Hot garden trends – About garden maximalism

It’s all change! You might have heard about the latest interior design trend called ‘maximalism’. The same goes for garden trends. There’s a hot trending fashion for garden maximalism, too. So what’s it all about?

Indoors or out, maximal design is the opposite of minimalism. Have you noticed the way women’s clothing has quickly changed from revealing, short and blingy to demure, long and frilly? Home design has gone through a similar dramatic change. It has moved from minimal hotel-style living to a style involving masses of detail, colour, pattern, fun and STUFF! It’s all about having more, more, more on show.

A recent BBC Radio 4 news item pinned it down. When asked to define maximalism the interviewee said it wasn’t about just filling your home with a load of old rubbish. She called it the ‘careful curation of beautiful things’.

For those of us who love collections of skulls and bones, art pottery, old rugs, vintage paintings, potted plants, cushions, throws, objects d’art and curiosities, it’s like coming home. Out of the cupboards and attics it all comes, proudly on display once again.

If you happen to love the old minimalist look, where everything is cool and calm and empty, you might find it daunting to let yourself go in such a dramatic way. But the end result can be totally gorgeous, both visually rich and fascinating.

You can simply ignore trends, of course, and go your own sweet way. The interior design police won’t arrest you, nor are there any hard and fast rules about how to create a garden you’ll love to be in. But if you fancy ringing the changes for a richer, more colourful, more complex outdoor space, here are some tips about how to achieve a maximalist garden.

Garden trends – Tips to make a maximalist garden

Yay, there’s no need to worry about things matching! That’s a relief for many of us, even though buying from a popular collection like Florenity’s Galaxy range lets you match automatically without any of the usual hassle.

Maximalism celebrates non-matching loveliness. Make or buy garden chair scatter cushions in colourful patchwork or clashing vintage inspired fabrics. Make your own knitted or crocheted throws to keep people warm outdoors. Plant flowers that clash madly, going wild and indulging yourself. Blend big rugged clumps of decorative rock with scatterings of small, jewel-like pebbles. Buy three or even five different coloured garden parasols for a flower-like display of lovely cool shade.

More is more. Less is boring. You need loads of plants, loads of blooms, loads of different colours, loads of visual interest. Plant pots of all sorts make a wonderful maximal display when they’re cluttered together. Use traditional terra cotta pots and colourful modern plastic pots. Paint your own. Sit shop-bought planters side by side with DIY planters made from crates and old wooden boxes, shoes and boots, wellies, children’s buckets from beach bucket and spade sets, and more. Pile up some old car tyres, paint them, fill them with earth and add flowers that tumble frothily over the sides.

Choose flowering plants that keep going for months. Pick plants that flow, fall or climb, covering up nasty-looking outbuildings and useful-but-ugly sheds. Paint your shed bright pink with blue spots. Include loads of beautiful garden lighting – just make sure you turn it off when you’re not outdoors so you don’t disturb the wildlife and confuse your plants.

Dull, flat lawn? Add ground cover plants that flower. And add ornaments. How about a fun collection of vintage concrete animals, the ones designed to go outdoors? Gnomes are fun, whether you display them ironically or because you really love their silly faces. Bird houses are fab, especially funky ones in bright colours. It’s easy to paint wooden birdboxes. Bunting is a treat, easy to make yourself with lots also available online.

Put up a canvas tent, throw colourful blankets and rugs over it to create an exotic den. Add a game of garden jenga or giant chess. Buy old statues to paint crazy colours or leave to go all lovely and mossy. Group weird and interesting things together to create places where your eyes stray, and stay.

Add small or large areas of water. Cram small ponds, buckets and other containers with water plants and marginals. Deluge the entire area with flowers and greenery. Stack chunks of tree trunk into a tower and place an interesting object – or just an enormous rock – on top. Hang a plastic medical skeleton from a tree. Cover old walls with pocket planters or trail decorative fancy ivy over them. Hang mirrors in the garden. Hang old paintings outside, varnished with the toughest exterior varnish you can find. Hang floaty patterned curtains around your gazebo. Throw rugs all over the patio. Put candles everywhere. You can always bring it indoors or stash it in one of our attractive garden storage boxes over the winter.

If you’re scared to give it a go, why not try one colour at a time? Grab a load of interesting blue things, for example, and group them together to make a satisfying display that looks intentional, not just a random mess. It’ll help you get the hang of maximalism outdoors. And send us your photos – we’d love to see how you get on.

Maximalism is one of the the hottest garden trends out there right now. And it’s such a fun way to embellish your outdoor space. Happy cluttering!