The back boundary of Barbara and Jack Thomas' Laurelhurst garden is obscured, and the garden enlarged, by a mirror, reflecting pond and plantings. The reflected row of pleached katsura trees is a clever way to fit in several of these elegant trees while taking up very little horizontal space.

"The size of a garden has little to do with its merit. It is merely an accident relating to the circumstances of the owner." — Gertrude Jekyll

I'M AFRAID that what Gertrude Jekyll, designer of grand English estates, considered to be a small garden would appear to us to be palatial in scale. Our city and suburban gardens are truly tiny in comparison. But her words, uttered more than a century ago, remain true today: Good gardens come in all sizes, even the diminutive.

Some of the very best gardens I've seen are dimensionally challenged. Perhaps little gardens are so appealing because, when faced with squeezing in favorite shrubs and flowers, outdoor dining, a vegetable patch, plus space for the kids and dog to play, the gardener is forced to make the tough choices that result in the finest gardens.

Self-restraint is a prerequisite for people with small gardens, but something the rest of us learn only once we've already overcrowded our gardens. Author Ray Bradbury was talking about writing when he said, "The art lies in the editing - knowing what to leave out," but it applies just as much to gardens, and those with limited space master this first and best.

Those with spacious yards have much to learn from gardeners working within confined boundaries, as the welcome feeling of shelter is too often missing from larger gardens. If you're blessed with more property, you can use many of the same tricks employed in tiny gardens to divide and emphasize space, creating enclosure and intimacy.

Lilliputian outdoor spaces can be maximized with a few of these principles:

Now In Bloom Akebia quinata is a lush, exotic looking vine with distinctive five-lobed leaves and headily fragrant, modest-size flowers. Called the chocolate vine, perhaps because of the deep purple-brown of its cup-shaped flowers, it is semi-evergreen, tolerates some shade, and is well worth growing for its handsome foliage alone.

Limit your color palette: One of my favorite gardens uses just green and white, with a few splashes of pink. The garden feels tranquil, large in atmosphere if not in reality. Or you can go for energy rather than zen, and jumble together hot colors like orange, purple and red. Add bold foliage to create a lush jungle feel in very little space. Just be sure to stick with the shades you love best, and avoid scattering lots of different colors about.

Play with scale: Don't ever think that your outdoor furniture, structures and plants need to be small because your garden is. Quite the opposite. There is nothing so inviting as a little terrace holding a couple of roomy Adirondack chairs. For some reason, oversize plants and furniture make the most of cozy spaces, while spindly arbors or uniformly small plants make the garden feel cramped, impermanent, unimportant. Not that you can't outfit a tiny corner with a snug tea table, but make sure that the basic fittings of the garden are comfortably, reassuringly hefty.

Disclose the garden one step at a time: Never reveal the whole garden at once. You can stop the eye with a hedge or fence, or just suggest division with a big pot, lattice screen or piece of art. Nothing is more boring than looking across a lawn to a straight border, taking the whole in at a glance. Mystery and intrigue can be created with gates, paths that wind around corners, plants placed as scrim.

Garden in three dimensions: You can squeeze in more plants (and isn't that always the goal?) by growing vines up pergolas and arbors, placing pots on the tops of columns, and pruning trees or shrubs to meet overhead to form an arch or tunnel.

Finally, don't be afraid of either intricacy or simplicity. Each work, as long as you choose plants and a style that you love and go for it.

All these size-building techniques enhance the spirit and individuality of the garden, as well, while maximizing the enclosure, comfort and intrigue so necessary for our human psyches. These qualities make satisfying gardens, no matter whether your canvas is large or small.

Valerie Easton, a horticultural librarian who writes about plants and gardens for Pacific Northwest magazine, is the co-author of "Artists in Their Gardens" from Sasquatch Books. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com. Jimi Lott is a Seattle Times staff photographer.