Design trends come and go, which can make it tricky to predict what will be popular and in style with each new season. Luckily, you can be rest assured that these backyard trends will be popular in 2022 as the weather continues to get warmer and people are desperate to leave winter behind.
Look through the ideas below for inspiration and try out some of these backyard design trends for your space this summer!
1. Contemporary Water Features
Water features are a hugely popular decorative feature that are expected to continue being high in demand this year.
Modern water fountains especially are set to continue being commonly sought after. Specifically, water features that reinforce positive wellbeing and provide an oasis of calmness, such as fountains with gently trickling streams, will be looked at as critical inclusions of 2022 backyard design and modern sensory gardens.
2. Rich Colours
Creating a unique colour planting palette for your garden is a simple, but effective way to brighten up your backyard.
Don’t be afraid to opt for flowers in bold red, orange, and even purple shades. Green thumb gardeners are leaning more towards these rich pops of colour, and they’ve been noted to give an otherwise bland and unexciting outdoor space a boost of positive energy and liveliness.
Louder colour schemes not only perk up the overall design of your yard and stand out against green foiliage, they attract bees to gardens as well, which is an added bonus for local plant life. Aim to group similar colours of flowers and plants together to bring a sense of unity and cohesion to your garden layout.
Keep an eye out for allium, cosmos, salvia and freesias, which are expected to see a rise in popularity over the spring and summer months this year.
3. Keeping Wildlife In Mind
Slowly but surely, people are integrating more and more sustainable and eco-conscious measures into their daily lives. This includes backyards as well.
Trending buzzwords such as “rewilding” and “nature scaping,” aim for a less structured yard layout that looks more natural and is ultimately more inviting to wildlife. Plant sheltering shrubs, fruiting trees, and pollinator-friendly flowers to nourish backyard visitors and encourage them to stop by and take shelter from predators.
Bird baths are also regaining popularity, with new styles and deviations reimagining a classic garden staple. Making fresh, clean water available will encourage local birds to visit—including ones that don’t eat seeds–which you may not typically see otherwise.
4. Edible Gardens
Grow-your-own gardening is continuing its momentum in 2022 as people keep looking for ways to be more sustainable, teach their children about where their food comes from, and ensure they’re consuming locally grown, pesticide-free foods.
Edible gardens are a relatively easy and effective way to do this. Plant your vegetables in raised garden beds to ensure better drainage and easier access, and look for fruiting trees to add to your backyard as well. There’s nothing like the satisfaction of seeing your hard work pay off in the form of a happy, thriving garden you cultivated yourself.
5. Hideaway Sheds
Sheds no longer have to be designated areas to only store garden equipment when it’s not in use. A creative way to include a room in the comfort of your backyard is by turning a simple shed into your personal outdoor retreat.
Sheds can be customized to practically any requirement you may have, and they’re a subtle way to ensure privacy when you need it. Turn it into a reading nook with comfortable seating and ideal lighting, a place to relax with a glass of wine and a friend, a small outdoor kitchen–the options are endless.
6. Luxury Garden Sanctuary
As we have lived through the peak of staycations during the pandemic, finding luxury can be difficult when we’ve been limited to our homes and backyards. However, this predicament has resulted in a boom of creativity with people transforming their yards into luxurious santuaries that are just a step outside their own door.
Take elements that you may go away to enjoy, like features you’d see at a spa or boutique hotel, for example, and bring them into your own backyard.
An outdoor getaway can include modern-day pleasures like swimming pools, fountains, koi ponds, outdoor kitchens, fire pits, outdoor heaters, and lighting.
7. Living Walls
Living walls are a creative way to make the most of your space while leaving room for any other design elements you may want to introduce to your backyard. Converting a wall in your yard to a vertical garden is the perfect way to nourish your green thumb while optimizing your outdoor space’s layout. Follow a colour scheme and choose lush greenery, or look for flowering plants in similar hues.
8. Inside-Out
No one wants to be stuck inside all day when the weather is beautiful, especially after living through the past isolated two years when vacations outside of your own backyard weren’t possible. Since then, people have continued to adapt their spaces to make them as multi-purpose as possible. Many homeowners are now blurring the lines between the inside and the outside, and this trend seems to be here to stay.
This includes building outdoor kitchens, dining areas, fireplaces, introducing backyard living rooms with televisions and sofas, as well as hanging string lights to add inviting ambience. Finding ways to bring the comforts of the indoors to the outdoors when you don’t have to go far to do it, is a smart way to elevate all of the space you have.
9. Outdoor Home Office
During the height of the pandemic, people were working from home at an all-time high. Now, with the gradual transition back into in-person, many companies are adapting to recent shifts in work culture with a hybrid model of business operations. Many people are now working from home a few days a week when they’re not expected to physically go into the office. Rather than spend those days inside as the weather gets nicer, people will be looking for ways to take their productivity outdoors, and enjoy the sunshine as they work.
Remote work set-ups don’t have to be dull and lifeless. Natural light in your Zoom calls can be a huge mood booster, especially against the backdrop of a blue sky. Create your own outdoor office by zoning out a “room” in your yard. Give a sense of privacy away from your neighbours with dense, high plants, a screened-in pergola (which can also offer some shade), and include outdoor furniture that can double as a practical office desk and comfortable chair you can do your work in.
10. Multi-Season Gardening
All-weather gardening that can extend across multiple seasons is proving to be of higher priority for many backyard owners. Many people are continuing the interest of making the most out of their outdoor areas since the pandemic started by making them as multi-functional and climate-adaptable as possible.
This includes adding structural shelter options like gazebos and pergolas, maximizing backyard potential with different “zones” for various activities, and planting gardens that can last year-round.
Conclusion
How many of these backyard design trends for 2022 do you think you’ll incorporate into your outdoor space this year?
No matter what trends you decide to include, use these examples for inspo when you’re updating your yard for warmer weather, elevating your staycations, and sitting in on sunnier Zoom calls.
