We don’t know about you but it looks as if many of us are going to be spending a whole lot more time at home over the next few months. So, let’s get our outdoor spaces ready for a relaxed and self-contained spring. And maybe even summer. We have a fantastic range of exceptional, luxury garden furniture, including some stunning new arrivals. What garden trends are up and coming this year – and should we be too worried about following them? Well, read on to see the garden trends everyone is talking about, then make up your own mind.
Curves
Curves, it seems, are everywhere, not just among garden trends. The luxury furniture world is full of them – on chaises, armchairs and the backs of some really beautiful sofas. Well, now it’s your garden’s turn. We are moving away from sharp, geometric layouts and uniform paving to curvilinear and asymmetric designs.
Soft Contemporary
A garden trend that follows on from sinuous curves is a soft, contemporary feel. This is contemporary garden design but not stark or regimented. Designers are blurring the boundaries between hard and soft landscaping for a less manicured, more natural look. Depending just how much you want to blur your boundaries, you may even have little planting pockets within your paving. Instead of the pale, austere paving and metal structures we have seen for a while, we are seeing a lot more warmth and texture, incorporating wood, ceramic tiles and cobbles. One of our favourites, a garden trend from Japan, is the use of charred wood, or Shou Sugi Ban, for decking. It adds texture, interest and a depth of colour, bringing decking up to date.
Simple Palette
Planting is becoming more simplified, with a trend towards single colour schemes. This brings your whole garden together and makes it easier to maintain. Before starting any such scheme, plan your planting to include various heights together with shades and depths of colour within your chosen palette. Add evergreens or grasses for contrast. Just because it’s simple, it doesn’t have to be boring.
Low Maintenance
There’s been a garden trend towards low maintenance for a long time – so maybe it’s not really a trend but it is evolving. It used to mean a lot of hard landscaping and coloured gravel. Luckily, the days of shale and slate as a centrepiece are disappearing. People have realised that plants are important. They soften the feel of a garden and make us feel happy. So, we are looking for tough, low-maintenance, drought-resistant plants (although, if this winter was anything to go by, they also need to be flood-resistant – a big ask). One of the easiest way to achieve this sort of garden is with a mix of perennial flowers, ornamental grasses and shrubs. If you don’t want a lot of work in the autumn, incorporate structural plants that will leave interesting seed heads. They will provide food for the birds as well as looking fabulous on a frosty day.
If wood is too high-maintenance, take a look at some of the new composite decking on the market. There are also a great many extremely good wood-effect ceramic tiles out there, all of which are far lower maintenance than wood.
Edible Forest
We’ve written about this garden trend before too but, again, it is evolving. You may prefer to have a separate edible garden with raised beds but the trend this year is to incorporate fruit and vegetables into borders along with colourful flowers. Some of these can also be edible. Alternatively, grown them in beautiful pots and the foliage becomes just another part of your garden design. Edible gardening is very apt for the situation we are in currently with coronavirus. Being stuck at home with children off school for weeks or even months can be challenging. So this would be the perfect time to get them interested in fruit, veg and where their food comes from. Children love growing things, especially if they can eat them. Spring is the time to start your planting and it looks as though they may have the whole of spring and summer to watch their veggies grow.
Health & Wellbeing
No doubt you have heard that there are numerous benefits to spending more time outdoors. It can boost mood, lower blood pressure and increase our overall level of fitness simply by walking. The current popularity of ‘forest bathing’ goes to show that we are willing to embrace the outdoors (and the odd tree) to boost our health. We are now designing our gardens with the aim of encouraging people outside a lot more. As well as creating several areas or rooms within a garden, there is an overwhelming trend now for actual, built garden rooms, offices and summer houses. We love an outdoor kitchen with barbecue, full work surfaces, cupboards, sink and plumbing – but if wellbeing is your priority, your outdoor room may well incorporate a gym, sauna or even a yoga studio.
Wildlife
Wildlife is essential to our entire ecosystem. Even the most manicured of gardens can usually find a space for wildlife, whether it is planting a wildflower meadow, creating a log pile or tucking bug hotels and bird boxes into the overall design. Again, children are fascinated by birds, bugs and bees so even if it’s something you wouldn’t normally want in your garden, this is the year to try and create a little wildlife nook. Leave a semi-wild area under a canopy of trees, put up a ready-made bird or bug box or put down proper meadow turf and you’ll have lots of little visitors in no time.
Still Open for Business
So, if you’re going stir crazy cooped up indoors, now is definitely the time to get your garden sorted. It’s the perfect time to decide on your luxury garden furniture – and remember, our fantastic manufacturers are still working to produce their beautiful, hand-crafted pieces. We are still open for business and all the stunning pieces shown above (plus a whole lot more) are available to order online. If you need advice on any of our outdoor furniture, any other item, or interior design, we are only a phone call, email or LiveChat away.
