{"id":3451,"date":"2019-05-23T18:14:09","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T18:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ongardening.com\/?p=3451"},"modified":"2020-01-11T06:31:52","modified_gmt":"2020-01-11T06:31:52","slug":"current-trends-in-garden-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/?p=3451","title":{"rendered":"Current Trends in Garden Design"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As I was planning to visit nine exemplary hone gardens in the Santa Cruz area, in a tour organized by the UCSC Arboretum and Botanic Garden, I happened upon a popular garden magazine\u2019s summary of ten current trends in residential garden design. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.redbudsoilcompany.com\/collections\/pots-grow-beds\">Redbud soil company<\/a> online supplier of soil containers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of these trends related to indoor gardening and flower\narranging, while eight relate to outdoor gardening. I became interested in how\nthose eight trends related to the Arboretum\u2019s garden tour. Two question came to\nmind: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Do these trends actually appear in these\ncommunity gardens?<\/li><li>Do these community gardens actually reflect the\ntrends? <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I managed to visit six gardens during the day. I won\u2019t\nidentify the gardens because they are not now on tour, but each garden was\nunique, nicely designed and developed, and very well presented for this special\nevent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are my observations, with reference to eight reported\ntrends for outdoor gardens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Keeping It Low\nMaintenance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Everyone, it seems, wants a low-maintenance garden, and some\nstrategies certainly can lower the workload, but gardens that shine for\nvisitors show the result of ongoing maintenance plus \u201csprucing up\u201d for tour\nday. All the gardens on this tour were neatly maintained: there were no weeds,\ndiseased or neglected plants, or unsightly debris. Congratulations to the\ngarden owners! My findings don\u2019t negate the published interest in low\nmaintenance, but it suggests that low maintenance doesn\u2019t align with garden\ntours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Creating a Staycation\nSpot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This trend focuses on recreational resources in the garden,\ne.g., outdoor kitchen, furniture, fire features, decorative lighting, etc. All\nof the gardens I visited included a table and chairs, and some had a basic\nbarbeque set-up, but none appeared to have been planned for a \u201cstaycation.\u201d\nPeople who invest significant money and effort in their gardens apparently prefer\nto explore new environments on occasion, rather than to switch from gardener to\nvacationer in the same place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Structures as Focal\nPoints<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This trend relates to the development of garden structures,\ne.g., sheds, walls, and swimming pools. One of the six gardens had a small\ngreenhouse and a hot tub, and another had an impressive collection\ncontainerized plants mounted on a fence, but there were no other structures\nserving as focal points. Some gardens include well-designed paths and retaining\nwalls, but these were more functional than architectural focal points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Private, Secluded\nPlaces<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This trend envisions a smallish space dedicated to seating\nfor two people, with perhaps a water feature, a wall or plant screen to\nseparate it from the garden, or an arbor or pergola to create an enclosure. I\nsaw one seating area that provided such seclusion; the others were positioned\nto support viewing and enjoying the garden. Avid gardeners enjoy being in their\ngardens, rather than relaxing in seclusion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Notable First Impressions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was a toss-up. Of the six gardens, three had front\nyards that were very nicely designed and presented fine streetside impressions.\nThe other three had well-done front yards, but more impressive back yards. Clearly,\nthe private, backyard garden area had the higher priority. Such differences\ncould result by chance, differences in the available gardening space, or particular\ninterest in impressing neighbors and passers-by. &nbsp;Good arguments could be made for both front\nyard and backyard priorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Food in Landscapes of\nAll Sizes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This magazine article envisioned a trend for including\nedibles in a primarily ornamental garden, whether in containers or raised beds,\nor mingled with perennial plants. There are interesting ideas for combining\nedibles and ornamentals, and good books on the creative design of vegetable\ngardens. Still, I saw vegetable gardening in only two of these six tour gardens,\nand in both cases, veggies were separated from ornamentals. To be fair, three\nof the gardens I did not visit reportedly included vegetables and fruit trees,\nso this tour evidently demonstrated this trend rather well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Investing in Quality\nFurniture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is this a trend? I saw attractive and serviceable garden\nfurniture in good condition, but not the artisan-created teak items or classic\nshowpieces like a Lutyens bench. It has been said that no garden can have too\nmuch seating, but gardeners with tour-worthy gardens might have more interest\nin the selection, placement and cultivation of plants than in the display of\nsophisticated furnishings.&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Giving Back with\nGardens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This trend emphasizes gardening that is friendly to wildlife\nand the environment. The forms of such friendliness include providing wildlife\nhabitats, supporting pollinators, using organic methods to control weeds and\npests and not poisoning wildlife or the environment. This trend might be\nunderstood also to include using water wisely, in keeping with water\nconservation priorities. These tour gardens were highly compatible with this\ntrend, with multiple sites featuring drought tolerant plants, e.g.,\nMediterranean climate specimens and succulents, and avoiding synthetic\nchemicals. I did not, however, see wildlife habitats, e.g., bird houses, brush\nheaps, bird baths or bird feeders.&nbsp; Perhaps\nI just didn\u2019t notice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My conclusion is that the gardens on the Arboretum\u2019s garden\ntour exemplify most of the design trends featured in this one magazine\u2019s overview\nof 2019\u2019s garden trends. These gardens are quite trendy! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are now in garden tour season, so include at least one\ntour in your schedule, and enjoy the opportunity to discover unfamiliar plants\nand new approaches to garden design. An exceptional opportunity is St. Philips\u2019\nannual Garden Tour and English Tea Luncheon on May 11, 2019. For information: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stphilip-sv.net\/\">http:\/\/www.stphilip-sv.net<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you embark upon a garden tour, you might find it\ninteresting to review each garden with reference someone\u2019s perspective on\ncurrent design trends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You also could expand this strategy by adding your own\nthoughts about garden design trends. For example, my design priorities include\nthematic design for sections of the garden, and landscaping with swaths of\nselected plants, in contrast to collections of single specimens. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I was planning to visit nine exemplary hone gardens in the Santa Cruz area, in a tour organized by the UCSC Arboretum and Botanic Garden, I happened upon a popular garden magazine\u2019s summary of ten current trends in residential &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/?p=3451\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[204],"tags":[11,15],"class_list":["post-3451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays-2019-2","tag-design","tag-events"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2WCVL-TF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3451"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3527,"href":"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3451\/revisions\/3527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}