Landscaping is like fashion, coloring our lives and trendy season to season. Here are a few tips, tricks and trends to dress up your yard this year, followed by the must-have lawn accessories that make each lawnscape one-of-a-kind.
Moving the Indoors Out
The biggest trend in Plymouth today is far and away the desire to create and build “outdoor rooms,” whether they are for cooking, entertaining or relaxing, says Sarah Pitts, trend specialist at Bachman’s. “These rooms incorporate furniture and grills with live plants and hedges as wells and trees as a canopy,” she says. “The trend is a blend of nature and traditional outdoor pieces.”
Bringing the Campfire Home
Turns out we Minnesotans still love a good fire to gather ’round. “Firepits continue to be high on everyone’s priority list,” says Sarah Lloyd, landscape designer at Dundee Nursery. “Plymouth residents put in a hard, long day at the office and want to be able to step outside and relax staring into the dancing flames of a fire.”
Growing Your Own Food
Imagine a cornucopia of garden delights—juicy tomatoes, crisp lettuce, snappy beans, fresh melons, succulent sweet corn. Now imagine them right in your own backyard. As the trend toward locally grown food continues—and the emphasis on organic eats and knowing where your food is coming from increases—so do the nature of our veggie gardens.
Amped-up Container Gardening
Gone are the days when you can throw a solitary plant into your urn or patio pot and call it a day. Containers today are veritable works of art; some folks are even adding edible flowers, perennials and blooming plants. Check out Bachman’s Plant by Numbers, a do-it-yourself container-gardening system that includes a handy-dandy planting guide and plant list.
Color it Up
Plants with pops of color are the perfect way to liven up any outdoor space. Check out these beauties: Gold cypress, Little Devil ninebark, Sester blue spruce, dwarf barberry, Gold Charm cypress, Orange Rocket barberry and Procumbens spruce (prices vary, Bachman’s and Dundee Nursery).
Wet it Down
If you’ve got 30 minutes, you’ve got time to install an Aqua Rock Sandstone Flag Stack fountain. Kit comes with underground basin, water pump and natural rock. ($124.99, Bachman’s)
Veggies in a Snap
With a higher level of antioxidants compared with other garden vegetable varieties, and in convenient garden-ready packs that include tomatoes, cucumber, pepper and salad mix, Burpee’s BOOST veggie plants will have you eating healthy in a snap. ($2.99–$6.99, Bachman’s)
Gnome Magic
These little red pointy hat-wearing, beard-sporting figures are said to guard treasures—and they’ll put a smile on your face and add a touch of whimsy to any garden space. ($16.99–$99.99 depending on size, Dundee Nursery)
Etc.
Decks: Yes, after years caught up in the patio trend, decks are making a comeback.
Retro garden accessories: Think gnomes, pink flamingos and other throwback garden delights popping up in Plymouth gardens.
Water features: From bubbling rocks to fountains to ponds, water continues to be a lawn and garden hit.
Lanterns: Of all shapes and sizes.
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Yard Tips
Our experts share their top three to get you started.
- “Start with understanding your space and desired intention,” Bachmans’ Sarah Pitts says. Look for the right materials for your foundation, whether it is block, pavers, wood, grass or simply an outdoor rug. Incorporate your natural walls and canopies or add them later through plantings or work in planted containers.
- “Always plan before you act,” says Sarah Lloyd of Dundee Landscaping. “Kind of like in construction—measure twice, cut once. The better you plan, the better things will turn out.”
- Lloyd and Pitts agree: Keep living areas close to the house to ensure you use them regularly.
