Page 42 - ESPC Premier Living Spring Summer 2020

Premier LIVING

MEMBERS of the Society of Garden
Designers predict which trends are going
to dominate garden design in 2020.

BELGIAN DESIGN
Often described as luxurious simplicity,
Belgian design is expected to grow in
popularity this year. Mia Witham of
Mia Witham Garden Design said: “I
am seeing some great garden products
coming out of Belgium, which are
typically high-end and have great form.
I particularly love the beautiful clay
pots by Atelier Vierkant, the woven
fibre fencing, and screens produced
by Forest Avenue and the striking
garden lights by Wever & Ducre. I’ll be
using a lot more of them in 2020.”

LESS IS MORE GORGEOUS
James Smith, Design Director at Bowles
& Wyer, thinks “less is more” will be a
more prominent phrase when it comes GARDENS
to garden design. He said: “I really
want to focus on creating more pared-
back design schemes, but with high
attention to detail and finishing.”
Tracy McQue of Tracy McQue Exciting design ideas to make
Gardens shares this philosophy – she the most of outdoor spaces
said: “I’m looking forward to planting
multiple grasses and a simple palette
of perennials to make the lightest of PLANTING FOR WILDLIFE PATTERNED GARDENS
design touches to a very rural project Tracy McQue said: “Creating sustainable, Just as it has in home interiors, pattern
I am working on in Scotland. It’s wildlife-friendly and beautiful spaces and texture will creep back into
important that my design ties in with needs to be at the forefront of everything gardens in 2020. Jane Brockbank brings
the extended and wild landscape.” we do no matter what size or location pattern and texture into her designs
of the gardens we are designing.” by creating faceted planting zones and
EDIBLE FORESTS Jane Brockbank of Jane Brockbank by blurring the line between the hard
With more people using foraged food Gardens agrees: “People are much landscaped and soft planting areas in
for cooking, edible forests could become more interested in making gardens that the garden, using gravel planting to
the new vegetable garden. Mia Witham are good for wildlife. Awareness of create the transition between the two.
said: “I’m currently designing an edible the climate crisis and the loss of bio- Mandy Buckland thinks the trend for
forest for a chef in Suffolk. It is carefully diversity has grown enormously, even creating an outdoor room will live on
designed, semi-wild ecosystem of over the last year, and we are all taking and we will move away from regular
plants organised in layers with trees our gardens far more seriously in regards formatted paving. She said: “There are
making up the canopy layer, shrubs to the important part they can play.” lots of outdoor ceramic tiles on the
providing a middle layer and perennial Libby Russell of Mazzullo + Russell market now. We are installing them as
plants covering the ground. It’s an echoes this saying: “Our planting garden ‘rugs’ or design features within
exciting concept and unlike a traditional is evolving to use many more ‘wild’ landscaped areas to create pattern,
vegetable plot where annual plants are plants that are great for bees, birds, contrast and textural changes. It is
mainly grown, edible forests require pollinators and invertebrates but much the same as decorating a dining
minimum input for maximum output.” without losing glamour or impact. and living room in the house.”
Single roses, species plants, seed
REPURPOSE AND RECYCLE heads and grasses are all valuable.” WAYS WITH WOOD
Due to a greater focus on our impact Mandy Buckland of Greencube Tracy McQue said: “It’s not a new material
on the environment and waste, Tracy Landscapes said she is incorporating but I think there will be a focus on using
McQue thinks there will an increasing “meadow areas, native hedging, gaps timber next year. In the past it has been
focus on repurposing of existing in fences for hedgehog movement viewed as a material to use at ground
materials and recycling garden materials and of course nectar rich planting”. level or for basic fences, but there are
where possible. Mark Laurence, While Tracy McQue advises that water many elements in the garden that clever
whose consultancy creates adaptive features are integral to the wildlife- design can incorporate timber into. We
landscape for a changing world, echoes friendly spaces, and ideas such as use a local Scottish wood supplier when
this sentiment: “Repurposed items bee-friendly boundary hedges are we can and I love the possibilities it gives
give a garden an individual look.” simple to incorporate into any garden. us when we’re creating a new garden.”

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