Joyce’s Tiny Cottage Garden

A living bench with blue star creeper accents this tiny cottage garden. Watered by a drip system this is an easy care focal point adds another interesting element to the small space garden

Diamond in the Rough

When the owner of a newly remodeled home in the Naples area of Long Beach, first called Alford’s English Gardens, she was desperate to find some help with completing the cottage look for the front of her home. Joyce knew what she wanted but didn’t know how to put the look together. She had some issues!

The home had recently been upgraded and repainted. The problem was– the monotone color looked good on the paint chit but was a little overwhelming in this tiny home– almost creating a commercial look to the home.

The new brick porch and landing seemed out of scale and too harsh a contrast with the paint. Joyce complained that it was hard to maneuver down the steps because the landings were awkward and undefined in the dark. She had just had them installed by someone else and it was too expensive to replace.

An attempt to make the home look formal didn’t fit the cottage style she really wanted. .The matching windows, awnings, columns and wood panels made this little house look boxy. All the plant material was past its life span and needed to be replaced. The garden is really small under a total of 450 sq ft of useable space and Joyce craved a cottage garden with a little privacy

Worst of all she had done the job without the advice of any designers, a mistake that could have cost her to re-do. Fortunately she gave us a call — take a peek and see before and after pictures of her diamond in the rough.

Before — boxy and boring — all the plants were removed and new Marathon II sod was added with a low volume watering system to reduce water consumption.

After — white birch trees where used to soften and screen the home. Joyce was thrilled to peek out the windows and see the garden instead of parked cars.

Before — The straight walkway made the home look even smaller –it was replaced with a meandering flagstone pathway to the gate expanding the garden area- here every inch counts.

After — the garden bed was curved around the landing to soften the look of the red brick. White roses and white and pink hydrangeas fill the garden. Annual color can be change out by season to completely change the look of the garden.

Before — The entrance landings could be a potential hazard – step downs are awkward and too far apart, drop off on sides are too steep. Adding pots to visually mark out steps helped also directional low voltage lighting helped direct visitors in at night.

After- by curving the planter and running it along the landing, no one wants to take a short cut off the side.- something the postman was guilty of doing. Plants soften the large step down.

joyces-front-yard-066_web Before- a complete plan and consultation with a designer would have gotten the client what she really wanted– instead of too much brick. Scale is important in design especially in small gardens!

After-Topiaries in old cement pots where added for balance and little drama. Annual color pots were used to ‘shrink’ the landing area and direct guests to the front entrance.