How to Create a Formal Garden in a Small Space – 7 Plants Designers Swear By
Create an elegant formal garden in a small yard with our top plant picks
Formal garden design is based firmly around structure, geometry and symmetry. These core principles can create real magic in any backyard, large or small, bringing harmony, balance and a calming sense of order to create a space that's easy and delightful to spend time in.
The best plants to complement a formal style of garden reflect that geometric style, with clean lines, defined shapes and architectural qualities that last all year round. Evergreen shrubs, clipped topiary and pleached trees are classic examples that garden designers and landscapers turn to time and again. Among those structural plants, elements of colour and vertical interest are also key, so perennials and flowering shrubs that offer long-lasting colour.
Basing your backyard design around formal principles is one of the best backyard ideas, and although we often associate these kinds of gardens with grand public spaces, the concept is easily adapted even to smaller courtyards and urban gardens. It's all about scaling down, yet still relying on repetition and the less is more concept. To help you on your journey to cool, calm, harmonious formality, I've chosen seven of my favorite elegant, formal-feel trees, shrubs and perennials.
1. Yew
Stately yew (Taxus baccata) is the deep green backbone to many a beautiful formal garden and one of the very best evergreen shrubs to plant. It's slow growing, shade tolerant, easy to manage and brilliantly clippable, effortlessly lending itself to sharply trimmed hedges high or low, as well as fantastic topiary shapes.
Advice from Laura Janney, CEO of The Inspired Garden Masterclass, can be applied to yew and all kinds of evergreen planting: 'Plant in straight rows. Perfectly edged lines lend a feeling of elegance and is more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, plus it give that upscale vibe.'
You could also use yew or box topiary as a focal point, essential in formal garden design and one of the principals Laura is keen to underline: 'Whether it's a special shrub, a small statue or even a bench or bird bath, having a place to draw attention helps to make a small space feel less crowded.'
Buy Densiformis yew at Nature Hills Nursery
Hardiness: USDA zones: 2-10 (depending on cultivar)
2. Box
Another classic addition to a formal garden, which will provide form and year-round interest is boxwood (Buxus). Like yew, it can be clipped and shaped into pretty much any form imaginable, from simple balls and pyramids to more complex spirals, cubes and even animal forms. Box is brilliant for edging paths, either as a hedge or as a series of balls, bringing that essential repetition found in formal garden designs.
'Nothing says manicured and formal like boxwoods,' says Laura. 'The best part being that they grow very slowly, so they're easy to prune to the shape you want.'
As a low hedge boxwood has been used for centuries in parterres, to create simple or elaborate geometric patterns, the spaces in between planted with edibles, roses or flowering perennials. More here on how to design a parterre garden.
Buy boxwood shrubs at Fast Growing Trees.
Hardiness: USDA zones 4-9 (depending on cultivar)
3. Roses
Roses are hugely versatile and although they rarely give you straight lines or symmetry, in a formal garden they're invaluable for bringing colour, scent and a little playfulness to break up and soften that rigid structure.
Laura agrees: 'Roses are the epitome of formal gardens. Pay attention to the variety though as some can get unruly quickly and/or grow very tall. Choose slower growing and smaller varieties, like many of the David Austin roses.'
In the simplest imagining of a formal garden brief, a pair of standard 'lollipop' roses either side of a doorway is perfect, and a key factor in designing a rose garden. A pair of these square aged granite-effect planters from Lowes would work well in a formal space.
Shop the range of standard rose 'trees' at My Perfect Plants.
Hardiness: USDA zones 4-11 (depending on cultivar)
4. Dwarf Hydrangeas
'Garden space is precious in a small formal plots, so choose plants carefully,' says Laura. 'Avoid perennials with short bloom times and fill gaps with annuals. Hydrangeas are really elegant and lend the elevated vibe that's so important in a formal space. They can get quite large though, so plant dwarf varieties for the same feel without worrying about them getting out of hand. Best of all they are long bloomers.'
In fact, hydrangeas can bring color to a garden for around six months of the year, beginning in midsummer and lasting, in their elegantly faded forms, until the first frosts. Beyond that their dried flowerheads can look good right through winter. So it's worth seeking out the best hydrangeas for small spaces, giving you a great bang for your buck.
Buy 'Let's Dance' dwarf blue hydrangeas at Fast Growing Trees.
Browse dwarf shrubs at My Perfect Plants.
Hardiness: USDA zones 3-9 (depending on cultivar)
5. Catmint
One of my all-time favorite perennial plants, catmint (Nepeta) is colorful, long-flowering and a fantastic addition for pollinators. Its long stems of lavender blue flowers on silvery-green foliage make a wonderful contrast to the formal lines of box and yew. It's also beautifully aromatic. It needs full sun: here are all the details on how to grow catmint.
Laura is a fan too: 'Catmint is a wonderful formal garden plant that keeps its shape and structure, plus it's such a long bloomer. Just pay attention to the variety and, when you're gardening in smaller spaces, stick to those that are on the shorter side.'
Buy 'Junior Walker' catmint at Nature Hills Nursery.
Hardiness: USDA zones 3-9
6. Pelargoniums
Even in the winter months, ornamental grasses, provide architectural interest, movement and magic to your yard.
For reliable color for at least seven months of the year, annual pelargoniums are tough to beat. Plant in spring in pots or in the ground, filling any empty spaces in sun, and they'll bloom until the first frosts – great value and essential in smaller spaces.
Do remember to feed them throughout the blooming season. A liquid fertilizer such as Miracle Gro from Lowes is ideal, watering it in once a week to keep those flowers coming. It's not too late to plant them either, as they're among the best patio plants to add in July.
Remember pelargoniums aren't frost hardy, so if you want to keep them going over winter it's best to pop them in a greenhouse for the coldest months.
'Pelargoniums keep their shape well, giving a nice mounded form, beautiful foliage and a lovely vintage formal feel,' says Laura.
Buy pelargonium plants at Amazon.
7. Alliums
Who doesn't love an allium? Those gorgeous neat rounded lollipops burst into bloom in spring, lighting up the garden with luminous, saturated colour on a stick. And those slimline vertical accents fit in the even the smallest of spaces.
When to plant allium bulbs? Autumn is best and be generous. Pack them in closely, in pots or towards the back of borders, digging in plenty of horticultural grit if your soil's heavy. In containers use around a third grit to two-thirds potting compost. They'll come back year after year.
Shop the allium range at Burpee.
Hardiness: USDA zones 3-9 (depending on variety)
Design Tips For a Small Formal Garden
On a larger scale, a formal garden is a grand affair, straight lines defining the space and focal points leading the eye from one area to another. On a smaller scale, formality can work equally well if you stick to Laura's basic principles.
'Less is more. Don't try to crowd in too many plants. Giving them breathing space will elevate a smaller space.
'Keep it simple. A small garden can look chaotic when you use too many plant varieties. Stick to a curated list of just a handful of different plants. and use the repeat-planting trick.
'Pay attention to color. In small formal garden monochrome palettes work well to lend sophistication. Limit yourself to a maximum of three colors.
'Take advantage of vertical space. Just a few tall statement plants can give a feeling of quiet luxury.
'Make use of containers. In a small space keep containers the same color and material. Also ensure container designs are simple to stop them competing with the planting and looking too busy.'
Buy a simple classic terracotta urn at Amazon.
What to Shop
By sticking to these rules and choosing from our pared-down planting list, you can achieve a formal garden with elegance, color and an elevated feel, even in a small courtyard or urban space.
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