Looking for the best gardening design for your space? You've come to the right place. We've gathered the most interesting garden styles and ideas to help you design a garden that's delightful in every way.
From small gardening designs and urban gardening to Japanese and Zen garden concepts, our selection is brimming with inspiring ideas that you can recreate or adapt to your space.
No matter what your personal taste and lifestyle are, there is always a gardening design that can reflect them.
It's about time you created your own green heaven, right?
Key Gardening Design Considerations
First, though, let's start with a few key considerations.
Whether you're remodeling your outdoor area or creating a new outdoor space, you want to have a garden design before you get to work.
A garden designer can help you with this and we recommend getting help from one if it's in your budget.
But you can create a garden design plan even without a designer. Here's what you need to pay attention to.
Know How You Will Use Your Garden
Will you be the only one using the garden or will you be sharing it with others? Family? Pets? Friends?
Based on your answer, you can determine whether to have a seating or lounge area for relaxation, whether to add a pergola, what flowers to plant, and so on.
Tip: Choosing a theme for your garden gets easier once you know how you will be using the space.
Keep Walkways Safe
When designing your garden walkways, be mindful of how they will be used. You don't want them to be too cramped. Or two wide, because then they will take up flower space.
Also, any slopes or steps should be as even as possible to prevent falls and other injuries. If you notice any issues with your walkways, address them immediately.
Pay Attention to Pergolas and Arbors
Pergolas and arbors should be tall and secured against winds. Make them sturdy, especially if you plan on having climbers grow on them.
Make sure the wood is treated to withstand the elements. You don't want it to rot!
Get Creative...
The best person to design your garden is you. Even if you hire a professional landscaper to help you, don't be afraid to get creative.
Using your creativity when designing a garden can save you a ton of money on manufactured garden features.
Plus it can make your design feel truly your own.
But Be Patient!
You can't bring a gardening design to life overnight. Well, you can, but the results won't be too good!
The time of completion will depend on the design and the intricacy of your garden. For bigger projects, it can take months. You don't want to rush the process as this will show in the end.
Creating a garden should be relaxing in itself. Breathe in and take it one step at a time.
Simple Gardening Ideas and Designs
No matter whether you're considering creating a new flower garden or sprucing up your old one, we've got lots of ideas for you.
With these creative gardening design ideas, you get a starting point for your personality and imagination to shine through.
Explore them now!
1. Small Gardening Design Ideas
Making the most out of smaller spaces can be challenging. But you can design a beautiful small garden to which you'll love coming back again and again. Here's an example of using a wooden bench and chairs.
2. Gardening Designs for Small Gardens
Don't be afraid to break the rules and turn your modest space into an amazing oasis. Gardening design is whatever you want to make of it. Here's another example of how greenery can fill a small space beautifully.
3. Small City Gardening Designs for Backyards
Pink flowers hanging in an arch and a brick wall set the stage for this lovely backyard garden that uses different colors and textures to create a wonderful nook.
4. Small Space Garden Design with Timber Deck
A small garden is a place for entertaining and relaxing. Make sure to fill the area with plants and flowers that make you feel serene. Your guests will pick up on your mood and have a wonderful time with you.
5. Rectangular Garden Designs Ideas with Water Features
Think of your backyard space as an empty canvas. No matter its shape, you can fill it with greenery, outdoor furniture, and water features. In this example, a bridge leads the way over a pond to the seating area.
6. Oriental Urban Gardening Idea
A city garden is not only for planting but also for playing, relaxing, and entertaining. Add an oriental feel to your outdoor space with this garden idea.
7. Indoor Outdoor Garden Designs and Layouts
Now here's is a combination of indoor and outdoor styles with shelving units. Who needs windows when you can have a modern living room in the open like this one?
8. All Green Garden Designs For Small Spaces
Urban gardens are a popular trend all over the world. This type of gardening design makes for a better environment and healthier lifestyle. Here's a wonderful all-green example for you.
9. Rooftop Urban Gardening Design
Bring nature into your home by growing colorful flowers on planters on your rooftop or terrace. Wooden furniture gives this one a cozy feel despite the somewhat dizzying heights!
