07 Garden Design Ideas – To Make The Best Of Your Outdoor Space

BY THE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL TEAM
JUN 10, 2021
Eco-friendly gardening

These garden design ideas are key to creating a scheme you’ll love for years to come. Whether you’re looking for garden landscaping ideas to overhaul your outdoor space, or more tailored garden design inspiration such as garden furniture, paving, lights, plants, borders, decking and more, we’ve compiled some fabulous garden ideas to help you transform your back garden, whether it’s big or small – and it’ll help to boost your property value, too.

But before you proceed with any redesigns or updates, take a look at your garden as a whole, says Andrew Kyte at The Chelsea Gardener: ‘Find out as much as you can about the garden’s position, direction and outlook. Not only will this affect planting, it can dictate how you use your space.’
Whether it’s a small garden, long and narrow garden, cottage garden or courtyard garden, you should observe where and at what times of day different parts of the garden gets light and sun. Think about access and what you want to use your garden for – planting and growing veg, sunbathing, eating alfresco or simply sitting down to enjoy a cup of tea on a sunny morning?Answer these questions and you’ll have a clear idea of exactly how you want your garden to work for you. We hope these garden ideas will give you some inspiration…

07 Garden Design Ideas – To Make The Best Of Your Outdoor Space

1. Get your lawn into shape

Look out of your window at your garden and the biggest shape you’ll probably see is your lawn. If it’s a good, strong shape, it will set the entire garden on the right track. And remember, it doesn’t have to be a rectangle – try an oval, circle, square or oblong shape.
You’ll need the right tools to complete the job. The experts at price comparison service, PriceRunner, has revealed a rise in searches for nifty robotic lawn mowers (126 per cent) and ride-on mowers (182 per cent) since the pandemic, with the Flymo Easi Glide 300 Electric Mower being the best selling lawn mower this year (April 2021).

IAN LAMOND / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

For ongoing lawn care and maintenance, Stuart Thomas, gardening expert at online garden centre Primrose, advises: ‘If your lawn is looking lacklustre, consider the three tenets of sunshine, showers and soil aeration. Cut branches back to keep excessive shade away. Water once a week early in the morning if the UK’s frequent rain isn’t cutting it. For aeration, take a fork to your lawn and poke heaps of holes. Do all of these and your lawn will be verdant before you know it. And don’t mow it too short!’

2. Plan your planting

The best garden designs start with structural plants infilled with pretty, flowering plants. So use evergreen shrubs at the end of each border and as punctuation along the way. Include small shrubs such as box balls, or large evergreens, for example mahonia, for bigger areas.
Once you have this frame, fill the gaps with pretty flowering plants. Try to stick to just five or six different types and arrange them in repeated patterns for a coordinated and harmonious effect. A metre or more in depth is a perfect size for a border, giving you enough space to put smaller plants at the front with taller ones behind.

In this calm planting scheme, tall grasses combine with a riot of colourful pink and purple blooms. (RHS Hampton 2018: Secured by Design, designed by Lucy Glover and Jacqueline Poll).

RHS/NEIL HEPWORTH

Remember, narrow, low-planted beds

can define seating or dining areas, as can lines of planted-up troughs – choose evergreen scented plants, such as lavender or Mexican orange blossom. Containers offer the most flexibility though, allowing you to move them around however suits. ‘Creeping rosemary is a great plant for edging in containers, as it trails rather than growing upright, is evergreen and covered in blue flowers in spring,’ says Tony Woods, managing director of garden design company Garden Club London.

If you don’t have room for metre-deep beds, you could place climbers at the back of the border so you can still get height in the planting. In terms of climbing plants, opt for an evergreen like clematis, which provides a beautiful and colourful display.
Tony Woods recommends star jasmine for seating areas: ‘It’s very well-behaved, produces masses of white, waxy, scented flowers throughout the summer and reacts well to being cut back, so is ideal for positioning behind a seating area where you don’t want plants hanging over and can enjoy the scent.’
When you’re choosing flowering plants, try to make some of them ‘out of season’ performers so you have some year-round colour, or put in spring and early summer bulbs to get the garden off to a great start.

