Inspiring Gardening Trends for your Front yard, Backyard and Patio

What’s new in the gardening world this year? After the great success of the first guide in the series, it’s time to look in part two of the most inspiring gardening trends to make any front yard, driveway, backyard or patio garden from drab to fab!

The area around your house can host many and various home improvements to make the front yard, the backyard, and the patio area more comfortable and pleasant to use.

1. But what are the trendy ideas and designs?
2. How to keep your property up to date and turn your home into a fashionable outdoor retreat?

If executed rightly, not only will your family and friends rejoice but implementing any of the below-listed trends in outdoor design will increase the value of your property. If you haven’t seen part one, you’ll find it at the bottom of the post. And now, without any further ado, let’s dive in:

The Japanese zen garden

Every year the public psyche embraces mindfulness and wellbeing more and more. With mindfulness apps encouraging us to meditate and take time for self-reflection, it often leads to people developing their own mentally healthy physical space to reflect within. As long as someone can look at the Zen garden and feel calm and creative, then space has been created successfully with wellbeing in mind.

The garden is the perfect space for this. A natural development from wabi-sabi is the Japanese Zen garden influence.

• Gardeners should make the most of the simplistic, gravel, sand, moss, trees and bamboo aesthetic to create their own wellbeing space in their garden.
• The gravel and sand should flow as a representation for the soothing nature of running water.
• The moss and trees should be left to flourish as the coldness of the rocks collides with the beauty of wabi-sabi overgrown nature.

Learn: How to Shape a Garden?

Climate-aware gardening

The climate is changing so will plant life and care. The concept of creating and maintaining ecological gardens to withstand the ongoing rapid shifts in temperature, Sunlight, humidity, rain, and so forth, will only increase in variety and popularity. According to plantlife lovers Robinson Love Plants, you should mind the type of plants that would fit for your climate rather than having the plants you want to struggle in an environment different than their original habitat. That would come down to the soil, type and amount of light, and etc. The other approach to climate-aware gardening is the use of plants resistant to drought. The less care they need, the less hassle.

Guerilla gardening

It stands for war but not the one you would imagine. Guerilla gardening uses sees, flowers and trees instead of bombs, shells and bullets. The concept has vivid past and much potential with baby bloomers being fully equipped to rave late at night for the sake of life. Guerilla gardening has more to it than most would expect.To fully-cover or fill a room in flowers is also a form of protest. The young generation is tired of concrete and steel.

Xeriscaping to save water and work

If you’re unfamiliar with this new craze, xeriscaping started in Colorado as an effort to save and conserve water. However, in the arid climates of the Southwest United States, this style of front yard manicuring is catching on with increasing popularity. To incorporate this style, Sumo Gardener aims to focus on water-efficient plants such as native, desert varietals like cacti, yucca, and agave. Lay out your yard in a water-efficient manner that incorporates other natural landscaping elements like rock, decomposed granite, and wood chips. With that being said, though, you don’t have to limit your xeriscaping to desert-only plants, especially if you aren’t in a Southwest environment. As long as you focus on low-water trees, shrubs, flowers, and ground cover, you’ll be embracing the xeric focus. One common question is if you can still have a lawn in an xeriscape yard, shared Houseace Renovations’ expert. And the answer is yes. Just focus on keeping it small and usable, he added.

If possible, use native grass like bluegrass or tall fescue, which uses less water and requires less fertilizer than other breeds or simply go with the easy alternative, install artificial grass and stick to container gardening. One popular plant that you can use as a theme is succulents. These drought resistant plants have become the modern poster child for all things eco-friendly and sustainable. Colorful and diverse, these plants are easy to grow and practically unkillable. In the end, xeriscaping done right is an elegant, stylish way to have a front yard that saves you a lot of money and effort. Not only will your water bill be lower, but your home and yard maintenance and upkeep will be a lot lower.

Find: 18 Unusual Tips to Save Water at Home

Gabion walls

Gabion walls are easy to built and have a simple shape. The variety of ideas opens a floodgate of creativity and innovation. From containers to fencing, the technique finds a wide range of applications. According to Anthony Sinclair from Oak Hill Gardens, the use of stonework is yet to grow in popularity for both small and landscape gardening and gabion walls are another simple means to express and decorate any yard.

