For many of us, our backyards and gardens are just as important as our homes' interior designs. The latest garden trends for 2023 can provide some beautiful, blooming inspiration and fresh ideas for your outside spaces.
Inspiring garden ideas and backyard ideas not only allow us to celebrate the beauty of the natural world with our unique design, but they are also a stylish extension of our home and a chance to create another 'room' in which we can relax and entertain.
With beautiful looks from winners of the Society of Garden Designers Awards to expert insight from designers and gardeners in the know, our collection of the upcoming favored garden trends celebrates both enduring garden ideas and innovative new styles, planting ideas, materials, and more that are set to flourish in 2023.
Transform Your Outside Space With The Latest Garden Trends For 2023
Whether you have a small garden, are researching sustainable garden ideas, or want to create the ultimate entertaining garden, our list of the favored garden trends for 2023 will leave you with a collection of inspiring new ideas for your outdoor space.
1. Be At One With Nature
(Image credit: Alister Thorpe)
Outdoor spaces have always been seen as extensions of our homes, incorporating areas for relaxation, entertainment, and dining.
'I believe in the ethos that gardens are for people, family, and pleasure,' says garden designer Matthew Childs MSGD. 'Married with that should be a palette that allows us to 'sit in among plants and feel connected with nature; a harmonious balance between hard landscaping elements and more naturalistic planting.'
Matthew was a double winner for the Medium Residential Landscapes & Gardens and Judges' awards for his Heathside pool garden, which shows that a design with the needs of people at its heart can also still meet the needs of wildlife.
2. Sculptural Steps
(Image credit: Alister Thorpe)
By challenging typical approaches to the design of a sloped suburban garden with a dynamic solution, using bespoke concrete cuboid steps, Tom Massey MSGD demonstrates the trend for contrasting industrial-style hard landscaping with the softening effect of lush planting.
'The result is an immersive sanctuary with functional and practical designed elements alongside a sense of adventure and fun,' he explains. 'The sculptural steps lead through a sloped bank of green planting and cascading concrete and Corten steel water features, encouraging the user to slow down and engage with their surroundings.'
3. An Urban Oasis
(Image credit: Alister Thorpe)
Invoke a feeling of immersion and seclusion in a city garden by dispensing with a lawn and instead filling the space with dense planting, creating a sense of an urban forest, where planting plays a dominant role compared to hard landscaping.
Winning the Garden Jewel and Planting Design awards for his sustainable and biodiverse garden design for a terraced house in London, Stefano Marinaz MSGD used lush, generous planting, resulting in 'something that could have been designed by nature itself.'
Easy to replicate, the idea uses clever layering, exciting textures, and minimal colors, combining the dense foliage of an upper canopy using the likes of tree ferns and maple trees with prolific underplanting of a range of seasonal and evergreen choices.
'The simplicity of the design can evoke a sense of discovery,' Stefano says. To get the full effect of immersion, 'it's important to green up the garden perimeters, too, so that it's hard to tell where the property ends.'
4. Naturalistic Planting
(Image credit: Gavin McWilliam)
A new aesthetic of naturalistic planting compositions with a simplicity of design inspired by the surrounding landscape is emerging – creating garden retreats that look and feel entirely at home in their environment.
With the challenges of climate change, there is an increasing need to select resilient plants suited to the soil, aspect, site, and climatic conditions, which will also increase biodiversity.
In their design for Golfe Leste in Portugal, which won the International Residential Landscapes & Gardens award, design duo Gavin McWilliam MSGD and Andrew Wilson FSGD's choice of dry gravel naturalistic planting, inspired by the local native landscapes and habitats turns its back on the high input. These water-thirsty gardens are typical of the surrounding area.
5. Think Vertically
(Image credit: Alister Thorpe)
Embracing vertical garden ideas and using every surface for growing and maximizing the use of space is gaining momentum in small space gardens, in particular. Dramatic vertical planting, with differing textures and movement, can transform a small courtyard garden, providing an oasis of calm and well-being.
In designing a tiny Kensington courtyard, which won the Hardscape Design award, Gavin McWilliam MSGD and Andrew Wilson FSGD combined a coherent treatment of paving and boundaries with lush and varied vertical planting for a more significant impact.
