For most of last year, it was completely outdoors.
Our backyards and gardens become sanctuaries, ways to connect with nature and a sense of life that goes beyond. Landscape designers say gardens have also acquired new identities as clients longed for ‘outdoors’ – dining spaces, play areas, offices or oases for spreading outdoor gatherings. (One client wanted to create a space for a dozen ukulele-playing friends to practice outside.)
“We’ve been ordering a lot of our yards in the past few months,” says Alison Meisner, CEO of Yardzen, an online landscape design platform based in Sausalito, California. “For many of us, our yards were the only green space we had access to during that time, and we needed it to fully serve these new jobs.”
Even as things gradually progress towards normalcy, these new jobs are not going anywhere. So in 2021, we’ve rounded up some of the best ways to create beautiful and useful outdoor setups.
garden as office
Working in the garden has a whole new meaning now. Aerin Moore of Magic Gardens Landscaping in Auckland has created designs for a number of executives who say the garden office has changed their lives.
“They loved moving outside into the middle of their garden, setting up a beautiful wooden desk, and a hot spot for their computers,” he says. “They said it was very peaceful, and they really felt like they had accomplished a lot.”
“I’ve never designed and built more pergolas in my life,” says Heather Reid Johnson of Orinda’s Hey Nice Garden—many of which are specifically designed for outdoor office spaces. “They approximate the actual in-house office in many ways,” she says. “The scale is usually about 12 by 16 feet, enough space for a table and chairs and plenty of outlets” to plug in a printer or coffee pot.
And some go all out, according to the folks at Houzz, a Palo Alto-based website and online community about all things home and landscaping. Their recent survey notes the emergence of a backyard hut or ADU (Attached Residential Unit) for use as designated workspaces, gyms, meditation areas, or study rooms for students.
year of the pergola
“If you want to create an inviting outdoor living space, you will likely need shade to do so. A pergola is a relatively quick and affordable solution,” says a Hauze spokesperson. “There are simple shade structures that can be built and installed in a day or two.”
Working alongside pergola’s popularity is fire pits, says Patricia St. John of Berkeley Landscaping in St. John’s. “Almost every job for a family or young couple involves a fire pit,” she says.
And get ready for the retro dip – the dubbing is back! “Cedar pots are making a comeback,” Messner says. “They were very popular in the 1960s, and we’re seeing a lot of requests for cedar tubs and also for so-called plunge pools or cocktail tubs that fit into a smaller space without the commitment of a fully integrated pool.”
eat your heart
St. John’s regularly designs spaces to grow food in raised beds, containers for vegetables and lettuce, or in herb pots next to the kitchen door, “where it’s easier to harvest before you prepare the salad,” she says. “I know this trend has been around for a while, but it’s only growing.”
One of the new items I’ve noticed lately is more requests than ever for fruit trees. “They don’t have to take up much space,” she says. “Citrus can be grown in containers throughout its life, as long as you increase in size as the citrus grows.”
Borrowed Views
Not everyone has a vast yard to work in, but designers have tricks to making small spaces look bigger. “One way to do this is to use borrowed views,” Moore says. “Maybe your neighbor has beautiful trees that rise above the back fence. We sometimes made driveways and fences roughly to make it look as if the garden was going on. I have some small gardens with mature planting and the neighbors garden all over the place – you can’t really tell where their garden ends and their neighbor begins.” “
Gardens as inspiration/mood
While many people are looking for the outdoors to provide more space to eat, relax, and play, others are looking for quiet spaces: quiet gardens that provide a quiet break from work, school, and stressful news sessions, according to Howes.
Moore had a previous client, a well-known author, request designs for very specific parts of the garden in terms of mood.
“She wanted to create these specific mood areas for different types of inspiration, so she could write,” he says. “There was a really sunny area, and then a dreary area with a beautiful waterfall, which was much quieter and more like. She said it really worked. I think that’s what is left out of the garden design so much – the emotional element rather than just the utility.”
All work, plus play
With home schooling, backyards have become play areas for “resting,” says Reed Johnson, who has put in more artificial turf, multi-purpose concrete pads for half-size basketball courts, and hammocks suspended from the branches of well-established trees.
Often, you can’t fit a full-size store-bought playset in a space, Meissner says. “And a lot of people wouldn’t want something big, plastic, and a primary color in their yard anyway. Tree houses, trampolines, and rope swings are among our most sought-after items in family-friendly yards,” she says. “A lot of the homes in the Bay Area have mixed heights, and areas with a little bit of slope—ideal for sliding rather than erecting a structure.”
Another Yardzen customer who had to take down an unhealthy tree cut the tree into rounds. Then the family used it as a staircase for children. “People want play structures that blend in with the environment.”
Functional front yard
This trend was an obvious consequence of the epidemiological restrictions. “We’ve heard from clients that they want to connect with their neighbors, but not too close,” Messner says. “So some put a patio in the front or even a fire pit, and some Adirondack chairs. It was a way to create a sense of community and connect with neighbors while staying socially apart.”
Environmentally friendly environments
St. John says clients are turning more and more towards sustainable landscaping. “While we’re talking about climate change, people want more low-water, low-maintenance plants. I’ve lowered or removed lawns most of the time,” she says. People want more pollinator plants that attract more birds and bees — lavender plants, berry plants. Milkweed attract kings. Some people raise monarch butterflies from caterpillars. There is great interest now in being more aware of our natural habitat.”
Along the same lines there is a movement called “rewilding,” says Messner, to return urban and suburban yards to life-supporting habitats. “It’s about restoring brutality,” she says. “Bring native, climate-resilient plants into residential spaces, using materials to get rid of solids that won’t promote water buildup, so the water can flow the way nature wants. We’re also focusing on creating wildlife corridors – if you and your neighbors do it along the street.” It will restore a wonderful habitat for the creatures.”
fires
John says it’s no surprise that many Californians are increasingly looking for fire-resistant landscapes. “You want plants closer to home that have moist leaves, that are easy to bend—things like coral bells, low-growing sage,” she says. “In the first five feet, you don’t want wood chips. Maybe pea gravel or decorative rocks. A little further out, use organic mulch with plenty of compost, which tends to be damp. Deciduous trees rather than evergreens.”
and side gates
The trend associated with the oceanic epidemic is designs that include a side entrance. It seems reasonable. John says if you plan to visit friends in the backyard for outdoor spacing, that eliminates the purpose of having people roam the house.
“I didn’t realize it until now,” she says, “but just about every job we’ve asked for lately: side access and gates.”
Friends, of course, is up to you.