Think in Layers, Not Seasons

Most small gardens fail not through lack of effort but through lack of planning. A plot of six metres by five can look lovely for twelve months of the year if you choose plants that earn their keep more than once: blossom in April, foliage in July, berries in October, bark in January. The trick is to think in layers rather than in seasons. A small tree gives you height and the canopy that frames everything else, shrubs fill the middle storey, herbaceous perennials and bulbs take the ground floor, and a climber or two softens a fence or a wall.

Before you buy a single plant, watch where the sun falls. Note the spot that catches the first warmth in the morning, and the corner that stays damp and shaded all winter. Then measure honestly. In a compact plot, a tree that reaches eight metres will swallow the garden, so choose something that will settle at four or five with light pruning rather than something you must fight every year.

Spring: Blossom That Earns Its Space

Nothing lifts the spirits like the first blossom, but in a small garden you want blossom on a plant that gives more later. Amelanchier lamarckii is hard to beat: starry white flowers in April, young leaves flushed copper, then small black berries in June that blackbirds strip within days, and finally a blaze of orange-red leaf before it drops. Grown as a multi-stem it stays graceful, and it will manage in a bed as narrow as two metres.

• Prunus 'Kojo-no-mai' — a twiggy, slow-growing cherry that rarely tops two metres, with pale pink blossom and brilliant autumn colour. Ideal for a pot.
• Malus 'Evereste' — white blossom, then a heavy crop of orange-red crab apples that hang on into December. RHS plants for pollinators, so the bees benefit too.

Underneath, layer bulbs in bold drifts rather than odd numbers: snowdrops, crocus, and Cyclamen coum for shade. They will be over and forgotten by the time the tree leafs out.

Summer: Foliage Does the Heavy Lifting

Blossom is brief, so let leaves carry the summer. A Japanese maple such as Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku' gives soft green leaves, coral-red winter stems and golden autumn colour — three seasons from one plant. Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight' flowers from July right through to October, and the faded heads hold their shape all winter if you leave them. Add airy plants that move: fennel, Verbena bonariensis and a few salvias, all of which pollinators adore.

Resist the urge to fill every gap. Bare soil in June is space for next spring's bulbs, and it lets perennials spread without a fight. A single climbing rose or a viticella clematis on a fence will do more for the composition than a dozen pots.

Autumn: Berries, Hips and Turning Leaves

Autumn is when a well-planned small garden pays you back. Berries are both ornament and larder, and native and near-native shrubs feed the thrushes, redwings and the occasional waxwing that arrive with the first cold snap.

• Sorbus 'Joseph Rock' — creamy flowers, amber-yellow berries, and crimson autumn leaf on a tree that stays modest.
• Cotoneaster 'Cornubia' — a wall shrub smothered in red berries that birds take late in the season.
• Rosa rugosa — fat, tomato-red hips that last into winter, plus scent and repeat flowers.
• Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii 'Profusion' — startling violet berries on bare stems, an oddity worth its place.

If you want holly, remember you need both a male and a female plant for berries, so check the label before you buy.

Winter: Bark, Scent and Structure

Once the leaves are down, what remains is skeleton, so make the skeleton beautiful. Betula utilis var. jacquemontii grown as a multi-stem gives brilliant white bark that catches low winter sun, and it is happy in a small space if kept to five or six metres. For something rarer, Acer griseum peels in curls of cinnamon, and Prunus serrula glows mahogany-red.

Then plant for scent, because in January a scent is worth ten flowers. Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn' opens pink from November to March, Sarcococca confusa fills a shaded corner with honey sweetness, and Lonicera x purpusii 'Winter Beauty' will perfume a path you walk every day.

For coloured stems, coppice Cornus sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire' or Cornus alba 'Sibirica' hard in March; the new growth is the fiery part. Evergreens such as sarcococca and a fern or two hold the design together when everything else has gone.

Pulling the Planting Together

Aim for roughly one small tree or large shrub, three or four medium shrubs, a climber, and a generous underplanting of bulbs and perennials — that is enough for a plot this size, and fewer plants always look better than too many. Plant in autumn or early spring while the soil is warm and moist, mulch well, and water through the first two summers.

Finally, garden for wildlife as well as for yourself. Leave seedheads standing, allow a small log pile in a corner, and put out a shallow dish of water at ground level. A garden that feeds the birds and the bees through every season is, almost without exception, the one that looks best to us too.