21 Garden Layout Ideas for Every Size Garden

Check out these easy layout ideas for your garden

By Arricca Elin SanSone and Christopher MichelUpdated: Jan 18, 2024

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Gardens are for everyone! Even a beginner can create a garden space to love and enjoy. The best time to start planning a garden is now, in the winter. You can look out over your space, whether it's a large back yard, or just space for a few pots on a patio or porch, and dream about what you want it to look like when everything's in bloom.

And to help you dream, we've got garden plans that work for whatever space you have. Want to focus on finding great container plants for your outdoor space? We'll help you make it look great. Got a sprawling back yard you aren't sure what to do with? It may look bare now, but we'll help you turn it into a beautiful and inviting environment.

The most important thing to remember when you're creating a garden is to use the right plant in the right place. For starters, that means giving it the correct sun exposure: Full sun is considered 6 or more hours per day, and partial sun is about half that.

You simply can't cheat on this! Read the plant tags and descriptions when shopping so you'll know what each plant needs. Plants that love shade will fry in the sun, and sun-lovers will get leggy and will not bloom well without enough sun.

Also, be sure to choose a perennial, shrub or tree that can survive winters in your USDA Hardiness Zone. (Find your zone here.)

Finally, consider the mature height and width of a plant, especially for shrubs and trees. You don't want to plant too close to the house, other plants, rooflines, or overhead utility lines. That will create maintenance issues down the road.

For example, you don't want to prune a shrub several times a season just to keep it from crowding out neighbors.

Ahead, our favorite garden layout ideas for any size garden:

Pollinator Garden

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Make your yard beautiful and support your local pollinators! Plant flowers, shrubs and trees that pollinators love. You'll enjoy the bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds floating around as much as you do your flowers.

Ultimate Kitchen Garden

garden plans in annual and perennial flower bed with white chair in our garden in the northwest us

Illustration by Michael A. Hill

A kitchen garden, or potager, is the ideal way to create a pretty and practical garden space.

This layout, designed by renowned gardener Jon Carloftis, is overflowing with amazing edible plants that are easy for anyone to grow.

Get the Ultimate Kitchen Garden plan here.

Fragrant Garden

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A garden should be appealing on many different levels. Engage all your senses by planting a variety of fragrant flowers and shrubs.

A Glorious Kitchen-Garden Plan

Illustration by Michael A. Hill

When faced with Linda Lipsett's 30-by-90-foot plot, garden designer Chris Fischer got crafty with organization.

He denoted three prominent portions—a large middle area surrounded by two smaller sections—and adorned each with raised beds for better soil quality control.

Get the Comprehensive Kitchen-Garden Plan plan.

Herb Garden

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Even if your space is limited, you can grow herbs right outside your door. Assemble a collection of pots and plant the herbs that you use most often, as well as some varieties that are less familiar to you (you may discover a new fave!).

Some herbs are annual, so you'll need to replant every year, while other herbs are perennial and will come back for many years. Make sure to plant perennial herbs in a spot in your garden where they have plenty of room to spread.

Also read: Everything You Should Know Before Starting an Herb Garden

Cottage Garden

Illustration by Michelle Buchard

This adorable cottage garden integrates charming old-time annuals and perennials, herbs, and flowering shrubs to produce a simple, informal display that provides plenty of flowers for cutting.

Get the Cottage Garden Plan.

Porch Border Garden

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Forget about boring foundation plantings. Dress up your front yard with a mixed border of annuals, perennials and shrubs.

Get the Porch Border Garden Plan.

Perennial Garden

Why plant new flowers every year? By incorporating perennial flowers, which return for many years, you'll be able to build a garden that will need little care from you to bloom.

But be patient! There's an old saying that perennials walk, then crawl, then run. So expect them to start out slow and finally kick into high gear in the garden during their third year in the ground.

Water Garden

Illustration by Michelle Buchard

This small water feature is suitable for a residential garden in the city or suburbs, where it could be placed on a deck, terrace, or patio.

Get the Water Garden plan.

Raised Planter Garden

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Limited space or poor soil? A raised bed solves the problem, and you can grow ornamentals or edibles in these containers.

Get the Raised Planter Garden Plan.

Patio Garden Bed

beautiful small garden plans filled with flowers and two red hummingbird feeders

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If you're constructing or repairing your patio, plan for a planting bed as part of the design. It'll help to define the space and make it feel more like an outdoor room.

Fall Cutting Garden

Illustration by Michelle Buchard

Nothing dresses up a home like fresh flowers, and growing them yourself is even more fun. This small raised-bed cutting garden will provide cut flowers for weeks and weeks.

Get the Fall Cutting Garden Plan.

Fall Decorating Garden

Illustration by Michelle Buchard

Tired of having to buy all the items you need to craft natural seasonal decorations? Why not take some space in your garden and grow your own autumn plantings?

Get the Fall Decorating Garden Plan.

Spring Bulb Garden

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Nothing's more refreshing after a long, dark winter than greeting spring with bright and cheery flowering bulbs. But if critters are an issue, stick with bulbs they don't like, such as daffodils and hyacinths.

Plant bulbs in fall for a show next spring.

Winter Flowers

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Did you know many plants, such as these stunning hellebores shown here, can bloom in the winter? Plant winter-blooming flowers so you can enjoy your garden even when the weather is frightful.

Pick them now, plant them this fall, and they'll be making your winter landscape beautiful next year.

Flowering Trees

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Make your garden pop with a flowering tree as a focal point. White-flowering trees such as dogwoods make great accents. These are another plant to put down in the fall.

Vertical Garden

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Sometimes the only way to grow is up! Vining plants can provide screening and privacy on a deck or patio. Vines in pots work just as well as those planted in beds.

And vining plants can dress up an old wall or fence with lots of color!

Rose Garden

garden plan in annual and perennial flower bed with white chair in our garden in the northwest us

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Every garden needs roses! And they're not as fussy as you might suspect. New shrub types, such as Knockouts, are hardy and more disease-resistant so they're perfect even for beginners.

This plan will show you how to take an 11- x 15-foot plot and simply pack it full of roses.

Get the Rose Garden plan.

Bark-Appeal Garden

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A garden shouldn't only be attractive in summer.

If your garden lacks winter interest, consider planting trees and shrubs with peeling bark and unique textures, which provide interest to your garden year-round.

Get the Bark Appeal Garden Plan.