Read This: The Less Is More Garden, plus a book giveaway!
When I opened this book and saw the title-page photo of a tiny patio garden awash in chartreuse foliage and leafy texture, with two well-chosen pieces of garden art, a pair of acid-green chairs, and a steel fire pit, I knew I was going to love the design ideas in Susan Morrison’s latest book, The Less Is More Garden: Big Ideas for Designing Your Small Yard (Timber Press, 2018). It’s a book for people with small yards, yes, but also for those who want to simplify their gardens, doing more lounging and enjoying in them and less tiresome yard work.
“Small has become the new normal,” Susan writes, pointing out that across the U.S., our lot sizes have shrunk, as well as the amount of time many of us are willing or able to devote to gardening. As the owner-designer of Creative Exteriors Landscape Design in the San Francisco Bay Area, Susan has years of experience designing small gardens and patio spaces, and she also has a gift for explaining the design process in layman’s terms. Her easygoing, comfortable writing style incorporates humor and wit, and you’ll find plenty of meaty info in the book, not just eye-candy images, although the many photos of small-space gardens are inspiring.
Photo and design: Michelle Derviss
The practical design lessons start in the first chapter, as Susan describes the process of meeting a couple who wanted help making their cramped back yard into a relaxing play space for their family. Seeing their tiny patio cluttered with kids’ toys and furniture next to an expanse of lawn, she advised increasing the size of the patio and, counterintuitively, shrinking the lawn. She paved a trike track for the kids around the perimeter of the smaller lawn and added beds of low-maintenance plants, all of which made the space live larger for both kids and parents. Less lawn maintenance and watering was a bonus!
Photo: Jude Parkinson-Morgan / Design: Nina Mullen
Susan offers plenty of other great suggestions for maximizing a small space and simplifying larger spaces, and many of her tips are useful for gardens of all sizes. Here are some of my favorites:
- Use your neighbors’ plant choices to influence your own. If the neighbors have a row of dark evergreens growing along their side of the back-yard fence, on your side plant silver- or burgundy-leaved trees or shrubs as a foil. They’ll show up beautifully against the dark green and complement each other.
- Make your garden more of a sensory garden to give it life with “sound, movement, color, and scent. Fortunately, it’s actually easier to make these things prominent and noticeable in a garden that’s not overly large.”
- Add color without labor-intensive annuals or swaths of perennials through colorful accents, or even a painted screening panel. Susan did this in her previous garden with a pink-purple (yes, really!) wooden screen accented with porthole-like mirrors. Creative and fun!
- Use window views as “living wallpaper” for your home. In other words, plan your garden design around your window views. This doubles your enjoyment of the garden and virtually increases the size of your home in the process.
Whether you’re designing your first garden on a small lot or downsizing from a large garden to a smaller space, you’ll find practical and helpful planning advice and inspirational photos in The Less Is More Garden.
GIVEAWAY
And now for your chance to win the book! Susan is offering one lucky reader a free copy of The Less Is More Garden, and to be entered in the giveaway all you need do is leave a comment right here on this blog post. The winner will be drawn randomly at 11 pm CDT on Sunday, March 25th, and announced here.
Giveaway Rules: To qualify, you must be 18 or older and have a mailing address in the U.S. or Canada.
Thanks for reading and commenting, and good luck!
UPDATE 3/25/18: We have a winner! I used a random number generator to pick a comment number, and #8 is the winner. That’s Deborah Svenson! Deborah, look for my email (check your spam folder if you don’t see it) and please reply by 3/30 to confirm. This giveaway is over.
Disclosure: Timber Press sent me a copy of The Less Is More Garden for review. I reviewed it at my own discretion and without any compensation. This post, as with everything at Digging, is my own personal opinion.
I welcome your comments; please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading this in a subscription email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post.
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Digging Deeper: News and Upcoming Events
Calling all garden bloggers! You’re invited to register for the annual Garden Bloggers Fling tour and meetup, which will be held in Austin this May 3rd-6th! Click this link for information about registering, and you can see our itinerary here. Space is limited, so don’t delay. The 2018 Fling will be the event’s 10th anniversary, which started in Austin in 2008.
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All material © 2006-2018 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
This looks like something I’d find really useful. Thanks for sharing.
Could use some good ideas for my small Austin yard, thanks
I look forward to seeing how others deal with the challenges of a smaller garden.
Would love a copy of Susan’s book!
I love looking at these small gardens.
I have a lot that is unique and I describe it as 4 small gardens. It’s amazinf and frustrating at the same time. This book would help with ideas and help with the flow of each garden into the next. Thank you for the introduction. I am following her now.
