Kitchen gardens, improving outdoor living space, property value and Sustainable landscapes are a few of the top landscaping trends for 2009 and will be influencing landscaping and gardening for many years to come.
photo credit: MGShelton

Rounding out the top ten landscaping trends are: water awareness, therapeutic gardening, trees, night lighting, nostalgia and children’s play areas.

Water awareness

Water awareness is so important in landscape design. You will cut down gardening chores with better watering techniques plus water is a commodity and can be scarce in areas at times. Being water-wise is budget and
environmentally friendly, sustainable and just common sense.

Many homeowners are renovating and upgrading sprinkler systems to cut water usage and costs. Rain sensors and ET controllers that halt watering when the soil doesn’t need it and updated sprinkler heads and nozzles that increase water-efficiency are popular new tools for the homeowner.

Watering lawns and gardens in the early morning or late evening will help cut down on water usage. And mulching the ground to hold in moisture and keep out the suns heat is also beneficial to saving water.

Therapeutic gardening

Gardening is therapeutic! Gardening is a wonderful exercise
for overall fitness, stress relief and mental tranquility. Add a bench to the garden for relaxation and a few of your favorite flowers and you have place to work and relax. A water fountain will also add a relaxing feel to the garden area.

Gardens can also be planned around herbs used for relaxing such as lavender or herbs for crafting or medicinal purposes.

Trees

Trees will add beauty and shade to you backyard. By adding more shade trees to your landscape you will be able to benefit from the shade cast by the trees to cool your home and reduce summer energy costs. You will also improve your landscape aesthetics and curb appeal.

Questions to ask before planting a shade tree include: how much space is available for the tree? Will the tree roots affect your foundation or any pipelines in your yard? How long will it take to benefit from your new tree?

Night lighting

Night lighting is one of the fastest-growing landscape innovations. Night lighting adds to the time you spend in your yard, backyard activities, and it increases home security.

The new fluorescent and LED lighting options mean using less electricity. LEDs even come in multiple colors, adding variety to your nightscape. And with night lighting’s popularity new products are coming out everyday.

For ideas on solar lighting check out How to Solar Guide

Nostalgia

“Getting back to basics” or nostalgia is a hot trend this year. People are recreating garden memories from Mom and Grandma’s gardening days using old favorites like daisies, lilacs, peonies, iris and heirloom roses.

Ask your landscape designer or local garden center about new spins on old staples. Many of the older favorites are hardier and come in different colors than before.
photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography

Children’s play area

With the trend in staying at home for you vacation and security, a children’s play area is a must for any backyard. Children will benefit from the exercise, fresh air and interacting with nature.

Parents are creating outdoor environments that attract butterflies and other wildlife and encouraging children to grow vegetables and flowers. Camping areas, pools and a picnic area that can be used for picnics or crafting are also popular.

The play area can also be set up for different ages and for growing and changing as you children grow.

The landscaping of your home and backyard should fit your family’s needs and add to activity and comfort to your home and backyard oasis.

If you missed part one of landscape trends click here

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Landscaping designs and ideas change along with our societies needs and the economy. By reading and looking at magazines you can see the current trends and decide if they fit your home and family needs.

Ten current landscaping trends

* Kitchen gardens are very popular this year with the economy being as unstable as it is. There is also a growing trend to buy more local produce.
photo credit: themissiah

By growing your own produce you know what chemicals are on the food and you know the fruits and vegetables are fresh. A 600 square foot kitchen garden will save a family $500 on grocery bills.

Another positive point is that home grown produce always has more flavor than store bought produce.

* Many families are improving their outdoor living space. With planning any backyard can become a personal oasis for relaxing, entertaining and family events. The addition of a patio, pool, children’s play area or entertainment area will add to any backyard. And with planning these improvement can be made on a budget.

An area as simple as a tent under trees, racquetball area or a picnic table nestled in a backyard corner will add to any home and will be used by the entire family. Any of these ideas can be done in a few hours and are easy on the wallet.

Additional plans such as a patio, pool area, or outdoor building will cost more and take more time for planning and installing.

* Landscaping will increase the value of your property and if selling your home is in your future plans this is an area you may want to look into. Landscaping will also make your backyard a more inviting area and your landscaping ideas will fit the home activities to meet your family’s needs.

A landscaped yard will add 5.7 to 10.8 percent to the homes value (this average will vary according to the area you live), according to a home sale study in the Journal of Environmental Horticulture. Research from the University of Minnesota shows that every $1 spent on landscaping will return $1.35 when you sell your home. The addition of trees, a patio area and an overall inviting look to your home can be a big plus in selling your home in the future.

* Sustainable landscapes can be the most efficient landscape design and are becoming a must for the homeowner. They are planned around available resources – light, water, climate, and plant combinations stressing the use of native plants and using local products.

Landscaping ideas include green gardening and environmentally friendly ideas with the theme of reduce/reuse/recycle. These methods encourage a compost pile for the vegetables and fruits and recycling hardscape materials like rocks, boulders or flagstone into the landscape design. Landscape designs are also using mulch in garden beds and around shrubs and trees beds to cut water use.

By designing your yard and home you will add more comfort and value to the property. Part two of the top ten landscape trends will follow soon.

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