You want to make the most of your outdoor space. Who doesn’t? We all love a great place to soak in the sun, dine al fresco, grill your favorite foods, relax poolside, listen to birds and rustling leaves, or just enjoy the fresh air.
What’s more is we don’t want to go to a park every time we want to enjoy nature and get outside. Wouldn’t it be great to just walk out your back patio door and find that oasis you’re seeking there waiting for you or a patio table and gourmet grill that’s never crowded and always ready for your personal use? Maybe a cozy lounge chair amidst a garden full of your favorite blooms?
Ready to turn your backyard into a place you love escaping to on a daily basis? If you’re dreaming of a new landscape, you’re not alone. Not only did more than half of Americans spend an extra two hours a day outside in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic times, according to the National Gardening Association, but a Nationwide survey says garden-related spending increased 77% between April and June of 2021. And new gardeners under 45 years old are growing. These folks are climate-conscious and willing to take a chance on color. Our connection with nature continues to grow.
To inspire you this year, we’ve put together a list of our experts’ favorite garden design trends for 2022. Dive in and find out which one you’d like to try.
4 of the Hottest Landscaping Trends for 2022
A new growing year is always exciting to look forward to. After a long winter, who isn’t envisioning those warm summer days?
We get it. We all crave spring after the weight of winter has taken its toll. And once you’ve gotten a taste of how much fun you can have outdoors, you want to maximize your landscape so you can truly live in it.
Maybe you’ll want to take your home office outside or incorporate more native plants into your landscape. Or maybe you’ll want to create more nooks for friends and family to embrace.
As you do your research and explore some good ideas, here are some great landscaping ideas for 2022 we’d love to share with you.
1. Embrace the Hygge Concept
Hygge, pronounced “hoo-guh,” is a Danish word that loosely translates to the art of creating intimacy, warmth, and contentment in both your environment and your experiences with others.
A hygge environment in your backyard would include intimate gathering spaces meant for connection. Think nooks for loved ones to use for having meaningful conversations, fire features where family members gather together for warmth, and water features to soothe your soul and ease stress.
These spaces would then have soft, warm colors in its hardscapes and plantings, as well as fragrant flowers and comfortable furnishings meant for lingering and enjoying.
Ultimately, a hygge-inspired space will inspire your friends and family to enjoy good food and good music, as well as great conversation – free from modern-day distractions. It’s like the antidote to today’s chaotic, stress-ridden world. After the mental and emotional toll the past few years have incurred, people crave human connection, which is what is driving the hygge concept.
The best news about this gardening trend for 2022 is it can be applied to any landscape style – traditional, modern, eclectic, etc.
Need some examples to really understand this concept? Picture the front of your home with a welcoming, intimate courtyard for greeting your guests. The courtyard is full of layers of lush plants, a soft fragrance from nearby flowers, a welcoming bench for resting, and a trickling water feature nearby to soften the sounds of street traffic. Or imagine a backyard outdoor living space designed with zoned gathering spots for different types of interactions – one is a cozy nook for reading a book, one is a gathering areas to roast s’mores and tell stories, one is a kitchen and craft cocktail bar for enjoying food and drink with a nearby herb garden full of fresh herbs, and one is a lounge with an outdoor television to watch games or sporting events.
2. Colors Shift From Cool Grays to Warmer Tones
Another big landscaping trend for 2022 is a shift in the preferred color palette from icy cool tones to richer, warmer tones.
Gray has been taking over interior and exterior design trends in recent years, but beige is back.
But beige is far from boring this time around. Think cozy, easy-going beige, tempting tans, complex creams, and brilliant browns – warmer versions of their former selves. Another color that’s trending is something called greige – a gray-beige hybrid.
The goal is for warmth to inhibit the garden in hardscapes and furnishings to embrace that cozy feeling in your whole environment.
3. Patios Are Living Large
In lieu of smaller paver patio stones, people are going with much larger slabs to come together to create their unique, stand-out patio floor.
Large patio pavers are far from discreet. Bold. Dramatic. Noticeable. Oversized. These slabs definitely bring a “look at me” vibe.
While this landscaping trend for 2022 tends to fit more to the modern gardening style, we see it in transitional and eclectic styles as well. The large paver slabs give a simplistic look with clean lines.
4. Mixing Materials In the Landscape
Stone is beautiful and solid, gleaming with various tones as sturdy walls or floors in your landscape. Metal glistens in the sun, bringing a unique polish and shiny edge to a space.
Wood is earthy and blends with your natural backyard elements. Glass is reflective and gleams, dancing in water and light.
Sure, these 4 materials are commonly found in your backyard space individually, but have you tried merging them together, taking advantage of all of their riches? Another gardening trend for 2022 is mixing materials for different textures and tones to add uniqueness and intrigue to your landscape.
What Can I Do With These Gardening Trends For 2022?
High Prairie Landscape professionals believe your outdoor space should be timeless and lasting. Therefore, landscaping trends for 2022 should serve to inspire you to discover new ideas. Your backyard is a long-term investment, so you want to be able to enjoy it today and next year and 10 years from now.
As you take in this trend data, remember that envisioning how you intend to use your space is a big part of what you should share with your landscape designer to get the welcoming environment you desire.
Ask yourself these important questions before starting the landscape design process:
- What types of activities do I wish I could do outdoors to connect with friends and family (dinner parties, s’mores, playing games, swimming, relaxing with a book, etc.)?
- How many people do I wish I could accommodate for hosting get-togethers outdoors?
- How do I want people to feel when they approach our front door or home?
- What are activities we could do together outdoors as a family that get everyone away from technology for a bit and connecting?
Let Us Help You Embrace a Landscaping Trend in 2022
The classic nature and timeless appeal of the 5 core gardening styles will always remain trendy in your landscape. You can never tire of the classics just like you’ll never tire of fresh air and sunshine. They are the foundation and inspiration for many other styles and even these gardening trends for 2022.
As you review these trends, you might find yourself scratching your head and looking at your backyard, trying to figure out what to do with your space. We get it. A backyard makeover can be a huge endeavor.
Let High Prairie Landscape make this process easier and more enjoyable for you. We’d love to have our team of experts take a look at your backyard and give you some ideas that will ensure you will use your yard for years to come.
Ready to see how High Prairie can transform your Kansas City home landscape with a classic garden style or new landscape trend? We’d love to share our design and installation expertise with you. Get started today with a free consultation. Together, we can prepare a design that you will love and your neighbors will envy.
