Post-pandemic life has brought many of us urban dwellers closer to our gardens. This mindset shift has made gardens and green spaces an important draw card for properties on the market. So, if you’re planning to sell or lease your home, add value and increase your profits with a beautiful, on-trend garden that buyers won’t be able to resist. To help you hit the right note, here are our top three landscaping trends and garden design ideas that are taking the 2021 property market by storm.
Top three garden design ideas for 2021-22
When the pandemic first came to Australia, millions found themselves working from home, exercising at home, and using time in their own garden, balcony or courtyard to scratch the all-important ‘time in nature’ itch. Naturally, this saw a change in priorities: for many of us, what outdoor space we have became much more valuable and important. The pronounced increase in foot traffic that Bunnings reported during 2020, particularly in its nursery and outdoor departments, serves to demonstrate our newfound enthusiasm for gardening.
With such diversity of the size, shape and type of space we each have to make our private garden oasis, in this article we will share an array of different garden design ideas, from sophisticated concrete courtyards to grassy, sunlit back yards.
Trend 1: Clean-cut architectural concrete jungles
Architectural concrete is a perfect design option for people with minimalist taste. It’s more than just a slab here and a slab there, though. The beauty of architectural concrete comes as much from the shadows created by the passing sunlight and the textural accents it highlights as the concrete itself.
The striking juxtaposition of soft surfaces and different textures – like leaves or water – and hard, clean-cut concrete is pleasing to the eye, and gives us the sense of sanctuary in the urban environment.
Trend 2: Native plants and biodiversity
While imported plants, flowers and trees have maintained popularity for decades, landscaping companies are seeing a trend away from European styles and towards specimens from Australia’s own backyard.
There are many benefits to growing Australian native plants: they’re better suited to the climate, for starters, so they’re often less work, and they’re easier on the environment in a drought-prone country because they require less water.
But another huge benefit is increasing local biodiversity in urban areas, which will help to bring more wildlife and bees to your garden. Team your native plants with a variety of exotic and foliage plants to ensure every season brings you birdsong and blooming flowers.
Related: What buyers want in a house: real estate market trends revealed
Trend 3: Trading lawns for garden beds
Market trends have spoken, and the verdict is in: lawns are going out and garden beds are coming in. While we all love a soft, freshly cut lawn, few of us love the labour of caring for it. This is where garden beds come in. Where lush beds of foliage used to be confined to the borders and fences of big backyard lawns, people are now embracing them as part of the garden.
For this trend, try creating pathways or semi-enclosed areas with garden beds of tall flowers, shrubs and foliage plants to create your very own botanical garden experience at home.
Whether you have a concrete-walled courtyard or a long, sloping lawn to work with, maximise the value of your home before you sell by leveling up your green space. With these 2021 garden design ideas, you’ll create an outdoor area buyers won’t be able to resist!
