By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

 
With the right design, even a small space can become a favorite spot for outdoor living. In Debbie & Gary Ahearn's garden, designers Rebecca Sams & Buell Steelman (Mosaic Gardens in Eugene, OR) paved a small unused garden area that lies between house and fence (behind the gate in the photograph at right) and surrounded it with a colorful, richly textured combination of perennials, small trees, and shrubs.

The paving was done with a California slate, while the powder-coated steel table and chairs (Mosaic's own design) were made by a local fabricator.

A glass door gives access to the patio from the house, and lets owners see the view pictured below from inside.

For such a small space, this patio garden contains a remarkable assortment of plants. Three garden-scale trees—a 'Trompenberg' Japanese maple arching over the gate, a 'Butterflies' yellow-flowering magnolia in the corner, and a glowing Aralia elata ‘Aureovariegata'—give the garden a sense of volume, and let enough light through to keep the plants beneath them happy.

The collection of plants beneath the trees includes Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aurea'),  a purple smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria), Rhododendron pachysanthum, Cryptomeria japonica 'Elegans Nana', Ophiopogon nigrescens, and Athyrium 'Ghost'.

That's brown Carex flagellifera betweeen patio and house 'Gold Cone' junipers, and Iris ensata 'Cry of Rejoice' and Picea pungens 'Glauca Prostrata' behind them.