DIY Network

Trends in Outdoor Living

Master gardener Joe Lamp'l, host of Fresh from the Garden, discusses the latest in gardening and landscaping. Part 1 of 2.

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	Although plants with flower power continue to be in high demand, attention is turning more toward plants with bold, exotic or extra-large foliage. (SHNS photos courtesy All-America Selections Petunia "Wave Purple")
	Petunia "Wave Purple" is one of the plants that look good most of the time while thriving on neglect.

Trends in outdoor living reinforce our need for instant gratification

By Joe Lamp'l

Jan. 28, 2007 — There was a time when spending time in the garden meant enjoying the act of gardening, as well as the fruits of our own labor. For some of us, it still does.

But for others the ritual of cutting the grass on Saturday mornings, followed by a lazy afternoon in a simple hammock, has yielded to hired help and full-scale outdoor rooms, designed to relax and to entertain.

The trends of 2007 for gardening and outdoor living continue to reinforce our need for instant gratification. As revenues for traditional consumer lawn and garden products remain flat, homeowners are pouring money in to expanding their living space outdoors.

Building a major outdoor project (such as a pond, fire feature or outdoor kitchen) is the second most popular home improvement project, according to a recent survey by Better Homes and Garden Magazine.

Busy lifestyles and competing demands for time, combined with a renewed interest in nesting at home, has given rise to a plethora of products and plants that are addressing this very issue.

Connecting the indoors with the outdoors

Outdoor rooms once referred to simple garden spaces, separated by walls of trees and shrubs. Although that is still true to a degree, those walls today contain many of the things that were once only enjoyed indoors.

Refrigerators, cooktops, microwaves and even televisions are now commonplace in the fully equipped, fully functional outdoor room. Even the furniture is all-season.

Just as we demand 12-month, 24-hour enjoyment from our indoor rooms, we now expect the same outside as well. Portable propane-fueled heaters tower over our heads like small trees, while all-weather lamps set the ambiance and illuminate the pages of our late-night reading.

Plants for high impact, low maintenance

Even the plants going into our upgraded landscapes must now meet standards that were not even a consideration just a few years ago. Now we want plants with high visual impact, but we don't want to fertilize or water them. They have to look great all the time while thriving on neglect.

Examples of plants that fit the bill include Petunia 'Wave Purple' and Coreopsis pubescens 'Sunshine Superman.' Wave Purple is an All-America Selections Classic, boasting nonstop, bright purple flowers on compact spreading plants.

Sunshine Superman is a highly floriferous, bright gold and orange Coreopsis with a dwarf habit and continuous flower power from early summer until frost. It's perennial from zone six to nine but can be grown as an annual in cooler zones.

Although plants with flower power continue to be in high demand, attention is turning more toward plants with bold, exotic or extra large foliage such as rex begonia, Colocasia (Elephant's ear), Alocasia and banana plants.

We are demanding more performance from our plants, too. Even good looks alone aren't always enough in some cases anymore; especially in smaller gardens. Today we need our plants to multitask such as being ornamental and edible.

Breeders have once again stepped up to the plate, offering such selections as Tricolor Sage, Pineapple Mint and an ornamental pepper called "Black Pear."

We even want our plants to shine at night, sparking an interest in more light-colored foliage. One such star is a Caladium named 'Moonlight.' It offers long-lasting color with well-defined highlights on bushy, vigorous plants. The added benefit of this plant is that it was bred especially for use in small containers, making it a bonus for use anywhere in the garden.

Yes, outdoor living, and the plants that adorn these spaces are more hi-tech than ever. Thankfully, manufacturers and plant breeders alike are responding to our ever-increasing demands for comfort, convenience and low maintenance.

Next week, we continue our discussion of outdoor living trends, with a closer look at some neat technology, and we'll see how our desire to be more eco-friendly is resulting in a rash of new products and solutions.

(Joe Lamp'l, a master gardener, hosts DIY's Fresh from the Garden as well as a gardening radio show. For more information, visit www.joegardener.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)

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