'The introduction of vertical planting significantly increases the species number and diversity over what can be achieved on ground level,' they explain. 'Another idea was to introduce a large antique distressed mirror, which helps to open up the space, reflecting light in.'
6. Plant Ornamental Edibles
(Image credit: Mary Guinness)
With the continuing rise of the grow-your-own movement, gardeners are now exploring ways to combine vegetables, fruit, and herbs among flowers in mixed planting schemes that are both practical and pretty.
In her garden designed for RHS Wisley, which won the UK Commercial or Community Landscapes & Gardens award as well the People's Choice award, Ann-Marie Powell MSGD demonstrates how 'beautiful, interesting and inviting productive growing and mixed communities of plants can be, and the holistic benefits – in terms of well-being, health and environment – of productive food growing in all its forms.'
Ideas include:
Selecting crops as much for their taste as their ornamental properties for year-round interest.
Planting organically shaped beds.
Festooning pergolas with edible flowering climbers.
Using raised beds to elevate the enjoyment of more unusual edibles.
'Whether you garden on a balcony, in a city garden, or large country estate, there is the inspiration for developing a plot-to-plate experience.'
7. Create An Outdoor Living Room
(Image credit: Juliettes Interiors)
From sunroom ideas to outdoor living room ideas and more, establishing an effortless flow between indoors and outdoors has been an essential feature in both interior design and garden design over the last few years, and transporting the comfort that you would find in a living room to your outside space is key for 2023.
Juliette Thomas, founder & director of Juliettes Interiors says, 'there has been a distinct demand for high-end interiors that match the inside of our homes, as consumers are keen to decorate every inch of their home to make it feel as luxurious as possible. Gardens are an extension of our home, so they must be set up for friends and family – just as your living room would be. From outdoor rugs and side tables to comfy sofas and armchairs, opt for pieces made from the finest luxury materials to create the perfect outdoor setting.'
8. Establish Lighting Focal Points
(Image credit: Light House Designs)
Although often not on the top of the to-do list when planning a garden, choosing the right lighting can greatly affect how you use the space. Whether it's purposeful task lighting in your outdoor kitchen or for setting the mood for your outdoor dining ideas when dining outside, your garden lighting ideas can be both practical and beautifully decorative.
British gardening presenter, landscape designer and writer Mark Lane say, 'garden lighting continues to grow in popularity, and the lit garden sculpture will be big for 2023. Use it as a focal point, nestled in hedging and used for a sense of surprise, or use it to draw the eye to something else either within the garden or outside. Focusing your attention on such a lit sculpture will make you more aware of the now, absorbed at that moment, in that act of mindfulness.'
9. Engage The Sense With Elemental Features
(Image credit: Lisa Linder)
New kid on the block Sheila Jack believes that next year we'll be going beyond aesthetics and functionality in outdoor living areas.
'Our outdoor living experience should truly engage all our senses. I'll be looking to add elemental features that will stimulate all the senses – sound and reflective qualities of water; warmth, aroma and flickering light of beautiful outdoor fireplace ideas; textural materials and aromatic planting.'
The Meadow Garden, an urban courtyard garden idea, won her the Fresh Designer award at the SGD Awards. It shows how a small, somewhat neglected plot with privacy and boundary issues could be transformed into an elegant retreat with precision-cut concrete and chic meadow planting.
10. Build A Split Level Backyard
This pared-back garden design by Henrietta Murray-Wicks creates a tranquil mood
(Image credit: HMW Studio)
Having a garden set over more than one level can give much more than a single plane.
'Urban gardens almost inevitably have a change in level,' says London-based garden designer Butter Wakefield and there's hardly a garden she designs that doesn't include a set of steps. Different levels help zone areas and present a wonderful opportunity to play around with materials.
Meanwhile, Francesca Langlea of Langlea Design explains that terracing is the optimum way to deal with a change in level. 'With terracing, we can make usable, level spaces instead of impractical sloping ground.
11. Devise A Multi-Functional Space
This garden, designed by Stimson, has an elegant swimming pool complete with a pavilion
(Image credit: Stimson)
Just as today's homes now have to have multi-functions, so are our gardens being pushed to the limit.
