To create a plan you’ll enjoy for years to come, use these garden design ideas as a guide. We’ve put together some amazing garden ideas to help you revamp your backyard, and it will also increase the value of your house. Whether you’re searching for garden landscaping ideas to redo your outdoor area, no matter how large or tiny, attract more animals, or be more sustainable.
In order to help you create an outside place you can really appreciate, we also provide advise and style suggestions on garden furniture, pavement, lighting, plants, borders, decking, and more.
However, it’s crucial to consider your garden as a whole before moving forward with any redesigns or upgrades, advises Andrew Kyte of The Chelsea Gardener: Learn as much as you can about the location, orientation, and view of the garden. This will not only impact planting, but it may also determine how you utilize the area.
Regardless of the size of the garden—small, long and narrow, cottage, or courtyard—you should pay attention to the locations and times of day when the garden receives sunlight. Consider your garden’s accessibility as well as your intended uses, such as gardening and producing vegetables, lounging on the sundeck, hosting outdoor meals, or just relaxing with a cup of tea on a bright morning.
1. Take care of your grass.
Your grass is most likely the largest shape in your landscape when you look out your window. If the form is sound and robust, it will put the whole garden in the appropriate direction. Additionally, keep in mind that you may attempt an oval, circular, square, or oblong form instead of a rectangle. To do the task, you’ll need the appropriate tools. Price comparison website PriceRunner said that last year witnessed an increase in searches for stylish robotic lawn mowers and ride-on mowers. Among them, the Flymo Easi Glide 300 Electric Mower was a top seller.
Stuart Thomas, a horticulture expert at the online garden center Primrose, offers the following advice for continuous lawn care and maintenance: “If your lawn is looking lackluster, consider the three tenets of sunshine, showers, and soil aeration.” Trim down branches to avoid overshadowing. If the UK’s regular rain isn’t enough, water once a week early in the morning. Make plenty of holes in your grass with a fork to allow for aeration. If you follow through on all of them, your grass will become lush in no time. Also, avoid cutting it too short!
But with the popularity of natural wildlife gardens, you may want to let your grass grow longer and learn about what wildflowers bloom naturally rather than using a lawnmower. According to landscape designer Ann-Marie Powell, “people want gardens that look like they are “of nature” rather than the more obviously designed spaces,” and this plays very much into the rewilding movement. Continue reading: The great grass debate: should I mow my lawn or not?
2. Arrange your planting schedule
The most beautiful garden designs begin with skeletal plants that are interspersed with fragrant blooming plants. Thus, utilize evergreen bushes as a punctuation along the path and at the conclusion of each border. For larger settings, use giant evergreens like mahonia or little shrubs like box balls.
After you have this frame, use attractive blooming plants to fill in the spaces. For a coordinated and harmonious look, try to limit your selection to no more than five or six distinct varieties and arrange them in repeating patterns. A border should be at least one meter deep, allowing you to arrange smaller plants in front and bigger ones behind.
Recall that lines of planted-up troughs or narrow, low-planted beds may delineate dining or sitting spaces. Use evergreen, fragrant plants like Mexican orange blossom or lavender. The most versatility, however, is provided by containers, which you may arrange anyway you see fit. According to Tony Woods, general director of garden design firm Garden Club London, “creeping rosemary is a great plant for edging in containers as it trails rather than growing upright, is evergreen, and covered in blue flowers in spring.”
Climbers in the rear of the border may help you achieve planting height even if there isn’t enough space for meters-deep beds. When it comes to climbing plants, choose for an evergreen like clematis for a lovely and vibrant show.
Tony suggests star jasmine for places with seats: “It’s perfect for placing behind a seating area where you don’t want plants hanging over and can enjoy the scent because it’s very well-behaved, produces masses of white, waxy, scented flowers throughout the summer, and reacts well to being cut back.”
Aim for some ‘out of season’ performances when selecting blooming plants so that you have color throughout the year. You can also start the garden off well by adding spring and early summer bulbs.
