In Your Landscape

By Cla Allgood 

TownLoafer Magazine, June 2008

Thinking small can be a big thing!

In the seventies, there was a book published called Small is Beautiful. The author, E.F. Schumacher, wrote a very compelling discussion on the merits of decreasing our needs for more and more. He discussed how big solutions are often less successful than multiple smaller solutions. Through his discourse, he challenged the reader to not only appreciate the huge show but to make the effort to enjoy beauty in the small and the subtle.

About 30 years have passed since I read that book, and I believe his message is ringing louder and truer than ever. I think that we – as American landscapers, gardeners, and homeowners – can all be guilty of making future landscape plans that are often idealized by what I call “Ponderosa Thinking.” If you know the old T.V. show Bonanza, you know the ultimate American dream of having a big piece of land and sharing it with your family in marvelous ways, believing that your spread is the biggest and the ”bestest.” While there is no problem with having this dream, the problem is that sometimes it can freeze our reality. The truth is that most of us do not have the energy, time, or money to actualize all the landscape improvements we can think of for a half-acre lot. And let’s face it: you can even work yourself to death on a quarter-acre lot. We know what we would like to do, but our resources hold us back and oftentimes people don’t do anything, waiting to start their landscape or gardening opus.

Recently, while traveling through the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., I looked at the tiny little yards (if you could call them that) that come with the brownstones or townhouses blanket that area. Usually, I would feel sorry for someone with such a tiny outdoor space. This time, though, I was a little envious. I saw micro-size yards that took very little material to build, very little time to maintain, and very little water to keep lush. To the average suburbanite in our area, five tulips would be just enough to make us mad. Here, next to tiny patios that could barely accommodate a couple of chairs, the tulips looked perfect. I could even imagine the homeowners taking the time to sit down near the flowers and actually enjoy their individual beauty.

Landscapers and homeowners alike have adopted this same "Georgetown" look and feel approach with the brownstones at Vickery Village Subdivision right here in Cumming. The grounds around the homes are compact yet produce and very high-end, high-impact visual landscape.

In my opinion, a magnificent garden is really within everyone’s grasp. We just have to adjust our brains to get maximum enjoyment out of “the small.” To translate this, if you have a typical backyard and you feel underfunded or tired just thinking of tackling the whole yard as you would like, first realize it is OK to feel that way. Just because you own it does not mean you have to make it all perfect. You really can’t enjoy the outdoors if all your time is spent working. Instead, try to think small.

One way to do this would be to rough out a diagram on what you would like to do in your yard as the maximum solution. Make sure your maximum solution includes a few smaller projects or intimate spaces. Then pick a small area that you can manage and knock it out in a robust manner. This is a little more than phasing. It is phasing your project with an immediate emphasis on the small. In fact, if your small project makes you happy enough you may not even move on to the larger projects.

Your project may be as small as a beautifully planted container garden. Everyone who has a house or even an apartment can have a container garden. No excuses here. One of the things I have always liked about container gardens is that everyone has the chance to make theirs the best. Your home may not be as nice as the Queen of England’s home, but, gosh darn it, you can have a planted container that is better than hers. You can plant a nice 3” diameter flower pot for very little money. Enthusiasm and creativity are the main ingredients. And if you considered the planting as a seasonal planting, you can even break “horticultural rules” and use plants that “don’t grow here.” You can crowd plants with no mercy and let them fight it out. You can even use oddball items like a jumble of wire as a piece of sculpture in your “container landscape.” As your container grows and evolves through the seasons, you might be surprised how much you look at it and how much enjoyment it will give you.

After we have conquered the container garden, we might move up to a larger project. One of the most basic activities you can do in your yard is just sit down with a friend or family member and talk or a have drink. So, why not build a small beautiful spot to do this? Just pick a little area, put in enough paving to get your chairs on it, surround it with some plants that you find interesting. Add a few larger shrubs and/or a panel of fence to separate if from the rest of the yard. Add a tree or an arbor for shade, accenting the area with a small vanishing fountain if you like. By approaching this little sitting garden with gusto and creativity, you will benefit from the small-is-beautiful mindset.

Almost everything in the garden can be scaled down. Even a swimming pool does not have to be as large as we typically see them. Perhaps all you really need is a pool large enough for a quick dip, not a pool large enough for the whole neighborhood.

These thoughts are not new. In fact, they are thousand of years old. The Japanese probably are among the best at making wonderful areas with little space. As an island nation, they are all too aware of their spatial limits. In their gardens, they often try to symbolically capture the spirit of mountains, waterfalls, islands, and other natural beauty all in a tiny area. And they do not consider plants in containers as something for sissies. Part of the Samurai training was the art of making container arrangements. They felt that the art helped prepare warriors to focus on the battlefield.

As we hear about overcrowding, limited resources, environmental footprints, and shrinking home values in the daily news, our need for the therapy of connecting with nature grows. It’s important to bear in mind that this connection can be made with gardens of all sizes.