Garden & Landscape Design Trends for 2019
It’s always great to scour the internet for international garden trends and landscape design trends at the beginning of each year. We’ve done our homework for 2019 and bring you our choice of expected garden trends for 2019.
1. Gardening for Climate Change
Climate change is a huge reality in our world today and ever little contribution that can be made to alleviate the effects should be undertaken. Items to consider when designing an ecologically friendly garden are:
Choosing the right plants for your garden’s specific conditions and geographic area in your landscape design
Making use of rain water harvesting
Allowing excess water to be collected then dissipated through the soil
Making more use of water-wise, drought hardy plants
Using organic composts and fertilisers rather than harmful chemicals in our gardens
2. Hanging House Plants.
Experts predicts that home owners will bring more green space into their homes in 2019 and hanging house plants are just one way in which to do this. Traditional hanging baskets are making way for architecturally designed hanging planters in geometrically shaped structures.
A great way to bring colour into any room is to make use of colourful blossoms in your hanging planters. Geranium, fuschia, impatiens and begonia remain blossoming favourites and if positioned in the correct light conditions in your home ,are all low maintenance.
3. Interior meets exterior
As home owners tends to stay home more often to mitigate the high cost of living, their garden designs will become more of an extension of their interior – a comfortable living space, a place to have “Staycations” to relax and make the most of the home investment.
According to Country Living magazine in the UK, landscape designers say the colourful approach to interior will be creeping into the garden in 2019. Tiling experts Maharani Tiles tell us that outdoor tiles are taking on a more modern look. These take in trends such as geometric patterns, cement look tiles, woodlook tiles and even deco tiles being used on the patio.
4. Wild Gardening
We’ve always enjoyed the wild garden look and feel, as opposed to a very structured, clipped garden. Whilst we will always take our clients landscape designs into consideration, there is much to be said for allowing your garden the space to breath, to become itself and work with what it has, attracting the right insects for the right balance. A balanced garden will always thrive.
Ways in which to allow your garden to cultivate itself:
Less turning of the soil, allowing the roots to work with the microcosms
No use of harmful chemicals
No straight lines in your landscape design – simply scatter your seeds and let them grow where they fall (makes it harder for insects to devour as they walk in a straight line!)
Allowing vegetables to grow as plants in the garden (see edible gardens trend below)
A landscape design that include planting tall indigenous grasses that seed themselves
5. Teenage Spaces in Gardens
As parents we all know how frustrating it can be to see our teenagers hidden behind a screen, be it a TV, phone or computer. Technology seems to have stolen our children. A unique way to bring back balance into their lives and fresh air into their lungs is to create a space for them in the garden where they can still be on their screens, but at least be outdoors. By having their own space, they are not forced off their hardware, but will at least be exposed to sunshine, light, fresh air, and the sounds and smells of nature. A landscape design that includes comfortable, shady, secluded spot where they can still mix in private with their friends, or work uninterrupted on their laptop, may just get your teenager out of the house!
We recently create such a space in a garden makeover. Read the full story and see the before and after pics and video here.
6. Creating Notable First Impressions – Verge Gardens
When was the last time you really noticed your verge garden? As we drive past it regularly a few times a day, in and out of our driveways, it is easy to stop noticing it and allow it to become cluttered and overgrown. The verge garden however leaves a “first impression” to visitors or passers-by which cannot be undone. A cluttered, overgrown verge detracts from the beauty of the home and its perceived value. It should thus always be presentable and well-maintained. A well maintained, fashionable, impactful verge and entrance garden has always been trendy and we predict this will continue into 2019.
In our recent garden makeover we undertook both a verge garden makeover as well as an entrance garden makeover. Click on the images below for some inspiration!
7. Edible gardens
It has often been wrongly perceived that growing an edible garden requires vast stretches of unused land. As our society moves towards a more sustainable and responsible consumer mindset, the trend towards edible gardens has become more permanent and home owners are discovering that they can grow their own, organic produce in a limited space within their own gardens.
Interesting ways to bring edible food into your garden can include:
Container gardening – adding small pots of herbs and vegetable into your kitchen, or on your patio or balcony
Incorporating a few vegetable plants into your current garden layout, allowing them to form a ‘wild garden’ of sorts
Using vegetable or herbs in hanging planters in your home
Creating raised planter boxes in your courtyard and planting them full of herbs
Growing herbs in retaining walls or vertical gardens
2019 is certainly a year to get creative with your edible garden!
You will find some inspiration on this link
8. Water Wise – Water Storage – Water for Free
Did you know that the Kwa-Zulu natal North Coast is blessed with an abundant average annual rainfall of 1000mm – 1200mm. If you harvest this into a storage tank, you will get 1000 to 1200 litres per square meter. With a 200square metre roof, that’s an estimated 200,000 litres of harvested water per annum. That’s an impressive water saving, and super ecologically friendly.
Whilst rain water harvesting is also not a ‘new trend’ it certainly is one that promises to continue into eternity.
Just a few of the great benefits of rain water harvesting include:
As source water it is naturally chemical free with little chance for contamination other than the roof it falls on
Use of the harvested water alleviates the use of dam water storage thereby alleviating the stress on this infrastructure
It also places less stress on the storm water draining system, reducing the risk of overload and thus also reducing the damage from flood water.
Harvested rain water alleviates the stress on our water resources, particularly in time of drought
It reduces soil erosion – less water running into the garden means less soil erosion
For more information and inspiration, click here for our rainwater harvesting video and blog post.
If you’re keen to stay right on trend with your garden this year, why not call in the experts to help with your landscape design. We are only a call away: Click Here To Contact Us Today!