Outdoor Living Trends/Furniture

For the past decade homeowners have been vigilantly searching for the least expensive vacation getaway and many have found it just outside their own back door. Cooking, entertaining, reading, relaxing and even working in the great outdoors has become rather chic, to say the least. Outdoor living has become the biggest trend in gardening in many years.

For today’s decorating homeowner, window treatments, recessed lighting and oriental area rugs have moved outside and the focus is on pulling those decorative elements to their screened porch, deck and patio. Homeowners have become more confident in their decorating skills, utilizing them in their backyard with much more enthusiasm than ever before, as our lawns and patios now serve as playgrounds, living rooms, and kitchens.

This outdoor living trend is turning everyday homeowners into exterior decorators, using fabulous high-end furniture and pairing it with wooden/metal arbors and pergolas, Viking grills, colorful flowers and plant containers. In addition, garden art, birdbaths, etc. can showcase your individual sense of style, giving your landscape a personality of its own.

In addition to style, many homeowners want easy and simple gardens that are low maintenance and full of color. The key this season is to garden with style and simple elegance. Oversized landscapes are out and smaller garden spaces are in. Vertical gardening is in, growing either up or down from balconies or on patios. Container gardening has stepped into the scene making its debut in beds and borders or standing alone to give a more dramatic decorative effect. English gardens are colorful and comfortable and give your imagination room to soar with an endless array of perennials to choose from. Expect to see lots of red, purple and gold to enliven the yard. Plant big sweeps of Knock Out® roses and blend them in with a birdbath or feeder.

Busy gardeners want plants that are beautiful and easy to grow, and few plants fit the bill better than big, bold and beautiful leafed plants. They scream high style and sophistication, providing all-season color for sunny or shady spots. Tropical plants are ideal for large mixed containers or combination plantings, where they strut their stuff without getting lost among other varieties.

Fountains are in this season as well. The trend is to keep sound and movement in the garden, but in a simplistic, eye-catching way. Fountains and container water gardens are all the rage, effortlessly creating motion, sound and beauty.

Enjoy the beauty and color your garden can produce this season by creating your OWN statement in your OWN backyard.

Happy Vacationing!
Ann Bailey
Fairview Greenhouses & Garden Center

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