Want your garden to make a splash? Dig a wild swimming pool!
Designers reveal the top trends for next year
THE trend for ‘wild swimming’ in natural outdoor waters is spreading to private gardens as wealthy homeowners have their own private bathing ponds dug, a report reveals today.
Other top garden trends set to grow next year include outdoor sound systems and even TVs as we spend more time entertaining outside, according to the Society of Garden Designers.
Its report also highlights the popularity of rewilding – taking a more natural approach to planting – as well as ‘upcycling’, or repurposing old furniture or structures, and ‘tapestry lawns’, which swap grass for a combination of different low-growing plants that can be mown.
Wiltshire-based garden designer Fi Boyle said many of her clients had been asking her to dig natural swimming ponds, reflecting a rise in luxury features outdoors as people have spent more time at home over the past two years.
This has seen many extend their homes into the garden, the report reveals.
Essex-based gardener Oliver Bond said: ‘I aim to incorporate “interior” elements into my designs as part of the open garden.
‘We will look more to nature for inspiration’
This includes fireplaces and built-in outdoor kitchens, but we are also experimenting with entertainment features, such as TVs and sound systems.’
London landscape artist Ana Sanchez-Martin said many were trying to make boutique hotel-style gardens at home.
She added: ‘We have seen a marked increase in people requesting swimming pools, outdoor kitchens, firepits, outdoor heaters and lighting.’
While gas-guzzling heaters are still in vogue, many householders are also keeping the environment in mind.
Designer, broadcaster and author Ann-Marie Powell said her clients are asking how to rewild their gardens. ‘I’d say the trend for next year is the immersive, natural, wildlife garden,’ she added. ‘People want gardens that look like they are “of nature” rather than the more obviously designed spaces.’
Tapestry lawns are one way to balance environmental concerns with creating an attractive garden.
Miss Sanchez-Martin said: ‘The need to mow a tapestry lawn can be reduced by up to two thirds compared with a regular grass lawn and, as a consequence, a greater number of both plant and insect species are able to inhabit the lawn.’
She added others make their gardens look trendy by upcycling – bringing waste materials, old furniture or old structures such as greenhouses back to life.
Andrew Duff, of the Society of Garden Designers, said: ‘In 2022 we will see gardens with a strong underlying structure which allows for a wilder planting scheme.
‘The layout of the planting will follow those large drifts of contrasting colours and textures we have seen at the garden shows recently.
‘We will look more to nature for inspiration, learning to embrace the seasons and celebrate them more.’