18 Plants to Elevate Your Small Backyard Landscaping
If you have a small yard, congratulations – small yards can look stunning when designed intentionally. Plus, they can be far easier to fill than larger yards.
I’ve lived in a house with a huge yard and a home with a smaller yard, and my favorite garden is the one in my small yard!
Not an inch of it is left disregarded, and everything has a purpose.
You might think your planting options are limited in small space but the truth is, you can explore a variety of options. Many popular plants can thrive in smaller yard.
There are dwarf varieties you can try, as well as plants that grow upward along a wall or cascade down in a pot.
You can transform even the tiniest outdoor space into a lush retreat by incorporating vertical gardens, large planters, cascading greenery, and multi-purpose plants like herbs and succulents.
Here are 18 of the best plants for small yards, all low-maintenance, space-efficient, and perfect for containers, trellises, vertical walls, or raised beds.
Let’s get started!
Vertical & Climbing Plants (Maximize Space by Growing Upwards!)
Growing plants vertically is the perfect solution when you have limited ground space. These climbing and trellising plants add height, structure, and color without wasting valuable square footage.
1. Clematis
A stunning flowering vine with large, colorful blooms, clematis thrives on trellises, fences, or even arbors. Choose compact varieties like ‘Bijou’ for small spaces.
There are so many options when it comes to clematis. The flowers are large and pretty but the climbing vine is a stunner, too and it can work wonderfully as an interesting focal point in your yard.
2. Star Jasmine
This evergreen vine produces highly fragrant white flowers, making it a fantastic option for covering walls, garden gates, or vertical planters.
I love the smell of jasmine flowers. The glossy leaves are plentiful and go an excellent job of covering the area thoroughly.
This flowering vine is also a prolific bloomer, as you can see in the photo. It’s perfect for using as a photo backdrop if you plant to host gatherings in your yard!
3. Passionflower
A fast-growing climber with striking, exotic blooms, passionflower provides beautiful coverage and attracts pollinators like butterflies and bees.
My mom grows this along a fence in her backyard. She says it’s easy to maintain once it’s established. It covers her fence beautifully; she looks forward to the fruit every year!
Compact Shrubs & Perennials (Adds Structure Without Overwhelming a Small Space)
Compact shrubs and perennials are a great choice to add height and definition to your yard while keeping plants manageable.
The good news is you can also grow them in ornamental planters and use them as a focal point in your yard.
When you’re working with a small space, it’s a good idea to use plants with varying heights and widths because this adds dimension to the area and makes it feel larger.
4. Dwarf Olive Tree
For an elegant, Mediterranean feel to your small yard, try planting a Dwarf Olive Tree in a large planter!
This low-maintenance shrub won’t grow very tall, and you can trim and train it to take in the shade you want. It won’t produce any fruit, which means less mess to clean up!
Use the olive tree as a focal point in your outdoor space, or place it near your entryway.
The grey-green foliage will add a timeless touch to your garden, lending a California-chic vibe! The great news is it’s drought-tolerant and low-maintenance!
5. Dianella Flax Lily
This striking plant features spiky blue-green leaves and delicate purple flowers. It’s drought-tolerant, low-maintenance, and adds a unique texture to small gardens.
I love the Flax Lily and have several planted in my small yard under our vertical garden wall – it makes for a stunning and whimsy display.
It’s been one of the easiest plants to care for, and I highly recommend it.
I bought them as small container plants and planted them into the ground, and they took about a year to spread and multiply.
The foliage makes this plant worth planting; the occasional stems of tiny flowers are simply an added pleasant surprise, a bonus.
6. Rosemary (Shrub Form)
Beyond its culinary uses, rosemary is an evergreen, fragrant shrub that thrives in large containers or as a low hedge, offering year-round greenery and beauty.
I have a large rosemary plant planted into a separate container along a walkway – it adds charm to the space without being overbearing. It’s beautiful yet incredibly easy to care for.
You can also plant rosemary into the ground as a groundcover, as it’ll spread easily.
