Side of House Landscaping: 26 Creative Ideas to Transform Every Narrow Space

The side of your house is one of the most overlooked and underutilised spaces in any garden, yet with the right approach, it can become a genuinely beautiful, functional, and impressive outdoor feature.

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Whether it’s a shaded narrow strip or a wide sunny passageway, these 26 side of house landscaping ideas will inspire you to transform that neglected space using tips from our front yard landscaping guide.

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1. Lush Shade Garden Strip

A shaded side passage is the perfect opportunity to create a lush, layered shade garden that transforms a dark, neglected corridor into a beautifully atmospheric green retreat filled with interesting foliage and seasonal blooms.

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Hostas, ferns, astilbes, and hellebores all thrive in the low-light conditions typical of narrow side passages between houses, creating a woodland-like beauty with minimal effort. Our comprehensive shade plants guide covers the very best species for transforming shaded side garden strips beautifully.

2. Vertical Garden on Side Wall

A vertical garden installed on the side wall of your house maximises planting space in an extremely narrow passage where ground-level planting may be limited. It transforms a plain rendered or brick wall into a spectacular living art feature.

Ferns, succulents, trailing plants, and herbs all perform beautifully in vertical planting systems and create an extraordinary visual impact in tight spaces. Our vertical gardening guide covers the best plants, systems, and installation methods for stunning side-wall vertical gardens.

3. Gravel Pathway with Border Planting

A clean gravel pathway running along the side of the house with a narrow planting border on one or both sides creates a neat, functional, and visually attractive solution that makes the space look intentional, polished, and well-designed.

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Choose drought-tolerant, compact plants for the border that won’t outgrow the space or block the pathway over time. For creative pathway design and border planting inspiration, our walkway ideas for outdoor spaces guide is a wonderfully comprehensive resource.

4. Privacy Fence with Climbing Plants

Installing a privacy fence along the side of the house and training climbing plants up and over it creates a beautiful, green, living boundary that adds privacy, softens hard fencing materials, and turns a functional structure into a genuinely attractive garden feature.

Climbing roses, clematis, and jasmine are among the most beautiful and rewarding choices for covering side fences with colour and fragrance. For fence style options and installation guidance, our privacy fence ideas and DIY privacy fences guides cover every approach in excellent detail.

5. Espalier Fruit Tree on Side Wall

Training a fruit tree in an espalier form flat against the side wall of your house is an ingenious way to grow productive edible plants in the narrowest of spaces while creating a beautiful, architectural feature with genuine year-round interest.

Apples, pears, and figs all espalie beautifully and produce surprisingly generous harvests even when trained flat against a wall in a limited space. For more productive and beautiful edible garden ideas, our food forest guide and small vegetable gardens guide offer excellent complementary inspiration.

6. Horizontal Fence with Planting Strip

A sleek horizontal fence running along the side of the house paired with a narrow strip of ornamental grasses or low shrubs creates a contemporary, architecturally refined look that transforms a utilitarian side passage into a genuinely stylish outdoor space.

Cedar, composite, or hardwood boards all work beautifully for horizontal fencing and age gracefully with minimal maintenance over many years. For design options and styling inspiration, our horizontal wood fence guide covers this popular contemporary fencing style in thorough, helpful detail.

7. Shade Shrub Border

A border of carefully selected shade-tolerant shrubs planted along a dark side passage creates year-round structure, colour, and interest in conditions where most garden plants would struggle to establish or perform satisfactorily without significant ongoing input.

Aucuba, mahonia, skimmia, and fatsia all thrive in deep shade and produce beautiful foliage or seasonal berries that bring genuine life and colour to the darkest side garden spaces. Our shade shrubs guide covers the very best varieties for shaded side borders in comprehensive detail.

8. Cottage Garden Side Border

A cottage-style planting border along the side of the house creates a charmingly romantic, relaxed aesthetic that softens the hard lines of the building and fills what is often a forgotten space with abundant colour, texture, and seasonal interest.

Foxgloves, salvias, hardy geraniums, and delphiniums all grow beautifully in side borders and self-seed gently to create an increasingly lush and natural-looking display over time. For plant combinations and layout ideas, our cottage garden ideas guide is a wonderfully inspiring resource.

9. Stepping Stone Path Through Planting

A stepping stone path winding through lush side garden planting creates a beautiful, organic journey from the front to the back of the property that feels intentional, inviting, and wonderfully different from a plain concrete service path.

