2023 Landscape Design trend forecast

For people all over the globe, spending more time at home during the pandemic has created a spike in enthusiasm for gardening and outdoor living. Now homeowners want to maximise and personalise their outdoor spaces. They're keen to ignite their design style along with their fire pits. From the many emerging garden design trends, we've chosen four to highlight.

Sanctuary Gardens

With mindfulness and mental well-being top of mind for many in recent times, it’s not surprising that gardens encouraging people to pause, reflect and just ‘be’ are on the list of popular landscape trends for the coming year. The Chelsea Flower Show even had a separate category of sanctuary gardens in 2022, with restful and restorative spaces featuring the likes of yoga platforms and flowing water.

In our own outdoor spaces, we can create the mood by curating small, enclosed areas that allow us to take a moment and reconnect with nature. Try introducing water features, using a soothing colour palette and planting for texture and form, rather than colour.

Landscaping for a changing climate

With incidents of drought, fires and flooding increasing in frequency locally and around the globe, never has it been more apparent that we should consider the changing climate in our garden plans. 

Options for drought-resistant plants and sustainable hardscaping are becoming more sought after as our choices gradually evolve to accommodate the effects of climate change. With water conservation top of mind, being waterwise in your garden is essential no matter where you live. Diverting rainwater for garden usage and using water butts (large barrels used for catching and storing rainwater) are great ways to conserve water.

Drainage is also key to sustainability, particularly in areas prone to flooding. Paving is being shunned in favour of gravel pathways that provide essential drainage; gravel paths can do double duty as a firebreak. Designers love gravel for its permeability and flexibility. It’s not only good for drainage, but it's also great for planting in, as well as being an affordable choice.

• Look to the local landscape for inspiration, using native plants that have evolved to tolerate drought conditions.
• Choose plants that are climate-appropriate, with lower water needs, such as red hot poker, kangaroo paw, sage, rosemary, hebe and native grasses.
• Choose plants with deep roots for erosion control, especially on hillsides.
• Prune branches that overhang structures in areas prone to bushfires.

Above, clockwise from left: In this Californian garden previously destroyed by wildfire, gravel paths do double-duty as fire breaks, bordering drought-tolerant planting; the plunge pool also serves as an emergency water supply; an outdoor room with plenty of home comforts; a meadow on the property also serves as a fire break.

Blurred lines between indoors and out

A new way of living has enlightened gardeners and homeowners to the fact that home is a safe zone to be enjoyed to the fullest. 'Garden rooms' are increasingly popular and the trend for indoor plants is certainly in full swing. To get on board with this feeling, whether you bring the garden into your home or take indoor living outside, create a connection to the natural world with blurred boundaries. 

Simple ways to bring the outdoors in include using hanging plants in sight of windows, adding window boxes (think herbs growing by the kitchen window), or planting creepers and vines strategically nearby living areas with large windows.

Open up your living areas to embrace the outdoors with the following:

• Screen areas using tall shrubs, planters or hanging plants to create a sense of enclosure.
• Set up outdoor furniture, lighting and heat sources under existing pergolas and on patios, then add pots and planters to enclose the space further and create a ‘room’.
• Create a garden room - go all out with furniture, louvres, shade screens and windbreaks, built-in planter boxes, heaters and fire pits for a year-round extra living room.

Top tip: Choose a theme to give cohesiveness to your design.

Plants that exude tropical vibes: Canna lilies, hibiscus, caladiums, hosta

Tropical Holiday Vibes

Perhaps due to recent restrictions on travel, homeowners are evoking those holiday feelings with tropical-themed planting, even better when accompanied by the calming sound of a water feature.

An abundance of bold foliage and an exuberant mix of textures, leaf sizes and shapes are the hallmarks of a tropical-themed garden. At ground level, underplanting gets sun protection from canopy trees and swaying palms. No palms in your garden? No worries. Create the look by layering plants underneath existing trees or the shade cast by pergolas and umbrellas. Water features add to the calming tropical oasis effect, as do plants that attract birds, bees and butterflies.

Use extra large containers filled with riotous colour and flamboyant leaves to create the key element of abundance. If your garden is too small to speak to the abundance aesthetic, create interest in key spots such as near your seating areas. Use plants with striking foliage and bold textures to bring the tropics to even the smallest spaces.

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