It’s that time of year when we can finally throw open the doors and windows and enjoy the fresh air. And whether you have a super green thumb or you just like to dabble without chipping your manicure, it’s also the time of year when you can brighten up your patio or garden with plants and accessories. We’ve rounded up the hottest garden trends for 2013 to help you plan your outdoor oasis!

Image courtesy of Rona

Designing outdoor rooms
This brings us to the first trend, which is creating outdoor rooms. Sure we’ve all stuck a table and chair, or a plastic lounger outdoors, but the idea here is to extend your indoor living space outdoors. This might mean an outdoor dining space in one corner of your deck and a sitting area, complete with an outdoor sofa and coffee table in the other.


Image courtesy of President's Choice

Low-maintenance plants
For those who don’t want to spend the whole summer doing yardwork, focusing on low-maintenance plants is a great way to have a gorgeous garden that needs minimal care. Look for drought-tolerant species, like ornamental grasses and native plants that will still thrive during those hot, dry days of summer.
Image courtesy of Dig.Drop.Done

Planting a cutting garden
Who doesn’t love fresh bouquets of flowers placed throughout the house? The trend of eating local has now extended to buying flowers from local growers—or, of course, growing your own. Some gardeners devote sections of their gardens to flowers they can snip for vases. If you don’t have the luxury of hosting a cutting garden, you can visit a local market, like the Toronto Flower Market which focuses on blooms from local Ontario greenhouses. Image courtesy of GSky

Living walls
The concept of a living wall has been around for a few years now, but you used to see them primarily in public or corporate spaces. Now, companies like Williams-Sonoma and Woolly Pocket have at-home DIY kits you can use to create your own. Other companies, like Vancouver’s GSky will help homeowners design their own customized green wall.

Image courtesy of GardenFlame

Fire features
Building on that idea of an outdoor room, outdoor fireplaces have become popular with homeowners. Gabriel Verkade, owner and principal designer of Verkade Landscape Design says that firepits are one of the most requested items in his latest designs. And we’re not talking bonfires in a sandpit. There are a variety of styles, from sleek, modern bowls to oblong, stone firepits.

Image courtesy of Proven Winners

Potscaping
Balcony gardeners, of course, have already discovered how to display pots of all shapes and sizes in a small space. But even those with a yard can devote a small corner of their patio or driveway to an artful arrangement of lush containers. Our sister magazine, Canadian Gardening, calls it potscaping!

Image courtesy of Willoway Nurseries

Edibles as ornamentals
When you’re putting together your container gardens this year, consider using edibles as your foliage fillers. Gardeners are no longer relegating their veggies to a separate garden. Instead, they’re mixing it up by planting parsley among their blooms in pots, sneaking tomatoes in among their shrubs or putting out berry bushes as ornamental plants that stand out all on their own.
Image courtesy of Proven Winners

Pantone colours
Each year, colour authority Pantone chooses a colour of the year. Last year it was Tangerine Tango, this year it’s Emerald Green. Inevitably, these colours make their way into our homes and gardens via plants and accessories. Add a dash of emerald via lush hostas in shady areas or conifers as a living privacy fence.
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Tropical treasures
Living in Canada, we’re somewhat limited by what we can put in the ground and leave over the winter. But more and more, we are seeing nurseries offer tropical plants that can be left outside during our hot summers to add colour and pizzazz to a patio, and then brought indoors over the winter, to brighten a living room or kitchen.
Image courtesy of Amazon

Cocktail gardens
So you may not be into distilling your own spirits, but who doesn’t love to come up with a new cocktail concoction for summer entertaining? For ideas and growing advice, check out Drinking the Summer Garden by Gayla Trail or Amy Stewart’s new book, The Drunken Botanist.