Place flat stones at comfortable walking intervals and plant low-growing ground covers between them that release fragrance when walked on for a truly sensory side garden experience. For stepping stone design and plant pairing inspiration, our walkway ideas for outdoor spaces guide is full of creative ideas.

10. Fast-Growing Privacy Screen

Planting a row of fast-growing screening shrubs or small trees along the side of the house creates a quick, effective living barrier that provides privacy from neighbours, reduces noise, and adds beautiful green structure to what is often a very visible boundary.

Photinia, arborvitae, and bamboo are among the fastest-establishing and most effective privacy screening plants for side garden positions. Our fast growing privacy shrubs guide will help you select the most suitable variety for your specific side garden conditions.

11. Pallet Garden Along the Side Fence

Repurposed wooden pallets mounted vertically along a side fence create budget-friendly, space-efficient planting structures that bring colour, herbs, and trailing flowers to even the most confined side passage without taking up any valuable ground-level space at all.

Fill pallet pockets with trailing petunias, strawberries, herbs, or succulents for a creative, productive, and strikingly attractive side garden feature that costs very little to create. For more creative pallet garden projects, our pallet garden ideas guide is packed with practical, affordable inspiration.

12. White Stone Mulch with Structural Plants

A side passage finished with clean white stone mulch and a selection of bold, architectural plants creates a crisp, contemporary look that makes even a narrow, functional space feel considered, stylish, and genuinely beautiful from every angle.

Phormium, ornamental grasses, and agapanthus all provide strong structural form that looks striking against the bright reflective surface of white stone mulch throughout every season. For design inspiration and plant pairing ideas, our white stone landscaping ideas guide is full of creative combinations.

13. Flowering Shrub Side Border

A side border planted with a succession of flowering shrubs delivers season-long colour and structure in a space that is so often left bare or covered with nothing more than plain concrete or bark mulch without any real planting interest.

Mix early, mid, and late-season flowering shrubs to ensure something beautiful is always in bloom throughout the entire growing season from spring right through to autumn. For the best flowering shrub selections, our flowering shrubs guide covers an outstanding range of varieties suited to side garden borders.

14. Fairy Garden Side Feature

A whimsical fairy garden feature tucked into a shaded corner of the side passage creates a delightful, enchanting focal point that surprises and delights visitors of all ages and transforms an overlooked corner into something truly magical and memorable.

Miniature plants, tiny pathways, fairy doors set into tree stumps, and small decorative accessories all contribute to a fairy garden that grows more charming with every addition. For more magical planting and decorating ideas, our fairy garden ideas guide is an endlessly inspiring resource.

15. Gabion Wall Side Feature

A gabion wall built along or at the end of a side passage creates a bold, textural, and extremely durable landscape feature that adds strong architectural interest and solves boundary or level-change challenges with natural stone-filled wire cages.

Gabion walls are particularly effective at retaining soil on sloped side passages and can be topped with planting for an even more beautiful, layered finish. For creative gabion design ideas and installation guidance, our gabion wall ideas guide covers every application in inspiring detail.

16. Container Garden Display Along the Side

A curated display of planted containers arranged along the side of the house creates a flexible, colourful, and easily changeable garden feature that brings life and beauty to paved or concrete side passages without requiring any ground preparation or permanent planting.

Choose containers in complementary sizes and materials that suit your home’s exterior style, and rotate seasonal planting throughout the year for continuous colour and interest. Our container gardening flowers guide is full of stunning seasonal plant combinations perfect for side passage container displays.

17. Bohemian Side Garden

A bohemian side garden uses eclectic planting, repurposed materials, colourful decorative accents, and a wonderfully relaxed approach to transform a forgotten side passage into a joyful, characterful outdoor space that reflects a genuinely creative personality.

Wind chimes, mosaic stepping stones, driftwood features, and richly planted borders all contribute to a bohemian side garden that feels unique, personal, and wonderfully alive. For more eclectic garden design inspiration, our hippie bohemian outdoor garden guide is packed with creative, free-spirited ideas.

18. Herb Garden Along the Side of the House

A productive herb garden running along a sunny side passage creates a beautiful, fragrant, and endlessly useful feature that provides a continuous supply of fresh culinary herbs while looking wonderfully attractive throughout the entire growing season.

Plant herbs in raised beds, terracotta pots, or directly in the ground depending on your side passage surface and available space. For advice on growing herbs together effectively, our garden herb pairing guide covers the best companion herb combinations in excellent, practical detail.

