If you’re dealing with a skinny planting area against a wall, fence, or pathway, you may wonder what plants can thrive in such a limited space. Narrow borders present challenges, but with the right plant selection, they can overflow with beauty.
The trick is choosing compact, slender plants that won’t outgrow the available room You’ll want a mix of heights, textures, and colors that complement each other in a petite planting space Read on for tips on selecting plants to create a stunning narrow border!
Benefits of a Thoughtfully Planned Narrow Border
Before diving into plant options, consider the advantages of devoting time to a narrow border:
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Utilizes awkward unused spaces – Turn problem areas into advantages
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Provides greenery even in tiny yards – Adds color and interest with minimal room
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Opportunity for creative expression – Design a garden vista even where space is tight
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Draws attention to fences or architecture – Softens hard edges and highlight features
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Adds curb appeal and functionality – Dress up house fronts edges of paths and driveways
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Microclimate benefits – Sheltered spaces may support more delicate or exotic plants
Don’t overlook skinny planting sites! With some planning, they offer big opportunities for small spaces.
Design Tips for Planting a Narrow Border
Keep these tips in mind when planning and stocking your narrow garden:
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Match plants to sunlight – Note shade patterns from walls and fences
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Improve soil before planting – Dig in compost to enrich and loosen
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Include various heights – Combine low, medium, and tall plants for interest
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Use plants with vertical shapes – Slender spires and mounds work better than wide spreads
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Repeat some plants for unity – Echo colors and textures to tie it together
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Include some evergreens – They keep interest through winter months
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Use pots and trellises – Add plants beyond just in-ground plantings
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Limit palette – Stick to just a few complementary plants to avoid clutter
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Mulch beds – Helps control weeds and retains moisture
Best Plants for Sunny, Dry Narrow Borders
If your narrow border bakes in full sun with dry soil, these plants can take the heat:
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Ornamental grasses like maiden grass (Miscanthus) or Mexican feather grass (Stipa)
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Vertical perennials like lavender, catmint, Siberian iris, torch lily
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Columnar shrubs such as Little Quick Fire® hydrangea or holly
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Succulents like sedum, Sempervivum, and aloe
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Small bulbs like species crocus, grape hyacinths, or squill
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Annuals like verbena, nicotiana, petunias, or Million Bells® calibrachoa
Best Plants for Shady, Narrow Borders
For narrow borders in shade, choose from shade-loving plants like:
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Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra)
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Hostas, ferns, astilbes, and coral bells (Heuchera)
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Dwarf azaleas, camellias, skimmias, or hollies
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Hellebores, epimediums, pulmonaria, and hardy begonias
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Vines like clematis, climbing hydrangea, or jasmine against walls
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Japanese toad lilies (Tricyrtis), foxgloves (Digitalis), and lilyturf
Best Compact, Narrow Plants for Containers
You can maximize space by incorporating pots and baskets into narrow borders.Great container plants include:
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Small shrubs like boxwood, rosemary, lavender, spirea, potentilla
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Ornamental oreganos and thymes
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Trailing plants like ivy, vinca, wire vine, licorice plant, dichondra
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Compact annuals like Million Bells® calibrachoa, petunias, nemesia, scaevola
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Mini hostas, grasses, succulents like Echeveria and Sedum
Top Performing Perennials for Narrow Borders
Reliable perennials are the backbone of narrow borders. Some top picks include:
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Yarrows (Achillea) like ‘Moonshine’ – Feathery foliage, flat flowers
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Catmints (Nepeta) – Blue blooms, gray-green leaves form tidy clumps
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Bugleweed (Ajuga) – Spreading carpets with colorful leaves
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Coral bells (Heuchera) – Rounded leaves, tall flower spikes
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Iris – Slender leaves, showy blooms in many colors
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Daylilies (Hemerocallis) – Grass-like clumps with colorful summer flowers
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Lavender – Fragrant foliage and blooms; takes pruning well
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Salvia – Spiky plants with intense flower colors
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Veronica – Spired flowers in blues, whites, pinks
Final Tips for Planting a Narrow Border
To make the most of your narrow planting space:
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Give new plants a good start with regular watering until established
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Use an organic mulch like pine straw to conserve moisture and limit weeds
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Fertilize gently with a balanced, slow-release fertilizer
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Prune lightly and selectively to keep growth contained
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Watch for pests and disease and treat promptly
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Replenish mulch yearly and trim back excessive growth
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Divide or move plants as needed to keep them fitting the space nicely
A thoughtfully designed narrow border, filled with plants suited to the unique conditions, can transform an unused space into a beautiful garden highlight. Let creativity be your guide in making the most of every inch!
Sunny and dry borders
Shrubs
Herbaceous plants
Bulbous plants
RHS Malvern Spring Festival
It can be challenging to select plants for narrow borders next to walls or fences. Conditions may be different from other parts of the garden, and the plants you choose need to grow more slowly or not at all. But these places can be protected, and they can also be used to grow some plants that are a little less hardy.
Many gardens will have a planting spot at the base of a house wall, garage wall or fence. Often this is a long, narrow strip which may need more than just climbers to give it interest.
The wall’s angle changes the growing conditions, like sun or shade, wet or dry. To get the best results, pick plants that do well in that area.
Borders at the base of walls can offer a number of challenges;
- The wall or fence may keep the soil dry longer than an open bed because it casts a “rain shadow” over them.
- They usually have shallow soil, rocks, or steps that make it hard to get to because of cement footings, drains, and path edges.
- These are usually narrow, which means that wide or spreading plants can’t grow there, especially if they are next to a path that people need to use to get to other areas.
Some of the border can be made better before planting by digging out loose rocks and putting down topsoil. When adding soil next to a house wall, remember to keep it lower than the damp-proof course.
If you dig organic matter into most wall-side borders, they will look better. After planting, you can mulch them with either more of the same (e.g. g. garden compost, leafmould or composted bark) or a more durable mulch of bark or gravel.
A selection of smaller growing shrubs, herbaceous perennials and bulbs for narrow borders next to walls and fences.
W Suitable for training against or up a wall
Get Creative with Your Garden: Top 8 Plants for Narrow Borders
FAQ
What to plant in a narrow strip?
What plant grows tall but not wide?
What are the best low maintenance border plants?
What plants can grow in narrow borders?
Check out some of our favourite plants to grow in narrow borders, below. Espalier, fan and cordon-trained trees are a great option for narrow borders. Flat against the wall, they take up little room but can provide foliage, flowers and fruit. Trees to train in this way include, apples, pears, apricots and peaches.
What makes a good border plant?
A great border plant must be of a scale to fit within the overall landscape plan. It should stay in place without constant pruning. It must be suitable for the location and should not have acute pest or disease problems. The texture and color should complement the garden space. Check out these 20 plants to use as lawn and garden borders. 1.
What is a good plant border for a garden?
Consider one of several cultivars for a plant border, including green leaf, yellow variegated, and white variegated varieties. Their white blooms in middle to late summer are a welcome source of nectar for pollinators. USDA zones 6 to 9. RELATED: 9 of the Best Shrubs for Any Garden 9.
Which plants are best for a low maintenance border?
Plants with colorful foliage are a great way to have low-maintenance color at the front of the border. Artemisias provide silvery tones, heucheras provide a wonderful range of colors, euphorbias come in a range of colors and textures, and lower-growing sedums also have a range of foliage colors in blues, greens, greys, and purples.