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](https://res.cloudinary.com/patch-gardens/image/upload/w_500,h_281,dpr_2,c_fill,q_auto,g_auto/v1623948086/cms/Online%20magazine/How%20to%20use%20plants%20in%20small%20outdoor%20spaces/16-9_Hero-min.jpg)
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 fill it with flowering plants for a hit of colour. Try Lottie the fairy bell flower or Oscar the African daisy. Or you could use it to grow edible plants like Tommy the tomato or a selection of herbs.
Or make life really easy for yourself with one of our windowsill sets.
![Fairy bellflowers planted in a grey fibrestone trough windowbox outside on a window sill](https://res.cloudinary.com/patch-gardens/image/upload/w_500,dpr_2,c_fill,q_auto,g_auto/v1623948085/cms/Online%20magazine/How%20to%20use%20plants%20in%20small%20outdoor%20spaces/3-2_Window_box-min.jpg)
Get a statement tree
If you only have room for a small number of plants, make sure they’re eye-catching ones. 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 Peter the box 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](https://res.cloudinary.com/patch-gardens/image/upload/w_500,dpr_2,c_fill,q_auto,g_auto/v1623948086/cms/Online%20magazine/How%20to%20use%20plants%20in%20small%20outdoor%20spaces/3-2_2_choose_a_statement_tree-min.jpg)
Grow climbing plants
You barely need any space for climbing plants, just a wall. If you grow Cleo 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](https://res.cloudinary.com/patch-gardens/image/upload/w_500,dpr_2,c_fill,q_auto,g_auto/v1623948086/cms/Online%20magazine/How%20to%20use%20plants%20in%20small%20outdoor%20spaces/3-2_grow_climbing_plants-min.jpg)
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 Lenny the lupin.
Or you pick plants with colourful leaves, like our lovely red guys, Kirby the cordyline and Harper the heuchera.
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 classic look. Or opt for clean modern shapes. Maybe create your own little citrus grove. Or just go wild with colour.
![Fairy bellflowers, two twisted stem bay trees, a white hydrangea, an agapanthus, a pyramid bay tree, a mint, an oregano and an Euonymus Fortunei in decorative pots styled on a deck around a curved pink chair](https://res.cloudinary.com/patch-gardens/image/upload/w_500,dpr_2,c_fill,q_auto,g_auto/v1623948087/cms/Online%20magazine/How%20to%20use%20plants%20in%20small%20outdoor%20spaces/3-2_2_Embrace_a_theme-min.jpg)
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