19. Colourful Shrub Side Border

A side border planted with a rich mix of colourful foliage and flowering shrubs creates a vibrant, year-round tapestry of colour and texture that transforms a plain side passage into one of the most visually exciting areas of the entire garden.

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Layer shrubs of contrasting heights, foliage colours, and bloom times for a composition that looks deliberately designed yet delightfully natural throughout every season of the year. Our colorful shrubs guide showcases the best varieties for creating bold, long-lasting side border impact.

20. Fence Line Planting Strip

Transforming the narrow strip of soil running along the base of a side fence into a planted border adds layers of colour, fragrance, and texture that soften the hard fence line beautifully and create a seamless, attractive transition between surfaces.

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Even a very narrow planting strip of just 12 inches can accommodate a surprisingly rich and rewarding selection of compact perennials, bulbs, and ground covers that look beautiful throughout the year. Our fence line landscaping guide covers planting strip design in excellent, practical detail.

21. Shade Perennial Side Border

A side border planted entirely with shade-tolerant perennials creates a reliably beautiful, low-maintenance garden feature in challenging low-light conditions that most gardeners struggle with but can actually turn into one of the most rewarding garden spaces of all.

Astilbes, bleeding hearts, brunneras, and pulmonarias all produce stunning foliage and flowers in shaded side borders and become more impressive with every passing growing season. For the best shade-loving perennial choices, our shade perennials guide covers every top performer in comprehensive detail.

22. Tiny Side Yard Maximised with Smart Design

Even the most cramped and awkward side yard can be transformed into a functional, beautiful outdoor space with clever design. Mirrors, light-coloured surfaces, vertical planting, and carefully chosen compact plants all make tight spaces feel significantly larger and more inviting.

The key is to treat the space as a deliberate outdoor room rather than an afterthought, choosing every element with intention and care for the best possible result. For more creative ideas on maximising small outdoor spaces, our tiny backyard ideas guide is full of brilliant, space-saving inspiration.

23. Tree Planting for Height and Shade

Planting a slender, upright tree along the side of the house adds dramatic height, dappled shade, and beautiful seasonal interest to what is often a very flat, one-dimensional space. Columnar varieties are ideally suited to narrow side passages.

Columnar hornbeam, fastigiate oak, and slim-growing ornamental cherry trees all add extraordinary vertical character without spreading wide enough to cause problems in tight spaces. For more tree selection and placement advice, our tree landscaping ideas guide covers narrow-growing varieties in excellent detail.

24. Garden Wall Art on the Side of the House

Decorating the side wall of your house with garden wall art — whether climbing plants, painted murals, mosaic panels, or mounted driftwood — transforms a plain external wall into a spectacular visual feature that brings enormous personality to the whole side garden space.

Even a simple trellis mounted on the wall and planted with a fragrant climbing rose completely transforms the character and atmosphere of an otherwise plain side passage. For creative wall feature ideas, our garden wall ideas guide is beautifully comprehensive and inspiring.

25. Budget Side Yard Landscaping

Beautiful side yard landscaping is completely achievable on a tight budget with the right approach and a little creative thinking. Mulching, plant divisions, seed-grown ground covers, and simple edging can transform a neglected side passage for surprisingly little money.

Native plants, self-seeding perennials, and ground covers grown from seed are the most cost-effective long-term choices for side garden planting that looks great and requires minimal ongoing maintenance. For more practical budget strategies, our cheap landscaping ideas guide is packed with affordable inspiration.

26. Coastal-Inspired Side Garden

A coastal-inspired side garden planted with ornamental grasses, sea lavender, agapanthus, and drought-tolerant ground covers creates a beautifully relaxed, low-maintenance landscape feature that suits exposed, windy side passages particularly well and looks stunning year-round.

Bleached driftwood features, pebble mulch, and salt-tolerant plants complete the coastal aesthetic effortlessly and create a side garden that genuinely requires very little ongoing care or attention throughout the year. For more coastal design and plant selection ideas, our coastal backyard garden guide is a comprehensive and beautifully detailed resource.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Conclusion

The side of your house holds enormous untapped potential — with the right plants, materials, and design approach it can become one of the most beautiful and rewarding spaces in your entire garden.

Explore more inspiration with our guides on yard ideas for outdoor spaces and trending landscaping ideas to beautifully bring your complete side garden vision to life.