10. Small City Garden Idea
Now back to terra firma with a cute gardening design that is simple and has a rustic feel to it. For some quiet time with your family, a simple arrangement like this can be wonderful.
11. Fascinating Garden Design Ideas
You can create your own garden fantasy with a little effort and some creativity. Here's an example of a cheap plant wall and some striking chairs made out of wire frame.
12. Best Gardening Designs for Cramped Spaces
Fill your balcony or terrace with plants and throw in a vintage mirror and you can reinvent a cramped space.
13. Wildlife Friendly Gardening Design
This type of rustic gardening design can easily attract birds, insects, and even small mammals. The bees will love it!
14. Stone Edging Garden Design
Place rocks along your walkway to create natural-looking flower borders and some striking color contrasts.
15. Enchanting Minimal Garden Design
Or keep things streamlined and minimalistic with modern features and a geometrical design, like in this example.
16. Pleasing Gardening Design
Create simple paths and structures that are easy to navigate. Sometimes that's all it takes to surround yourself with greenery.
17. Adorable Outdoor Space
Make sure that your garden design has enough room for dining and socializing. Choose weather-resistant furniture and place it gets shade on hot summer days.
18. Mesmerizing Garden Idea
A wide pathway with a pergola leading to a neatly trimmed lawn--doesn't this one look just great?
19. Small Garden Landscaping Ideas
You may not have a big outdoor space, but this doesn't mean that you can't get creative with what you have. Place a bench in a corner and fill the space with greenery and voila!
20. Modern Garden Design Ideas
Now here's something that's both simple and sophisticated at the same time. This garden design blends in straight lines seamlessly and uses outside garden lights to create a great effect.
21. Eco-friendly Gardening Design
Eco-friendly solutions can integrate hydroponics, aquaponics, and solar panels into creative pergolas and other structures, like in the example below.
22. Garden of Flowers Gardening Design Idea
Let flowers take the centerpiece in your garden and fill your outdoor space with fragrance. Here's an example that uses lavender and other plants that make noses happy.
23. Unique Planters for Your Gardening Design
You can save some money by growing plants in tin cans. It also adds an interesting aesthetic to any garden in an economical way.
24. Splendid Gardening Design
With some designing skills, you can turn your green space into a relaxing oasis you can enjoy in all seasons. In the following example, the tub has been placed in a greenhouse-like structure.
25. Garden Designs With Railway Sleepers
Railway sleepers help you create a charming path in your garden. You can also use them for retaining walls and garden steps.
26. Inspiring Container Gardening Design
You can dress up your garden using gorgeous containers arranged on multiple levels, like in this public garden.
27. DIY Gardening Design
If you have a limited space in your garden then hanging your plants can be a smart and fragrant idea.
28. Small Dish Gardening Designs
Dish gardens are trending these days since they can add a unique accent to your garden. Dishes don't have to be round--they can be octagonal. You can also combine different plants in one container.
29. Raised Bed Gardening Designs
Raised bed gardens enable you to choose the type of soil you'll use to match the needs of your plants.
Tip: You can also repurpose a wheelbarrow as a planter.
30. Container Flower Gardening Designs
Container gardens come in various shapes and sizes. Here's a rather extravagant example to give you a better idea of your possibilities.
31. Neat and Trim Landscaping and Gardening Designs
But maybe you just want to keep things neat and simple. This example uses flower borders around a backyard lawn with an elevated seating area.
32. Affordable Landscaping Gardening Design Inspo
With timber garden beds, you can create a beautiful contrast between the contrast of a grass lawn and the wood.
33. Inspirational Garden Design Ideas
Whether you are a skilled gardener or a first-timer, you can create your own inspiring landscaped garden by combining a hedge with short, shrub-like plants and a small flowering tree.
34. Garden Design For Small Gardens
Water features and tropical plants can transform a tiny outdoor space and make it look quite amazing. This example has a Zen quality to it.
35. Rocky Garden Design
Whether you use it pas paving, edging, or deecorative elements, stone can be a timeless choice in your garden. Combine it with bright green plants to create pleasant contrasts.
