If your outdoor space is small, tricky, or non-existent, you can still find a way to grow a small garden. Forget big shrubs or sculptural trees and think windowsills, clever climbing vines, and dense indoor jungles. Sometimes, simply finding the right pot is enough to unlock the potential of a corner of greenery, while other solutions are more ingenious. Here are some mature ideas worth trying.
Hanging baskets are popular with urban gardeners for hanging from lampposts, but there are other cooler forms as well. Hanging baskets are ideal for utilizing unused wall space in small balcony areas, and can be of any shape or size as long as they are firmly supported.
Try an industrial, grooved design like this instead of the traditional round wire version.
You can even build your own hanging container with upcycled jars for an aesthetically pleasing and economical look.
Use the windowsill as a mini garden where you can grow annuals, perennials, and herbaceous plants for year-round variety and fun.
Choose fairly tall specimens so that you can view and enjoy them indoors. Plants like verbena grow on tall, strong stems that don’t block the light but give a welcome height to window frames.
For things that have a high impact but are low maintenance, try planting a row of grass in the window frame. Again, you will be able to admire these from the inside, which create a pleasing green screen that softens the cityscape.
Instead of trying to grow a garden in such a tricky, dark courtyard, why not brighten it up with geometric tiles and attractive furniture? Think of the low area outside the basement window as an extension of the interior, so it’s a pleasure to use and beautiful to look at from the inside.
Build pots in the corners to create a green focal point. Towing plants helps to mask the horizontal lines of the pots and pairs with smaller specimens, giving this relaxed seating corner a lush, rich feel.
Here, the homeowner remodeled the tray to make it waterproof and then painted it white.
Don’t just dot your surroundings with potted plants, but aim big and create a rich indoor garden look. Place large houseplants of various sizes and heights on the floor and use mirrors to maximize the effect.
Alternatively, take a “more is more” approach, but use a piece of furniture, such as a stool or shelf, to organize the display of potted plants. Tuck it under a sunny window and watch your plants thrive.
Grow vertical climbing plants indoors and set up a simple, minimal wire mesh partition. This one is located on the side of the staircase, but the idea also fits into a sunny interior wall.
Revolutionize the idea of indoor climbing plants and encourage creeping plants to grow like crazy. Let lush plants, such as this devil’s ivy, hang down from the highest shelves, giving a jungle vibe to minimalist interiors.
The low wall around the staircase is used for potted plants. If building something like this is too complicated or expensive, look for existing facilities that can become a row of plants or dedicated long pots, such as window sills or mantelpiece.
The idea works from the inside out. It is based on the notion that if small pieces are used in a compact space, they make the space look smaller. It’s better to play around with scale and fill a small area with some big, bold parts than to clutter up attention to the narrow size with lots of miniature objects.
Here, a comfortable sofa and many bold, sky-reaching bamboo plants beautifully fill this miniature balcony, giving it height, greenery and a comfortable place to rest.
A small light well next to this London home is cleverly greened with tall Japanese maple trees. They are a vibrant green in the summer but turn yellow in the fall and have striking red branches that contrast with the white walls in winter.
The grass planted around turns golden and dies, leaving room for fresh spring bulbs and ferns, heralding the beginning of a new year.
An ingenious additional detail is the metal wall sculpture, which is illuminated from behind. There are also lights inside the containers, casting shadows on the white brick walls at night.
