Gardening saw a huge revival in interest as a result of the pandemic in 2021. Sinking our hands into the soil and seeing tangible results renewed our contact with the land, and gardens became an oasis, a place where we could retreat and recharge. It’s time to add another dimension: the cocoon that was our garden last year is ready to open and release a butterfly! Joy is on the horizon and our gardens are going to reflect that.
See your garden and outdoor landscape as an extension of your home, with well-defined zones and activity areas. We’re thinking beyond the vegetable garden – although it remains an essential element. Think life, think natural, think big!
The garden: a place for living
Covid confinement forced us to reinvent our living spaces: home office, home gym, children’s area, home school, space to relax. And if we included the backyard as part of the equation? Boundaries and privacy must be ensured to furnish these new “rooms” and establish designated spaces. To do this, the focus is on natural products and raw materials. Sustainable living is still key!
Natural, authentic, vibrant.
- Hedges: classic cedar, hydrangeas, lilacs, boxwood, ornamental grasses.
- Fences: wood, metal, slatted metal privacy screens, living walls.
- Landscaping and furniture: concrete, stone, brick, wood, bamboo, rattan.
- Garden partitions: flower boxes (wood, concrete, terra-cotta), container arrangements (clay, sandstone, woven fibres), low hedges (grasses, wild roses, vegetable gardens), stone walkways.
Letting go of the reins
This year, landscape gardens turn back the clock and rediscover their wildness. Natural and zero maintenance are what we strive for. Biodiversity is the watchword, and plants that encourage birds and pollinators. Sustainability. This is how we can do our own part in fighting climate change.
We aim to achieve a “green balance” while planting to create a “slow garden,” creating a real oasis of peace and tranquility, the perfect antidote to the negative impacts of stress and anxiety.
- Integrate melliferous varieties (nectar-producing plants that bees transform into honey) and hardy plants.
- Incorporate a few exotic plants with their distinctive colours – scorched earth, chocolate or coppery-orange – and flowers with unusual shapes.
- Plant shade trees to create a festive and convivial ambiance.
- Plant beautiful indigenous ornamental grasses and climbing plants for a nonchalant, rustic look.
- Opt for flowers and foliage that are suitable for bouquets of cut flowers or dried flowers so you can bring some of the outside splendour inside!
- Use plants with fall and winter interest to extend the season as long as possible.
The focus is on respect and authenticity
New gardeners turned most of their attention to the vegetable garden. Millennials and Generation Xers used the time lockdown gave them in 2020 to learn about growing vegetables and how to try out their new knowledge. With this experience firmly under their belt, eager young gardeners are turning their attention to environmentally-friendly approaches in 2022, with the accent on respecting nature’s rhythm.
- Grow more authentic plants and use heirloom seeds, green fertilizer, compost as a substrate additive.
- Replace chemical products with companion-planting, pest-repelling plants, and plant extracts.
- Emphasize better nutrition with “safe” food, local and organic with superior flavour.
- Opt for garden combinations that are esthetic and nutritional, such as flowers and leaf vegetables, fruit bushes and trees.
- Keep your foundation favourites: tomatoes, lettuce, herbs, and cucumbers.
- Expand your horizons with broccoli, edamame, hot and sweet peppers, gooseberries, kiwis, and cantaloups.
Biophilic design
This is all about living and working spaces that enhance connectivity to the living environment. Indoor plants and natural lighting play a huge role in this concept. Working at home or at the office, everyone wins in adopting biophilic designs for a productive and healthy environment.
Guiding principles include:
- Natural lighting
- Natural colours, materials and design
- Indoor plants
- Structural glass
- Water features for the calming sight and sounds of water
- Connection to time through light awareness: morning, day, evening and the seasons
- Windows that open so you can feel the fresh air on your skin.
The benefits include:
- Reduced stress
- Sense of well-being
- Increased performance and productivity
- Increased creativity
- Lower absenteeism.
Indoor plants to discover and integrate for:
- Their size: fig, palm, philodendron, calatheas.
- The shape, pattern and texture of their foliage: ferns, peperomia, succulents, cacti.
- Their colour: cryptantha, caladium, spiderwort.
- Their flowering periods: African violets, kalanchoe.
For containers and planters, opt for raw materials: terracotta, natural stone, concrete, wood, metal, steel. No more plastic!
The year’s top colours
Pantone, Chlorosphere and other colour experts are always eager to present their annual colour selections, colours set to “shade” the year’s major trends. Drum roll please!
Pantone’s big winner: Very Peri, colour of the year! A warm, periwinkle blue inspired by the digital world. In the garden, blue and mauve flowers cast a calm, gentle light over the entire landscape design.
The trend colour from Chlorosphere: timeless khaki, a greenish brown that harmonizes perfectly with all plant shades in the garden, from the most floral to the most mineral. The ideal background colour.
A colour that provides a joyful lift to all flower combinations: mango yellow.
Start, thinking, start planning, start dreaming! Gardens 2022 are just around the corner