From curated wilding to water features, these landscaping trends can take your backyard from boring to beautiful.

Rather than a large lawn, some homeowners are choosing to go for ground cover plants and flower beds. This can help save on maintenance and is ideal for those with limited outdoor space.

Low-Maintenance Designs

One of the biggest trends in landscaping is a focus on low-maintenance designs. This includes reducing the grass in your yard, creating paved walkways that are easy to maintain, and expanding your patio areas.

Another way to minimize lawn work is using shrubs requiring less pruning and watering. Popular options include boxwood, juniper, and yew.

Evergreen trees are also great because they provide year-round beauty and can be trimmed easily. They can also serve as privacy plants and provide natural shade in the summer and wind-blocking during winter. Lastly, consider telling your landscapers to add a water feature to your landscape. Whether it's a small waterfall or a tranquil pool, installing these features will help create a peaceful and relaxing outdoor space.

Natural Immersive Gardens

This landscaping trend looks like it's evolved naturally instead of imposed by man. Modern, Geometric, Minimalist, and Contemporary gardens all fit this style, which blends different architectural elements without them looking contrived. Adding paved structures such as pathways and garden nooks to your yard is another great way to combine landscaping elements organically.

For example, this cozy seating area framed by a pergola features easy-care trumpet vines and a variety of natural plant types. This creates a more organic look and a nice place to relax with friends and family.

Another sustainable backyard landscape design trend is xeriscaping, which reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation.

Eco-Friendly Yards

While a traditional yard may look perfect with its pristine lawns, eco-friendly landscaping brings those green spaces to the next level. This gardening trend focuses on protecting natural resources through water conservation, native plant species, and hardscapes to reduce home energy use.

One of the main goals of this trend is limiting the use of fertilizers and pesticides, which not only contribute to air pollution but also encourage pollinators like bees and butterflies to visit the yard more often. Incorporating a variety of plants, like trees and shrubs, into your garden also helps to keep it healthy by providing shade, keeping the soil moist, and providing nutrients.

Outdoor Kitchens

A full-fledged kitchen in your backyard is more than a cooking space—it's an entertainment hub. It promotes hygiene, the Danish concept of contentment and community, and can make your home more appealing to buyers.

A kitchen outdoors is also a practical option for smaller yards, as you can keep food prep away from lounge areas. Choose wood-look pavers and furniture for your outdoor kitchen for a more rustic feel.

Outdoor Entertainment Areas

As people spend more time at home, they need their outdoor spaces to feel more functional. This trend is driving the popularity of patios, pergolas, and other structures that function as outdoor living rooms.

These spaces can be complemented with elements that mimic the look and feel of indoor living, like wood decking or natural-looking pavers that match the color of the home's exterior. Planting trees, flowers, or herbs that can be moved around helps keep the space fresh.

In addition, adding fire pits or a poolside bar helps make these outdoor entertainment areas more versatile. This is helpful for larger yards where one area can't handle every entertaining need - and it ensures that the space gets used even on days when hosting isn't an option.