Creeping rosemary is also an excellent option for vertical walls – it looks lush as it cascades down its pot.
You can’t go wrong with this drought-tolerant herb!
Succulents & Drought-Tolerant Plants (Versatile, Low-Maintenance & Perfect for Small Yards)
Succulents are ideal for small spaces because they require minimal care, thrive in containers or vertical gardens, and add beautiful texture and color.
They’re also slow-growers and easy to keep compact when planted together in small spaces.
If you want your garden to look lush year-round, I highly recommend planting as many succulents as you can. They offer year-round beauty without needing much upkeep, and they can live for decades!
7. Jade Plant (Crassula ovata)
A classic succulent with thick, glossy leaves, jade plants are easy to grow in large pots and provide a sculptural look to a small yard.
You can also plant it in the ground and grow is as a shrub to help cover sparse areas. However, I prefer growing it in containers because it’s easier for me to control their growth.
There are various types of crassula jade plants. My favorite is the variegated kind that features green and cream. There are also types that appear pink in the sun – that’s another favorite!
I use jade plants all over my small yard; I used them as a “filler” in my container arrangements.
They’re very resilient and drought-tolerant plus they perform well in the hot sun, even during our heatwaves where temps climb above 100 degrees.
If you’ve never grown succulents, jade crassula is an excellent choice to start with.
8. Variegated Elephant Bush (Portulacaria afra)
One of the best cascading succulents, Elephant Bush spills beautifully over pots and large planters, making it a fantastic space-saving trailing plant.
This is a succulent plant I recommend all the time, especially to beginners. I prefer the variegated type, it’s a lovely blend of cream and light green. It’s so low-maintenance, drought-tolerant, and the perfect addition to succulent arrangements with varying plants.
Its small round leaves on thick brown stems serve as a wonderful contrast to rosette-shaped Echeverias and structural plants like the Aloe Blue Elf below.
Give it a try – I think you’ll love it as much as I do!
9. Aloe ‘Blue Elf’
This gorgeous blue-green aloe is compact, sun-loving, and produces vibrant orange-red blooms, adding a pop of color to your miniature garden that hummingbirds love to visit and feed from!
This is one of my favorite succulent plants, and I highly recommend it.
It’s stunning yet so incredibly low-maintenance. Plus, the spines are not sharp like similar plants, making it easy to handle.
I have a toddler, and I don’t have to worry about him accidentally hurting himself on this plant when we spend time outside, which is a big plus for me!
Enjoy this Aloe and plant it in the middle of a large planter, like I did.
Let it be the structural focal point of the arrangement, and then add rosettes and jade crassula plants around it to complete the look.
It’s an easy container arrangement to create and it looks gorgeous year-round!
*Aloe is not cold-hardy, so if you live in an area that reaches low temperatures, you’ll need to bring this beauty indoors.
10. Echeveria Succulent
You have to make space in your small yard for a few Echeverias – they’re beautiful plants that resemble a rose in shape, but unlike roses, they last all year!
The stunning rosette shapes are in pastel green, pink, blue, and purple shades.
The different varieties feature different leaf shapes, so you’ll never find yourself wanting for variety!
Add them to your large or small planters, on vertical walls, or plant them in the ground along walkways.
The more room your give them, the larger they’ll grow over time. Keep them in a tight space, and they’ll keep their small shape for a more extended period, making them perfect for succulent bowls.
11. Agaves (Various Varieties)
If a drought-tolerant landscape is what you’re after, don’t forget to plant agaves! Bold and architectural, agaves make stunning focal points in the garden. Plant them for large pots and or directly in the ground.
I had two agaves planted in large white pots that I placed near a vertical garden wall – it made for a striking sight. Be aware, though, that the tiny spikes on agaves are sharp
Compact varieties like Agave ‘Blue Glow’ or Agave parryi work well in small spaces.
Space-Saving Ground Covers & Cascading Plants (Soften Edges & Fill Small Spaces with Greenery)
For pathways, raised beds, or large containers, low-growing ground covers help create fullness without taking up much space.
