If your landscaping has stayed the same but you’re on your fourth hairstyle and fifth pair of jeans, you probably have some outdated landscaping.
Take a close look. Any red mulch out there? Overly clipped shrubs? So many ornamental grasses people mistake your place for a garden center?
Landscape design trends change.
Keep reading to learn more about outdated landscaping and the best new landscaping ideas to replace them, including:
- Red mulch and white rock
- Too many plantings
- Plastic edging
- Brick or river rock edging
- Too many ornamental grasses
- Over-manicured trees and shrubs
- Ponds in small spaces
If your landscape has one or more of these dated landscape design features, it might be time for an update, say Outback landscape designers Kim Rubert and Kirk Jeppesen.
“Updates will vary from person to person,” Rubert says. “Sometimes an update will mean changing mulch, removing plants, or adding plants. Sometimes an update could be as easy as getting a professional landscape company to maintain things. A fresh trimmed edge on a landscape bed with no weeds can make a world of difference.”
Or maybe you’re ready to ditch everything and opt for a complete landscape overhaul.
“That can be fun, too,” Rubert says. She and Jeppesen are up for the challenge.
Red Mulch and White Rock
That’s a big no. Your eye goes right to it.
“It’s an outdated groundcover choice,” Jeppesen says. “It tends to draw the eye away from the parts of the landscape and home that we try to emphasize.”
Wouldn’t you rather have people admire your expertly layered foundation plants or your artistic paver walkway? Let go of outdated landscaping trends and embrace more modern landscape design ideas.
Instead, think dark: black rock, river rock, brown rock, dark brown mulch or natural mulch.
A plug for double-shredded hardwood mulch: quality mulch looks great, adding a tidy, uniform appearance to your beds. But the benefits multiply:
- Mulch conserves water, by holding in your soil’s moisture so you need less irrigation.
- It protects your plants’ roots from temperature extremes, keeping them cozy in cold weather and cool in summer heat.
- Mulch keeps rain from washing away your soil.
- As it decomposes over time, bark mulch adds nutrients to your soil.
- It discourages weeds from popping up, keeping everything dark so the weed seeds can’t sprout.
Too Many Plants
“People often over-plant,” Jeppesen says. “They want a mature landscape quickly, so they fill in the gaps. Things grow and get big, and soon the space becomes overwhelming.”
So does the maintenance, he adds. Too many plants quickly become a landscape design mistake.
Use instead: Dare to leave some landscaping bare.
Not every bit of your yard has to be planted, Jeppesen says: “Negative space is not a bad thing in a landscape bed.”
It gives the eye a rest and focuses more attention on appealing landscaping highlights, like that stunning hydrangea, a shrub that Jeppesen says is having a moment.
Plastic Edging
The pros say don’t buy that plastic stuff at the hardware store. It’s cheap, flimsy, and a landscape design mistake.
Instead, use sturdy concrete curbing or steel edging that stays put.
Done right, natural stone or Belgian Block can be clean, durable edging materials that add a natural touch.
Brick or River Rock Edging
This looks great the day your landscaping team installs it.
Then…
“It’s so high-maintenance,” Jeppesen says. “Things grow between them.” Then they become a landscape maintenance nightmare.
Use instead: Again, you can’t go wrong with sturdy concrete curbing or steel edging.
Too Many Ornamental Grasses
Graceful, sturdy ornamental grasses can be landscaping lifesavers, so it’s no surprise they were among the biggest landscape design trends of the 2000s.
“People planted them in masses,” Jeppesen says. Now, well, they’re everywhere.
Use instead: branch out. Grasses still have a place, Rubert says, in moderation. But there are so many great plants to use instead. Among her favorites:
- Hydrangea 'Limelight'
- Burning Bush
- Lilacs
- Daisies
- Daylily
- Salvia
- Black-Eyed Susan
- Peonie
- Mugo Pine
Mixing shrubs, perennials, grasses and groundcovers can help create planting beds with four-season appeal and multiple environmental benefits.
Over-Manicured Shrubs
Put down the pruners, please. Too-trimmed junipers nipped into balls were a hallmark of 80s landscaping.
“I still see this from time to time,” Jeppesen says.
Topiaries? Unless you work at a famous theme park, why? It's a big landscape design mistake.
“Topiary-style pruning is very high maintenance,” Jeppesen says. “And high risk — what happens if there’s a bad cut made?”
Instead, let shrubs grow into more natural, relaxed shapes for modern landscape design.
Ponds in Small Spaces
Not every yard can accommodate a full-blown pond. They don’t look natural is a yard that’s too small. It’s a landscape design mistake.
Instead, use pondless water features. They’re actually better than ponds, offering that great, soothing sound of water, the pros say.
“Opt for pondless water features, basalt columns, or bubbling boulders,” Jeppesen says. “Something more simple. Pondless water features are also easier maintenance.”
Ready for Modern Landscape Design Ideas? Trust Outback
Here’s a fun game: how many of these landscape design mistakes are still lurking on your property?
Ready to give them the boot and evolve with some more modern landscape design ideas?
What are you waiting for? We love a good update.
Outback Landscape is a full-service landscaping company offering landscape design in Boise and Idaho Falls.
We install beautiful, functional landscapes and stay with you for the long haul, taking care of your property through all four seasons.
We serve residential and commercial properties in Idaho Falls, Rexburg and Pocatello, Idaho, and Bonneville, Madison and Bannock counties. Call us at 208-656-3220 or fill out the contact form to schedule a no-obligation meeting with one of our team members. We can’t wait to hear from you.