36. Zen Japanese Garden Design
The following example uses a bamboo fence as a backdrop with a stone bowl in the foreground. The lithe and supple plants add to the gracefulness of the setting.
37. Drought-Tolerant Gardening Design
Succulents and perennials blend well together. Not only that, but they can withstand long stretches without wilting or losing their pleasant colors.
38. Rain Water Features for Gardening Design
The rainwater in this pond serves as both a water source and a water feature! We wrote a whole guide on rain water harvesting--check it out!
39. Design Ideas For Your Small Garden Home
Surround your deck or patio with plants to create an intimate space you and your friends will love returning to.
40. Gardening Designs with Arbors and Pergolas
Frame a view with pergolas and arbors. The effect is wonderful! You can also use shrubs and small trees to fill the empty space.
41. Fascinating Flower Bed Ideas
A beautiful flower bed that incorporates yellow daffodils, purple carnations, red geraniums, and other complementary plants can look wonderful. Plus, it's pretty easy to create.
42. Perennial Gardening Design
This flower garden can give you years of fun. You don't need to replant perennials--you can count on them returning year after year to grace your garden paths and seating areas.
43. Flower Garden Designs
The shape of your flower garden can be as important as the varieties of flowers you use. In this example, low hedges create beautiful green frames around the flower beds.
44. Modern Minimalist Inspirational Garden Ideas
You can turn your small outdoor space into a chill outdoor living space by using emptiness to your advantage. Here's an example that does away with unnecessary details.
45. Urban Oasis Gardening Design
Bringing flower pots and containers together can help you transform urban space into a mini garden. Here's an example of a green nook created out of a balcony-type of space.
46. Garden Designs without Grass
Grass doesn't have to be the predominant element in your garden if you don't want it to. Stone paving together with colorful tiles or mosaics can take their place.
47. DIY Garden Design with Bicycle
Got an old bike that's rusting in the shed? Give it a coat of paint and use it as a support structure for climbers and flower pots.
48. Shade Gardening Ideas
Incorporating a unique object in your garden provides a whimsical feel and can transform an otherwise shaded garden into an interesting area.
49. Terraced Garden Design Inspiration
Got a sloping yard? No problem. You can use a tiered design like in the example above to create an interesting space. You can scale down this idea to your own space.
50. Amazing Urban Gardening Design Example
Containers or raised garden beds together with wooden decking can help you create a cool rooftop terrace for lounging in the sun to get your Vitamin D or hanging out with friends.
51. Retaining Wall Garden Ideas
Retaining walls can greatly contribute to your curb appeal. Particular striking are retaining walls build with stone--it's a timeless design.
52. Slope Gardens Inspiration
Use raised beds and steps to play with elevation and turn a slope from a problem into a unique garden design. We really like the hues and the color contrasts in this example.
53. Attractively Unique Gardening Idea
Decorative iron wrought garden design features like this one can cheer up a big stretch of grass and make up for the lack of other flowers. Plus, you can move it around as needed.
54. DIY Simple and Colorful Gardening Design
Make use of old buckets by filling them up with colorful flowers. Simple DIY ideas like this one enable you to upcycle items.
55. Gardening Design with Water Features
Water features can be truly amazing. Creating something similar to the next example costs a bit, but the combination of metal, wood, water, and plants can lead to a thought-provoking garden design.
56. Gardening Design With Low-Water Succulents
Succulents are capable of storing water in their leaves so you don't need to water them regularly. Plant them in big, funny containers and you can add a nice touch to any corner of your garden.
57. Cottage Gardening Design Ideas
For something more romantic, surround a wooden bench with bloomers and other tall plants to create a sense of intimacy.
58. Creative Contemporary Gardening Design
Get modern and conceptual by adding a rusted decorative board to your garden and some tall vessels. Add in wooden fencing, gravel, and stone for texture.
59. Modern Balcony Gardening Design
Modern gardens often rely on hard landscaping. Add built-in planters and raised beds to bring greenery where it's needed most. Using lines and curves and colors like white can help you achieve an elegant design.
