Ideas for Landscaping a Small Yard
- Landscape a small yard with hardscape, like flagstone or other natural stone pavers, rather than grass. Remove most or all of the grass and create a patio area that you can enjoy. Leave a strip of grass on the side or at the back if you have pets, or you could space the pavers and have grass or aromatic herbs growing up between them. If you decide to leave a space, make sure your furniture will fit onto the stones without falling into the cracks. Add a grill to one side and place a dining table nearby. Build a pergola off the back of your house for shade and cover, and place the dining table beneath it. Enhance your outdoor living space with a separate seating area in another part of your yard. Group four chairs around a fire pit or place two teak lounge chairs side by side. Bring more greenery and color into your landscaping with dwarf fruit trees and other flowering plants potted in containers.
- Sculpt the perimeter of your small yard with a line of flower beds. Make your beds form a straight line or create a free-form shape like scallops or waves. You can border the beds with stacked landscaping pavers and fill them in with mulch or small white stones. Plant a mixture of colorful perennials and evergreen shrubs that bloom for added color throughout the year. You can excavate a small section of your yard close to your house and build a patio with pavers to match the borders of your flower bed. Consider leaving a small section beyond the patio for grass or sod that connects to the flower beds and offers a place for kids and pets to play.
- Create a focal point for your backyard with a small waterfall that empties into a small pond. You can place the waterfall in a corner of your property or anywhere along a fence line. Adding a waterfall to your landscaping is not complicated, but it can be physically challenging. You can find preformed plastic pond liners and preformed waterfalls at your local landscaping supply store. The most important thing to remember about digging the hole for the pond liner is to make sure that it's level. You can buy manmade stones to cover the sides of your waterfall form, or you can make a hillside with dirt and potting soil for planting flowers.