Not everybody has access to a large Backyard. Living in an area with smaller outdoor areas is simple for people who practice smart design on a smaller scale. You may still create a yard with soil, trees, plants, patios, seating areas, and even water features if you live in an apartment, condo, townhouse, loft, or house with more internal space than outdoor space.
With a little research, you’ll discover that there is a backyard for every small piece of land and that there are countless garden types and solutions. Ideas to think about include:

Container gardens: Add pots, low bowls, recycled wooden boxes or crates, and urns to an outdoor area that is largely patio or decking when you don’t have good soil or when you want to add some color.

Think about vertical space: When you grow your succulents, herbs, flowers, or even vegetables in a vertical container that is fastened to a wall, the possibilities are virtually endless.

Hanging garden: You can hang plants from eaves, beams, or walls; the choice of what to plant and what will thrive in your area is entirely up to you.

A private garden: Many city dwellers long for the outdoors. In order to create a sense of seclusion, high walls and espaliered or climbing plants are used.

For little backyards and outdoor areas, we’ve found unique concepts and solutions, ranging from urban to suburban and everything in between.

Tucson Small Yard Design

Kathryn Prideaux creates stunning landscape designs for patio homes and condominiums in Tucson and other Arizona cities by incorporating the hues of the sky, the local scenery, and the surrounding natural environment. She successfully combines various design elements, including rustic elements, colorful tile, sculptural forms, and succulents, as well as outdoor furniture from the mid-century modern era.

The owners of this condo desired a private pool despite the fact that the Skyline Springs condominium complex in Tucson includes a pool. The yard’s focal point is a stunning blue glass mosaic-tile pool that Prideaux Design created with assistance from Cimarron Circle Construction Company. The pool has a ledge for in-pool lounge chairs when the desert heats up. A poured-in-place etched concrete patio, rusted steel panels and walls, original adobe block walls, and a restored vintage Brown Jordan patio dining set are among the additional features.

Yard for a Historic Home

German Village, a district of brick row homes constructed in the 1800s by German immigrants in Columbus, Ohio, has been preserved and revitalized since 1959. Jacobs Grant Design turned a little backyard in the neighborhood, which featured worn-out concrete pavers and an enormous iron table, into a useful and pleasurable place for its new residents. In order to generate intimacy and structure, Jacobs Grant divided the area into two sections: an outdoor sitting room and a dining area that were both bordered by hornbeam and boxwood hedges. The areas were created in partnership with Pots Abilities and feature brick and bluestone, which were utilized to build the ancient home’s front.

Spanish Bungalow

Without much consideration, lawns have been the standard ground cover for decades. That is, until the recent drought in California and other arid areas compelled homeowners and landscapers to reconsider water-hungry grass and come up with alternatives. Climbing thyme and other low-water ground coverings and plants were used to replace the grass in the little yard of an ancient Spanish-style home in San Anselmo, California. Along with a small patio that replicates the terra cotta tones found elsewhere on the home’s façade, a new Arizona flagstone pathway was constructed.

Turning the Front Yard Into the Backyard

What do you do if there isn’t a backyard at your home? You take any available space that you can borrow. In this instance, landscape architect Catherine Bosler focused on the property’s 560 square foot front yard. Bosler Earth Design installed a wood deck painted in a weathered grey to create a living area with a fire pit after drawing inspiration from the local coast. Decomposed granite (DG) is used as the flooring in an outdoor eating area, which also has a grill and a prep table. Bosler also added privacy hedges, a trellis with jasmine for its alluring scent, a tall fountain to mask street noise and draw birds, built-in benches made of wood and stucco, and built-in benches.

Backyard with a Hot Tub and Barbecue

The owners of this San Francisco residence hired Land Studio C as a result of their deck going apart and their desire to get rid of their lawn. The backyard, which is around 1,500 square feet, now has a hot tub with a bench and vertical planting in the back corner, a fire table, a built-in BBQ, accents made of Corten (weathering) steel, and string lights.
In this picture of the yard, we can see a hardscape that has been defined, a pathway made of concrete pavers placed in pea gravel, and a seating area with an umbrella. The original redwood deck was used to create the screening wall, bench, and side yard screen for the hot tub.

