So your house doesn’t come with a really big garden like the one in your dreams. Well, so what? This shouldn’t stop you from achieving your dream of having a fantastic garden everyone envies you for. In fact, even if you may not be able to add square footage, you can still make your garden look bigger using other methods.

Use color to your advantage.

The colors featured by the plants in your garden can help make the space seem bigger. For example, the human eyes is drawn to warm colors such as red, yellow or orange and cool colors such as blue, green or purple appear to blend in with the landscape.

Know how to use texture.

Plants can feature three different textures: fine, medium and coarse. Large-leafed plants have a coarse texture because there are lots of gaps where shadows can hide whereas plants with lots of tiny leaves reflect lots of light and have a fine texture. Coarse textures stand out more while fine-textured plants fade into the background. Use fine-textured plants at the far end of the garden to create a false impression of distance.

Reduce clutter.

A small garden will seem even smaller if it’s filled with bulky furniture and lots of pots. Reduce clutter by opting for simple furniture with sleek lines and by grouping all the potted plants together.

Add mystery.

Make your garden look bigger by introducing a bit of mystery. For example, a winding path can lead to a small seating area at the far end of the garden thus making the whole space seem bigger. Be clever and don’t put the furniture up front.

Focus on height.

Your garden may not be very large in terms of square footage but sky is the limit if you start thinking vertically. Add height to your garden with tall trees and upright and oval plants. They take little space and this means you’ll have more room more other things but still, don’t go crazy because you’ll have a cluttered garden.

Learn from the Japanese.

The Japanese are experts at making small gardens seem bigger and they use a technique called altered perspective. Basically, the main idea is that small objects appear to be farther away in relation to larger objects and you can use this concept to play tricks on your mind.