Indoor-outdoor living isn’t just a concept—it’s a way of life that more and more people are embracing, whether it’s simply turning a city balcony into a verdant respite or transforming their backyard into a lush playground for entertaining and gardening. Much like interiors, trends throughout the year are bound to emerge as people look for inspiration on what fragrant flowers to plant or how to decorate a patio that is as welcoming as a living room. And while some trends certainly have staying power, others immediately make landscape designers cringe at the mere thought of seeing them ruin the entire look of a garden.
When we asked experts about the garden fads they wished would vanish more quickly, they all resoundingly highlighted features, styles, or techniques that tend to put aesthetics first without any thought to long-term maintenance, the overall health of the landscape, and its impact on the overall ecosystem. And while there are certainly instances where these trends do make sense, more often than not, they actually may lead to more problems in the future.
Without further ado, here are the three worst landscape trends of 2026, according to experts.
Colored Mulch
The smaller details certainly matter just as much as the plantings or the bones of your garden as proven by our experts who all called out colored mulch as a trend they’d immediately eliminate. According to California-based landscape designer Adam Kober, “Mulch is not the feature—the plants are. Top dressing should be relatively unnoticeable.”
Black, green, red, you name it—dyed mulch tends to draw people’s eyes away from plantings you’ve worked hard to cultivate. While the dyes tend to be safe, the actual mulch is typically made from recycled wood waste that may be harboring past chemicals that can leach into your soil rather than enriching it with nutrients. Kober instead recommends reaching for natural, shredded mulch as “it most closely resembles natural moist soil coloring.”
Jacqueline Harrison, principal of New York-based landscape design studio Harrison Green, also calls out “volcano mulching” as another harmful practice that may be hurting your trees or flower beds. Piling mulch high suffocates the roots, promotes root rot, and causes girdling roots. Instead, apply only a couple of inches of natural (again, never dyed) mulch to help the soil retain moisture and add vital nutrients to your plants as it breaks down.
Oversize or Artificial Lawns
On the surface, a perfectly manicured front lawn may make your property look put-together and clean. However, as experts see it, you may be wasting valuable square footage for more interesting plantings—and even harming the environment.
Harrison explains that bigger is almost never better when it comes to lawns. “We’re always encouraging clients to minimize turf in favor of wild meadows, shrubby woodland edges, or preserving as much forested space as possible,” Harrison says. “These landscapes are not only more interesting ecologically, but they’re also far more rewarding over time.”
Manicured lawns tend to use massive amounts of water, create an uninhabitable zone for local wildlife and pollinators, and the fertilizers and pesticides used to keep them bright green can pollute local waterways. Instead, embracing a wild meadow or clover lawn requires less maintenance and water while supporting better biodiversity—and still looks, dare we say, even more stunning.
If you think artificial turf may be a more fitting solution, Kober warns you to think again. The landscape designer explains, “While I understand that artificial turf looks nice and doesn’t require water, at the end of the day, it’s plastic. Who wants to walk around on hot plastic? More importantly, all artificial turf has a lifespan, and when it’s at the end of its lifespan, it ends up in landfills.”
Pollarded and Pleached Trees
From the famous Lime Walk at Sissinghurst Castle to the pollarded sycamores around Colonial Williamsburg, you’ve probably been stunned by these historic tree techniques in famous gardens around the world—and may even wonder about trying them at home.
Pollarding is a pruning technique where branches are severely cut back to a specific point or “knuckle” on the main limbs to maintain a set height and create a dense canopy. Pleaching is a training technique in which branches are guided to grow horizontally on a supporting frame to create a hedge-like effect. While different, both techniques stem from ancient landscape practices, creating sculptural interest and bringing a bit more formality to the garden. However, Connecticut-based landscape designer Renée Byers says many homeowners are now pollarding and pleaching trees “without understanding the architectural and historical context in which that type of technique belongs.”
Byers adds, “These trends, alongside topiary, are present both in professional and novice circles, and while these techniques can be effective in the appropriate setting, they are being overused to create eye-catching photo ops that in person look overdone and out of context.”
Along with their overuse, these trees require intensive maintenance that even some seasoned experts struggle with. The solution? Byers says to “let plants take on more natural forms, that billow and move with the breeze.”
Sarah DiMarco (she/her) is the associate editor at VERANDA, where she produces and edits engaging content covering design, architecture, art, gardening, and travel. Since joining the team in 2019, she has written captivating house tours, in-depth features on emerging design trends, practical gardening guides, and inspiring travel stories. Over the course of her five-year career, she has cultivated a strong network of multidisciplinary designers whose expertise she frequently draws on for her stories. Prior to joining VERANDA, she earned her master’s degree in Magazine, Newspaper, and Online Journalism at Syracuse University. When she’s not writing or researching her next feature, you’ll find her experimenting in the kitchen, making pottery, or volunteering at the Desert Island Supply Co.
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