Expert Guide to Medium Sized Garden Design
Garden Sizes - Medium, Small and Large…
During our initial conversation I will always ask a new prospective client to describe their garden. Most often they will begin with discussing how large it is - using terms such as small, medium, or large. Quite what these categories mean however varies from person to person. Therefore I am going to define how I think of them here:
A small garden - this is a garden that has only really one room or space and is big enough to undertake one activity for your family and maybe a few friends (i.e. Somewhere to relax, somewhere to dine or somewhere to entertain). I tend to therefore think in terms of courtyards and small new build house gardens and the key challenge with small garden design is to create a space that is both usable and feels like a garden
A medium garden - this is a garden that can fit in two or three different areas for varying activities - perhaps separate areas to relax and to dine - and traditionally tends to be dominated by a lawn; a medium garden is somewhere that can be maintained relatively easily by one person (if they like to garden) and they offer a lot of scope for improvement within an achievable budget
A large garden - this is a garden with multiple areas, often a relatively mature set of plants, and most crucially of all is somewhere that is too large for one person to maintain alone (unless they do little else with their time); large gardens present challenges in terms of the scale of area to tend and they also probably require phasing of a new design over time
For this guide I wanted to address the question of medium sized garden design and ideas for what can be incorporated within them.
Medium Sized Garden Space
First we will think about the space available. With anywhere other than a small garden I like to think first about circulation - not only how people will move around the garden but what will we put where to encourage people to want to explore the garden. Obviously one way to achieve this is with different seating areas (often positioned for sun or shade at different times of the day to the preference of our client - as some like sun and some prefer shade). Then between these different areas we can either choose to add a sense of mystery (by partially screening areas from view through a careful selection of plants, so that there are glimpses of areas to be revealed) or alternatively we can fully screen places from one another, with hedges or fencing for example, so that different spaces are private (and this is often used to good effect when teenagers share the garden with their parents).
Simplicity and Unity
Overall though it is important to bear in mind that although you can achieve more than is possible in a small garden it is a mistake to shoehorn in too much when formulating ideas for a medium sized garden. Less is definitely more in any garden. You do therefore have to apply some judgement to what to include and what not to. Of course there is the opportunity to include almost anything from a wish-list (up to and including a large garden building) if that is really wanted (although this may then limit other decisions and create interesting challenges to incorporate it naturally into the space). The key design principle to apply becomes one of creating a sense of unity and harmony throughout so that the garden fits together across different spaces.
Planting and lawns for medium gardens
Finally we turn the the planting itself - and this relates back in the first instance to the previous comment about creating unity. Repetition is the key here. By repeating blocks of plants, planted in groups of 3, 5, 7 or more) and possibly repeating plant forms across a planing scheme (for example domes, horizontals, verticals or clipped shapes) you develop on overarching theme that ties the garden together. You can also offset the visual impact of structures, or other large elements, with an area of void to harmonise with their mass - and in a medium garden this is reserved for an area of lawn.
However lawns no longer need to be looked at as a perfectly green desert maintained by chemicals and intensive mowing. Cutting to different lengths, encouraging low growing flowers to slowly colonise the space, and accepting that in shady or damp spots moss will creep in (and keep the area looking green from a distance) are how you should think of these areas. This provides opportunities for nature as well as allowing for reduced maintenance allowing more time to tend to planting elsewhere or to just relax.
When it comes to the planting I think you want to “layer” your plants. For this I mean don’t adopt a Victorian approach of individual plants surrounded by bare soil (not least because weeds will forever seek to colonise the bare ground). Instead build your planting with a few focal plants (be they trees, shrubs or tall ornamental grasses - of which some should be evergreen for winter interest), then add perennials that will look good in spring, others that flower in summer, and finally autumn flowering choices. Then add a few ground cover plants to create a habitat for invertebrates and help to suppress any weed growth. This layering optimises habitats for wildlife but also ensures that there is always something of interest to look at throughout the year.
Approaching the design of a medium sized garden, or simply pulling together medium garden ideas, allows plenty of scope for creativity and interest. The important point to remember though is to ensure you maintain a coherent theme across the garden and that you design a space that is maintainable and, most importantly, that fulfils your key requirements.