Experts give advice on growing small

SCRIPPS HOWARD

Thinking small is standard procedure for Dave Roberts of Roberts Landscape and Ed Ayala of Ayala Design Build.

The two often are challenged to produce great landscapes in small spaces.

The Sacramento, Calif.-area landscape designers and contractors offer the following advice to frequently asked questions about small yards.

Q: Are small garden areas more difficult to design than large ar- eas? Ayala: Smaller ones actually are easier to design.

With a big back yard, everybody is thinking about lawn.

Even with a large space, you’re thinking about the creation of small spaces within it.

If you don’t, the large space becomes boring very quickly.

Roberts: You have to work with scale in small yards.

You can have a tree, but if you need one, pick a small- to medium-growth tree.

You have to work with dwarf varieties.

You may need to use vines and a trellis to get height.

People want privacy and we frequently find ourselves building pergolas with lattice screening built into them.

Q: What basic premise should homeowners keep in mind when landscaping a small yard? Roberts: Get out into the yard; put your patio out in the middle.

Put the concrete pad outside the door to a large, freestanding circle that sits out in the middle.

You want the feeling of things around you, not concrete-to-concrete and living on this little strip next to the house.

If you were in a room, would you put all your chairs along the walls? Plant your trees 10 or 12 feet from the fence, not right next to the fence.

Q: How do traditional lawns fit into today’s small-yard designs? Ayala: Since most of the space has to be used for circulation, you really don’t have an opportunity to plant lawn, ground covers and things like that.

The space truly becomes an outdoor room, an extensive of interior space.

It’s the cheapest room addition you can ever build.

Think of it as a roofless room and forget about traditional garden materials.

Think fountain instead of hearth, paving instead of carpeting, a wall seat instead of furniture.

Roberts: If you want lawn, you have to get real creative.

Clients in a ...

tract home at first didn’t want lawn because they lived across the street from a park.

Then they changed their mind because of their son, and we built a patio that curved out onto some lawn.

It was a 14-foot circle of turf.

Q: What other ways do children and animals affect decisions? Roberts: With kids and dogs, it’s a whole other deal.

Kids need a place where they can do their thing, but they don’t really need all that “stuff.” You give them a pile of dirt and they’ll have more fun than with a swing set.

I recommend people drop the apparatus which becomes the focal point of the yard.

Kids get older, grow out of the swing set mode and you’re still stuck with the same focal point.

I’ve taken quite a few down.

Small side areas make great dog runs.

Q: Should a spa be a focal point? Roberts: People like spas in small-yard settings, but don’t try to make it a focal point.

Put it off to the side; put it near the back door or master bedroom door.

Q: What types of gardens lend themselves to small spaces? Ayala: Container gardens and shade gardens work well in limited space.

We’re working with one that is enclosed by stucco walls.

It’s perfect for a Mediterranean garden with very little planting — citrus trees, terra-cotta paving pattern, a fountain and a Moorish- Mediterranean look.