Stretch your imagination

Creating an attractive garden in a boxed-in urban space can be an uphill task, but Azza El Ali has not let her spatially-challenged yard cramp her gardening style.

She knows every inch counts and therefore, makes the most of her available outdoor space by growing a selection of plants in containers, raised planters and wall-mounted clay pots.

A clever use of potted plants on the window-ledges, walls and stairs have transformed her patio and balconies into remarkably beautiful living areas.

There is very little ground in front of the house to categorise it as a front yard. The gate opens into a tiny, paved entryway that merges with the driveway and garage.

The area features a metal table, chairs and several container plants, which deflect your gaze from the parking area and to the main door.

Three wall-mounted half-pots filled with colourful petunias create a welcoming air near the entrance.

Embellished entrance

Just off the entrance, a delightful rock garden serves as the yard's focal point.

Cacti and succulents, including agaves, prickly pear, mother-in-law's tongue and desert rose, create unique accents with their distinctive architectural form and texture.

According to Azza, all her previous attempts to plant the area with flowering perennials failed as no plant would survive there.

She then decided to pave the area with cobblestones and place potted cacti on top of them. These hardy plants love sunshine and thrive in the inhospitable spot.

Since cacti need well-drained soil, Azza makes a special mix for them by mixing regular potting soil with sand collected from nearby Jumeirah beach.

Rise of the vertical

The entrance patio has more of walls and less of floor space, and the use of a trellis and a lattice screen here helps to utilise the vertical dimension — with stunning results.

An attractive woody climber with clusters of star-shaped, yellow flowers (Tristellateia australis) clambers up the trellis to frame the front wall.

An old-fashioned latticed screen covering the sidewall lets the neighbour's Rangoon creeper show.

A robust bougainvillea drapes the lattice with its leaves and bold magenta blooms that sparkle in the strong sunlight.

Planted with masses of lush asparagus, two large raised beds adjoining the front wall make highly economical use of the limited space without occupying the floor.

The loose trailing stems of asparagus (Asparagus densiflora), with bright green needle-like leaves, spill over the edge of the raised bed, softening the wall.

This hardy drought- and salt-tolerant plant can also be seen cascading from wall-mounted clay pots in the balconies.

Sunny welcome

The two balconies are extensions of the interiors. One has a covered roof but the open sides allow plenty of light for sun-loving annuals.

Large containers of blooming petunias — in sparkling shades of purple, pink, red and white — create stunning accents along the balcony ledge.

Each corner of the balcony has a tall metal frame with shelves displaying container plants in tiers.

Shady, breezy and colourful, this balcony, featuring a large table and six chairs, is an inviting sitting area for informal meals.

Azza likes nothing better than to sit there in the evenings with her cup of coffee. The balcony at the back has an open roof that lets in plenty of sunlight.

Raised beds planted with bougainvillea and desert rose provide shade and colour. A tall ficus tree (Ficus benjamina) with glossy-green foliage screens the balcony from the neighbouring villas.

The back of the villa features a swimming pool and a yard between two adjacent villas.

Lawn of life

The rectangular plot features sugar cane, agave, frangipani trees and castor and jatropha shrubs.

Azza waters and fertilises the plants herself, even though the plot belongs to the community and has a gardener assigned for this purpose. As a matter of fact, Azza does not trust anyone else to look after her plants the way she does.

Gardening is a source of joy for her — it takes her back to the days when she lived in a village in the south of Lebanon, where lush plantations of olive, pine and fig trees surrounded her home.

She greatly missed the green landscape of her home country when she first arrived in Dubai 25 years ago.

She always felt a strong desire to surround herself with beautiful plants but was too busy raising her six children to find time for serious gardening.

Now that all her children have grown up, she has turned to plants for comfort.

For Azza, gardening is a way to connect with nature. “Plants need care to look healthy. Every morning, I touch my flowers and remove the dry leaves and my plants respond by producing loads of flowers.

"For some people, re-potting may seem like a chore, but for me, it's a way of soothing my nerves. Whenever I'm stressed, I start working in the garden and feel a lot better,'' Azza confesses.

Chandana Roy is a UAE-based gardening enthusiast

From the gardener's diary

• Go vertical to make most of your space. Use walls, fences, trellises, plant shelves and hanging baskets to display your plants.
• Use climbers such as bougainvillea, Rangoon creeper and allamanda to offer vertical interest.
• In small space, the use of too many types of plants will make the area look too busy; therefore, limit the number of plants.
• Go for plants with strong shapes and furniture with simple designs to avoid a crowded look.
• Invest in large, stylish pots for an elegant and uncluttered look. Avoid collecting too many small potted plants because besides cluttering the place, they will need frequent watering.
• Use cobblestones, seashells, birdbath, wind chimes or wall plaques as decorative accents in your patio and balcony.
• Any hanging basket or wall-mounted pot should be placed at a height convenient for daily watering.
  Hanging baskets need a lot of watering and placing them too high will make the task of watering very difficult. Mount them close to the eye level, so that they can be admired and watered with ease.
• Balcony and patio plants require daily watering in summers. Some pots may even require twice-a-day watering. During winters, always touch the soil before watering. If the soil feels moist, postpone watering for a day or two.
• Each year, at the beginning of the growing season, replace the old soil of the containers with new one. Re-pot the plants that appear too big for their containers.