Small gardens are places of great opportunity, where design and smart plant choices can have a big impact. Even in a limited space, there's plenty of room to grow.

Think of a small garden as a chance to make a grand design in miniature, says Richard Woldorsky, a landscape designer at Bachman's Landscaping and Garden Services in Minneapolis. In gardens of any size, it's important to decide how you want to use the space -- and in a small garden, that's even truer because you simply have less space to work with. You can still have a dining area, a spot to hang a hammock, and a pretty flower garden, but you'll have to be creative to fit them all in. Some areas may have to serve more than one function. Above all, "You want to maximize every bit of space -- the walls, the edges and the base material," Woldorsky says.

Elizabeth Przygoda-Montgomery, a landscape designer and owner of Boxhill Design in Tucson, Arizona, says "there's no right or wrong" in small garden design. She looks for design cues in the architecture of the house, following its strong, straight lines out into the garden and picking up on the materials and colors in a home to make the garden an extension of the living space. Like Woldorsky, she emphasizes to clients the importance of making every inch count. "It can be fun," she says. Even a garden as long and skinny as a bowling alley can be "purposeful and artistic and striking, with a wave of color," Przygoda-Montgomery says.

If you're not sure where to start, take a look at circulation patterns through your garden. The path from the back door should lead gracefully through the garden to flower beds, a patio or a dining area. Whether the walks are straight or curved, the path should feel comfortable and natural. If you have a glorious specimen tree -- perhaps a crab apple, dogwood or Japanese maple -- you might think of it as a destination and plan the rest of your garden accordingly, Woldorsky suggests.

Putting plants to work is one of the secrets of success in small gardens. Slender vertical plants, such as upright hollies, hornbeams or arborvitaes, can frame views or be used as screens. Vertical plants also draw your eye up and keep the space from feeling too confining. If you don't have room for trees, consider building a cozy pergola, which will create shade for a seating area and will never outgrow its space. You can grow vines or roses up the side of it, giving your eye and the whole space a lift.

Shrubs will give the garden plantings interest, substance and depth, but look for small-scale choices, whether you favor evergreens or flowering shrubs. More is not necessarily better -- in a limited space, you're better off with a couple of well-chosen specimens, perhaps planted around the perimeter of the garden. Even if your garden is informal, imposing discipline and maintaining order will make the space more attractive and more functional.

Make flowers part of your plan, too, Woldorsky says. Flowers are bright and ever changing, and they really draw you outside. They also attract birds and butterflies, which make any garden more lively and beautiful.

If you don't have room for a flower bed, you can do a lot with flowerpots. Containers tend to serve as important sculptural elements in small gardens: They make emphatic punctuation marks at the base of the stairs, along the edge of a patio or at the bottom of a path. Go for big flowerpots, Przygoda-Montgomery says. One large pot on either side of a path has more impact than half a dozen smaller containers. Plants thrive in bigger pots and are easier to take care of, and you won't be tripping over them.

Successful small gardens depend on thoughtful decisions. In some ways, they're easier to design than larger properties because some possibilities are ruled out, Przygoda-Montgomery says. You can't count on sweeping views, but you can create striking vignettes. A pond is probably out of the question, but you could try a small fountain. "Less really is more," she says. "If you have a small space and it's done right, it's really strong." Focus your ideas, choose plants that fit the scale of your space and be sure to edit unnecessary clutter. In a small garden, details aren't lost -- they sparkle.

SOURCES

-- Independent garden shops often offer design services for gardens of every size and style. Bachman's Landscaping and Garden Services in Minneapolis (bachmanslandscaping.com) has a group of staff designers, including Richard Woldorsky.

-- Elizabeth Przygoda-Montgomery is a landscape designer and owner of Boxhill Design (shopboxhill.com) in Tucson, Arizona. The shop specializes in stylish products for outdoor living, including dual-purpose furniture just right for small gardens.

The heat is on, and annual flowers have arrived at garden shops, ready to make this summer the most dazzling ever. No other blooms can beat the performance of annual flowers, which bloom from May on, all the way through to the first frost. Plant them now, and enjoy them for months.

