You can design your garden to feel like a secluded backyard retreat, a world apart from the hustle of daily life

No matter where you live — in the heart of a big city or down a quiet lane — there’s an opportunity to make your yard or balcony feel like a secret, secluded space. The best feel private and have a certain magic about them, a sense of being removed from daily life and transported to another place. 

A Hidden Entrance

Gates and entryways are important features in any garden, but they are essential for secret gardens. They define a threshold — marking the passage from one garden area to a private space. Create a sense of mystery about what lies beyond with an entrance that blocks the inner garden from view. A magical garden door, a vine-draped wooden gate for example would work well to define the entrance of a secret garden and encourage visitors to leave daily stresses at the door. The gate should obscure the garden behind it — adding mystery and piquing curiosity.

An Inviting Destination

Inside, provide a seating area that draws in visitors. It can be as simple as a pair of chairs pulled up to a cafe table or a bench drawn under a shade tree. If the seating area is partially obscured by foliage or fencing, it only adds to the feeling of discovery.

Screening and Hedges for Privacy

Nothing breaks the spell of a secret garden like seeing the blank faces of adjacent buildings or looking straight into a neighbor’s windows. Use fences, hedges and trees with leafy canopies for screening. Alternatively, use screens to create private areas within a garden, such as a sheltered seating or dining nook.

Loose, Naturalistic Plantings

Secret gardens can take on any shape or style, but those that are slightly less manicured and a bit more wild have a certain romance. Get the naturalistic look by planting billowing grasses, carefree flowering perennials and native plants of all types. For more formality, balance loose plant forms with sheared hedges, a patch of mowed lawn or a few clipped shrubs for structure.

To create a slightly wild, secret garden feeling in urban yards where you have limited bed space, plant a vine in the ground or a large container. Let a trailing climber, such as wisteria, honeysuckle or a climbing rose, ramble up the sides of buildings and cloak the area with foliage and flowers.

Disappearing Pathways

Use a steppingstone path or a winding walkway to draw visitors into the garden. The trick to evoking a feeling of anticipation: Leave the destination hidden.

An Enclosed Space

In more open landscapes, adding a sheltered seating area or a small hedged-in garden can help balance a feeling of openness with one of privacy and seclusion. It’s adding a secret garden within a garden, so to speak.

A Connection With Nature

Welcome bees, butterflies, birds and other small creatures to your secret garden by offering sources for food and water, and areas for shelter. Choose native plants and others that support pollinators. Allow plants to go to seed — which can become food for birds in fall and winter.

Welcoming these connections with wildlife may give new meaning to your experience with the garden.

Seasonal Change

Tap into nature’s own seasonal magic — the emergence of new bulbs in spring and leaves changing from green to red, orange and gold in fall — by choosing some plants for recurrent interest in your secret garden.

If you don’t want to undertake larger-scale planting projects like adding deciduous trees, consider planting one or two containers for seasonal color. Plants like tulips, daffodils and other bulbs, summer annuals and perennials, Mediterranean herbs, and small-scale Japanese maples grow well in containers.

Objects With Meaning

Add a thoughtful object to the landscape to make a secret garden feel more like your own. Ordinary objects with personal meaning, such as an interesting rock picked up at a special beach, may remind you of a favorite trip or childhood memory. Historical objects or those with spiritual meaning can bring greater depth to the garden.

Whatever you choose, consider partially concealing the object within garden beds or around the bend in a path to add an element of discovery.

Dreamy Landscape Lighting

Subtle, glowing landscape lighting makes a secret garden feel like a magical retreat. Select lights that are small and subdued, rather than bright flood lights — we’re going for the look of fairy lights. Apart from providing ambience, lights can be practical too — extending the time you can enjoy being out of doors, and illuminating pathways and stairs for safety.

Refreshing your patio with new furniture, decor or color automatically brightens the space and draws you into it. The good news is that giving your existing patio an upgrade doesn’t need to take a whole lot of time or money. Instead, you can tackle many updates in a day or a weekend, and most apply to patios of all styles. 

Change Things Up With Color

Give your patio more color with painted walls or colorful mounted or freestanding panels. 

Painting projects can usually be finished in a day or two, depending on the size of the space and the amount of prep needed. A simple but colorful panel or screen will take even less time. Look for landscape screens made of weatherproof materials such as metal, wood, glass, fiberglass, resin or concrete to perk up the space.