Converting turf grass to hardscaped areas

Turf was all the rage back in the day. Seeing a great looking lawn with nothing on it just showed organization and simplicity. Now there is a new trend to actually do something with your space instead of just having turf! Adding hardscape can really increase the fun factor of your space by a lot. Design professionals like Kitome are recommending their clients convert large sections of their turf grassy areas to hardscapes to save on maintenance costs and grass clipping waste. You can add a fire pit, complete with benches surrounding it. You can also add a garden, complete with raised beds too. Do you need some shade? Add a gazebo for shade and a great place to play a board game outside. Converting turf to hardscaped areas provides much more utility to your space that you can use to have more fun and relaxation. Using this philosophy takes a bit of work, but it gives you much more options with your space than a yard full of turf does.

Upcycle for more creative planters!

With the world becoming increasingly environmentally conscious (and for good reason), recycling waste is becoming more important than ever. Luckily, one way you can help to save the planet while adding some interest to your garden is by upcycling your unwanted furniture, appliances, and other household items and using them as planters. There are various ways for you to give a new lease of life of old possessions by upcycling those as containers for plants and flowers in your garden. Have an old pair of wellington boots that you no longer need? Don’t throw them away – drill some holes in them for drainage (if they don’t already have some), fill them with soil and pebbles, and plant your seeds on top. Colanders also make fun planters, and you don’t need to make holes in them as they have so many already!

Hangout areas for teenagers or seniors

Every garden should have some kind of hangout area, however, most of us aren’t lucky enough to have a treehouse hidden away in a hundred-acre wood. Nonetheless, there are plenty of other ways that you can bring a cool chillout space to your garden and outside the area. This space isn’t just for the teenager bbq parties, heck you may not have kids! You may even be a senior that wants to avoid decor faux to fully enjoy retirement. Either way, a dedicated seating area is the best way to get the most from your garden.

1. The area has to be sectioned off, otherwise, it really won’t have that hangout/relaxed feel. Now you might only have a 3m by 3m patio, but barriers can come in all shapes and sizes. A physical barrier such as a wall, a bush, a hedge. Similarly a smaller physical barrier such as plant pots filled with beautiful flowers from quality florists. Alternatively, if you are able to, different flooring can achieve that cosy ambiance. Whether you move from slabs to pebbles, decking to grass, or even a different colour paint, these can all act as dividers.
2. Get handy and go all DIY. A great spring project is to transform old wooden pallets into various furniture, such as a pallet chair or a pallet bench. There are numerous tutorials online to teach you how to make various furnishing using pallets. Also, many will advise you to purchase new pallets which is simply not necessary. Head to your local garden centres and ask to buy old pallets that they are throwing away. Restoring these will take nothing more than a sander, a drill, a saw, screws and paint or varnish
3. Think about where your hangout will be. Yes, this sounds like a silly suggestion but it is something that many will not think about until it is too late. Think about where the sun shines, think about the shade and think about where you would like to sit and hang out. Sometimes a poorly-chosen spot could have you end up looking for natural ways to get rid of insects.

Backyard focal points

Dazzling the charms of the outdoor units basically comes down to two rules that you should adhere to creating structural focal points in the backyard and diversifying the types of plants you grow indoors. Each and every backyard needs to have a focal point to mark the whole yard. The focal point doesn’t have to be a new addition to the garden like a fountain, a fire pit or a pool but you can breathe in a new life in what you already have. If there is an old shed that was disused for years but that is still structurally stable, you can repurpose it or restore it to its former glory. Catalogues like the SummerHouse24 garden rooms portfolio can inspire ideas far more attractive than a simple box for storing garden tools.

• Repaint the shed, change the missing boards, repair the roof with special attention to the flashings that will ensure the structure is waterproof.
• Add hangers or hooks to the walls and maximise the use of space.
• Place a bench inside to have a place to rest during the summer heats.
• Consider the gorgeous windows and doors that experts offer.
• Finally, you can adorn the sides of the shed with colourful floral patterns and make it stand out.
• Interior-wise, experts suggest polished concrete floors to take a shed to a castle.