Annuals are all the bright marigolds, zinnias, salvias, lantanas, petunias, begonias, verbenas and other blooms sold at garden shops by the truckload in spring and summer for flowerpots and flower beds. They're often already in bloom when you buy them, and they just get bigger and better as the season progresses. They're easy to grow, versatile and lots of fun.

If you've never had a garden before, these showy, reliable plants will make a big impression in a pot by the front door or on the patio for a party. They'll make you feel like a garden artist right away. If you've been gardening for years, you already know that annuals are hard-working plants; they pump up the garden with color, fill in the inevitable gaps in flower beds and instantly turn flowerpots into movable showpieces.

"Annuals remain wildly popular," says Jeanine Standard, a spokeswoman for Proven Winners, the company that introduced high-performance Supertunias (and many other plants) to the gardening world. "There's no other way to get that amazing impact of color in a landscape," she says.

Pink and purple flowers are a hot trend this year, Standard says, and she thinks it reflects optimism among gardeners: "When people are optimistic, they love brighter colors." Proven Winners' flashy Bubble Gum Supertunia is the company's annual flower of the year, chosen by retailers who vote based on customer preferences. Besides pink, you can find Supertunias in lots of other colors: cherry, rose, raspberry, lemon, white and a rich, velvety purple. They will fill a flowerpot all by themselves, spilling exuberantly over the edges.

Gardeners are looking for more than color, Standard says. They want plants with other purposes, too, and annuals fill an important niche. They attract butterflies and other pollinators, and they can bring hummingbirds to a garden. Standard's favorite hummingbird plants are cupheas and salvias, which she pairs in pots with a Black Cherry Supertunia.

Consumers also want to conserve water and other resources, she says, so plants that don't need pampering are in demand. Hybridizers have responded by introducing ever-tougher annuals, such as lantanas, vincas, euphorbias and verbenas.

When you're buying annuals, a shopping cart gives you a place to try colors out next to one another and experiment with combinations that you can then plant in your pots and flower beds at home. Check the labels on the plants you like: These days, many labels suggest companion plants in complementary harmonious or contrasting colors, or foliage plants to add interesting texture to a combination in a flowerpot.

Don't be afraid to go big. "The one big trend I have been talking about with people is toward large, statuesque annuals, versatile enough for sun or shade," says Bill Calkins, product marketing manager for Ball Horticultural, which introduced ever-blooming, heat-tolerant Wave petunias, among many other annuals, including zinnias, begonias, lantanas, verbenas, impatiens and coleus. Calkins says customers like large annuals "because they look big and tough -- and they are; they're rock-solid."

These days, gardeners are making adventurous combinations in pots, Calkins says, starting with tropical plants for drama and filling in with colorful annual flowers and foliage plants of every description. The palette and performance of coleus plants, which are grown for their splashy, flashy foliage rather than for their flowers, are better than ever, he says, and many coleus work well in sun or shade.

New, compact, long-blooming zinnias, marigolds and torenias are showy plants that mix well with others in containers or look great on their own. Profusion and Zahara zinnias are fresh, bright and tough as nails. "We have zinnias for a reason," Calkins says. "They are awesome. They hold their color and just get more vibrant through the season."

Calkins, an avid gardener, also loves growing vegetables in pots. Both ornamental and edible peppers, for example, look terrific in containers. Arugula and greens of all kinds add plenty of color and texture to pots. "Gardeners are having fun with edibles," Calkins says, and they're doing it in flowerpots. Last year, he combined eggplant, petunias and marigolds in a flowerpot. "It's fun to play around with that stuff," he says.

That's what annuals are all about. Let yourself go with combinations of colors and textures. Plant pots with one flower you really love, or make combinations to suit your taste, to match your house trim or to complement the pillows on your patio furniture. "Nobody wants one-size-fits-all flowerpots," Calkins says. Put annuals to work, and you'll be richly rewarded.

SIDEBAR

Taking care of annuals

-- When shopping for annuals, be sure to read the labels. "Full sun" means at least six hours a day, although eight hours is even better.

-- If you're planting in flowerpots, buy fresh potting soil. Potting soil retains moisture well, and it is lightweight and easy to work with.

-- Pay attention to watering. Plants in pots will absolutely need regular watering. Plants in the ground have access to moisture deep in the soil, but they may need watering in the heat of the season, too. If you're not sure whether your plants need water, poke your finger into the soil. If it feels moist, you can wait a day to water.

