20 Modern Minimalist Small Garden Ideas

A central pond and water feature with bond-pebble and concrete flag paving, wooden slatted screening, and borders planted with hardy low-maintenance grasses and shrubs.

A roof terrace garden with honed sandstone slabs, porcelain clad raised beds with recess lighting and uplighters, large freestanding planters with dwarf trees.

Grey Indian sandstone paving with steel pergola and river pebble covered beds, with topiary and minimal planting for an uncluttered but stylish small garden.

Porcelain paving terraced patio with adjacent artificial turf lawn and strategically placed freestanding planters for an easy, low-maintenance small garden.

Indoor-outdoor patio using exterior porcelain patio tiles, with fixed concrete raised beds and individual pot plants.

Coarse decorative grey limestone aggregate and light grey sandstone slabs with a fire pit and densely planted border create a contemporary cosy but minimalist feel.

A small garden with grey limestone chippings separated with embedded sleepers, with wooden sleeper raised beds planted with various grasses, and large contemporary ceramic bowl planters with box topiary.

Porcelain paving slab path and dining area with grey decorative aggregate cover around a small lawn. The dining area is under a grey powder coated steel pergola, providing shelter and privacy.

A timber deck and sunken garden surrounded by borders of golden shingle with beds planted with grasses and shrubs, with planters located across the deck to provide further greenery in this compact modernist garden.

A two-tone porcelain patio with a raised bed with low cut box backed by flower beds to present a faux-lawn visual effect. Rectangular metal planters in matt black accent the modernist style window frames and surrounds.

A simple grey and green palette used effectively in this garden to create a tranquil, low-maintenance contemporary space that feels simultaneously natural and ordered at once.

Two types of raised beds are used to maximise vertical space and cover the steep walls of the small London garden, with rendered beds on the sides and timber slatted beds at the back. The patio and terrace use small format concrete flags.

Porcelain slabs laid as narrowly spaced stepping stones to provide a nice juxtaposition between the natural and man-made. A simple palette of white, grey and the green of the vegetation are used to convey the modernist design sentiments of this small garden.

Wooden slatted fencing, with light grey porcelain paving, and monochromatic features (dark grey planters, grey flat decorative river stones) contrasting with the green of the vegetation signal a common colour scheme associated with modernist garden design.

A raise platform terrace with steel frame pergola seating area surrounded with grey decorative aggregate. The raised beds have steel edging retaining the backfill with rust that ties into the same palette as the timber pergola louvres and fence slats.

The simplicity of this compact, minimalist garden is what gives it its striking appeal. The natural timber of the decking, the lush green of the lawn (artificial grass) and the grey of river pebble covered borders with sparse planting, create a clean and elegant space.

The palette of tan timber (slatted fence and raised beds), grey masonry (porcelain paving), white rendered walls, black windows and fence surrounds, and lush green vegetation work perfectly together in this inviting small minimalist garden.

The use of uplighters, downlighters and recessed rope lighting with carved abstracted patterned backboards turn this simple raised bed into a dramatic garden feature – giving a small garden more gravitas.

A porcelain paving patio with fire pit and arbour placed mid-way along give this small garden a self-assured and positive demeanour and sense of space.

Using either side of the garden for fixed seating and a raised bed with a porcelain patio between maximises the space in this small garden. Lighting is used to add drama and make it feel like it is unified with the interior space.