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The corners of your yard don’t have to be wasted space. With the right ideas, you can turn those corners into gorgeous garden spaces!
Whether you have a tiny backyard, are looking for eye-catching front yard landscaping, or just want to add some green and flowers along the corners of your fence, take a look at the corner garden ideas below. You’re certain to find inspiration to transform your outdoor space.
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1. Japanese Rock Garden
Corner rock garden ideas, like this Japanese rock garden, allow you to add color and texture to your yard, while minimizing necessary maintenance and care. Plant some bamboo—which is also one of the best plants to grow for backyard privacy—in the garden’s corners and add a stone lantern or two to complete the visually appealing theme.
2. Lush and Green
Taller plants and bushes can create natural lawn and garden borders. Choosing a variety of types, colors, and heights (as well as some bright flowers) can transform your backyard corners into an integral part of the landscape.
3. Corner Pond
If you’re looking for corner flower bed ideas, consider making things even more interesting with a water feature. Leave a few feet of garden space along the edges of a fence in the backyard, then add a square pond, surrounded by rocks, for a streamlined look with the 90-degree corner of the fence.
4. Secluded Seating
Turn a corner of your backyard into an intimate garden space. Add a bistro table, plenty of tall plants like rose bushes for increased privacy, and a variety of plants with different textures and colors to complete the space. Add a few finishing touches, such as some potted plants as a table centerpiece, and you’ll be all set.
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5. Elevated L-Shaped Planter
If you’re tight on space and need small garden ideas, consider adding an elevated planter to your deck or patio. In addition to being at a more comfortable working height, elevated planters are very versatile. They can accommodate flowers, vegetables, herbs, and other smaller plants. This Burpee planter features durable cedar boards with deep beds that hold up to 150 quarts of soil.
6. Bird Bath Garden
Welcome birds to your yard by adding a bird bath into a small corner garden. Plant a few colorful flowers that will draw birds into the space, and let them stay and splash around in the bird bath. Just be prepared—you may get a few squirrel visitors, too!
7. Corner Kitchen
Convert one corner of your backyard into an outdoor kitchen to get ready for warm-weather cookouts and entertaining. Configuring the kitchen along the corner of the yard will help you maximize the available space. You can even turn the kitchen into a mini garden with built-in planters along the top of the backsplash for growing herbs, flowers, or other small plants.
8. Herb and Vegetable Garden
Set up a corner vegetable garden along your fence or property line. Create a layout that works for you to provide ample space to plant your favorite herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Improve the aesthetics of the space—and make gardening easier on your back—by planting in raised wooden garden beds.
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9. White Picket Fence and Rose Bush
If you have a white picket fence around your home, planting a rose bush in one corner can make your yard more attractive from both inside and outside of the fence. Plant some smaller flowers next to the rose bush to enhance its beauty, or choose an exuberant China rose variety such as ‘Mutabilis’ to eat up a sizable chunk of the yard.
10. Stone Edging
Those looking for backyard corner landscaping ideas can also consider building a raised garden bed with a stone border. The natural stone color will offer a nice contrast against the green grass and colors of flowers and plants that you add to the garden.
11. Patio and Fire Pit
Adding a fire pit and patio seat is one way to make the corners of your yard more attractive and more functional. Line the perimeter of your patio with lush, green plants to define the space, or add a few trees to cast cooling shade on a hot summer’s day.
12. Accent Corner Fence
If you don’t want to fully fence in your yard, but love the charm that a white picket fence like this option available at Wayfair can add to a home, try adding a small accent corner picket fence. You can even place the accent fence in one of the corners of a garden bed, or along your property line, to draw attention to flowering plants.
13. Patio Retreat
Turn the corner of a fenced-in backyard into your own personal retreat. Taller fences double as a privacy wall between you and your neighbors, and you can build a small patio in that secluded space. Plant flowering bushes and plants around the patio, and add a few comfortable chairs where you can sit, relax, and enjoy nature.
14. Flower Pot Corner
Create an intriguing, texture-rich garden corner with all of your favorite potted plants; use pots of various shapes, sizes, and colors for visual interest. You can achieve an attractive tiered look by placing the planters and flower pots on tables and benches of varying heights.
