Sense and simplicity predicted for the coming year

12:59pm Friday 11th January 2008

INNOVATIVE garden designer Diarmuid Gavin has seen many trends come and go during his career, from sky blue fences and glass gravel to way-out concrete creations and under-lawn lighting.

He predicts that this year will see a return to sensible gardens that are relatively easy to maintain.

Gavin, who will exhibit an Art Deco hotel garden at Chelsea this year, says: "I think we are going to see a return to sensible suburban gardens. We've had ten years of mania, a marathon run towards the future, egos galore, we've had everything but the kitchen sink thrown into designs. I think some very good contemporary designers have emerged from that.

"But the gardener is now able to separate the wheat from the chaff.

People know what they want.

There's a new trend towards vegetable gardening."

Gavin, who recently collaborated with Sir Terence Conran to produce a coffee table garden design tome called Outdoors, says a return to the designs of the 1950s could be on the cards.

"It was unthinkable ten years ago that more vegetable seeds would be sold than flower seeds, and now it's a reality. I know because of the huge amount of people who ask us for that in the gardens we do.

"People want good, simple design, something that they were getting right in the 1950s in California where they could really appreciate Hollywood outdoor living at its best, good sensible paving, good sensible decking and good sensible furniture and a choice of planting styles.

"People want gardens that are relevant to all members of the family.

They are asking the kids what they want, understanding where the sun is, when the adults are going to be in the garden and how they are going to use it."

There's a trend towards garden furniture that can be left outside over the winter.

"If you are able to leave it out, it sends a subliminal message of rest. Furniture suggests the way you use a certain space. There's nothing sadder than a bare patio,"

says Gavin.

"Wood is still in, though. It's like when decking came around, but it has become another choice among so many new materials, Where valid, it's fantastic. Terence (Conran) loves using wood in the garden because it gets better with age.

"People will go towards using steel, which is left to rust a little bit. It has a beautiful texture and no maintenance. Only the skin of it will rust and it will turn a deep red ochre. It works as a natural colour."

So many items that were unavailable a decade ago are now in the mainstream, he reflects. "You couldn't get galvanised or stainless steel pots ten years ago. We started off using dustbins as planters at Chelsea.

"A few years ago, we did a lollipop garden at Chelsea and John Lewis was selling lollipops for the garden the following year. It's surprising what catches on."

Fussy gardens are out along with formal schemes of garish bedding plants, he says.

Anyone thinking of redesigning a garden in the new year should consider exactly what is wanted from the plot and what is achievable.

"You have to be realistic in a small space. Think about the aspect, JFK and Jackie: cover image where the sun comes round, if your soil needs improving. The best investment you can make is digging well-rotted manure into the garden.

"Consider what you want from the garden. What is it that you love and what do you need there to make it work? Make a list of practical things you might have like the washing line, the garden shed, the kennel, the trampoline and all the things that make a pathway to them."

He is convinced gardeners will become more eco-friendly as awareness increases in the younger generation.

"The kids will soon let you know that you can't do this or that.

It's important that we make as many sustainable choices as possible.

There has to be a place in every garden for at least a compost bin."

Outdoors by Diarmuid Gavin and Terence Conran is published by Conran Octopus, price £40.

Jobs this week

❃ Dig vacant ground if weather permits and work in manure or compost.

❃ Take root cuttings of oriental poppies, verbascum and phlox.

❃ Store seeds you have ordered in a cool place.