The less is more garden : big ideas for designing your small yard

225 Pages·2018·69.15 MB·English

by  Morrison, Susan

the less is more garden

the less is more garden
BIG IDEAS FOR DESIGNING YOUR SMALL YARD
susan morrison
Timber Press
Portland, Oregon
Frontispiece: Small spaces can help us appreciate gardening’s simple pleasures.
Copyright © 2018 by Susan Morrison.
All rights reserved.
Photography and design credits appear on page 215.
Published in 2018 by Timber Press, Inc.
The Haseltine Building
133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450
Portland, Oregon 97204-3527
timberpress.com
Printed in China
Book design by Debbie Berne Design
ISBN: 978-1-60469-791-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Morrison, Susan, 1963– author.
Title: The less is more garden: big ideas for designing your small
yard / Susan Morrison
Description: Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 2018. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017046011 (print) | LCCN 2017049480
(ebook) | ISBN 9781604698398 | ISBN 9781604697919 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Gardens—Design.
Classification: LCC SB473 (ebook) | LCC SB473 .M68 2018 (print) | DDC
712—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017046011
To my mother, Pat Morrison, for being my gardening inspiration, and
to my sister Kathy Hawes, who may not know the difference between a
daylily and a daphne, but is always my biggest cheerleader.

contents
Foreword 9
Preface: The Less Is More Approach
to Garden Design 10
The Lifestyle Garden 13
Design Templates for Modest-Size Yards 35
Streamlined Design 75
Small Garden, Big Impact 101
The Sensory Garden 135
Hardscape Elements 163
Beautiful, Low-Maintenance Plants 179
A Sense of Place, Regardless of Space 201
Metric Conversions 212
Additional Reading and Resources 213
Acknowledgments 214
Photography, Design, and Location Credits 215
Index 217

9
foreword
Every time I visit a well-designed small garden it makes me feel envious. These
spaces, which are a quarter — or less — the size of my one-acre property, have more
interest, impact, charm, and style than I can imagine for my landscape. As the editor
of a national gardening magazine, it is my job to find these spaces that inspire the
rest of us to try to improve our own gardens. What the best of these gardens have in
common is understanding one simple concept: less is more.
When confronted with something that isn’t turning out the way we’d hoped, be
it a recipe, a living room design, or a garden, our impulse is to add something. That
thing we add might just be the key to success. When it is not, we add something else.
And things still aren’t working. What we wind up with is something so full of com-
peting flavors, color, tchotchkes, or plants that we can’t even tell what the problem is
anymore. Small spaces offer little room for error, so the stakes are higher.
Fortunately, you have this book. Many books on small-space garden design are
filled with random, trendy ideas the author merely imagined or happened to have a
photo of. This one, however, is written by a real, down-in-the-trenches designer who
is as concerned with practicality as she is with beauty. Susan has designed countless
small spaces, successful in no small part because she listens intently to the cares
and concerns of her clients. This grasp of the hopes, fears, desires, and struggles of
people who want the most from their limited space makes her uniquely qualified to
help you handle yours.
If you listen to what Susan is saying in this book, and internalize the principles A small deck surrounded
by a small garden makes a
she is proposing, I have little doubt that the garden you create will make me feel perfect spot for relaxing.
envious, too.
— Steve Aitken, editor, Fine Gardening magazine