A riot of colour, the planting here combines Helenium and Achillea in fiery colours, interspersed with striking Imperata

RHS/NEIL HEPWORTH

Concerned about the environmental impact of your garden? If you’re looking for ways to make it more sustainable, The Samphire Garden by Sue Townsend demonstrates how you can create a garden that benefits the planet and is still bursting with texture and visual interest.

Set amongst paving

of locally reclaimed York Stone, the coastal garden in Suffolk uses a rich palette of drought-tolerant planting, including native seaside plants, grasses and Mediterranean shrubs surrounded by a stone mulch in different sizes. Plants include verbena bonariensis, eryngiums, euphorbias, lavender, achillea, ballota, miscanthus nepalensis, pennisetum, verbena and thymus. Ensure you use permeable surfaces to allow water to be released naturally into the ground.

07 Garden Design Ideas – To Make The Best Of Your Outdoor Space

Samphire garden by Sue Townsend, winner of the Beth Chatto Award for best Eco Garden at the SGD Awards 2020

SUE TOWNSEND VIA SOCIETY OF GARDEN DESIGNERS

3. Trees

Mature trees can be a starting point for building a scheme. They block the glare of the sun and can also be used as an anchor for shade sails, a hammock, pendant lights or hanging decorations.
Trees can also screen an unattractive view or help to filter noise and air pollution if you live near a busy road. And they benefit nature significantly, providing pollen for insects and shelter for birds, and converting airborne carbon dioxide into oxygen.
In fact, a growing trend is multi-stem trees – planting these can create an architectural showpiece, with the elegant canopies lending themselves to layered underplanting or, if planted exclusively, creating a striking structural statement. As seen below in this modern Suffolk garden by Caitlin McLauglin, multi-stem trees and soft planting creates a deconstructed woodland environment in a front courtyard garden.

Suffolk garden by Caitlin McLauglin, winner of the Fresh Designer award at the SGD Awards 2020

CAITLIN MCLAUGLIN

‘Trees are fantastic as a habitat and food source for wildlife and as a source of carbon capture. They also give structure and architecture to a garden,’ says Sarah Squire, Chair of Squire’s Garden Centres. ‘There are trees for every size and shape of garden, from a small acer in a pot on a balcony or a gorgeous flowering cherry in a back garden, to birch, whitebeam and hornbeam (my personal favourite) for larger spaces.’

4. Beautiful paving

The colour and style of your paving and the way it is laid can provide a strong design direction for the entire garden. For instance, grey or white stone laid in a random pattern will set the scene for a French country look; black or silver paving organised in a regular design will form the perfect backdrop to a sleek and modern scheme; while golden stone arranged in a mixed pattern creates an English country feel.

Aged Riven paving from Bradstone

BRADSTONE

Need some inspiration? Butter Wakefield created an elaborate paving design of 10 interlinking circles in her Ribbon Wheel garden, each one different in design and size and connected to one another by a ‘ribbon’ of York cobblestones. The circles, created from a combination of limestone and York stone are laid in a mix of setts and cobbles creating a stunning effect.

Circular paving seen in the Ribbon Wheel garden by Butter Wakefield

BUTTER WAKEFIELD VIA SOCIETY OF GARDEN DESIGNERS

If you want to create the garden

of your dreams, attention to detail is everything. Create a beautiful scheme by coordinating your plants with your choice of paving. For example:

Grey or white stone looks great with purple and white blooms
Black and silver paving looks amazing with strong colours such as red, orange and yellow
Golden paving works with flowers that have soft tones – pink, lavender, and chalky yellow.

Michael John McGarr, director and garden designer at Warnes McGarr & Co, suggests: ‘Rather than jet washing the old worn paving, think about something new and exciting like large-format porcelain paving. Porcelain absorbs no water so requires less cleaning than traditional type of paving meaning less pressure washing and much less hard work when multiplied over future years.’

Rustic Multicolour Slate Outdoor Tile

Perfect for patios, terraces and courtyards, this glazed porcelain tile perfectly captures the look, texture and tonal variations seen on real slate, creating a truly authentic look and feel. The richer rusty tones offset beautifully against the darker natural colours, bringing warmth and character to the surfaces of your garden.

Regardless, it’s a good idea to create a flow of movement from your property into the garden. ‘By ensuring your paving is the same level as your indoor flooring, you can blur the lines between the interior and the exterior of the property,’ adds Michael.

