There's something genuinely healing about escaping to the serenity of a well-designed garden. And thankfully, modern garden design principles offer great versatility that allow you to transform your outdoor space into your very own tranquil sanctuary.
Whether you have a sprawling backyard with a white picket fence out in the country or a cosy urban terrace housed within aluminium slat fencing, there are endless possibilities to improve on your outdoor haven.
Today, we’ll be exploring the intricate art of modern garden design alongside sharing our own tips and tricks for infusing your garden with a touch of effortless luxury.
Defining ‘modern garden design’
Before we dive into all the tips and tricks of modern garden design, let’s first start with a working definition of this emerging style. As you may have imagined, the modern design represents a departure from traditional garden landscapes. It's a style that embraces simplicity, clean lines, and functionality in much the same way that contemporary modern architecture does. Less is often more in contemporary garden design. In the simplest terms, your modern garden should ideally be designed with a minimalistic intent, or a focus only on essential features in order to reduce clutter and visual noise.
This isn’t to say that you can’t be more decorative when designing your garden space. In fact, if you’re looking to inject a little luxury into your garden, you may like to add a garden sculpture or two to your curated yard space.
That brings us to one of our top tips: consider how you plan to use your garden space. Is it a space for relaxation, entertainment, or both? Depending on your answer, you may opt to include outdoor lounge furniture in your garden space, raised planter beds, or even picnic tables for easy hosting.
Understanding exactly what you want from your modern garden space can also help you better determine the particular aesthetic and additional design styles you’d like to utilise in making your garden feel unique to you and your home.
Tips for determining the layout of your garden space
Once you’ve developed an understanding of the types of aesthetics or atmospheres you’d ideally like to cultivate in your garden, the next step is to figure out how you’d like your space to look with regards to its layout. Here, it’s imperative that you ask yourself the following question: how much space do you have available for your garden? Do you have a compact urban terrace, a medium-sized backyard, or a sprawling estate garden?
The reason this question is so imperative here is simply because familiarising yourself with the space affordances and dimensions of your garden can naturally help you better plan your final layout. Doing so can also help reduce your risks of overspending and finding yourself with more garden accessories than you really need. Remember that a defining tenet of modern garden design is removing any sense of ‘clutter’, and a garden that’s overpopulated with accessories is bound to feel more cluttered than curated.
We recommend taking note of any existing structures, trees, or elements you'd like to keep or work around when redesigning your garden space. These can become integral parts of your garden's design.
Sunlight also plays a vital role in garden design, as it not only influences the types of plants you can grow, but will also dictate the best position for your outdoor furniture and other outdoor living accessories. Identify all the areas of your garden space with full sun, partial shade, and full shade. From here, consider incorporating shade structures like pergolas, umbrellas, or shade sails in regions with intense sunlight to relieve the sun's heat.
And don’t just consider summer comfort here either! For those looking to host outdoor gatherings in winter, it’s a good rule of thumb to think about the best position for outdoor heaters and cooking gear like barbecues and grills here too. Providing adequate sources of warmth and shelter is key to keeping everyone warm, dry, and well-fed when hosting outdoor shindigs during the winter and rainy spring seasons.
By thoroughly evaluating your outdoor space and considering factors like sunlight, shade, privacy, and garden views, you'll be able to create a layout for your garden that feels intuitive, organic, and best of all – inviting!
Top luxury garden features to include in your outdoor space
Now that we’ve covered the basics of modern garden design, let’s now set our sights on how you can effortlessly include more luxurious decor and design elements into your garden space. To help, we’ve compiled our favourite luxury design elements below.
Water Features & Fountains
Water features possess both a visual aesthetic appeal as well as being a superb source of ambient sound for your garden space. The sound of flowing water in your garden space will undoubtedly inspire rest and relaxation alongside encouraging you and your guests to stay present and grounded.
Here are just a few of our favourite water features and fountains to complement modern homes:
- Tiered Fountains –classic tiered fountains combined with garden sculptures exude elegance and sophistication. These tiered fountains are designed to become a focal point in your garden space, creating a sense of timeless grandeur.
- Water Walls –modern gardens often embrace sleek water walls or cascading features that blend seamlessly with minimalist design principles. These unique water features can also provide a great sense of verticality to your garden space.
- Koi Ponds – these ornamental fish add life and movement to your garden space. Koi ponds are a fantastic design element to incorporate in Japanese zen gardens or Japandi-inspired garden spaces. But remember – this particular ‘water feature’ is also teeming with life, and as such should be treated as an ongoing commitment akin to any other family pets.
Outdoor Lighting for Ambiance
Installing the right lighting in your garden can work wonders when it comes to creating a warm and inviting space. Here are just a few ways that you can use garden lighting to enhance the liveability of your garden space:
- Install pathway lighting (i.e. subtle ground lights or low-profile fixtures).
- Install spotlighting for safety and security, or to highlight key garden features like sculptures, trees, or architectural elements.
- String up some string lights to add a whimsical or magical touch to your garden space.
- Use solar-powered lights to reduce the overall energy consumption of your garden illumination.
Designing with lighting may also highlight to you that your garden features and decor can also be practical or functional alongside being decorative. For instance, you could include a water feature that doubles up as a bird bath that helps native birds stay hydrated during the summer. You may even opt to install a painted garden shed in one of the further corners of your garden space. This nifty addition will not only help protect your gardening tools, but it will also be sure to make another great feature in your overall designscape.
Year-round care and maintenance to keep your garden healthy
It’s important to keep in mind that luxury gardens demand regular attention to preserve their pristine appearance and functionality. Alongside routinely cleaning your water features, sculptures, and other garden accessories, there are a few other essential maintenance tasks that you’ll need to consider throughout the year.
Here’s a small list of care and maintenance tasks that you’ll need to see to throughout the year, just to ensure that your modern garden stays ready for hosting from season to season.
Seasonal Care & Cleanup:
- Begin each season with a thorough garden cleanup.
- Remove debris, fallen leaves, and dead plants.
- Prune overgrown branches and tidy up your garden beds.
- Apply appropriate fertilisers to promote healthy growth. Local nurseries or horticulturists will have the best fertilisation products and application procedures for your specific plants.
- Mulch garden beds to retain moisture, suppress weeds, and enhance the overall appearance of your garden. Refresh mulch as it decomposes.
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If you’re able to follow all the tips and tricks outlined above, you should be able to create your very own modern garden space with minimal fuss. Just remember to stay on top of your garden maintenance schedule and revisit your design schemes regularly to ensure that they stay free of clutter or excessive visual noise.
With a little bit of TLC, you should be able to enjoy your garden space and share its comforts with your friends and loved ones for years to come.
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