A Practical Guide to Designing Amazing Garden Rooms

How to create outdoor spaces in your own yard that feel like a secret, secluded retreat

Where will this garden path take you?

Growing up in a planned community, the last thing I wanted when I finally got my own home was a cookie cutter yard. You know — a lawn, a concrete patio, a generic tree, and some sort of mass-produced shrubbery up near the house.

I wanted my family and friends to feel like my yard was a secluded retreat away from the outside world. Like a park or a camp – a place you wanted to go and spend time rather than a place you were forced to because your mom couldn’t handle the chaos of you and your siblings in the house anymore.

Over the years the yard has evolved from a sloped, dry acre surrounded by a chain link fence into a dozen distinct gardens, each with its own special ambiance. From dry and desert-like to oak forest to lush and tropical, each garden has its own special magic that makes people want to stop and spend some time there. (In fact, a lot of our friends drop by just to hang out and decompress among nature.)

Let me share with you some of the techniques I discovered that make these gardens unique, almost secret, places so you can try them in your own yard.

Hidden Gates and Entrances

The North Gate to the tropical garden partially hidden by kiwi vines and nasturtium

Gates and entrances are necessary for any garden, but when you obscure them a bit, or they obscure what’s on the other side, it creates a sort of mysterious vibe that makes you want to know what’s on the other side. All of my gates are utilitarian in purpose (keep the chickens out, keep the dogs in, etc.), but dressing them up as an archway or threshold, and using plants to soften their utilitarian features, makes them all the more dramatic.

Screen Sightlines

Using a hill with sages (right) and the ivy hedge (left) to screen the path to the vegetable garden

Another important piece in creating a garden room is screening out what’s beyond the garden to make the area feel more private. You can do this with structures like the side of the house, a fence, or lattice, with natural terrain like a hillside or a valley, or with hedges and dense plantings.

My yard is on a hillside, so I use the terrain in combination with hedges a lot. For example, the path to the vegetable garden runs along a terrace at the bottom of the hill. The path is bordered to the south by a hedge of English ivy and to the north by native sages. The sages are only 3 – 4 feet tall, but because they’re upslope they seem a lot taller and make it feel like you’re walking through a fragrant sage forest as you head to the veggie garden.

Make Natural Roofs

The yucca garden in the front is under the shade canopy of a large podocarpus tree

Another way to add intimacy and privacy to a garden room is to cover it with a natural roof. This can be the canopy of a large tree, an arbor over which plants grow, or wooden deck or latticework.

Our front patio area is covered by a large podocarpus tree, while the breezeway to the tropical garden is covered with a wood deck over which passion fruit vines grow. Down in the vegetable garden where it transitions to the Mediterranean and native gardens, a hanging gourd garden makes a shady roof that not only makes it feel secluded, but keeps the western-most vegetable beds shaded and cool in the dog days of summer.

Make Destination Spots

The raised deck beyond the tropical garden is a favorite destinations at Sage’s Acre

Placing a bench, a table and chairs, or any kind of seat, in the garden changes it from a place you’re passing through to a room where you can stop, take a seat, and relax. We have four year round “rest stops” – a bench in the front succulent garden, a bench at the goldfish pond, a table and chairs in the shade garden by the barbecue and smoker, and (my favorite), a table chairs, and chaise lounges on the back deck where we can while away the afternoon and watch the sunset.

Use Pathways and Transitional Spaces

To go from the vegetable garden to the Mediterranean garden, you pass through the hanging gourd garden

Paths connect garden destinations, but they should also have their own appeal. Stepping stones, winding walkways, and disappearing paths encourage visitors to follow them into the garden and see what secrets might lie around the corner.

In larger transitional spaces – areas with wider walkways (concrete, tile, wood, etc.) — it’s not just about taking the visitor to the next room, but providing a visual transition that gives a hint as to what’s in the garden around the corner.

For example, our barbecue area near the front of the house is a semi-public area covered by a rustic wood patio cover, but open on the sides so you can see the goldfish pond, the keyhole garden, and the oaks and hillsides to the west while you’re sitting there.

However, if you follow the walkway to the north it gets far more intimate, closed in by lush, leafy tropical plants like passion fruit overhead, and guava, root beer plant, bananas, and Monstera on the sides. The concrete walk switches to a wood walkway just before the overhead deck ends. Follow the wood path around the corner, and it changes again from wood to stone pavers leading to a raised wood deck under a cherimoya tree.

This transition takes you not from just one part of the yard to the next, but from an open, semi-public area up front, to a small, private area hidden in the foliage further back.

Use Naturalistic Planting

The transition from the BBQ to the tropical garden is a little wild, just like a tropical jungle would be

A garden that’s too structured, too sculptured and rigid, doesn’t make for a comfortable garden room. It will just look (and feel) fake or manufactured. While a garden room can have a theme (e.g., tropical, Mediterranean, native, etc.), let the plants go a little wild. Let them overgrow the path a bit, or get a bit too tall or a little shaggy on the fence. If they flower, after they’re finished let them go to seed. Insects and birds will get a little extra food and you’ll get a garden that’s a little more natural and softer around the edges.
The idea in doing this is to make the garden look like it occurred naturally, adding to the sense that it was “discovered” rather than “designed”.

Seasonal Adaptability

Native wildflowers add color to the sage garden in late spring

Unless you live in the tropics, your garden climate will change throughout the seasons. Knowing that, you should design your garden rooms with all four seasons in mind. Depending on where you live, that might mean planting early spring flowering bulbs, or choosing deciduous trees and shrubs whose leaves change color in fall. If you live in California or the Southwest, it might mean planting native sages that flower in winter, wildflowers that bloom in spring, and cacti and succulents that reach peak color in summer and fall.

The point is, think about how the garden will look throughout the year, what blooms and dies when, and how you can adjust the combination to ensure the garden remains a special spot no matter what the season.

Accents and Extra Touches

Solar lights from the raised deck to the tropical garden add a little wonder to the walk at dusk

The final consideration in creating a garden room are those finishing touches that make it look complete. It might be some interesting pottery, or garden furniture. It could be wind chimes or whirl-a-gigs. Or it could be an object like a small stone statue or a mirrored garden ball. It can also be dual purpose elements like a butterfly or bird house, or a bee hotel that not only adds visual interest but provides shelter for the critters in your garden.

One of the easiest extra touches to add is some simple accent lighting. Solar lights placed around the garden or strung in trees or trellises will add a real sense of wonder and delight to your garden in the evening.

Have you built a garden room or secret garden? Or are you looking to build one? Tell me about it in the comments below!