hi i am rachel mathews from successful gardendesign. and this is the second part in our series on small space gardening. so in today'svideo we're going to look at what you can do with small and really, really tiny spaces.so if you've got an awkward corner, or somewhere that's just so small that you don't eventhink it's even possible to do anything with then this video is for you. so in the small space on the stairs, as you go down the breakfast room at casa aire de lecrin, they have thislittle grouping of geraniums both in pots on the floor and hanging from the wall, butwhat makes this work is actually the structure they've put in. the pots and little featuresbring it all together, so that it is not just
the plants. so as simple as this is, it'snot just a few plants been plant down. there has a lot of thought go into it. from themonochromatic colors scheme right down to the ornaments and structure that provide theinteresting backdrop to the planting, and then when you get down to the breakfast areaeven the tiniest of corners like this one, have a group for planting. and what makesthis work is that there is different levels within the planting. so there is layers, andbecause it's going up, it draws the eye up. and again very subtle colors here, butthey're not just relying on the plants. you'll notice that sort of wrought irongateway and also the driftwood behind the planting that, solid structure does createa nice amount of interest. and then as we
look around the breakfast area, and the poolsidebit you can see again, whenever there is a group of plants, there is structure therein layers and just taking the eye up makes all the difference as you can see here. andeven on the ground in this very small garden, this mosaic draws the interest, and the verytiny pieces within it make that little space look much larger. whenever you use smallermaterials, you need a lot more often to fill the space, so your eye will automaticallythink, ahh lots of something makes the space big, so it's very good way to create theillusion of space. now in the first video i asked you a bit of a trick question, whatis it about this planting that i wanted you to notice? well, the answer is look how fewplants have been used in this garden. there
is what, we got one, two, three, four, five,six in pots and just sneaking out we can see a vine. so that's seven plants. how manygardens do you know that can look this good with just seven plants? so that's what iwanted to draw your attention to. how important design elements are. the plants are the finishingtouch, the icing on the cake if you like. you know in so many books and magazines andblog articles all you read about is plants, plants, plants. now i am not saying they arenot important, of course they are very important, but if you take into account the design elements,first and foremost, and then add the plants that's when the real magic happens. andthat is my mission at successful garden design, to get you thinking further than just theplants and starting to think about design
and the impact it can make in your garden.cause i absolutely promise you if you think about the design elements and not just theplants, it makes a tremendous difference. and actually it makes creating a beautifulgarden so much easier. but i'll show you much more tips and tricks on how to incorporatedesign into your gardens in future videos. so for now, let's continue now with our_ (3:38) tour of the small gardens in southern spain. and moising on out from the casa thenext door neighbor has an even tinier garden- and this balcony garden, as you can see it'sabsolutely crammed full of geraniums and again they've been very clever by using a limitedcolor palette and that has created that abundant, glorious look and it has the impact becausethey've just gone for one or two variations
on the same color. and that's been a veryclever use of such a tiny space. now going a little further a field, the city of cordobais well known for patio gardens where as you can see people just litter their walls withbrightly colored plants. again very compact color scheme, and again this works well becauseit leads the eye up. so you're really thinking the space so much bigger because of the verticalelement. and they're very cunning. you'll notice there is no marks down the walls. theyhave the pots, there is a little wedge behind them where they keep them away from thoselovely white walls. and they're watering them very precisely. apparently, they havean albeit bean can or something on the end of a bamboo pole. so each pot gets exact the amountof water in each, and therefore there is no
wastage or no masses running down the walls.and moving onto the narrow streets of frigliana, they have loads of gardens. well in fact,people have no gardens, they just use the street as you do. and again collections ofpots and it looks beautiful- so you can have as little or as many you'd like. so hopetoday's video has inspired you to do something with your small space. and that you can seethat size doesn't really matter it's what you do with it that counts. and if you haveany suggestions for future videos, do drop me a line on the contact form at the successfulgardendesign.comwebsite.