You can also add color with smaller decorative pieces such as pillows, throws or outdoor serving ware that will brighten the space now and can also transition with the seasons.

Add Art

Create immediate impact with a large-scale art piece. Look for art created expressly for outdoor use to be sure it will work. Wood, metal, glass, fiberglass and resin can handle the elements. Canvas can be treated to make it more weather-resistant.

For the best long-term results, keep art out of direct sunlight and rain as much as possible. Consider bringing it inside during the winter months. Another option is to get something temporary and enjoy it while it lasts.

Tuck In a Daybed

Find a corner for a daybed that will give you a place to relax and maybe even catch an afternoon nap. While a traditional chaise lounge or outdoor sofa can fit the bill, there’s something particularly inviting about a daybed’s extra lounging depth. Add plenty of cushions and maybe a light throw to help you nest.

Choose a daybed designed for outdoor use and furnish it with weather-resistant cushions and pillows or plan to cover the piece when rain threatens. You can set it under an overhang or add a nearby umbrella or shade cloth to keep you from getting too hot.

Create Shade

Give yourself some protection from the hot afternoon, or visually divide your patio into “rooms” with a shade structure. A simple umbrella will provide direct shade; larger versions will cover more area, and a tilt feature lets you adapt to the sun’s arc. A shade cloth strung between three or four points is another easy way to gain some shade.

A fabric gazebo does double duty, providing sun protection during the day and then becoming a relaxing outdoor living room at night. You can get them with or without sides. Most fabric gazebos have metal supports and fabric made from canvas, polyester or outdoor acrylic fabric. They’re easy to install; just be sure to anchor them securely, especially in windy areas.

Fill In With Potted Plants

Use your patio to show off your favorite plants or landscape style — from a tropical-themed vibe to an homage to succulents or a cheerful collection of favorite annuals and perennials. You’ll gain additional gardening space, soften the hardscape and enjoy favorite plants up close.

Group similar plants in different size planters to fill a corner or line a row of matching plants and planters to outline the edge of the patio. You can also add interest and dimension with a living wall or other vertical garden. Consider installing one large frame designed to hold a mix of plants or mount wall planters at various heights for a similar look. If you don’t have a nearby wall, you might be able to add small patio trees in containers to give you a lush feel.

Plants in containers, especially hanging plants, will dry out more quickly than those in the ground. Be prepared to water more often.

Screen for Privacy

A landscape screen provides a sense of enclosure and privacy. Even the simplest screen will turn your open patio into a defined and separate space. Screens come in an amazing variety of sizes and materials — everything from wood and wood composites to metal, fiberglass, resin, glass and even concrete.

Upgrade Your Lighting

Hang lanterns or pendants from an overhead beam to add flair to your patio’s lighting. Battery-operated lighting means you don’t have to deal with wiring and outlets.

If overhead lighting isn’t viable for your space, scatter lanterns or outdoor lamps around the patio. You can place them on tables, tuck them into planters or set them on the patio floor to create a welcoming atmosphere during the evening hours.

If your lights have an open flame, place them in a safe spot where they won’t be easily brushed against or tipped over and where the flame can’t ignite your decor or furnishings. Be sure to extinguish any candles before you leave the patio.

Install a Focal Point

Consider installing a permanent feature center stage in your space. You can place it over the existing paving or remove part of the surface to create a base.

An oversize planter set into the middle of a patio makes a bold statement that will draw people into the space. Set it where you want on a level surface. The weight of the soil and plant will help keep it in place.

Fountains are more complicated to install. Depending on the type of fountain, you may have to plan for a water reservoir below the fountain itself and an electrical outlet nearby.

If that’s more involved than you want, consider moving the fountain to a corner of the patio. Set the reservoir on the surface of the patio, surround it with a mix of container plants to hide the sides and place the fountain in the center. Add pebbles on top of the reservoir and run the cord behind the fountain and along a wall to an outlet.

Choose a Decorative Accent

Add a decorative note to floors, tables and counters or posts and beams with outdoor tile. If tiling isn’t possible for your patio, consider adding decorative contrast with paint.

Do a Deep Clean

Sometimes, the simplest approach is also the most rewarding. Patio surfaces are designed to take a lot of wear and tear, so you may not notice when they’re not looking quite as pristine as they once were.

