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How to enjoy your garden all year round
Lifestyle
Ask anyone lucky enough to have a garden with their home and they’ll likely tell you that they wish they could enjoy it at all times of the year, rather than solely in those late spring days or bright summer months.
And while it’s true that it can be hard to go outside and bask in all the work that’s gone into making your garden beautiful when winter rolls around, it’s certainly not impossible to create a garden style that works for every season – ideal if you’re hoping to host a Christmas garden party!
So, if this idea has caught your attention, but you’re not exactly sure where to start, here are our top tips and cosy garden ideas for styling a garden that you can take full advantage of every single month, rather than sheltering behind your folding patio doors when the snow starts falling.
All-season and cosy garden ideas
Ready to get started planning your new garden layout? Below you’ll find our top eight cosy garden ideas to make any outdoor space feel welcoming every single weekend, whether it’s under blistering summer sunshine or a crisp winter shower.
1. Decide on your most important season
To begin with, it’s always a good idea to think about which particular season is the most important to you. There’s absolutely no point in trying to design a garden you don’t really vibe with, so you should choose your favourite time of the year and make that your base theme.
For example, if you want some autumn garden ideas, then you should look towards using plants and outdoor furniture that match the golds, reds, oranges, and browns that appear at that time of year, all while making sure that you include warm exterior lighting and a hidden firepit nook for when it gets a little chilly in the evenings.
Of course, picking a base theme does not in any way mean neglecting the other seasons entirely. Instead, you should look to add hints of them around your garden in a way that blends with your key theme. Transitional and evergreen plants are great for this, just make sure that you don’t overwhelm one season entirely with another by accident.
2. Invest in evergreen trees and shrubs
Although evergreens might seem like a predominantly winter feature, with the right placement and layout, they can work with any combination of flowers and shrubs, so long as you maintain them properly and opt for a varied selection.
Hedges and box ball shrubs are going to be your best friends in this regard, and you can use them to outline the boundaries and pathways of your garden, rather than making them the focal point of any display.
For example, if you have the space, you could divide your garden into four distinct seasonal sections, letting you see your garden cycle round throughout the year while simultaneously making it easier to get the feeling of each season right.
Also, working with hedges and evergreens gives you a great excuse to sneak in a little topiary.
3. Stagger your blooms
This suggestion is tricky to pull off, but if you do it right, you should get consistently blooming plants all year round that correspond to the season in question.
Start by doing research into exactly which plants are best suited for which type of year, as well as when you’ll need to plant them so that they bloom on time. This will naturally require you to do more planting initially, but once they’re in the ground, you can enjoy a continual bloom of colour at all times of the year.
4. Don’t neglect your climbers
If you have a deck with ribbed roofing, a pergola along one of your paths, or simply a trellis running up the length of your shed or exterior wall, then you have no excuse not to include a selection of climbing plants in your garden set-up.
Evergreen climbers are the best pick for this and can handle whatever the weather throws at them, meaning you can enjoy hints of greenery even when the snow and rain start falling.
5. Choose bold garden features
As your garden is not designed for one season in particular, you’ll likely find that you’re far better served investing in standout, man-made garden features rather than specific plants or trees.
Patios, winding pathways, decking, all of these icon garden areas can be used to create a focal point for your garden. And if you throw in a water feature and a few sculptures here and there, you’ll soon have plenty of interesting features to draw the eye as you stroll from one end of your lawn to the other.
Of course, you likely won’t have space for all of these garden features, so we’d suggest investing in a patio in particular. Versatile and flexible in their design and use, you’ll have little trouble finding use for this stone seating area all year round.
For example, in winter you can use it to house a variety of plants in brightly coloured pots. While in summer, you can make it an extension of your kitchen when guests are round. Add in a set of sliding external doors on top of this and you can make the transition practically seamless.
6. Build an all-year-round shelter
Whether this is a garden nook, a multipurpose summer house, or a full-blown extra shed, there is a lot you can do with an all-year-round shelter. Naturally, you’ll need to invest in some good insulation for winter, but you should also consider adding plenty of windows, and even a glass roof system to capture as much light as possible as well.
If you’re interested in his point in particular, we’ve already discussed plenty of ways you can design a garden-specific room in our article on garden room interiors.
7. Bring the outdoors inside
While all of the points we’ve just outlined above are all well and good for those with a big outdoor space, what do you do if your garden is simply too small to accommodate this sort of exterior styling?
Well, you can simply bring the outside in.
Grab your favourite indoor-friendly plants, invest in some wooden furniture, and turn your lounge or conservatory into a little indoor garden. This is one of our favourite cosy corner garden ideas as it’s something anyone can do, and it’ll go a long way to making your house feel that little bit more homely.
8. Actively maintain and tweak your garden
Last, but by no means least, it should go without saying that you should maintain and tweak the design of your evergreen garden as often as you can. This sort of styling is an investment, but if you give it the time and attention it needs, you won’t regret the views it provides.
And with that last point, we’re at the end of our suggestions on how to make your garden look good all year round. Hopefully, some of these tips have caught your eye, and if any involving our doors and windows appeal to you, then you should get in touch with the experts at Express today.
Our team has over a decade of making bespoke windows and doors, all tailored to our customers’ needs. Head down to one of our showrooms today for a visit and don’t forget to browse the rest of our blog for more styling articles like this one.
