Garden design trends 2022: what the coming year will bring us

The outgoing year has brought so many surprises that it is only possible with great caution to predict the trends that will be relevant in the garden next year. However, certain directions are still visible.

Garden trend is not changing as rapidly as it is, say, with trends in clothing. Which is generally not surprising when you consider the fact that garden design is the slowest of all arts. First, society has some new needs, which are later reflected in unusual ideas. And only then, when there are enough of these ideas, the best of them will form trends that will determine the direction of garden design trends in the future.

Low-maintenance and “new wave” gardens

Have you ever thought about how much time you spend on providing decent conditions and care for “capricious plants”? Tellingly, some decorative crops are included in the list of sissies only because they grow out of place. Not the acidity of the soil, too high or too low levels of groundwater, excess or lack of sunlight, the wrong type of soil…

Of course, it is possible to solve this or that problem, especially if we take into account the opportunities that technological progress has presented to us. The question is: why waste your precious time and energy on growing crops that are not too comfortable on your site?

Pete Udolph, a famous garden designer who gave the world the “new wave” gardens, asked exactly the same question. The main task of such compositions is to create a feeling of naturalness and miraculousness. As if the garden was invented and realized by nature itself.

Udolfian gardens have not yet gained such popularity in our country as in the west. Perhaps due to the fact that they are more reminiscent of the forb meadows of the middle zone than man-made gardens. However, even with this in mind, the basic principles of arranging the compositions of the “new wave” – low maintenance, all-seasonality and maximum naturalness – will continue to find application in classical gardens.

With the right garden setting, even minimal maintenance will be enough to keep its attractiveness for a long time!

High beds and flower beds

High beds owe their extraordinary popularity to the same idea of low maintenance. Despite the fact that even they are not a panacea and have a number of certain “contraindications” (high beds are difficult to organize in elevated and southern areas), they still have more advantages than disadvantages.

Since the high beds themselves are structures, frankly, noticeable, it is very important not only to “fill” them correctly, but also to arrange them accordingly. By inscribing tall beds into the design of your site, you will give it a zest, and at the same time smooth out the sharp transition between the garden and vegetable garden areas.

Vertical gardening

The use of vertical gardening helps to solve several problems at once:

• zoning of space in places where you cannot do without fences and partitions;
• greening buildings, for example with grapes, hops or ivy;
• masking unsightly fences and hiding the external imperfections of buildings;
• saving space in a small garden if there is not enough space for flower beds.

It should be understood that vertical gardening is not only the use of climbing plants, but also the arrangement of vertical beds and flower beds, which cope with the tasks set just as well.

Houses, as if collected from plants and flowers – this is how you can briefly describe the technique of vertical gardening.

Decorative vegetable garden

Country plots without beds in our area are more likely the exception than the rule, while in the west, from where the latest trends in garden fashion usually come to us, gardening is not so widespread. The trend of growing garden crops that has existed in recent years with the advent of the pandemic has not only not lost its relevance, but has also strengthened its position.

Do not want boring single-type beds on your site, but you can’t do without vegetables and greens at all? A vegetable garden can be beautiful!

As a result, more and more owners of personal plots began to pay attention to vegetables. But if earlier the whole emphasis was placed solely on practicality, and most summer residents tried to hide the beds from prying eyes, now they are trying to harmoniously fit the gardens into the general garden.

Ornamental cabbage will not lose its popularity either. Unpretentiousness and all-season nature allow using this culture in the decor of gardens of different styles. If you want to experiment with design, and at the same time surprise your guests with an unusual spectacle, be sure to try to equip a cabbage flower bed on your site.

Decorate your garden with an unusual and easy-to-care plant.

Container floriculture and horticulture

The pandemic and related quarantine measures have resulted in people spending much more time at home. Because of this, a rapid increase in interest in flower gardens and vegetable gardens on balconies and window sills began. Surprisingly, this trend has not spared the owners of personal plots.

A wide assortment line of vegetables for container growing gave them the opportunity to get a small, but stable harvest throughout almost the whole year. Having tried to grow a home garden on their balcony, some summer residents appreciated the idea of using containers and began to actively use it in their gardens.

Have you heard about baby boom? No, this is not a fashion for children. This is the name of the worldwide craze for miniature vegetables.

The trend that has emerged in recent years for the use of containers and flowerpots for growing both annual and perennial ornamental crops does not lose its popularity. Potted gardens have many benefits. Simple care, mobility and a lot of room for imagination, which give the use of flowerpots and boxes, allows you to experiment with colors, shapes and textures with a minimum of labor costs.

We are sharing with you some small secrets of creating a beautiful, fragrant, stylish container garden.

Environmental friendliness

Under the term “environmental friendliness”, most summer residents understand the almost complete rejection of chemical pesticides and insecticides in favor of biological agents to protect the garden and vegetable garden from diseases and pests. However, in reality, this concept is much broader, since it includes caring not only for plants, but also for other inhabitants of the site.

Who are not trying to lure the followers of the idea of good neighborly relations with the environment to their dachas: beneficial insects, birds, hedgehogs and even worms ! And this means that every year there will be an increase in interest in arranging birdhouses, feeders, drinkers for birds and insect houses, which, in turn, gives just incredible scope for imagination.

Not sure how to fill the site with life and attract beneficial insects and birds? To do this, it is enough to follow just a few tips.

Cereals and “grandmother’s” plants

Despite the fact that the popularity of a particular culture will differ not only in different regions, but even in garden partnerships located at different ends of the same area, it can be said with complete confidence that in the coming years, everyone will “reign” the same grains and herbs.

The mallow, rudbeckia, dahlias, daylilies, peonies, viols and other flower cultures that reigned in garden flower beds three to four decades ago, which have somewhat lost their popularity, will fit perfectly into the concept of a low-maintenance garden.

Flowers from childhood: tulips, dahlias, daisies, forget-me-nots, irises… Do you know what unites them all? Easy to care for.

Gardening fashion is a leisurely lady, therefore, even taking into account the changes that have taken place in the lives of many summer residents this year due to the lockdown caused by the pandemic, the vector of garden design development in the near future can still be determined. The trend for environmental friendliness and careful handling of nature will not lose its relevance in 2022.