Last year was anything but a typical season for most landscape designers and contractors. For some, they weren\u2019t certain they would have a season at all. But as homeowners spent more time inside in the early part of the past year, many decided to revamp backyards and outdoor living spaces.
\nIn some cases, clients have been looking for the same extended living areas as they have for the past few years. But some new trends such as fruit-bearing plants and landscape lighting have started to emerge as homeowners really began to engage with the backyard as a way to get out of the house.<\/p>\n
Here are a few of the big trends that could carry over into the new season.<\/p>\n
Many clients have been requesting outdoor spaces that look and feel more like the indoors, says Kevin Willcox, owner of WIL Design\/Consulting, San Antonio. For some recent projects, he\u2019s worked with outdoor bar areas covered by sail shades or sitting areas with a television. In the past year, his designs leaned much more toward hardscaping and outdoor living spaces than directly dealing with planted landscaping.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are requesting things like outdoor kitchens and even outdoor showers to have around their pools,\u201d says Willcox. \u201cOne shower I put in was as big as the one in my bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pergolas are also growing in popularity as a way to add some architecture to an outdoor living space while also building in more greenery, he says. The designs incorporate walls that cordon off different parts of the backyard and build in elements such as fireplaces.<\/p>\n
As homeowners spent more time at home because of the quarantine, they wanted to make use of the outdoor space where it felt safer to relax and see friends even at a distance, says Ivan Katz, visionary at Great Lakes Landscape Design, Oak Park, Michigan.<\/p>\n
Clients are looking for design elements to be a larger format than before.<\/p>\n
Beyond just a general push for larger outdoor living spaces, Katz has seen more clients coming in with a detailed idea of what the space should look like. Part of that is because clients have had more time to think through design decisions, which translates into better communication with them overall.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are definitely coming to the table prepared,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause we have that, we\u2019re able to suggest a lot more, and people understand the ideas even if they don\u2019t do it all at once.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regardless of how far that timeline stretches, it\u2019s critical to begin with a full master plan, he says. Ask how the clients use their house and how they anticipate using the outdoor space. What considerations need to be made for children, and what parts of the plan are a priority? It\u2019s also crucial for clients to understand the overall budget before making any forward progress.<\/p>\n
Keep it simple The biggest thing that clients are requesting is that outdoor spaces be low-maintenance, says Morgan Leverington, garden center manager, Wagner Nursery Inc., Asbury, Iowa. While that\u2019s often top of the list for many clients, it was an especially common request in the past 12 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe less they\u2019ll have to do once it\u2019s all together, the happier they\u2019ll be,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
That means landscapes with plants that require little to no trimming or continuous care to provide a backdrop for the living space. One style of plant that Leverington has been using more of to satisfy those customers is dwarf varieties.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been using dwarf varieties of some of the bigger plants that everyone typically likes,\u201d she says. \u201cThat way they don\u2019t have to be out there trimming constantly, but they still have a permanent landscape fixture that looks nice and clean.\u201d<\/p>\n
In terms of design, using dwarf varieties opens up opportunities to have healthy, growing plants right next to the house for clients to enjoy. Often, it means including more beds in the design because they don\u2019t fill up as much visual space. Using a larger anchor plant in the design can provide a good balance.<\/p>\n
Smart water use ties into the idea of reducing overall maintenance requirements in outdoor living spaces, says Willcox. Especially in south Texas, the materials and plants need to be specifically chosen to survive the harsh drought environment. While many of his clients are getting away from using decorative grasses, he incorporates desert plants that will handle the weather effectively.<\/p>\n
Native plants have also been more popular with clients for the past year, says Leverington. They\u2019re a major focus because they tend to handle the regional weather better but also because they tend to be more hardy when dealing with the local soil types and plant diseases.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s especially good for our clients, because they\u2019re not constantly having to replace plants,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
When using native plants, clients are often worried that the finished design won\u2019t be as visually interesting as one using more exotic choices.<\/p>\n
But native plants can provide just as much of a visual impact, says Willcox.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always going to be something interesting,\u201d he says. Species like salvias and lantanas in his region can provide golds, purples and reds blooming at different times of the year. \u201cYou can get some really good color. It\u2019s really more about being able to know which plants are going to give you that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leverington relies on information from the local Department of Natural Resources as a starting point for finding native varieties. Her suppliers will also often have suggestions for native choices for the region.<\/p>\n
Another current popular feature in outdoor living spaces partially driven by the quarantine is incorporating fruit gardens in the design, says Leverington.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many more people wanted to have fruit trees,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is the first year that I think we really sold out of all of our fruit trees in the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leverington saw multiple designs using apple, pear, peach, plum or cherry trees, but berry-producing bushes were also a big hit and are supportive of local pollinators. While those add an interactive element to the landscape, those types of plants can cause some headaches in design, especially in areas with heavy wildlife traffic.<\/p>\n