15. Pergola Garden
If you’re looking for shady garden corner ideas that will provide a cool escape on a hot day, build a pergola. The latticed roof of a pergola offers an ideal structure for ivy, roses, and other climbing plants to grow on, and it provides increased shade and cover from the sun, as well. You can even hang a small bird feeder on the pergola to attract birds to your newfound oasis.
16. Tree-Lined Fence
Line your fence with trees to create walls of green to surround your corner garden. If your yard is sloped, you can add tiered retaining walls to create flat and usable space where you can put comfortable Adirondack chairs or other outdoor seating options. The retaining walls can even double as small gardens, allowing you to add more greenery to the space.
17. Elevated Greens
Retaining walls are necessary for many steep yards. However, they don’t have to be an eyesore. You can make retaining walls an organic part of your yard’s landscaping by planting tall bushes, trees, and other greenery around them, or even by planting some flowers or plants along the tops of some walls.
18. Corner Greenhouse
Dedicate one corner of your yard to your green thumb and love of gardening by adding a small greenhouse. Greenhouses help protect plants from colder temperatures, so a greenhouse can be a true lifesaver for some of those cooler nights or for getting seedlings started. Add some potted plants around the greenhouse to finish up your little gardening corner.
19. Bountiful Bouquet
Use a mini picket fence to outline your garden space and jam pack it with colorful annual flowers. Add a few taller plants along the edges of the garden—and maybe a few lawn ornaments, if desired—to pull the look together. With all its color, this garden idea is sure to bring plenty of cheer when the flowers are in full bloom.
20. Fenced-In Vegetable Garden
If you have a spacious backyard and want to grow more of your own foods, turn one corner of your yard into a vegetable garden. Adding a fence around the garden will not only help keep unwanted pests away from your plants, but it will also help to clearly define the space.
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21. Wall Planters
Just because a deck or patio is taking up one corner of your yard doesn’t mean you can’t add some green to complement your patio conversation set. Mountable wall planters make it possible to grow your favorite plants in nearly any space. Choose smaller wall planters for herbs or flowers, or larger mountable planting boxes if you’d like to grow your own vegetables.
22. Mailbox Garden
The part of your yard around your mailbox doesn’t have to be wasted space. You can turn the ground surrounding your mailbox into a gorgeous flower bed. Plant some climbing flowers along the base of the mailbox, and then add a few shorter plants and flowers along the perimeter of the garden bed.
23. Corner Fountain
Make a multi-tiered fountain the focal point of your corner garden. Plant taller trees or bushes along the back edges of the garden, and surround the fountain with smaller plants or flowers. This will really set it up to be the star of your landscape.
24. Terrace Garden
Even apartment terraces and balconies can benefit from some greenery. Adding two long rectangular planters along one corner of the balcony offers ample space to plant a few flowers or grow your own vegetables and herbs.
25. Wrought Iron Edging
Installing wrought-iron edging like this option available at Plow and Hearth along the corner of your yard or garden is another effective way to define the space or keep your plants separated from walkways and grassy areas. Additionally, many gardeners find wrought-iron edging attractive and appreciate the classy touch it brings to a garden.
26. Rock Border
If you’re looking for backyard corner ideas centered around a tree on your property, try adding a garden bed along the base of the tree. Line the bed with large rocks and plant some shade-loving plants (hydrangeas, begonias, Turk’s cap, and ferns are quality choices) that will flourish under the tree’s shade.
27. Two-Tiered Cedar Raised Garden Bed
This two-tiered raised garden bed available at The Home Depot is perfectly shaped for a corner garden. With its L-shaped design, the bed has a taller center tier with two shorter tiers extending out from two of its sides. You can purchase other garden beds from the product line to extend the size of your garden for holding more plants and fitting your yard’s space.
28. Corner Table
Remodel your outdoor space by adding a round patio and round wooden table in the corner of your yard. The contrast between the green grass, trees, and other bushes and the natural stone patio and wooden table will create a visually appealing masterpiece. Sticking with the circular theme, you could even add a few round step stones leading from the house to the new patio.
29. Natural Stone Walls
If you have a sloped yard and need corner patio ideas, consider having stone retaining walls built. They’ll do much more than simply prevent erosion—they can also add charm to your outdoor space. Once installed, plant some lush greenery on the walls, and add some additional planters along their base for a truly impressive finished product.
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