is cutting down the list of plants you love to the list of plants you will use. This is even harder with a small garden. Try to avoid this challenge by creating a framework for plant selection, before you begin your list. Tall trees or spreading plants are no way suitable for a small garden. Small shrubs, creepers, tiny bushes, bonsai varieties etc... make a small garden look perfect, colourful and attractive.

Shrubs provide the backbone of most gardens and there are certainly plenty of suitable species to choose for a small garden. There are number of dwarf plants like Lavendula and Salvia which are suitable for a small garden for their labour-saving qualities and also because they look neat and evergreen all year.

At ground level it is best to provide spot colour in small gardens, either by the use of annuals or perhaps using bulbs at the front of beds and borders. Colour co-ordination is the foundation stone success and is a matter of personal preference. Small gardens demand ruthlessness, everything has to earn its keep and if a plant doesn't work replace it with something more suitable.

Almost any plant other than medium-sized or tall trees, or very large shrubs and rampant ground cover can be grown in a small garden. Often, quite large plants are used, but they need to be pruned back regularly to maintain a compact size. Wherever possible, it"s best to choose naturally compact plants that won"t become a nuisance.

All but the largest and tallest or most rampant herbaceous plants are suitable for a small garden, but where space is limited it"s best to concentrate on those that flower early or late, or that look good over long periods and don"t only look good for a week or two in the summer. Select summer flowers that bloom over a long period, or that have attractive foliage.

Dwarf plants generally spreads to a height and breadth of six to eight feet giving enough space to the gardener. It also provides a perfect shape to your garden without any hassles. You can plant little plants in your small garden. Some of the famous little plants are dwarf junipers, pyracantha, nandina, pittosporum, gardenia, bamboo, barberry, sasanqua, crape myrtle, pomegranate, yucca and holly. Some dwarf plants like full shaded area. They are holly fern, fatsia, aucuba, dwarf azalea, mahonia, holly malpighia and vinca.