Time has finally come to start slowing down. Perhaps this book will make me finally do it. Thanks for the chance to win it.
I have a blank 10×10 courtyard that needs a plan. The new book sounds wonderful. ???
This book would be wonderful as a tool to help me with my addiction to plant overload in my gardens. I may share it with my daughter who just bought a house and is an aspiring gardener!
Great book review 🙂 Thanks for the post!
Have loved hearing Susan talk about her book on multiple podcasts. Can’t wait to read it myself!
Yes, it sound like a great read.
Count me among the simplifiers. Looks like a great resource. Thanks!
The books looks wonderful. Count me in.
I would love a copy of this book!
My former garden was teeny-tiny and although my current one is larger, it’s divided into segments due to the natural variations in levels throughout. Taken individually, each one of them can be seen as a separate small space so (bingo!) the book could provide useful tips.
I would LOVE to have a copy The of Less Is More Garden! More than that, I NEED a copy!
We are looking for ways to simplify and de-lawn this year…and my mom is in on it now, too at her place! This book has an Austin-y vibe to it and we both would love to read this book, get inspired and learn some new tricks!
This book sounds like one I could use. I’m downsizing and starting over with a new location.
I have spent the better part of the past 2 years simplifying my indoors……I am ready to tackle the garden. I am known for coming home with something new and making space. I want to do Less is More in my outdoor life also!
You know how much I want to read this book! Crossing my fingers that I win this thing!
I’m a Digging fan and I Thank you for this chance to win!!
I am so ready for this kind of advice!
Thanks for the chance to win a copy of this book.
I’ve been looking forward to this book for a while. Huge, expensive landscapes are fun to look at, but it helps tremendously to see examples of people making maximum use of average-sized lots,
Enjoyed your review…the book sounds like it offers much inspiration whether your outside space is small or on the larger side. I’d love to give this book to my daughter & her husband for ideas for their truly small outdoor space in central Austin. And, I’m sure to find some ideas as well for my larger space because I’d borrow it from her. 🙂
Pick me, pick me. It looks like a good read!
Trike track? I’ve never heard of that. Sounds interesting.
A smooth pathway for pedaling a trike around. I had one in a former garden too — so great for keeping little kids entertained and active. —Pam
I don’t garden like I used to. However, I still want to have a pretty garden. I do have a smaller area where I garden now, and a lot of it is arranged pots. I work at making it simpler but still nice looking, and this book sounds like it has some interesting reading. Thank you for gifting it to one of your blog followers!
My backyard is small and I would love to transform it into a relaxing place of beauty. I would love this book! Thank you for your generosity!
This would be fantastic since we are completely tearing up our backyard right now.
Always looking for inspiration for my garden! Very excited and hopeful I can win this book. Loves me some flora!
I need this book!
This book is lovely. I found really use it.
Being able to relax in my own garden would be a very welcome change!
This books looks to be filled with great ideas for gardens of all sizes. Thank you for sharing it with us!
I love looking through gardening ideas. You can always find something that works for you. Thanks!
We are starting a new small garden in a limited water resource area. I am excited to read her new book. Love your blog!
I have this book on my wish list. I love small space gardening. Thanks for giveaway opportunity!
I love your blog and lust after all of the fab finds you post. This dirt-digging gal would love to win a copy of The Less is More Garden. Thanks!
Thanks for reading Digging, Dana. —Pam
I love your blog. Always so inspiring. Looking forward to reading the book!
Thanks, Erica. —Pam
This looks like such a fun book! I can’t wait to read it.
Thank you for this opportunity to win this very exciting book !!
Kudos to Pam, for sharing this resource. Those of us with small yards will look forward reading “The less is more garden.”
thanks for your blog, Pam. Enjoy the reviews you provide!
Thanks for reading, Cecilia! —Pam
This book looks like a good one. I read your blog every day but have never commented until now. Thanks for the chance to win!
Thanks for reading, Amy! —Pam
I’m in! This looks amazing. I love this website and all the wonderful articles. Thanks!
I’m glad you enjoy Digging, Mary! —Pam
I’m all for less lawn! I could use more ideas for reducing the lawn and maintenance and increasing the beauty and being able to better enjoy my yard.
Wow- am SO readybfor this book – great design and maybe less workmis just what i need – thanks for the review!
I love the intimacy of small garden spaces. This book looks like a great resource.
My husband and I are slowly making over our backyard with veggies, fruit trees, and plants. I’d love to get my hands on this book for design inspiration.
Thanks for a great blog. Spring is a bit late for us in North Carolina but my garden will start to pop this week.
Less is more – sounds right up my alley!