When designing around a fruit- or berryproducing plant, it can be useful to try to place it near the house to discourage animals from foraging. Tree guards can be used in some situations, and repellants can be effective, she says. Some smaller plants can also be deterrents to animals like deer.<\/p>\n
One outdoor living feature that Willcox has seen a big increase in over the past year is landscape lighting, as clients want to be able to use that outdoor area late into the evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople will spend a lot of money on it,\u201d he says. \u201cThey want to be able to enjoy the landscaping as much at night as during the day. You get a totally different look at night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Accent lighting has been an integral part of many of Willcox\u2019s recent designs, which makes the outdoor space more accessible and improves security. He uses it to highlight a key plant or landscaping element like a sculpture.<\/p>\n
Willcox uses an overlay when he\u2019s working on landscape lighting designs to give his clients a sense of what the finished result will look like. He\u2019ll also occasionally take a light kit out to the client\u2019s property for a demonstration, but that\u2019s much more rare.<\/p>\n
Beyond landscape lighting, Katz is seeing more landscape designs that incorporate a heater or fire element to not only extend the time that an outdoor living space can be used at night, but the number of nights total throughout the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so many options, and it doesn\u2019t have to cost a lot of money,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Block it out Outdoor living space designs in the past year have included much more hardscaping than typical, says Leverington.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done more retaining wall work and patio work than I think we\u2019ve ever had to do,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just that hardscapes are becoming more popular. More decorative stone choices have been on the rise as compared to more standard plain pebble finish concrete, says Willcox.<\/p>\n
That lines up with what Leverington has seen, as clients have shifted away from more natural, freeform designs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to have a lot more abstract, natural looks to them,\u201d she says. \u201cBut now people want more of that nice, clean, linear look. As we go into 2021, we\u2019re trying to order things that will maybe have more of those cleaner looks, with blues, blacks and whites.\u201d<\/p>\n
One choice Willcox has seen used more often is cinderblock with stucco, incorporating stone on the edges. When he\u2019s working with a client to determine the right hardscaping material, he starts by trying to get a bead on the client\u2019s taste.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spend a lot of time with them, figuring out exactly what they want so we don\u2019t have to go through the design process 100 times,\u201d Willcox says.<\/p>\n
A useful starting place is to look at the materials the house itself is made from, he says. Often, clients will want the hardscaped area to look as if it\u2019s flowing seamlessly from the established structure, as an extension of the original building.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn years past, if you did a swimming pool in the backyard, you maybe had a sidewalk to it,\u201d Willcox says. \u201cNow it\u2019s not just a pool stuck out in the middle of the backyard. It\u2019s all incorporated in what you\u2019ve got going around it, with a fire pit and things of that nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the biggest struggles of the past season for Morgan Leverington, garden center manager, Wagner Nursery Inc., Asbury, Iowa, has been sourcing larger plants and trees consistently. Often, clients looking for new services requested bigger trees and shrubs immediately, but the market couldn\u2019t support it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn years past, we were able to fulfill those requests,\u201d she says. \u201cBut a lot of these growers, they cannot keep up with the demand. In the next few years, we\u2019re going to see very small plants being delivered to the nursery, because it takes so long for a tree or shrub to get to a good, substantial size.\u201d<\/p>\n
That could continue into future seasons if demand doesn\u2019t slow down this year, she says. While Kevin Willcox, owner of WIL Design\/Consulting, San Antonio, doesn\u2019t do most of the direct installs on his designs, he works with contractors throughout the process. He\u2019s heard more than once that sourcing particular plants has gotten much more difficult in the past year. In some cases, contractors have had to expand their networks of grower contacts to find either the right plant or one that will work for the install.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it gets to the point where it\u2019s too hard to find it, I just don\u2019t use it anymore,\u201d he says. In most cases, though clients were frustrated, Leverington has just been up front about the difficulty facing the market currently.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings take time,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we can just produce a plant from a factory. It takes a good six or seven years in the ground before it\u2019s even able to be dug up and used in the landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n
That demand stress isn\u2019t limited to just plants, either. Lead times for hardscaping products have gone further out than typical, says Ivan Katz, visionary at Great Lakes Landscape Design, Oak Park, Michigan. That calls for careful planning of which products to use within a design and ordering the product as early as possible once the design is nailed down. To keep the conversation moving, he often suggests products to the client in order to get to the decisions made quickly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Learn which major design trends your clients will be asking for this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3422,"parent":0,"template":"","main-categories":[28],"class_list":["post-3418","features","type-features","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","main-categories-landscape"],"yoast_head":"\n