Garden Design Trends for 2023

Sarah Eberle – Garden Designer

Award wining garden designer Sarah Eberle suggests sustainability will be at the heart of our garden designs next year ‘It is likely, and hopeful too that sustainability will be the centre of trends in 2023. We have made a start, but the industry should increase cooperation and collaboration to find new solutions to prevailing issues and problems. Hard landscape will continue to reduce in importance within a scheme and where it appears it will either be free draining allowing water to return to the ground or be collected and stored for later use. However, we need to really look at what materials we use, their sustainability and carbon count. Will we really continue to transport stone between continents? I would hope not. The ability to measure the carbon footprint of our work is in place although now is the time that it needs to be made freely available and easier to calculate. I wonder whether such a calculation should be submitted as part of the tender process for all projects. It would help to educate clients too and allow them to understand the real cost of their scheme.

There is much to do over the next decade if we are to slow the rate of this environmental crisis and acting is no longer a consideration but a requirement.’

Charlotte Murrell – Garden Designer, Taylor Tripp

Charlotte Murrell of landscape designers, Taylor Tripp sees 2023 being a year for timeless, classic gardens ‘We tend to find that ‘trends’ in gardens come and go, not always in sustainable or positive ways, and often date. Over many years of experience, we have found that our clients continue to wish for timeless, classical-style gardens, which appear very much in harmony with their properties and the surrounding landscape.

With the period properties we tend to work with it remains very important to create a sense that the garden has always been there, but this is not to suggest that there are not trends for change and an update on how one may approach such traditional-style gardens.

Over the last few years, we have found that people are focusing more on their gardens as atmospheric sanctuaries of peace and calm, preferring to invest in bespoke and well-crafted details and materials, coupled with sustainable and nature friendly design.

Gaze Burvill furniture is well favoured by ourselves and our clients. With their deep concern for the sustainable use of European timber, and the longevity and hand-crafted nature of their beautiful pieces, clients often choose Gaze Burvill furniture for both day-to-day use and as feature pieces in their gardens, valuing their furniture as an investment in the future.

Sustainable, timeless, and nature friendly will be very much on trend in 2023 and the years to come.’

Will Williams – Garden Designer

Two time RHS Gold Medalist Will Williams believes 2023 will not just be about focussing on the upcoming seasons, but about future proofing for all weather conditions. ‘It’s always tricky to predict the new fashions in garden design, we’ve seen plants and materials come and go, however one thing is for sure that we need to be more considerate with our choices, something that myself and Gaze Burvill align very strongly on.

I am seeing a lot more of our clients wanting to future proof their gardens, from timber to the planting schemes they are looking for gardens that will stand the test of time. Often people think of climate change as the planet getting warmer, but the main consideration for the coming years in our gardens is weather extremes. Very cold and dry springs, with very hot Junes and lots of rain in the late summer mean that the weather is very dramatic and this greatly effects our gardens. We are now seeing plants which we previously wouldn’t have considered for English gardens being a regular feature. As the instances of weather extremes increase, especially within cities, our planting palettes will need to adapt to keep up.

It was an absolute pleasure to have been asked to design Gaze Burvill’s garden at the Chelsea Flower Show next year and I’m are very much looking forward to seeing the garden come to life in May.’