5 Ways to Make a Garden Look Larger

­Have you ever wondered why we humans grow plants for recreation? The biggest reason may be for the color they provide. Used wisely, the colors found in your garden plants can help expand the appearance of your yard.

Warm colors (like red, yellow, brown and orange) have an exciting effect on the human brain. As a result, we are visually drawn toward them and they appear to advance toward us [source: Texas A&M]. Conversely, cool colors (like blue, green, pink and purple) appear to recede an­d visually blend in with the landscape.

By installing warm colored plants near the central focus of your yard -- usually the house -- you'll draw attention to it. Installing cool colored plants along the borders and edges of your yard will create the illusion of distance and your yard will appear larger as a result.

­Like color, texture can also create the illusion of distance. Plants are divided texturally into three categories -- fine, medium and coarse [source: Cornell University]. These distinctions are based on the way a plant reflects light. A fine plant with lots of tiny leaves reflects lots of light and tends to form an airy whole. Coarse, large-leafed plants include lots of gaps where shadows can hide, creating a starker contrast between light and dark.

Like warm-colored plants, coarse-textured plants tend to catch the eye. Fine-textured plants, like plants with cool colors, demand less visual attention and therefore fade into the background and seem more distant. By creating a textured visual line away from your garden's focal point, with the coarsest plants nearest the center and fine-textured plants farthest away, you can create a false impression of distance. The eye of the beholder will be fooled.

­Having been crammed onto a small island for the last few millennia, the Japanese have become masters at creating the illusion of additional space in small gardens. The Japanese have developed several techniques that use perspective to add perceived distance to actual distance.

One of those techniques is called altered perspective. The brain perceives small objects as farther away in relation to larger ones. By simply placing larger objects close to the viewer and smaller landscape elements beyond, you exaggerate the illusion of perspective. As ­a result, the perceived distance between the objects becomes larger (as does your yard). The Japanese also employ bonsai -- miniaturized plants -- to alter perspective as well [source: Young, et al].

Miegakure is another Japanese technique that extends the size of a yard beyond its actual borders. By adroitly cluttering the landscape so that elements are hidden by other elements, the landscape isn't revealed all at once [source: Young, et al]. A garden unfolds as the viewer ventures into it, obscuring its actual size.

­Making a landscape larger doesn't necessarily pertain exclusively to the surface area. The brain also deduces space size based on height. By adding visual cues that draw the eye upward, you can make a yard that's limited in square footage appear larger. Trees are an excellent addition for adding height to a garden.

Take care in choosing tall trees, however. Trees' growth habits can take different shapes, such oval, round, upright or conical. Some trees will grow outward as much as upward, a characteristic you'll want to avoid with a yard you're trying to make larger. When adding height in a small yard, you'll want upright and oval plants that will sacrifice the least amount of available space. Evergreens like Leyland cypress and deciduous trees like the Eastern redbud will both grow up, though not as far out. Plant carefully and you'll have the best of both worlds -- a garden that appears larger without giving up planting space.

­So you've mastered the arts of bonsai and miegakure, you can actually distinguish between warm and cool colors using only your sense of smell and you have the tallest, narrowest trees on the block. Even with all of these perceptual tricks, you should face a stark reality: Your garden is small. Absorb that information, chew on it for a minute or two, and then accept it.

A small yard doesn't mean landscape elements have to be excluded; it just limits the size of those elements. Proportion is a big factor in the perception of size because large elements juxtaposed in a small yard cast a glaring light on the small size of that yard. Opting for smaller versions of landscape elements like plants, trees and rocks can make your garden less cluttered and expanding its perceived size.

If you're limited in yard size you might want to pass on a huge pond and waterfall that takes up most of the available space. Instead, try a bird bath on for size or install a small water feature. A landscape element that's proportionate to the size of your garden might not make it look larger, but it won't look awkward either [source: Duxbury].

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