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Embrace the Hottest Garden and Landscape Trends of the Season

Spring has sprung! It's the perfect time to spruce up your backyard on a budget or update your yard’s look with avant-garde manicured trees, pop-art plants, and a variety of flowers. With warmer weather approaching, you’ll also want to spend more time outside. Get inspired by our favorite garden and landscape trends to create a beautiful outdoor paradise without spending too much time, money, or energy!


 
1.    The Maximalist Look

Colorful Flowers Infront of a Red Wall Representing the Maximalist Garden Look

This garden and landscape trend is all about making a statement. It's a perfect fit for anyone who wants to swap out the bland for a bold and vibrant vibe. A maximalist garden is achieved by mixing and matching, especially when it comes to colors and species of plants and flowers. 
  
You'll want to plant abundant sculptural flowers to get the maximalist garden trend right. Consider planting flowers such as: 

The expressive colors of these flowers will make your garden stand out. Get creative and mix up tall and short plants, too. Embrace this garden trend by including:

  • Trees: Plant palms, spruces, and other mid-sized trees with some distance between them to prevent a cluttered or messy appearance. 
  • Shrubs: Get quirky with the type of shrubs you plant. From low-maintenance shrubs to essential evergreen shrubs–nothing is holding you back!
  • Ground covers: Choose from various low-maintenance, low-water lawn alternatives like Honeysuckle, Creeping Thyme, English Ivy, and other ground cover plants. 

Maximalist gardens are unhinged in all the best ways–so throw out that rulebook and get planting! 


2.    The Nature-scaping Look

Lots of Plants In Between Rocks to Portray the Garden Trend Called Naturescaping

Nature-scaping is a garden trend that focuses on establishing a natural-looking landscape using native-to-your-area plants and materials. People love it because it allows gardeners to have low-maintenance and sustainable gardens that promote biodiversity and benefit the environment. 
 
A trend that never goes out of style, nature-scaping is designed to offer a beautiful and functional outdoor space while supporting local ecosystems and reducing environmental impacts. Since all the plants you use are meant to be there, they won't need fertilizers or pesticides. Just nestle them in natural soil, feed them water, give them a little TLC, and watch them grow.
 
Use this native plant finder to explore what species of plants grow in your area, and wow your neighbors with a nature-scaped garden that looks right at home. 
 
 

3.    The Good-for-You Look

Lavender Plant with a Steel Watering Pot Set Infront and Many Pink Flowers Lining the Edge of the Garden to Complete the Good For You Garden Look

With spring comes blooming flowers, resulting in pollen – and lots of it! And while it’s great for plants, it’s a nightmare for anyone with allergies. Luckily, there’s a garden trend tailored to allergy sufferers: the Good for You Look - a garden and landscape trend that's entirely allergy-friendly. These plants and flowers have little to no pollination because they either don’t bloom, or their flowers don’t produce too much pollen.  

The goal is to reduce the amount of pollinating plants and flowers around your home so you can host your summer BBQs without all the sniffing and sneezing. Here are allergy-friendly plants you'll love in your garden: 

  • Spider plants
  • English ivy
  • Snake plants
  • Lavender 
  • Areca palm
  • Bamboo palm
  • Magnolia 

By choosing allergy-friendly plants for your garden, you can enjoy the beauty of nature without the discomfort of allergies, making the Good for You Look trend a great option for those seeking relief.

 

4.    The Climate-Conscious Look

A Climate Conscious Garden That Has Many Plants and Flowers Which Do Not Need A Lot of Water

Although having a garden, growing your food, and filling up free spaces with plants is great for our planet, it can become a less eco-friendly pursuit. Why? Because excessive usage of water and fertilizers, along with the utilization of machines such as lawnmowers that emit fossil fuels, can harm the environment. But as always, there is a solution that happens to be a garden and landscape trend this 2023! 
 
If you want to achieve a climate-conscious garden, focus on ornamenting your space with long-lasting, low water, and drought-tolerant plants like: 

  • Yucca
  • Succulents
  • Blooming chives
  • Smoke bush
  • Meadow favorite
  • Madagascar periwinkle
  • Agave

Tip: If you have agave plants, cut off the flower before it blooms. Agave plants tend to die after growing their flower. 

Embracing a climate-conscious garden with low-water and drought-tolerant plants can help reduce your garden's environmental impact. It’s also a great way to beautify your space while being mindful of our planet.

 

5.    The Victorian Look

A Victorian Garden Look Completed with many Colorful Roses and Other Bushes with Flowers and a Wooden Bench Located at the Back and Center of the Image

Feel like royalty with this romantic look that's quaint, tidy, and colorful. Plants that ignite a feeling of fairytales and nostalgia are back. With all the technology that surrounds everyday life, take a chance to build a space where you can disconnect, recharge, and re-connect.  

Charming and whimsical flowers like roses, lilac, hydrangea, and hollyhock are great. Choose a pastel color palette between pink, white, purple, and implement other delicate and fragrant foliage. Some examples of flowers and plants include: 

  • Chrysanthemums
  • Ferns
  • Fuchsia
  • Morning glories
  • Tender geraniums

As for décor, have fun with ornaments like bird baths, fountains, and arbors. You can also harmonize the space with white fences and gravel or brick pathways. Just be sure to steer clear of any modern design elements!

 

When to Landscape

Just like you give your house a thorough spring cleaning after the cold winter months, spring is the time to get your garden back in shape. Once you choose your garden and landscaping design, follow our guide below.

 

March

Prepare your yard for the blooming season ahead by: 

  • Cleaning flowerbeds
  • Pruning trees and shrubs
  • Adding fresh mulch to keep weeds down
  • Checking the condition of your hardscaping (e.g., stonework)
  • Planting vegetables

 

April

Once your garden begins to take form, add more plants and spruce it up. Here’s what to do: 

  • Clean bird feeders
  • Plant perennials and other cold-hardy annuals
  • Add more trees, shrubs, and a fresh layer of mulch around them

May

By May, spring flowers start to wither, and it's your chance to fill your garden with the next season's plants. Start by:

  • Planting summer-blooming flowers and annuals (peonies, petunia, lavender, etc.)
  • Transplanting warm-season crops (e.g., tomatoes, peppers, herbs)
  • Deadheading flowers

 

Start the Planting!

A Fully Bloomed Garden with Flowers and Bushed Hiding the Little Cottage at the Back

2023 is an exciting year for garden and landscape design. With growing trends embracing sustainable and eco-friendly methods, we can expect to see more use of native plants and natural materials. Additionally, modern technology is making it easier to create low-maintenance gardens. Whether you prefer an eccentric maximalist look or a cottage-style garden, there's a trend that'll best fit your style. The world is your oyster, or in this case, garden!