Top luxury garden trends for 2021

After one of the coldest and wettest Mays on record, the weather has really picked up in June and at last it feels like we can start to get our gardens looking how we want them. And we need to, because nature has been making up for lost time, with plants and flowers getting on with all that growing they failed to do in May.

What better time, then, to take a look at the latest garden trends after a year when our outdoor spaces have become even more precious to us. There’s no doubt that the pandemic has had an effect on the way we view our gardens, and this has fed into what we’re likely to be doing with them in 2021.

Letting nature be in charge

One of the enduring results of the pandemic is how much closer to nature those of us lucky enough to have gardens or other easily available outdoor spaces have felt. As much of the human race has retreated behind closed doors or into smaller spaces, so nature has moved in to fill the vacuum.

That has allowed us not only to appreciate our birds, insects and other garden visitors, but also remember what we need to do to attract them. Some of our key pollinators, especially bees, have suffered a significant decline in numbers over recent years, and many of us have realised that we have the means to help them recover.

As a result, allowing some of your garden to run a bit wild, the perfect conditions for all of nature to thrive, has become probably the main trend for the year. If you are allowing part of your garden to go untamed, then leaving some of your lawn unmown and seeding sections with wildflowers – particularly those that are likely to attract pollinators – is a great way to go.

Allied to this, the use of natural materials in our gardens is also going to be popular this summer as a means of creating a less formal environment.

Room to commune

Another influence that the pandemic has had on our gardens is that we have had to create the space to socialise there, as meeting indoors has been not only inadvisable but actively banned.

Making that outdoor space we socialise in an extension of our indoors is becoming a popular way of going about this. By taking the style and colour palettes from your living room and extending them out through patio doors and into the garden, you’re creating a harmonious environment with a natural flow that’s ideal for spending time in with friends and family.

Grow your own

Shortages in the shops early last year combined with more time spent at home has led many to start growing their own fruit and veg at home, and this certainly looks likely to continue to be popular in 2021. But people aren’t necessarily being constrained by the usual lettuce, runner beans and courgettes, and are trying out more exotic fruit and veg such as citrus fruits like lemon and lime, different varieties (and strengths!) of chilli pepper and lemongrass.

Split level gardens

Gardens seem so much more interesting when different areas have different functions, and one great way of achieving those separate spaces is to have them on different levels. That can also make the journey through your garden one of discovery, especially if you plant at different levels – that will give you the means of having plants filling all your lines of vision. But there’s a practical effect as well, because by creating level spaces out of sloping ones, you’re making more of your garden usable.

Entertaining in style

Once we’d been forced by COVID restrictions to do our entertaining outside, we found we really like it! That means we’ve been adding things like bars, kitchens and pizza ovens to our outdoor spaces so we can be sociable at the same time as we’re preparing food and drinks for our guests. It’s like the traditional barbecue but taken up several notches! And once the food’s out of the way, why not sit back and enjoy a film under the stars on a garden cinema? Sales have rocketed over the last two years and that trend looks set to continue in 2021.