Are you sprucing up your garden this year? Or maybe you’ve moved into a new house and your new garden needs a little love and care?

While it’s possible to design a beautiful garden in an infinite number of ways, getting to know the current trends can inspire you and give you some ideas on how you want your garden to look. Here are some of this year’s top garden design trends.

Combining traditional and contemporary elements

Mixing together old and new styles to create a modern rustic feel is popular this year. There really is no set method on how to do this as it depends on your garden, your imagination, and your individual preferences. Perhaps you’ve found some worn, unique slabs of timber at a yard sale, and they can be incorporated perfectly with your fence or retaining wall. Or maybe you have a sleek polished concrete water fountain paired with an antique galvanised steel spout. You could plant native grasses and ferns in geometric pots, or place bright sunflowers in rusted old milk cans. Get creative and experiment until you strike the right balance for your garden.

Natural materials

This year modern materials are being replaced by organic, natural materials. Think rough-hewn stones laid as stepping stones, wooden ladders as shelves, and flower beds constructed with tree branches. Cane and rattan outdoor furniture will be in high demand, while wood and stone elements will be popular choices for landscaping. Using natural materials in this way can achieve a raw, traditional, native style in a garden. Artificial turf which is 3 times hotter than real turf is now being removed and replaced with fresh natural grass, absorbing heat, reducing CO2 levels and cooling the area by 20 percent.

Colour blocking

Colour blocking adds visual interest to an area by incorporating striking, contemporary colours with an otherwise boring space. You could plant contrasting coloured flowers in a row down a walkway, or in a spiral shape in a garden bed. Colour blocking can also be done with furniture or painting. Consider adding a splash of colour to your patio by painting a block colour feature wall behind a row of pot plants. Or use brightly coloured rugs, throws, or couch cushions to instantly make your garden more dynamic and vibrant.

Rain water harvesting

Many gardeners are seeing the benefits in harvesting rain water to reuse in their garden. Rainwater is highly oxygenated and our plants prefer it over treated water. So it makes sense to collect as much rainwater as possible and then use it to irrigate your garden. A metal drum or an old beer barrel can be given a second life as a container to collect rainwater. Simply place it next to a roof edge to collect runoff, and shade the water by covering it with shade netting (this will also stop insects from breeding in it!)

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