Plants have pretty much overtaken social media feeds. Having a cup of coffee surrounded by large monsteras and ferns has become a social status. Unfortunately, not everyone has a backyard that could be transformed into a tropical paradise.
For many of us living in the city, we just have small squares of land between our door and the street. Some even just have a balcony as an outdoor space. Thankfully, gardening is not a discriminating hobby. As long as you know how to do it, you can transform any space into a nice garden.
Gardening is not as simple as having plants in your yard. Pretty much like planning out your interiors to maximize and beautify your place, the layout of your outdoor space also has to be thought out carefully. In addition to thinking of aesthetics, you have to consider the needs of your plants. Here are a few suggestions on what you can do with a small space for a garden.
Vertical gardens
Your floor area may be small, but you have your walls. Vertical gardening has gained popularity in corporate settings. Many offices have incorporated a green wall in their interior design. After all, not only does it add beauty, but it also freshens up the air. This concept can easily be adapted to small houses as well. It just needs to be downscaled, and the plants are carefully chosen.
Your home might not have the support these corporate green walls need. But you can find plants that can survive extreme temperatures. Succulents are a good start. There are so many shapes and colors available that you can even style them into pretty patterns.
Have an entire wall installed with a grid for plants or put your plants in small frames and hang them like you would paintings and portraits in a gallery wall.
Bonsai trees
So you don’t have enough space for a tree. It doesn’t mean you can’t have one. The art of Bonsai from Japan applies an old technology of potting trees. The potting limits the size of the tree while allowing it to develop its features like how it normally would. So an end product would be a living miniature tree in a pot. If you can afford to get one, it would be a great centerpiece for your garden. Or you can even try to learn how to do it and apply the techniques to the tree you want.
Flowering vines
Maybe you envy gardens that have romantic trellises full of flowering vines framing a garden tea table. It would be OK if you just have that as your main feature. However, if you have other plants, the trellis might put most of your space under shade. Consider having pillars instead. That way, you can still have the blooming vines, but you don’t cover your space.
Hanging pots of creeping plants is also a good option. You just have to make sure its position does not pose any danger to you or passersby, like when you hang them from your balcony or arrange them in fancy archways.
Word of caution
What used to be rare flora found only in the rainforests have found their way into opulent mansions and luxury greenhouses. While there is nothing wrong with wanting to have exotic plants, there are several things that should be considered when acquiring these. First of all, if they are not indigent to your area, they might affect the local flora. So make sure they are legally brought in – meaning, they have clearance from the proper authorities.
Second, think of their origins. If they had been cultured locally, then maybe it is OK. But if they are smuggled, they might have been taken from endangered forests. Too much extraction might lead to an imbalance in the forest’s ecosystem and harm it in the long run. Anyway, if they are smuggled, they might not be adapted to the climate of your locality, so their chance of surviving would not be good. Remember that these plants could cost more than a week’s food budget for some families, and you will just be throwing away that amount. On top of that, keeping this kind of plant alive, far from their natural environment, would be costly.
The popularity of plants, hopefully, is something beyond a passing trend. Plants, unlike inanimate objects, give off positive energy, help clean the air, and generally support our well-being. Although gardening may not be simple, it does not have to be a costly hobby, and any space can have a garden. You just have to be creative.
