How to Decorate a Small Garden with Shrubs & Hedges
One of the most effective ways to enhance a small garden is through the strategic use of shrubs and hedges. These versatile plants offer more than just aesthetic appeal; they can be used to create structure, privacy, and depth, making your garden feel larger and more inviting. By carefully selecting and positioning shrubs and hedges, you can craft a welcoming garden that not only looks beautiful but is also practical. Discover how shrubs and hedges can be the secret ingredients to maximising your garden's potential and creating an outdoor space you'll love.
Benefits of Using Hedges in Small Gardens
Aesthetic Appeal
Small gardens offer less scope for big planting plans and grand ideas. Therefore, it is absolutely key to maximise the use of space in a small garden. Most small gardens tend to be bordered by fences or wooden fence panels. Whilst these might serve the purpose of blocking out the view of the neighbours, they are not the most attractive boundary to look at. Planting a hedge in a small garden is a great way to hide those ugly fence panels and provide a much more aesthetically pleasing background to your garden.
Habitat for Wildlife
Hedges are an absolute haven for wildlife, whether it be providing a nectar source for pollinating insects, shelter for nesting birds or simply cover for hedgehogs to move around your garden. After planting a hedge, you will always notice an increase in wildlife in your garden of one sort or another. Sometimes the increase in wildlife will be obvious, but plenty of time you are providing a perfect habitat for insects which in turn provide food for birds and so you will create a whole mini ecosystem right under your nose.
Privacy
Hedges are an obvious choice for privacy in small gardens. Having a green living backdrop to your garden is an effective way to stop your neighbours peering over the garden fence and allowing you to relax in your garden whilst feeling private. Hedges can be grown as tall or short as you like and you can decide on different heights for different parts of the garden where you feel it is more or less important. Choosing a dense growing hedge will help you to really create a private feeling in your garden.
Space Definition
Hedges can be used to define certain areas of your garden. Whilst taller hedges will typically form the backdrop for privacy, smaller hedges can be planted around the garden to define certain spaces and planting borders. They can be used to create a real sense of structure within the garden to define what each part of the garden should be used for.
Choosing the Right Hedges for Small Spaces
Choosing the right hedge for a small garden will first and foremost depend on what you are trying to achieve but a key consideration in a small space will be how wide you want the hedge to grow if you do not have an abundance of space. Choose a variety that isn’t going to spread out too far and eat up into the remainder of your garden space.
As with all planting, consider your soil type and sunlight exposure as these will influence what might be best and if in any doubt, give us a ring and we will happily advise you.
Top Hedge Varieties for Small Gardens
Portuguese Laurel
For backdrop hedges along boundaries, Portuguese Laurel (Prunus lusitanica) is an excellent evergreen choice as it grows densely and can be clipped into a tight structure which doesn’t need to spread out far into your garden. With its dark green small leaves and its white spring flowers, it is a great all year round addition to the garden.
Beech or Hornbeam
If year-round privacy is not so important and you like the seasonal changes of leaves, consider using Beech (Fagus sylvatica) unless you have wet clayey soil in which case Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) would be a better choice. Both beech and hornbeam can be grown as narrow hedges to avoid taking up too much space. Visually they look and behave incredibly similar, and a remarkable number of our customers can’t tell the difference between the two, so consider your soil conditions carefully when deciding which one to choose.
Privet
Privet (ligustrum ovalifolium) is a very traditional choice for many English gardens as it can be pruned back hard if it starts to encroach too much into the garden. It also produces an Abundance of white flowers in the spring which pollinating insects love.
Euonymus Green Spire
For small hedges to demarcate edges of lawns or planting borders, Euonymus Green Spire has become the go-to low hedge plant suitable for creating hedges up to around 1m high. It has replaced the very traditional Box (Buxus sempervirens) which for many years was used across the land but has succumbed in recent years to both Box Blight and Box Moth Caterpillar which are both rife across the UK. Euonymus Green Spire does not suffer any of the same ailments as Box as it is an entirely different plant family.
Stunning Shrubs for Small Gardens
Making the most of a small space means that you should consider planting some stand out shrubs that really provide a great feature to look at. Flowering and shaped plants provide structure and look great at different times of the year.
Hydrangea Vanille Fraise
The summer flowering Hydrangea Vanille Fraise is a great show off variety of Hydrangea paniculata which has large clusters of flowers throughout the summer that emerge creamy white and turn through shades of pink as the summer progresses. It’s name literally means Vanilla-Strawberry in French due to its colouring and also features striking red stems.
Topiary Yew Cones and Balls
Topiary is the art of trimming a plant into a specific shape as a garden feature. One of the best plants for producing topiary is English Yew (Taxus baccata). Commonly, this plant is trimmed into a range of cones and ball shapes to provide stand out features in your garden.
Photinia Red Robin
Photinia x Fraseri ‘Red Robin’ is a beautiful shrub which, if in full sunlight, will produce bright red growth on its new leaves. Many people will plant lollipop shapes which are more commonly known as Standards or Short Standards, which is to say they have a clear stem with a ball of foliage on top. They can provide a real sense of structure to the garden and the bright red colouring is very pleasing to the eye.
Top Tips for Decorating a Small Garden
1. Consider your objectives
Consider what you are trying to achieve from your garden. If open space is most important, then consider just planting hedges around the boundaries and keep the rest of your garden as open lawns and patios and don’t get too hung up on decorating the rest of the garden too much. However, a few strategically placed low hedges can help to break the garden up and planting shrubs and specimen features will help to provide more aesthetic interest.
2. Consider maintenance
Be realistic about how much time you want to spend in your garden maintaining the various plants and hedges. Opt for lower maintenance varieties as mentioned above to decrease your workload throughout the year.
3. Consider planting time and aftercare
Many varieties of planted can be purchased significantly cheaper in the winter months as root balls which helps to make your project far more cost effective. Planting in the spring and summer, however, can be the perfect time to get lots of new growth in the first year but you will need to think and plan carefully how you intend to water it, especially if we have a heatwave during the summer and if you are planning on being away on holiday whilst your new hedge is establishing itself. That isn’t to say that planting a new hedge in the winter is the easiest time as heavy frosts can damage new growth and waterlogged soils in the winter can also cause problems. So, be realistic about when you plan to plant and what the challenges and opportunities of each season will bring. We are always here to help advise on this if you are unsure.
Transform Your Garden with Mathias Nurseries
We have everything you need to know about planting in small gardens and our team of experts can advise you on which shrubs and hedges will suit your garden the best. Please don’t hesitate to call us on 01252714552 or email us on sales@hedgesonline.com with any queries.