Gardens in 2013: Some thoughts...

Having read the magazines and the blogs, and having seen last year's gardens, I thought that I would write a few thoughts on what I thought might be some of the key garden design elements that would be prominent in 2013. However as one person can only provide their own viewpoint, please feel free to comment on what I have written and perhaps make your own suggestions.....

Annual Meadow planting by Nigel Dunnett at RHS Wisley

2012 was the year of the Olympics, or more specifically the Olympic Gardens. Designed and implemented by the Professors of the "Sheffield School", James Hitchmough and Nigel Dunnett (with assistance from Sarah Price), these gardens and meadows showed the true power of exotics in a colourful tour de force which epitomised for many the floral medley which they expect in an idealised garden. Therefore colour will be of paramount importance for clients seeking to emulate what they saw in 2012 (although the establishment phase required for perennial seed mixes means that many gardeners will not be prepared to wait for 'Olympic-style' meadow areas to establish).

Perennial Meadow regeneration at Sheffield Botanic Gardens

Away from the enduring influence of the summer of 2012, the power of the grow-your-own revolution will continue - with more ornamental varieties of veg increasingly finding their way into the flowerbeds. I intend to convert the shaded part of my garden to grow perennial veg (and fruits from understorey trees and shrubs) in an experiment in forest gardening...I might even write a blog or two about how this goes....

Sticking my predictive neck out a little further, the use of perennials combined with grasses, so beloved of the glossy magazines, will still have its place but I think that shrubs - flowering shrubs, those with coloured bark and those providing green textures - will be used more widely; not least because most people are so keen on low maintenance. I am currently designing a garden in York, which in places has permanently moist soil, where shrubs perform a key role in the design.

Finally, in uncertain times, I think that garden designs will focus increasingly upon the provision of outdoor spaces in which to relax and bring calm, where simplicity of concept will have an enduring appeal.

Matt Haddon - designing gardens across Yorkshire, current projects include a concept design and planting scheme in York.

http://www.matthaddongardens.co.uk

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