What garden trends should you keep an eye out for 2018? If you've always wanted to build a garden or you simply want to redesign your current setting, checking the latest gardening trends is the best way to develop the best garden design for your outdoor space. This year is all about enjoying the most out of your outdoor space and keeping your garden setting simple, natural, and comforting. Without further ado, here are popular garden trends to watch out for this year:

Creating Intimate Spaces

Injecting coziness into your garden arrangement will be big this year. This goes no matter how big or small your outdoor space is! There are so many ways of adding coziness in an outdoor setting. Highlight intimate spaces by framing a seating area with an assortment of greeneries. Try surrounding your seating area with potted plants or installing a trellis near or over the seating area to create a romantic canopy.

If you are working with a large, open area, break the space into different sections and then decorate these areas one at a time. You can add a fire pit near your patio set up; add vines and arbors to create a forest-like garden arrangement or use hedges, raised beds, even large planters to highlight the sense of intimacy between spaces.

Go Vertical

Got zero floor space for a garden? Go vertical to add color and life to your indoor or outdoor space. This hot trend works so well in rentals and urban homes. A vertical garden is not only the perfect solution for space-strapped homeowners, tending to the plants is much easier too. You can grow an herb garden by using hanging planters or make a living artwork using succulents.

If your rental has a balcony, you can use this space to build your vertical garden. You can use a pallet planter to showcase your plants, install railing planters for your flowering plants, or hanging planters for your trailing plants.

Install Water Features

Fire pits were HUGE last year but this year it’s all about the water feature. A water feature helps create an even more relaxing garden arrangement. The soothing sound of flowing water instantly puts the mind at ease. Water features could also attract a number of garden-friendly wildlife!

If you’ve always wanted to install a pond or a grotto in the garden but it’s way off your budget, then a couple of water features could work as the focal point of your outdoor space. Water features are more affordable and easier to maintain than an actual pond.
 
Water features come in different sizes and most are perfectly sized for small spaces. If you are working with a large outdoor space, we recommend installing more than two water features in different areas of the garden.

Edible Garden

Love the farm-to-table concept? Farm to table is a movement that encourages people to acquire food from local sources as opposed to importing the produce from afar. You can join the farm to table movement by growing your own edible garden. Edible gardening is so hot this year. In fact, more and more urban dwellers are building their own edible garden (herb garden, vegetable patch, rooftop garden, backyard orchard, etc.) to grow their food.

You do not need a large expanse of space to join the farm-to-table movement. Most vegetables do not grow too big so a small space should be enough to get your edible garden started. Fruit-bearing trees are best for larger spaces but there are dwarf varieties that do not grow too big so they should do well when grown in small spaces too.

Begin your garden-to-table gardening by growing vegetables such as tomatoes, lettuces, shallots, potatoes, beetroot, broccoli, rainbow chard, etc. Add a couple of potted fruit trees to the veggies as well as herbs. Ideally, you want to get a raised bed for the veggies so you can control the quality of the soil and keep pests at bay. Don’t collect too many plants in such a short period if you’re new to gardening. Start small then work your way to more plant varieties. If you are one of the lucky few with a large yard, take your garden-to-table gardening up a notch by adding some chickens for fresh eggs.

Container Gardening

Container gardening is the practice of growing a garden in pots or containers rather than planting them in-ground. This concept is best suited in small spaces and it includes planting edible and non-edible plants alike.

Since the plants are not planted directly into the ground, you can change the arrangement of your garden whenever. In addition, growing plants in containers do not require heavy equipment at all. This gardening concept also reduces the risk of infestation because the plants are contained in pots, tubs, dishes, barrels, and hanging baskets. Your gardening activities aren’t so exhausting either because maintaining potted plants is so much easier.

Al Fresco Dining and Outdoor Entertainment

2018 is all about enjoying your outdoor space to the fullest and taking advantage of what nature has to offer. This is the reason why al fresco dining and outdoor entertainment are such a hit this year. Al fresco dining is a great way to enjoy your outdoor space, entertain friends and family, or bond with the kids.

You can perfect your outdoor setup by maximizing shady spots in your yard, balcony garden, or rooftop garden. Create a seating area where you and your guests could converse, lounge, or enjoy good food. Set the mood with the perfect lighting. Surround your seating area with greeneries to create an intimate space. If you have room for it, add dedicated spaces for cooking.

Copper Accents

Rose gold obsession was so 2017. This year, it’s all about copper accents! Used as a material or an accent color, copper will make a huge impact in your garden design this year. You can incorporate this trendy shade by adding hard landscaping to warm up your outdoor spaces. Copper makes a fabulous contrast color to gravel, stone, and wood so go ahead and decorate your garden with copper decors.

Balcony Gardening

More and more people are getting into gardening, even folks who live in rentals and small apartments. Thankfully, even the tiniest slice of space is enough to grow an urban garden. An empty balcony offers plenty of room for growing a variety of edible and non-edible plants!
 
The concept of urban gardening is to enhance available spaces regardless of the size. Building a balcony garden is a terrific way of expressing your own creativity and good taste. To build your own balcony garden, use planters or pots, vertical structures, and hanging planters to grow a variety of flowers and foliage. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Play with different colors, textures, heights, and plant varieties to add life to your rental.

Eco-Landscaping

Eco-landscaping is the concept of designing, creating, and maintaining a sustainable landscape to save time, money, and energy. The idea is designed to reduce air, soil, and water pollution while also creating healthy, beautiful recreational spaces that you can enjoy with your loved ones. The concept involves planting plants that grow locally. Native plants require less watering and minimal fertilizer or pesticides. By planting native plants, you are providing a healthy habitat for the local wildlife.
 
Eco-landscaping also involves making your own composting systems. Composting allows you to recycle anything that can be reused in your household, including kitchen scraps. By composting your kitchen scraps, you are reducing your household waste, which minimizes your carbon footprint.

Woodland-Style Planting

If you love the idea of building a forest-like garden, you’ll love this trending gardening concept. Woodland-style planting involves growing low-level woodland plants such as shrubs, ferns, mosses, anemones and mixing them up with tufted grasses to create a dreamy, forest-like effect. This concept is perfect for shaded spaces. The idea here is to add architectural plants to give the outdoor space structure and accent.

Mindfulness

2018 puts a strong focus on maintaining a healthy well-being hence; mindfulness is proving to be one of the biggest trends of the year. Mindfulness is based on the ancient practice of living in the moment. This year's trendy garden designs put a strong emphasis on creating a relaxing ambiance.

To encourage mindfulness, fill your garden with a mix of elements that stimulate the senses. Use calming colors – like blues, greens, yellows, and lavender – to soothe the mind, body, and soul. Growing flowering plants that fill the air with soft fragrances also helps delight the senses.