Timeless Landscaping Styles for Your Garden This Summer

Unique and Timeless International Garden Styles for Landscape Design in Ottawa

If your landscape is in need of a change, why not try a unique and timeless style from across the globe?

There are plenty of international styles to choose from that can suit your home and personal tastes. With the help from landscape designers in Ottawa, you’ll get to design a beautiful new landscape for your home to suit your budget. From hardscaping to landscaping and everything in between, bring in timeless elements from other parts of the world with professional landscape design.

Modern Landscapes – Clean, Contemporary Designs

Modern landscape designs are based on the aesthetic of simplicity. Simple design and simple maintenance.

Straight Lines

Modern gardens use traditional plant borders to create geometric shapes. These gardens often use low-maintenance shrubs for the borders.

Stacked containers and walls are also used to provide straight lines and symmetry. These designs are ideal for complementing the structure of your home.

Vertical Gardens

A vertical garden adds privacy by becoming a wall of green plants. These can be used decoratively as an outdoor ornamental structure, or functionally as privacy walls.

Sustainable Plants

Instead of just having a garden to admire, you can also have a garden that is functional. Fruit and vegetable plants are a great addition to a garden and encourage a sustainable lifestyle. And drought-tolerant plants—such as lavender and succulents—only need watering once or twice a week.

Pollinator Plants

Consider using various colours and types of plants that attract pollinators to maintain the health of your garden. Pollinators include birds, butterflies, and bees. Although you might not be a fan of bees, they are harmless as long as you don’t try to hurt them.

Natural Materials

Another trend is the natural landscape. This includes using more natural resources, such as wood, stone, and clay. Wood decks and seating, and natural stone steps and gardens provide a natural, earthy look compared to the modern, sleek designs with straight lines.

Water Features

Water features have always added beauty and calm to landscapes. And these days, there are many different styles to choose from to suit any landscape design and size.

Outdoor Entertainment

Thanks to modern technology, you can enjoy music, TV, and automated systems outdoors. Wireless speakers can be mounted anywhere in your landscape. And motion-sensor lights can light up paths and different spots around your yard as people walk through.

Outdoor Living

More homeowners are choosing to bring the luxuries of their homes outdoors to make the most of their outdoor time in summer. This includes outdoor furniture, fireplaces, dining areas, kitchens, bars, and even bathrooms.

Mediterranean Styles – Stunning Italian Gardens That Will Take Your Breath Away

Mediterranean gardens are both casual and elegant. They combine relaxed plants and materials with more formal designs and accents. These gardens are fairly low-maintenance and can whisk you away to another world with the vibrant, warm colours, and serene setting.

Herb Gardens

Mediterranean gardens smell of fragrant herbs. Grow herbs in the garden and even along pathways to create a lush aromatic walkway.

Vibrant Colours & Texture

Bright colours make for a sunny and serene setting both with plants and hardscaping. Ornamental grasses, lavender, and cypress trees are popular in Mediterranean-style gardens.

Pergolas

Pergolas with vines growing through integrate lush greenery into your patio.

Water Features

Tiered water fountains and traditional urn-style water fountains add a touch of elegance to the landscape, adding a focal point and soothing water sounds.

Potted Plants

Plants in large, colourful, and terracotta pots are easy to move around to create centrepieces or to make space in your yard.

Fire Features

Outdoor fireplaces add warmth and light to your Mediterranean escape. And an outdoor brick oven will offer an authentic Mediterranean cooking experience.

Benches

A bench hidden away in the garden, or near a water feature, offers a little piece of privacy and serenity in your backyard.

European Designs – French & British Landscapes to Inspire

French landscapes are typically formal, with symmetry and order. They are meant to highlight the centrepiece (your house) from a distance. And since they are so neat and tidy, they require a lot of maintenance.

Cool Colours

Traditional French gardens favour cool colours, such as whites, greens, blues, and purples.

Manicured Gardens

The well-maintained gardens use boxwood hedges, clipped shrubs, fields of lavender, and neat garden beds and planters.

Stone

Stone is common for paving, edging, terraces, decorative elements, and places to sit and enjoy the garden.

English gardens are usually more natural looking, and less formal. They celebrate the beauty of nature and are meant to be relaxing.

Small Ponds

Consider adding a small pond to your yard. And for an added English touch, install a small footbridge over the pond.

Tree Groves & Rolling Lawns

Plant trees together along pathways that lead to open green space.

Unique Floral Designs

Plant flowers and all types of plants in rows and shapes to create your own unique English floral design.

European gardens typically have the following styles:

Dark Fencing & Structures

Dark colours, such as navy blue, provide dramatic backdrops to plants, trees, and shrubs.

White Gardens

Gardens with all white flowers are elegant and offer a bright garden when the moon is shining at night.

Terraces

Terraces are popular in gardens across Europe. They offer different levels with various uses.

Natural Stone

Natural stone provides a timeless look to garden walls and patios. Consider using:

Moss & Patina

Moss and patina on landscape elements give the appearance of age in the landscape.

Planters

Fill planters with annuals and edible plants, fruits, and vegetables.

Oriental Gardens – Lusciously Colourful Asian-Inspired Designs

The Asian landscape style serves as a space for meditation, inspired by Zen designs.

Art

Use art pieces as subtle focal points throughout the garden. If you opt for a Buddha statue, use one with his whole body, not just his head.

View from Indoors

Make your garden look great from the indoors as well as outside.

Meandering Paths

To prevent evil spirits from entering your home, avoid straight pathways, and opt for zig-zag paths.

Iconic Asian Plants

Do not use white flowers or any colour of chrysanthemum as these are considered funeral flowers in many Asian cultures.

Use these plants to create the meditative garden style:

Less is More

Just because there’s an empty space doesn’t mean it should be filled. Choose a few focal points (trees and statues for example) and pair them with low-lying plants. Be sure to illuminate these focal points and pathways with proper outdoor lighting. With the right lights, you’ll highlight the essence of your garden, set the tone, and provide mood lighting at night.

These unique international garden styles have lasted the tests of time. Each offers its own unique ambiance, with some requiring more work than others. With professional landscape design in Ottawa, you can bring some or all of the elements of a chosen style from across the globe into your backyard for a new timeless look this summer.