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    20. April 2018

    Trends in garden design

    Just as in architecture and fashion, trends in garden design are constantly changing. Renowned open space designers such as Peter Berg from Sinzig orient themselves both to the zeitgeist and to the style of modern domiciles. Just like a good piece of clothing, a garden should on the one hand meet the taste of its owner and on the other hand match the building. Whilst an English cottage garden wonderfully sets the stage for a small brick house, a modern house gains in charisma within a clearly structured, linear environment.

    Clarity instead of flourishes
    Just as ornaments and decor hardly play a role in the architecture of modern houses any more, designers also dispense with such components in contemporary gardens. “Purist principles are perceived as being attractive especially in today’s world, in the whirl of media and floods of information – also because we have to consider reduction as a necessity for the future of our planet,” says Peter Berg in the foreword of his book “Modern Garden Architecture”. The aim of contemporary garden design is no longer to create functional terraces and paths or overflowing beds. Rather, the focus is on creating a clear and reassuring clarity in which nothing is left to chance. “New simplicity” is the name of the style, which is intended to convey purity, beauty and tranquillity to the observer via strict lines, geometric shapes and the deliberately sparing use of colours. This sounds like little work, but in practice is exactly the opposite: successful garden design highlights the strengths and peculiarities of a property and masks disturbances. A professional designer captures the influences and characteristics of a location and relates them to the attitudes of users and clients. “Ideally, this will create a smooth transition from the house to the garden. The newly developed space is occupied, lived in and permanently inhabited by the people in a natural way,” says Peter Berg.

    The garden as a way of life
    Your own garden has become part of a new attitude to life in which money is invested to achieve relaxation and diversion within green surroundings. Hardly any homeowner now does without a comfortable place for eating at the house, which is ideally canopied, says Berg. Cooking, eating and celebrations take place outdoors. High-quality gas grills and even complete outdoor kitchens are finding more and more enthusiasts. Free time is spent outside. Those who can afford it invest in a pool or a swimming pond. An own bathing facility is very much in vogue – in contrast to digging up and mowing the lawn. A modern garden should offer comfort and diversion, but should be as easy to care for as possible and not make more work than necessary.

    Investment pays off
    The plants in modern gardens are also adapted to this attitude to life. Grasses and shrubs are currently in vogue. Expertly and sustainably planned according to their natural requirements, such beds require little care, look attractive throughout the year and are also ecologically valuable. Even woody plants are today no longer selected by garden owners according to how fast they grow. On the contrary – slowly growing and therefore valuable shrubs and trees are highly popular. So that garden owners do not have to wait several years until the plants have reached the desired height and develop their full charisma, they are already purchased in large size from the nurseries. In a so-called “instant garden”, an outdoor area is so skilfully designed and planted that it gives the impression that it has been growing on location for years. A well-landscaped and maintained garden is also a valuable investment and, according to an international survey from Finland, can increase the repurchase value of a home in Germany by an average 18 percent. “Professional garden design and maintenance is money well-invested; on average, each euro is rewarded with an increase in the value of the house of 2.60 euros,” says Berg.