Another Part of the Yard

Yes, this is the same somewhat compact yard that Land Studio C created for a San Francisco home. You can view the outdoor living room with the fire table, dining area, and tiny rear porch when looking from the middle of the yard toward the house.

Asian-Inspired Backyard

The dividers of a Bento Box served as inspiration for Sacramento-based design firm Change of Seasons’ redesign of a backyard that includes stone-lined sections or compartments to add interest and structure to an eco-friendly contemporary garden.

Tiny Toronto Backyard

With little room to work with, Beyond Landscaping was able to design a low-maintenance retreat with a small fiberglass pool, composite decking, a horizontal fence for privacy, and artificial turf in the backyard of a house in Toronto, Canada.

Family-Friendly San Francisco Backyard

Designing a backyard for a young family in San Francisco that would provide for space for seating and dining as well as an area for two young boys to let their imaginations run wild presented a challenge. For the children’s play area, Creo Landscape Architecture planted bluegrass and no-mow fescue on a berm, along with interactive sculptures. The fence and bench were constructed by Creo using hardy redwood, and the softscape and privacy are provided by Podocarpus (plum pines). The redwood benches are used to store the children’s outdoor toys when not in use.

Neat and Vertical Backyard

A Small Green Space, run by Emma Lam and her design team, specializes in small yards; the majority of its customers are from Jersey County, New Jersey, and the neighborhood of New York City. Three condos share this 16 by 11.5-foot urban backyard, making it difficult for the designers to access via three separate flights of stairs that lead to the yard. The plants picked are drought tolerant because there is no outdoor water supply. One improvement to the tidy, symmetrical design is:

• Lightweight furniture
• New fencing that includes vertical planters
• A bluestone patio
• An artificial lawn

Small Backyard With Planters

The owners of this tiny yard in the San Francisco Bay region hired KL Designs to rebuild it so that elevated wood planters could be installed there for growing herbs and vegetables. Building raised beds gives the plants access to good soil, protects them from animals that live in cities, including squirrels and mice, and allows for easy maintenance of the veggies.

Organized Backyard Layout

Blue Hibiscus Gardens replaced an asymmetrical patio composed of Arizona flagstone with rectangular bluestone tiles laid out in an ashlar pattern for symmetry and organization. Base rock and pre-cut pavers were placed to create a side patio that matches. A tiny terrace has built-in seating and a fire pit with prism fire glass that is powered by natural gas and has a concrete surface. A Japanese maple and Pittosporum ‘Silver Sheen’ are new additions.

Gazebo Focal Point

A gorgeous wood gazebo serves as the focal point of a Fernhill Landscapes-designed backyard in the sleepy Pennsylvania town of Lititz. The room is cozy and appealing with complementary pillows, upholstery, and flowering plants.

Downtown Chicago Pad

The next greatest location to watch a Chicago Cubs game after Wrigley Field is in your backyard, which is located in the heart of the Windy City. The linear design, which was created by Reveal Design, includes a patio composed of Technoblock pavers, Ipe, black steel and frosted-glass railing, aluminum powder-coated plants, and Ipe used to frame the fire table and grill area. The color of the glowing orbs can be changed to match television sports or festivals.

Natural Berkeley Backyard

In addition to Wrigley Field, the best place to watch a Chicago Cubs game is in your own backyard, which is located in the heart of the Windy City. A patio with Technoblock pavers, Ipe, fencing made of black steel and frosted glass, aluminum powder-coated planters, and Ipe used to frame the fire table and grill area is part of the linear design by Reveal Design. The color of the illuminated orbs can be altered to match holidays or television sporting events.

Luxurious Lissoni in Miami

The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Miami Beach’s seven-acre property with more than 100 residences and a select group of 15 independent properties bears the name of Italian architect and designer Piero Lissoni. This luxurious condo boasts a private infinity pool, floor-to-ceiling glass doors leading out to patios, a small, lush yard with tropical landscaping (including orchids), and pools on-site.

Planter with a Purpose

You can see new fencing, a patio with lightweight furniture, and a raised bed that not only lets its owners grow plants but also helps to screen an adjacent raised filtration area when you peek through the gate of a backyard in Providence, Rhode Island, renovated by Bradford Associates.

The post Great Landscaping Ideas for Small Backyards appeared first on TINOLOADED.