Key insights
- With summer here at last, many Midwestern homeowners are spending their downtime in nature by bringing the indoors outside.
- The hottest landscaping trends include luxurious outdoor living spaces and the incorporation of sustainable native plants and low-maintenance landscaping.
- Installing intuitive tech is one trend that is not just smart, but safe.
Selling your house? Staying in place? Whether you have plans to move or just want to enjoy more time outside this summer, consider these popular landscaping trends to help you create the perfect lawn and backyard.
Experience outdoor living
According to a trends study from Houzz, 37% of respondents are looking to enhance their entertaining space, and 33% are hoping to extend the living space of their home. These are some ways that homeowners are making their outdoor spaces feel like a luxurious extension of their indoor living space.
Creating designated gathering spaces
Decks, patios and verandas have always been great places to gather, and while those are still popular amongst homeowners, more and more are adding additional spaces that are reserved for dining and lounging. Some are creating multiple sitting spaces around home features like a pool, firepit, dining area, and more.
Removing the food and drink barrier
One increasingly popular outdoor feature is expanding beyond an outdoor grill to create a full outdoor kitchen with a built-in bar and cabinetry. Now, the hosts and cooks don’t have to leave guests outside while they slave away in the kitchen.
Adding modern comforts:
Since there’s already a sitting area and kitchen, more people are moving away from a few sparse folding chairs to something more decadent and worthy of hours-long lounging.
- Lounge furniture with hefty cushioning
- Dining set
- Chaise chairs
- Pillows and throws
- Umbrella or movable shade
- Artwork
- Rugs
It’s easy to get carried away when you see the perfect outdoor sectional couch on Pinterest, but keep in mind that anything you add to your outdoor living area will either have to brave the elements or be put away for winter. Consider your storage options before you buy anything too bulky.
Lean into native plants
While the perfect manicured lawn and garden have long been the goal for scores of homeowners, many are starting to consider wilder-looking native plants as an alternative option for their home’s landscaping.
Native plants thrived long before we ever settled here and began to tend our own lawns, so they tend to be hardier and can require less water, meaning there’s less maintenance and cost. They also have the benefit of being highly valuable to our local ecosystems — many attract pollinators like bees and butterflies, and because they do not require pesticides or herbicides, they can help us minimize water pollution caused by chemical runoff.
The following native plants can thrive in our Midwest climate:
- Black chokeberry (you can use aronia berries in smoothies or jam)
- Blue false indigo
- Blue flag iris
- Bush honeysuckle
- Butterfly milkweed
- Cardinal flower (which acts as a magnet for hummingbirds)
- Michigan lily
- Purple coneflower
- Red osier dogwood
- Swamp milkweed
- Wild columbine
- Wild geranium
Add some smart tech
Homeowners are bringing modern tech outside to help with a myriad of modern-day concerns.
Cost savings
Dusk-sensing lights, moisture-measuring sprinkler systems and other high-tech investments can actually help homeowners save money in the long-run by only running systems when they’re needed. As a bonus, they can also help the planet by using less water!
Security
Path lighting helps guests get from point A to B safely, while motion-sensor flood lighting alerts homeowners to guests, both expected and unexpected. Additional window, door and fence locks and alarms also add another layer of safety for homeowners.
Entertainment
With the above-mentioned trend of bringing the indoors out, it makes sense that entertainment features like surround-sound speakers and a TV or projector screen are also being added to complete the trend.
Comfort
If you want to spend as much time as possible outside, you might as well be comfortable. The trend of adding fans and misters to keep you cool on especially hot days has been growing, as well as retractable screens that can enclose your space to keep the bugs out.
Keep things easy and low maintenance
The main trend we’re seeing with outdoor spaces? Making changes and adding features that make staying outdoors easy. Whether that’s addressing creature comforts, removing barriers that make you head indoors or avoiding landscaping that makes you spend your hard-earned time off doing chores, these trends all work to keep things easy and low maintenance.
Hoping to landscape your lawn before selling?
The landscaping plan you’ll make as a seller will differ from the one you’ll take on if you plan to stay in place for a few years. If you’re not sure where to get started, we can help.
To get the professional opinion of a market expert who knows what today’s buyers are looking for, reach out today to Edina Realty’s customer care team.