Urban Gardens: Terrific Tight Spaces

Gardens have always had a presence in cities, but they have recently taken on a more important role as asphalt-free zones, used for planting, relaxation, play and entertaining. They may be small but, planned to maximize efficiency and tidiness - often by fitting squares and rectangles snugly into the space - city gardens can be designed to great success; designing on the diagonal is another good option, and makes your space seem larger.

Approaches vary, but most urban gardens are treated either as functional spaces or as green oases - both offer a private escape or retreat from hectic city life. Designers who view city gardens as functional spaces or extensions of the indoors use hard surfaces to create a stage for multiple uses, for example children's playscapes and outdoor dining areas. A simple palette of hard-landscaping materials create clean, practical surfaces, while careful planting along the boundaries can increase privacy. Architectural treatments to boundary walls, furniture and water features create elegant "rooms", often lit after dark to create extensions to the home.

For the city slicker who yearns for a green retreat planting dominates, sometimes densely and often taking over areas that could have been used for entertainment or play. This intensive planting approach livens up the space and can shield it, visually, from the tightly-packed buildings nearby. Pergolas or trimmed trees offer privacy, while dense planting can achieve a more naturalistic effect. Containers, small beds and trellises offer productive and pretty spaces for a complex range of decorative and functional plant species: flowering plants, vegetables and small fruit trees.

In many city gardens, close proximity to windows and the use of sliding or folding doors creates an enlarging seamlessness between interior and exterior "rooms."