'With people relying on their homes as an office, then an outdoor space for connecting with nature and entertaining friends and family safe is essential,' says Isabelle Palmer of The Balcony Gardener.
Homeowners now want to invest time and money into cultivating their outdoor spaces – large or small – into a functional and beautiful enhancement of their homes. For those with the space, swimming pool ideas are high on the agenda for next summer, as are fully equipped garden buildings.
12. Plant Flowers For Pollinators
(Image credit: Future / Annaick Guitteny )
Garden designer Butter Wakefield always considers nature when selecting plants and explains how Salvias can be a great choice.
'They need minimal TLC, flower for a long time, and are an absolute haven for pollinators, protecting declining bee species.'
'It's all about plants for pollinators. I concentrate on what the bees will benefit from early-flowering, nectar-rich bulbs, and perennials, such as crocus, Geranium phaeum, and Helleborus niger; there's often a shortage of food for pollinators early in the year,' she says.
'I carry this through to late-flowering Aster novae-angliae' Helen Picton' and Dahlia' Blue Bayou,' which bloom to the end of November or the first hard frost.'
13. Use Bricks And Mortar
This small, low-maintenance urban garden, designed by Belsize Gardens, uses bricks instead of paving
(Image credit: Future / Colin Poole)
Designer Henrietta Murray-Wicks is a fan of brick in the garden, particularly a herringbone pattern.
'I tend to use bricks with a stone border, so it gives the effect of a rug on a floor, anchoring the space and any furniture placed on it. The bricks can also help certain accent features and give a real sense of movement within a garden while still using the same material palette overall.'
Butter Wakefield also says, 'recently, we completed a project in north London where we ran bricks from the garden into the house. Not having some form of the pattern at ground level is a missed opportunity to create interest, particularly in a small space.'
14. Grow Your Own
Producing our food taps into our basic human needs
(Image credit: Hartley Botanic)
No longer the preserve of more extensive gardens, vegetable garden ideas are now appearing in nearly every style of outdoor space. Whether this is a cottage-walled garden or simple vegetable garden container ideas for a balcony garden, the grow-your-own trend is on a strong upward trajectory.
With people wanting to find more reasons to spend time outdoors and in their garden, it's not only about easy fixes – which is why growing plants from seed has taken an upsurge this year and is set to continue into 2023, too. The pandemic has changed our way of thinking, our approach, and our priorities.
For Tom Barry of Hartley Botanic, which sells a range of greenhouses and gardening accessories, it has been decades since he has seen such an interest in people becoming more self-sufficient. 'Being able to produce food taps into the most basic of human needs and ultimately, for many of us, 'growing our own' is the right choice for our health and well-being.'
15. Go For Greenhouse Living
(Image credit: Future / Emme Lee)
A trend for larger greenhouse ideas and glasshouses has been influenced by the fact that we are increasingly using our greenhouses for both horticultural requirements and other 'lifestyle' uses.
'The vast majority of our customers are using their greenhouses for horticultural reasons, as you would expect – for growing edibles, raising seedlings, etc.,' says Tom Barry, managing director of Hartley Botanic.
'However, many customers, who are still serious gardeners, are using their greenhouses more multifacetedly. We see customers introducing living, relaxation, dining, and lifestyle elements into their greenhouse use. Most commonly, however, we are seeing a trend for greenhouses to be used for al fresco dining and as a space for morning and evening relaxation.'
The burgeoning greenhouse market amongst families with young children will continue to grow, driven by concerns around air miles, food provenance, and organic production – along with the educational benefit of teaching kids about food.
How Do I Update My Garden?
The key trends we have explored in this piece can provide you with a host of new ideas for your outside space.
From beautiful, big projects where you transform your garden layout through clever zoning ideas to smaller updates through planting in containers and pots, your garden can be easily updated, no matter your budget or space size.
A great way to update your garden and make it feel more comfortable and look luxurious is to bring elements of the inside and outside. From garden rugs to beautiful outdoor furniture and accessories, blurring the boundaries between these spaces will only make for a more inviting outdoor space where you can enjoy spending time.
For further inspiration, explore how I add luxury to my backyard.
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