With a beautiful shed, nobody will think twice to adore your home!

Advice: For safety reasons, place a lock on the door and prevent children from gaining access to any hazardous objects.

Repurpose yard sale gems

At garage and yard sales you can find vintage pieces of furniture or other household inventory which you could easily incorporate and reuse. Add more creativity by repurposing daily life objects you wouldn’t find in a garden. An old bench with a one leg repaired, or changed, supported by an old crate or anything that fits will add a rustic feel to your garden. You could build up short DIY easy-to-paint but valuable fencing from old doors, racks, metal plates or any other leftover. If there are land features, like yawners or a hillocks, use those to your advantage. People will often skip such details for being perceived as irrelevant or unusable imperfections.

“Vintage decor is always trendy, so don’t throw anything away!”, says Antonia from the zero-waste and plastic-free EscapeWaste.com. Hillocks can be used to create a vantage point on top of them (where the aforementioned rustic bench could sit) with flowerbeds cascading downwards. This is not a novel design, as even Incas and Mayas had cascading farming. Once seated, you would be the king of a floral hill, lounging at the top.

Taking gardening indoors

During the winter period, it is virtually impossible to grow plants outdoors, so indoor plants are the only greenery one can count on unless, of course, if you possess a greenhouse. Admittedly, it can be hard to provide all the plants with the necessary preconditions for growth, such as adequate natural light, pest control, and water supply. However, these plants will mostly serve as decoration, so it shouldn’t be too hard to dedicate yourself to nurturing, especially if you’re doing indoor gardening for children. Philodendron, Peperomia or Sansevieria do not require much daylight. Also, look into plants that require less water such as the various succulent species like cacti that require watering only once every two weeks.

In fact, the only thing that indoor plants

In terms of décor, there are several tips for keeping plants inside.

• First of all, there is no point in hanging heavy pots above ground level, as they should be kept on the floor or window sill for safety reasons and because of the fact that they are more accessible this way.
• Large potted plants look great near a couch in the living room or in the far corner of a bedroom.
• On the other hand, trailing plants should be placed on high shelves, window sills, ledges, and the mantelpiece, so they will have enough room for downward growth. This is also a unique opportunity to grow fern that might not have wanted to dabble outdoors.
• Finally, toxin-fighting plants should form part of a green wall inside your bedroom.

Gardening with children

Ever more people encourage their children to get involved with gardening. One of the Wonderful Wellies’ gardening experts says that there’s an uptick in demand for baby-sized gear from all sorts – lawn mowers, rakes, Wellie boots, of course, leaf blowers and so forth. But there’s an educational note to it too. According to Montessori Nature, the skills learned from gardening nourish reliability and responsibility, self-confidence, learning cause and effect, curiosity, physical activity, exploring texture, the love of nature, teamwork, math, creativity and far more, especially if started in the early toddler to preschooler age.

Microgreen kits

Microgreens are a new health trend that is showing fantastic benefits and are a really simple way to introduce more greens into a diet. They are seedlings of herbs or vegetables harvested just after the initial leaves are formed, those leaves are known as cotyledon leaves. There are a couple ways to grow microgreens, but we are just going to stick to one way that is the simplest way.

They are easy to grow and do not take up a lot of space. So, if you are planning on starting growing at home, they will take up little to no space because of how small they are. This works well for people living off the grid or living in a small apartment. You can free up space in your fridge and still have plenty of room on your counters as they can fit right into the windowsill in special growing trays. A great selling point is that they will also give some color to an apartment that they may not be able to change much about.

Final remarks

As you have seen from our examples, it is not that hard to follow trends in gardening all around and inside your home. Turn old yard structures into new focal points and don’t forget to colour your home green on the inside, too. If you haven’t seen the first part of the guide, please do so and check Part 1: 18 Inspiring Gardening Trends to Dazzle the Charms of your Front yard, Backyard a
and Patio.