60. Creative Modern Garden Design
In this example, plants in pots and containers accent a beautiful and elegant white space. The water feature completes the space.
61. Lighted Garden Design
With the right lighting, your garden can come alive at night. You can integrate lighting into the flooring or drape string lights on tree branches for a magical effect.
62. Tropical Garden Design
Plants like yucca, palms, or certain varieties of ficus look tropical but can grow in less exotic climates. You can your garden with them to create your own exotic paradise.
63. Best Tropical Gardens
When creating a tropical garden, keep in mind that tropical plants need a decent amount of water as well as good fertilizer and mulching. This example uses a rock pool to create favorable conditions for the plants.
64. Zen Garden Ideas
Zen gardens were originally built by Buddhists monks and intended for meditation. A key feature is large, irregular rocks, water features, and bonsais.
65. Backyard Garden Design
More than being fun and economical, growing your own herbs in a raised garden bed can add a nice DIY flavor to your garden.
66. Eco-Friendly Gardening Design
An eco garden is an ideal habitat for birds and butterflies. To build one, choose plants adapted to local conditions and avoid toxic fertilizers and pesticides.
67. Classic Garden Design
Classic gardens never go out of style. In this example, a striking pergola with a wooden trellis for climbers adds a fairy-tale touch to an otherwise sober setting.
68. Garden Ideas for Small Yards
Stack up rocks, use wavy edging, add a small waterfall, and you can create a peaceful corner that invites contemplation even in a small area.
69. Bonsai Gardening Design
Collect different varieties of bonsai and plant them in assorted planters to create a bonsai farm. It can become a wonderful centerpiece for your garden.
70. Cinder Block Garden Ideas
Paint cinder blocks bright colors and you can add a lot of fun to your garden. Here's a creative arrangement to inspire you.
71. Simple Herb Garden
Herb gardens don't have to be boring. You can blend in herbs with other plants around a seating area. More than the fresh green looks, you get some fresh smells, too.
Did you know: Talking of the power of smell, there is a dairy farmer in Japan that plants pink flowers in order to make his blind wife smile again.
72. Patio Garden
You can use tall plants as a privacy screen for an outdoor patio. Combine multiple varieties of tall shrubs and climbers and make sure to throw in some flowerings plants as well.
73. Gardening on Slopes
Gardening on slopes can be a challenge, but after all the hard work, the result can be uplifting! Here's a natural way to use slopes to build a tiered garden.
74. Charming Planter Designs
Mosaic tiles are not only for bathrooms but also for planters. Here's an apt example that we'd gladly teleport to our own garden if we could!
75. Piano Planters
Now here's one of our favorite gardening design ideas--an old piano repurposed as a planter and waterfall, two in one. Mozart would be envious!
76. Trough Flowerpot Garden Design
Troughs can also be repurposed into containers for plants. Big ones like the example below can help you create raised garden beds quickly and without much hassle.
Tip: There are still other things you can repurpose into flowerpots such as bathtubs or toolboxes.
77. Chinese Gardening Idea
If you have space and a nice budget, you can opt for a peaceful Chinese gardening design like this one. Water features play a prominent part in many Chinese-inspired gardens.
78. Small Backyard Design Ideas
Small and simple--here's an example that uses neutrally-colored stones and paving alongside a few low plants. The emphasis is on the space rather than on colors,
79. Hillside Landscaping
Most often, hillside landscaping requires a lot of work compared to a flat garden. But with wooden steps and tiered beds like in this example, you can achieve a striking design.
80. Mediterranean Garden Styles
This design can be seen mostly in mansions and large estates. It's inspired by old Roman and Greek villas that used to have an open-air interior space bound by the walls of the house.
81. Great Landscape Gardening
This example blends in harmonious different shapes, colors, textures, and elements. We like the neatly trimmed hedges, the little wooden bridge, and the studied arrangement of the flowers.
82. Unique Garden Ideas for Ponds
A tiny wooden footbridge over a small pond, a garden gnome, and a few interesting plants--this example is sweet and doesn't require much space.
83. Creative Edging Garden Example
Edging can transform your garden design. In this example, rounded and square edging adds a unique touch to an airy garden.