-- Annuals need nutrients to bloom all summer long. Add a slow-release fertilizer when you plant, and supplement it by watering occasionally with a water-soluble fertilizer -- you can mix it in a watering can.

-- To keep annuals looking fresh and tidy, you may want to clip off flowers as they fade. This also encourages the plants to keep producing more blooms.

Window boxes are charming miniature gardens with all the same horticultural potential of a big flowerbed in the ground. Because the scale is limited, you'll need to concentrate on smaller plants, but you don't have to compromise on style.

When you're planning a window box -- or a series of them for the front of a house, a balcony railing or a terrace wall -- think creatively. You could fill a box with bright red geraniums, of course, but this is a fine opportunity to explore other options at little cost. Succulents, ornamental grasses, perennial plants and small shrubs are all great candidates for window boxes. Tropical plants, such as caladiums, small palms or bromeliads, are excellent choices, too. They will flourish through a long, hot summer without pampering.

But your first choice has to be about the box itself. Garden shops and big-box stores sell window boxes in standard sizes to fit most windowsills. Hayrack-style planters, lined with coco-fiber inserts that hold the soil in place, are also widely available. If you can't find a planter that quite fits your situation and suits your style, easy do-it-yourself plans, adaptable to windows of every size, are available on the internet.

There's no need to splurge on an elaborate container: Simple boxes may be best because the plants are the real stars of a window box. You may need to install brackets (available at garden shops and building-supply shops) to support the container. Whatever container you choose, it should have drainage holes.

Before you shop for plants, consider the conditions where your window box will be mounted. You'll need sun-loving plants for south-facing windows, and plants that flourish in shade for windows facing north. Most plants will thrive in spots that receive good morning (eastern) light. Afternoon (western) exposures can be a little hot and harsh, so if your windows face west, look for plants that can take the heat.

Your own garden can be the inspiration for window box plantings. Ideas that work in the ground will usually work well in planters, too, on a smaller scale. Go ahead and try your favorite plants in your window boxes -- there's nothing wrong with more of a good thing. You may want to echo the colors and textures in your garden, or complement them with different tones and shapes.

At your local garden shop, remember to think about all the options. Many people tend to rely on annual flowers for window boxes, but shrubs and perennial plants will make a window box planting more interesting than an all-annual design. They broaden your palette. Small shrubs, such as boxwoods or dwarf conifers, will give your window box garden a fine foundation. Take a look at miniature roses and even small hydrangeas. Plants in one-gallon pots might be just right: You want plants that are large enough to show up right away and get your little garden in the window off to a strong start.

Low-growing ornamental grasses, such as Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima), dwarf Japanese bloodgrass, short fescues or little fountain grasses, which have bottlebrush-like blooms, will fill in around flowers. Hostas, especially those with a creamy stripe or other variegation, will look far more distinguished in a shady exposure than a window box full of the usual impatiens. Try combining coral bells, hellebores, salvias or succulents with window box favorites, such as begonias and ferns.

Trailing plants will add to the fullness of your design, but choose carefully. Ornamental sweet-potato vines will require regular trimming through the summer. Cascading petunias or million bells (Calibrachoa), which has many small flowers that look like petunias, might be a better choice. Bacopa, lobelia and even ivy all trail gracefully.

Just like a garden in the ground, your window box can change through the seasons. You might start the spring with a few daffodils and tulips from a garden shop, then replace them with sunny annual flowers or herbs after the weather warms up and the bulb flowers fade. In midsummer, you can brighten up the palette with new blooms; and in fall, you could find a spot in your window box for mums and asters, or add edibles such as Swiss chard, mustard and kale. Don't worry about disturbing existing plants; everything will settle down as soon as you water. On the other hand, if a plant is getting tired, get rid of it -- and the sooner, the better.

Window boxes are the perfect size for new gardeners who are not yet quite ready to commit themselves to a big undertaking. They're also a great way for experienced gardeners to try out new ideas. For renters, they are an easy and obvious choice. You don't even need a window: boxes fit on a balcony or deck rail, and they're pretty on a porch or patio. And now is the time to plant them, for a miniature garden you'll be able to enjoy all season.