To keep patios looking their best, take a day to give the space a good cleaning. Clear off the moveable furnishings, sweep the floor well and then wash or treat the surface with the appropriate cleanser. Often, a mix of warm water and dish detergent, plus a sturdy broom, is sufficient. Let it dry, then put everything back in place.

While you’re at it, clean any cushions and patio furnishings that have become a bit grungy or stained. Usually scrubbing items with a solution of warm water and dish detergent, then rinsing them and letting them dry, is all that’s needed. You may have to work a bit to get off stubborn stains, but the clean look will be worth it.

As summer begins to wind down, here are some steps to get your home and family organized for fall.

The transition from summer to the beginning of a new school year (hopefully?!), can feel like a sudden downshift. Stretch out these last days of summer by squeezing in a few home projects, savoring simple pleasures and preparing the house for fall. Pick a few or do them all 

Things to Be Accomplished in an Hour or Less

Clean and Store Summer Gear

Once the last beach day is behind you, take the time to clean out the buckets, shovels and boogie boards so they’re fresh and clean for next year. Toss out cracked or broken toys, and shop end-of-season sales to replace items if needed.

Set Up a Shared Family Calendar

Whether you choose a big paper wall calendar or a digital version, having one calendar will be a big help come fall. Set up it up now and record important dates.

Clear the Way for Easy Dinners

A too-packed kitchen, fridge and pantry can make meal prep harder than it needs to be. Clear away clutter to create a clean workspace on the counter and remove expired, stale and unwanted food from the pantry, fridge and freezer. Donate unwanted and unexpired foods in their original packaging to a local food bank.

Share Your Backyard Harvest

Have too many tomatoes, squash or other summer produce? Pack up a basket to share with your neighbors, or locate your local food bank that accepts garden produce.

Tackle These Tasks Over a Weekend

Organize Family Photos 

Have photos from the year’s special moments? Take this opportunity to sort and organize them — back up digital photos and make an album or a book of recent photos. If you would like to display some of your photos but are finding it difficult to choose, put them in a big collage instead or hang them from clothespins or bulldog clips on a wire or get a digital photo frame.

Clean Carpets and Floors

Sand and garden dirt tracked in over the summer can really take a toll on floors. Vacuum and mop floors, and have area rugs and carpeting steamed cleaned if needed.

Get Organized for Back to School and Work

Consider what would make this fall run more smoothly for your family: a few extra hooks in the entryway to handle coats and bags? A better workspace or study area? Are papers a constant problem? Take the time now to set up a simple filing system and an inbox for each family member.

Check Emergency Kits

Emergency supplies don’t last forever. Open up your kit and check expiration dates on food and any medications; replace as needed. Don’t have an emergency kit yet? Make this the month you create one.

Organize Closets

Before making any new purchases, spend some time assessing what you already have in the closet: Try on clothing, fold and hang up any clothes on the floor, get rid of items you don’t wear and make a list of what you need. Doing this before shopping can help save money and prevent cluttering up your closet.

Schedule Some Relaxation Time

It can be surprisingly hard to relax and simply do nothing, even when you do have free time. Instead by planning to do nothing, you are actually giving yourself permission to fully relax. So what do you do during do-nothing time? Sipping tea or having a glass of wine in the backyard with a good book is on my list.

Maintenance and Extras to Budget for This Month

Clean and Organize the Garage

If you haven’t cleaned out your garage in a while, it’s likely this project will take an entire weekend (or more), so plan accordingly. It helps to think ahead and find out where you can take items (donations, hazardous waste, things to sell) before starting, and get a dumpster if you think you will need it. And if you need help, consider hiring someone to assist you with part or all of the process. Wait until you’ve cleared away the clutter before purchasing new shelving or wall-mounted organizers. You’ll have a better idea of what you need once the decluttering is complete.

Finish Up Outdoor Projects

Make use of the long August days to finish up any outdoor projects you started (or intended to start) over the summer, from cleaning the gutters to adding a new deck.

Check Your Home For Signs of Pests

Being proactive when it comes to pests in and around your home is much easier to solve before it has gotten out of hand. Taking preventive measures like removing sources of food, water and shelter, and closing off places where pests can enter and hide. If you do need to use pesticides, choose the lowest-risk product first, and use according to the directions. If you hire a pest control pro, ask him or her to use bait, and crack and crevice control when possible; fogging should be a last resort.