84. Flower Garden and Flower Bed Gardening
When it comes to flower gardens, bunching different plants together in the proper soil can create a symphony of colors.
85. Beautiful Landscape Design
A big, winding pool surrounded by different shrubs and plants? The result can be an idyllic setting.
86. Gardening Design with Paths
An interesting gardening path that combines different materials and textures can become one of your garden's main attractions.
87. Simple Eco-Friendly Gardening Ideas
Bring together lots of plants that complement each other--but refrain from using pesticides and chemical fertilizers. This way you can create a lush garden that purifies the air and attracts beneficial insects.
88. Evergreen Garden Design Ideas
Evergreens can take center stage in your garden. They're a smart choice if you want a green garden year-round without the burden of too much maintenance.
89. English Cottage Gardens
Recreate the English cottage garden feel by planting colorful plants close together and throwing some wildflowers into the mix. Don't forget the cute fence and flagstones!
90. Rustic English Garden Design
Climbers, creepers, tall plants, wildflowers, sprawlers--plant all of them together to give your garden a wild, rustic, and pleasantly unkempt feel.
Tip: Try to select a mixture of flowers that blooms in different seasons so that you can enjoy a year-long harmony of colors.
91. Container Garden Design Ideas
Lots of small, repurposed plant containers can make up for the lack of planting space. In this example, two stacked pallets serve as char.
92. Oriental Garden Design
Greenery and wood are the predominant elements in this outdoor seating area. The tall flowers and trees provide an excellent backdrop for a comfortable seating area. Note the interesting rooftop design.
93. Balcony Garden Planters Ideas
If you have a terrace or rooftop you can add a touch of greenery to it with garden planters. Bunch a few of them together to create an urban garden.
94. Hanging Planters and Pots in Garden Design
When creating a balcony garden, you can save more space by stacking your planters and pots and using English ivy and other climbers as a backdrop.
95. Low Fence Garden
A small, green fence like the one in this example can contribute to the overall atmosphere of the garden. You can paint yours any color you want.
96. Patio Jungle Gardening Design Example
Spice up your outdoor space by adding an array of planters and plants including bonsai, herbs, petunias, and begonias. This example displays plants in layers--there's a lot for the eye to process!
97. Purple Garden Design
Bringing together flowers that bloom in different shades of the same color can create a thematic corner in your garden that won't be hard to notice.
98. Simple Raised Garden Bed Idea
If you're having trouble growing plants in your soil, use simple raised beds to grow brighter plants in better soil. Raised beds can also add more personality to your garden.
99. Quiet Nook Courtyard Garden Design Inspiration
Corners are great for creating a quiet nook for two like in this example. Use a small pergola, add some chairs and a table, and plant some hanging plants and you'll have a romantic retreat right around the corner.
100. Courtyard Garden Design with Mirror
In this example, a mirror adds a new dimension to a small garden and creates a sense of more space. Notice also the carefully chosen details.
Commonly Asked Gardening Questions
Here are some of the most frequent gardening design questions we've been hearing from our readers. Check out the answers below--they may prove useful!
Is designing a garden difficult?
How do people learn garden designs?
How long does creating a garden design take?
How can I landscape my garden cheaply?
How do I make my garden beautiful?
Garden Up
The gardening design takes time, dedication, and a whole lot of love. It can be a blast and you may find that the process of bringing your garden to life is at least as exciting as the result.
Whether you're aiming for a simple gardening design or something dazzlingly sophisticated, there are always ways to incorporate creative ideas and materials you may already have.
You can create a stunning garden without spending a fortune, though if you want to spend a fortune, go ahead! A garden can transform your life.
Now over to you--do you have a favorite garden design? Has any of those we shared with you fired up your imagination?
We'd love to hear from you! Drop us a comment and tell us about it.
Tara Gosselin
Tara is a San Antonio-based award-winning landscape architect, writer and educator, passionate about eco-friendly solutions and growing her own food. She knows all it takes to help you create a sustainable backyard retreat that combines blissful charm with a modern take on landscaping.
