Plants for small outdoor spaces

You can use plants to decorate any outdoor space, of any size. Here’s how to make your own little jungle.

Palms, ferns, grasses and a fatsia japonica in decorative pots styled on a small outdoor patio

You only need the tiniest bit of outdoor space to make a home for plants. A small patio, a balcony, or even just a window ledge can become home to new life. You just need a bit of imagination and the right plants. Follow our tips to rewild any space.

Plant window boxes

If you have a windowsill you have room for plants. You’d be amazed how much you can fit in a trough that’s only 45cm long. You can refresh your trough with flowering plants that reflect the seasons, like James the skimmia japonica or Luna the heather, over winter. Or, you can go for an all-year-round aesthetic with a permanent planting of the trailing Ivy or Effy, or the more wispy Angel Hair grass Amrita.

We've made it really easy for you to choose by curating a range of specially selected plants for a windowsill.

Fairy bellflowers planted in a grey fibrestone trough windowbox outside on a window sill

Get a statement tree

If you only have room for a small number of plants, make sure they’re eye-catching. A really good way to make the maximum impact with minimal plants is to grow a statement tree.

Vivi the lemon tree won’t take up much floor space, but she really cheers a space up with her bright yellow lemons.

Laura the bay tree and Ollie the olive tree come in smart shapes that make a space look very grown up.

Two pyramid bay trees in black fibrestone bucket pots either side a lollipop bay tree in a black fibrestone cylinder pot outside on a patio

Grow climbing plants

You barely need any space for climbing plants, just a wall. If you grow Clem the clematis, she’ll cover your wall in flowers. She’ll need something to hold onto, so attach some trellis to the wall, so she can wind around it.

Ivy the English ivy will grow up a wall all by herself. She grows fast, so you’ll have a leafy wall in surprisingly little time.

Close-up of a clematis climbing up the side of a house

Keep it colourful

Draw people’s attention to your plants by making them all vibrantly colourful. That could mean picking bright, flowering plants like Gia the hydrangea or Clement the camellia.

Or you can pick plants with colourful leaves, like funky Kirby the cordyline or George the cotinus.

Embrace a theme

If you only have room for a small number of plants, keep them to a theme to maximise the effect and create visual harmony. There’s no end to the different themes you could try.

You could go for the favoured British cottage garden theme, opt for a more structural modern style, or even create your own little citrus grove.