07 Garden Design Ideas – To Make The Best Of Your Outdoor Space

5. Distinct levels

Is your garden on different levels? If you don’t like the idea of incorporating stone steps, you can achieve a seamless look with your existing lawn, for example, by enabling the flow from one space to the next. As seen in the below photo, garden designer Helen Elks-Smith used grass treads, integrating them into the existing lawn to connect the lower patio to the small sun terrace above.

Garden with grass steps by Helen Elks-Smith MSGD, winner of the Large Residential Award at the SGD Awards 2020

HELEN ELKS-SMITH VIA SOCIETY OF GARDEN DESIGNERS

Looking for decking ideas? If you have an uneven or sloping garden, decking is an ideal and cost-effective option for levelling it out. Decking can also have split levels and include steps, making it the ideal space for dining furniture, and due to its use, a decked garden area typically needs to withstand heavy foot traffic.
Environmentally friendly, anti-slip and maintenance-free, Millboard’s composite decking boards are an innovative mix of polyurethane and a mineral blend, offering the beauty and versatility of natural wood without the maintenance. This wood-free decking has a non porous outer layer, so it essentially self-cleans so the rain will do the hard work.

Millboard Composite Decking Weathered Vintage, Garden House Design

GARDEN HOUSE DESIGN

6. The furniture

For smaller courtyards and patios, go for folding furniture, or bench seating that can be tucked under a dining table when not in use. L-shaped sofas can be surprisingly compact, while larger spaces can take full-on seating sets, with matching chairs, sofas and tables, sun loungers and day beds, or on-trend hanging egg chairs or swing seats.

07 Garden Design Ideas – To Make The Best Of Your Outdoor Space

Grey hanging egg chair from BRIQ includes water-resistant washable cushions, full height stand and durable long lasting steel base.

BRIQ

Invest in a good garden furniture set that will last for years to come. Consider the space and allow enough room for each person. To be able to sit comfortably and pull out their chair without bumping into anything. And remember, you’ll also need room to walk around the table with everyone seated. It takes up much more space than you might think!
According to Claire Belderbos, director of garden landscaping specialists, Belderbos Landscapes, ‘a dining table works best in the area of the garden that has early afternoon full or partial sun. Put a smaller seating area where you can enjoy the evening sun’.

Rio Grey 6 Seater Outdoor Dining Table and Ivy Chair Set,

Danetti DANETTI

If, for example, you can’t move

your three-piece set indoors over winter, buy furniture covers to protect and extend its life. And whatever garden furniture you buy, don’t forget to accessorise with outdoor cushions for extra comfort.
And let’s not forget other garden must-haves. Including fire pits and chimineas, patio heaters, barbecues and pizza ovens. – Planning space for these is key, as is. Where they will be stored or protected once it’s winter.

This outdoor fireplace from Schiedel features natural volcanic pumice, providing insulation for a safe and spectacular centrepiece in the garden. Pumice is a natural insulator. Which means the fire not only heats up quickly. But requires less fuel to reach an optimum temperature. Isokern Garden Fireplace.

7. Pay attention to your boundaries

In a small garden,

boundary walls, fences or hedges may be the biggest element in view, so it’s really important for them to look good. They don’t have to all be the same but try to provide visual links between them. You could have the same type of fence, for instance, and grow climbers up them in in coordinating colours. If you aren’t able to change the fences, whitewash them or clad them with battens or trellis. Check with your neighbours first to establish whose fence it is and ask permission before doing any work.

ELIZABETH MOEHLMANNGETTY IMAGES

The materials you choose are key, too. For example, timber posts don’t have to be confined to fencing a garden off from the neighbours. Carefully positioned within a garden, they can be used to frame plants. Or seating areas and add extra interest to borders or paths.
A really inventive use can be seen in the NHS 70 Garden for Addenbrooke’s Hospital by garden landscape company Bowles & Wyer. They used reclaimed oak posts to frame the view. Along a meandering path at its centre Positioning them at different heights and angles. So that new aspects of the space open up. To visitors as they make their way through.

Timber posts in NHS 70 Garden for Addenbrooke’s Hospital by Bowles & Wyer

RICHARD BLOOM VIA SOCIETY OF GARDEN DESIGNERS

Thanks To: House Beautiful

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07 Garden Design Ideas – To Make The Best Of Your Outdoor Space

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