Top Garden Trends for 2015

A new year often prompts us to think about the changes we’d like to make in our life and our gardens. Here we give you the top garden trends for 2015 that we think will have an impact on our green spaces.

Up-cycling and recycling

We’ve been into this for years and we don’t see the trend stopping.  It’s all about sourcing old materials and using them in unique ways to add focal points and functional pieces to your garden. In 2015, rather than waiting for materials to be processed into a new form in the traditional meaning of re-cycling, more of a focus will be on immediate re-cycling.  This means the use of existing structures in new ways, such as old sinks as planters and old machinery turned into water features.

A great way to prevent old tyres ending up in landfill

Shrubs

Shrubs are having a renaissance. Planting them alongside small trees or grasses gives interest year round rather than just a shot of colour when perennials are in season. Variable winters over recent years have meant that trends imported from overseas have not fulfilled their promise. Phormiums and cordylines often don’t flourish as hoped. In 2015 heathland planting incorporating shrubs such as the common gorse will be more popular. Indeed golden yellows are a colour trend in garden in 2015 with sunflowers also seeing their popularity increase.  Dusty reds are another main colour trend for the coming year.

Outside rooms

With many of us choosing to extend our homes rather than move (including us at Vialii Towers!), an outside office or garden room becomes a real option. Vialii clients have embraced this trend for a couple of years – we always like to have our finger on the pulse!Budgets can vary enormously from custom built to designer ready made so there is sure to be one to suit you, your budget and your garden.

Be it a space to relax or work in, garden rooms can be an effective additional to any home

Intricate pathways

Functional driveways and paths are being giving a more intricate edge by a revival of older techniques, such as Portuguese pavement. This technique uses smaller blocks to create mosaic-like patterns or grids. It has the bonus of being great for drainage too. For more on intricate paving click here.

Small square paving blocks and gravel contrast well in these curving paths

Grow your own

Being able to produce your own fruit and veg will always be popular.  However the bad weather in recent years has also affected that. This year easier to grow, low maintenance crops such as rhubarb and hardier patio suitable tomatoes (we recommend Losetto) will be popular. Another trend we see becoming more popular is straw bale planting which is ideal if you have a bad back and can’t bend easily, plus you don’t have to dig over the earth.  The plants are incorporated into bales that you pre-treat with water and fertiliser.  We’re hoping to be having a go…

Growing your own flowers for cutting is also on the increase. We were lucky enough to inherit a lovely iris bed within our garden and watching The Big Allotment Challenge has inspired us to grow other cut flowers too. It’s not only much better for the environment than buying imported flowers but a whole lot more satisfying too.

Getting younger generations involved

At Vialii we have no trouble doing that as our toddler Lulu has her very own blog on the subject. Trends such as electric daisies (Acmella oleracea) that can actually be eaten (their petals have a citrus taste combined with a mild jolt of electricity!) help to intrigue children and adults (try them in a cocktail!) Follow Lulu’s blog for regular posts on how to inspire children to get involved in gardening and lots of great projects to try.

Getting children involved in growing their own is a great way for them to learn where food comes from

What do you think or wish will be top garden trends for 2015?

If you want to commission us to bring any of these trends into your garden then please get in touch.

Thanks for reading.

All at Vialii

New Shed Project

Our garden, whilst largely completed last year, has still got a few areas needing addressed before our full design can be realised. One of the bigger, outstanding items has been a new shed project involving the construction of a bespoke shed in an awkward space around the back corner of the house. This area has become a bit of a dumping ground which is rather unsightly, as I’m sure you will agree. The new shed will eventually house all our garden tools etc and maybe a bike or two and will liberate some valuable space in our already overfilled garage.

A dumping ground….

The plan for the shed is to have a pent style living roof. Due to the irregular size of this corner of the garden we are choosing to construct the shed ourselves (plus we never like to do “normal”! It’ll also help us use up some of our excess timber stock that we continually seem to acquire at the completion of garden build projects. We have also acquired some lovely canadian oak pallets which will form the main structure of the shed. The picture below was the state of things at the end of the weekend.

The shed structure takes shape

To see how the shed project turned out click here.

Thanks for reading.

All at Vialii