12. Ornamental Grass
There are so many different types of ornamental grass; you’re bound to find one that fits your taste and needs.
Ornamental grass is used abundantly in my area as a ground cover and drought-tolerant plant that replaces lawn grass and helps save water.
13. Creeping Thyme
Did you know that thyme can be used as a ground cover!?! It’s a special variety called Creeping Thyme (Thymus serpyllum) and it’s a perennials that’s used as a replacement for lawn grass.
This fragrant ground cover produces tiny purple flowers that look majestic when in blooms, attracting pollinators along the way.
You can use it alongside your pavers and stepping stones, near a rock garden or any area that you wish to cover.
14. Trailing Sedum (Sedum morganianum or ‘Angelina’) or Graptosedum
Unlike delicate trailing plants, sedums are hardy, sun-loving, and drought-tolerant, making them ideal for cascading over walls, pots, or vertical gardens.
If you love rosette-shaped succulents but don’t want to fuss around with Echeveria, which can sometimes lose their compact shape due to insufficient sunlight, then sedum should be your go-to!
There are a ton of varieties and colors to chose from and they hold their rosette shape extremely well. They grow on long stems as they mature, so they’re pretty great for adorning large areas in planters or in the ground.
Herbs & Edible Plants (Ornamental & Useful for Small Gardens)
Why not make your garden both beautiful and functional? These compact edible plants thrive in containers, raised beds, or vertical planters.
15. Mint (Container Only!)
You can grow mint in your small yard but always be mindful of one thing: only plant this herb in a container all by itself! Don’t plant it with other herbs and never plant it directly in the ground.
It’s a notoriously invasive plant that grows quickly and overtakes the area, taking water and nutrients from nearby plants.
Get creative with your mint plant and harvest it for fruit salads, cocktails and mocktails, green salads, yogurt sauce, and more!
I find that mint does well in my area if I keep it well-watered but well-drained. In my experience, this is not a plant that likes for the soil to dry out completely between waterings.
16. Oregano
A fragrant, edible herb that thrives in containers, raised beds, or vertical gardens and requires minimal watering.
I love growing oregano in my small nation because it’s a beautiful plant, drought-tolerant, and a dependable grower.
I love the way it grows, too. Its soft, velvety leaves are lovely.
I can grow it in a raised bed, or I can grow it in a container on my vertical garden wall, and it’ll eventually cascade out of the pot.
17. Lemon Thyme
This fragrant, compact herb doubles as a culinary plant and an attractive ground cover, making it perfect for small gardens and container arrangements.
I grow the herb in a raised garden bed and in small planters on my vertical garden wall.
I cut a few stems often and use them in my cooking; thyme is one of the most used herbs in our yard.
It’s such a pretty plant, too, and looks striking in white containers!
Best Plants for Vertical Gardens & Large Planters (Tough Plants That Thrive in Containers & Trellises!
Maximize your yard’s potential with vertical planters, hanging gardens, and large pots, using these hardy, trailing, and upright plants.
18. Trailing Rosemary
I love growing this type of rosemary in my yard; I find it so beautiful with its glossy, dark green leaves that cascade out of the pot as it grows.
It’s not just ornamental – use this herb to flavor your soups, stews, roasted vegetables, and meat dishes.
Rosemary is known to be drought-tolerant, but when you grow plants in small pots, as shown above, you’ll need to water more often since the soil dries out quickly, especially during the summer.
Small Yard Design Tips
To make the most of your space, keep these design ideas in mind:
✅ Use Vertical Wall Planters & Trellises: Grow upward to save ground space.
✅ Layer Plants for Depth: Combine tall grasses, medium-sized shrubs, and trailing plants.
✅ Choose Large Planters: They define spaces and help keep plants contained.
✅ Mix Succulents, Herbs & Flowers: Various textures add beauty and function.
When choosing the right plants, a small yard can feel lush, functional, and visually stunning. You can turn any outdoor space into a thriving oasis with succulents, edible herbs, trailing greenery, and vertical gardens.