5 perennials to enhance small gardens

You can convert even the smallest of spaces into beautiful, lush gardens — if you use the right plants. Here are some surefire picks to bring bold colours and amazing texture to even the tiniest landscape.

These very popular compact plants offer the beauty, and often the fragrance, of traditional roses, but in a smaller size. They're a good container plant, too. They require full sun, but also bloom from spring to autumn. They're just 15 to 45 centimetres (six to 18 inches) high; 30 to 45 centimetres (12 to 18 inches) wide. They come in an array of colours, like yellow, orange, coral, pink, lavender, mauve, red and white.

Growing advice: Plant in well-draining soil; deadhead flowers frequently to encourage new blooms.

Recommendations: Choose Cupcake for pink blooms and Red Cascade for a ground cover rose with dark red flowers.

Primarily grown for its spiky, blue-green or blue-grey leaves, this compact evergreen grass is well suited for rock gardens. It needs full sun and blooms early summer to midsummer. It can grow to 30 centimetres (12 inches) high; 25 centimetres (10 inches) wide and is a gorgeous blue-green colour.

Growing advice: Needs well-draining soil; can grow by seed in pots indoors or sown directly in ground.

Recommendations: Elijah Blue is slightly smaller, with powder-blue leaves; Harz features leaves with purple tips; Solling's leaves turn red-brown in fall.

These fragrant and petite early bloomers are grown from bulbs that can also be forced for winter blooms indoors. With full sun, these bloom late winter to early spring. They can b five to 15 centimetres (two to six inches) high. They come in beautiful white, blue, yellow and reddish-violet varieties.

Growing advice: Requires neutral, well-draining soil; plant at depth that's twice the diameter of the bulb.

Recommendations: Choose Cantab for pale blue flowers with yellow markings; try J.S. Dijt for purple flowers with orange.

Before opening into five-pointed flowers, its hollow buds resemble balloons, which give this plant its name. It needs full sun to partial shade and blooms in summer. They come in pretty blue, violet, white and pink varieties.

Growing advice: Needs moist, well-draining soil; intolerant of division, but when necessary, do so in early spring when plants are less than 10 centimetres (four inches) tall; may require staking.

Recommendations: Sentimental Blue is a compact plant with large blue flowers; the Astra Series features tiny plants that yield white, pink or blue flowers.

Its distinctive bell-shaped flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies. It needs full sun to partial shade and blooms from late spring to early summer. They can grow up to 90 centimetres (36 inches) high and 45 centimetres (18 inches) wide. They are usually violet, blue, pink and white.

Growing advice: Prefers well-draining soil; propagate by seed or division; divide in spring. Taller varieties may need staking.

Recommendations: Little Lanterns is a dwarf cultivar that grows 25 to 30 centimetres (10 to 12 inches) tall and is resistant to leaf miner.