Thinking small

Small rooms or dwellings discipline the mind, large ones weaken it. - Leonardo da Vinci, Notebooks

If you have a huge backyard, da Vinci might argue, it's possible to approach landscaping casually-you have the latitude to absorb a few mistakes. If your garden is as small as Christine Moore's Los Angeles garden, though, you can't afford that luxury. Step through her French doors and out onto her steps, and nearly every inch of her backyard is immediately visible-all 590 square feet of it. There is no room for error, no hiding place for clutter.