An Incredible Use of SMALL Garden Space

Many of us have small gardens and know the challenges of trying to fit a lot into a tiny space, but what if you basically have NO space upon which to garden? What then?

Well, Baylor Chapman in San Francisco knows that dilemma all too well. She lives in the Mission District – a hip, cool, industrialized section of the city that it is very urban. Baylor is a “green” florist (Lila B Designs) who strives to use local, organically grown flowers in her floral designs.

And there is a great story in that…

But, this post is about how Baylor is also a gardener with basically NO space. And how she has come up with creative ways to garden anywhere and in just about anything…(notice the shutter behind her in the photo below)

We filmed Baylor a few months ago for Growing A Greener World and I wanted to share some of the photos from the shoot. The episode is on Small Space Gardening and we featured two locations with Baylor.

The Deck Garden:

Baylor’s personal garden space is on a deck of just 500 square feet. It gets full sun and no view other than the industrial buildings around her. But in that space, she has created an oasis where she can entertain, read and relax…And the coolness factor is through the roof!

Yes, that is a truck tool box being used as a bench!

Baylor makes great use of color and unusual containers.

Check out these succulent shutters!

And these succulent, metal…thing-a-ma-jigs!

More coolness…

Heck, even the inside of her loft was ubber cool.

The Parking Lot Garden:

For Baylor’s floral design business, she wanted LOCAL, organically grown flowers but she also wanted unusual plants for her brides. Although she found a few local sources, it was not enough when she had larger events…So, she decided to grow them herself. But where?

How about around the perimeter of an urban parking lot?!

That is what she did! She grows tons of incredible plant material in pots around a rented parking lot. The lot itself is still used by a production company for deliveries but the edges were empty…until now.

Baylor’s helper in the garden and floral business is Sophie. Check out

her cute gardening skirt, complete with clipper pockets. Love it!

  Filming Baylor

It just goes to show that with a little ingenuity, you can do anything!

The episode we filmed will be airing nationally on Public Television on October 1, 2011. After that date, you will also be able to watch it on our website HERE.

To read more about Baylor and what she does, check out this blog post by my friend Debra Prinzing. Baylor is going to be featured in her upcoming book on locally, sustainably grown flowers! I will be writing more about that book when it gets closer to publication!