The Samphire Garden by Sue Townsend shows how to design a garden that is full of texture and visual appeal while still being good for the environment, if you’re seeking for methods to make your garden more sustainable.
The coastal garden in Suffolk, which is paved with locally recovered York Stone, has a diverse variety of drought-tolerant plants, such as native beach plants, Mediterranean shrubs, and grasses, all encircled by varying-sized stone mulch. Among the plants are verbena bonariensis, eryngiums, euphorbias, thymus, achillea, ballota, miscanthus nepalensis, and pennisetum. Make sure the surfaces you utilize are porous so that water may naturally seep into the ground.
3. Arboreal
An established tree may serve as a foundation for a plan. In addition to serving as an anchor for hanging decorations, hammocks, pendant lights, and shade sails, they also hide the sun’s glare.
If you live next to a busy road, trees may also assist filter noise pollution and an ugly view. Additionally, they greatly aid the environment by turning carbon dioxide in the air into oxygen, giving insects and birds refuge and pollen.
Multi-stem trees are becoming more and more popular. Planting them may provide an architectural focal point because of their graceful canopies, which lend themselves to layered underplanting or, if planted alone, can make a dramatic structural statement. Multi-stem trees and soft planting, as seen in this contemporary Suffolk garden by Caitlin McLauglin below, create a deconstructed forest experience in a front courtyard garden.
“Trees are an excellent source of carbon capture, food, and habitat for wildlife.” According to Sarah Squire, Chair of Squire’s Garden Centers, “They also give a garden structure and architecture.” “There are trees for every size and shape of garden; some of my favorites are hornbeam, whitebeam, and birch, but there are also gorgeous flowering cherries in back gardens and tiny potted acers for balconies.”
4. Gorgeous pavers
Your garden’s overall design may be strongly influenced by the color, style, and installation of your pavers. For example, a French country appearance may be achieved with grey or white stone placed in an irregular pattern; a sleek and contemporary plan can be perfectly complemented by black or silver pavement put in a regular arrangement; and an English country feel can be achieved with golden stone arranged in an irregular pattern.
Do you need some motivation? Butter Wakefield’s Ribbon Wheel garden has an intricate pavement pattern consisting of ten interlocking circles, each with a unique shape and dimension, joined together by a ‘ribbon’ of York cobblestones. The circles, which are made of York and limestone stone mixed together, are put in a pattern of cobbles and setts to provide an amazing appearance.
5. Different tiers
Are there multiple levels in your garden? If the thought of adding stone stairs bothers you, you may still have a seamless appearance with your current lawn by making it possible for one area to flow into another. As seen in the image below, landscape designer Helen Elks-Smith connected the lower patio to the little sun terrace above by using grass treads and blending them into the existing lawn.
Searching for inspiration for your deck? Installing decking is a great and affordable way to level off an uneven or sloping landscape. Because it is used for eating chairs, decking may also feature stairs and split levels. A decked garden area usually has to resist significant foot traffic.
Millboard’s composite decking boards are made of a revolutionary mixture of polyurethane and minerals, making them environmentally sustainable, non-slip, and low care. They provide the beauty and flexibility of genuine wood, but without the upkeep. Because of its nonporous upper layer, this wood-free decking almost cleans itself; rain does the heavy lifting.
6. The furnishings
Choose foldable furniture or bench seating that can be stowed beneath a dining table when not in use for smaller courtyards and patios. While bigger rooms may accommodate full-on sitting sets with matching chairs, couches and tables, sun loungers and day beds, or on-trend hanging egg chairs or swing seats, L-shaped sofas can be surprisingly small.
Invest in a high-quality, long-lasting outdoor furniture set. Take into account the available area and make sure there is enough room for everyone to sit comfortably and draw out their chair without running into anything. Additionally, keep in mind that when everyone is seated, you will need space to stroll around the table. It requires a lot more room than you may imagine!
“A dining table works best in the area of the garden that has early afternoon full or partial sun,” says Claire Belderbos, head of garden landscaping experts Belderbos Landscapes. Create a little sitting area so you can take in the evening light.
