While many of us keenly pay attention to interior design trends to update the spaces within our homes, it can also be wise to look for ways to freshen up our outdoor expanses as well. As Adam Kober, president and creative director of Kober Design Group puts it, “Landscape is an extension of our home environment. Much in the same way that it’s advisable not to let decor and fixtures get stale, we like to keep gardens fresh and vibrant.”

Ahead, learn about trends that are on their way out so you can embrace a few of-the-moment touches in your yard.

Artificially Colored Mulch

Artificially colored mulch (think: bright red or jet black) isn’t in line with the more organic choices that landscape designers are making today. As Kober says, “We always aim to keep color palettes in line with what one would find in nature.”

Instead, opt for a natural tone, non-dyed mulch for a more authentic look.

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Specific “Styles”

Nahal Sohbati, co-founder of TOPOPHYLA, says that gardens, like architecture, can become homogenized spaces that lack character—using a design style like “English cottage garden” or “Japanese garden” limits creativity and can often feel out of place. That’s why, in Sohbati’s opinion, applying template styles or design aesthetics to gardens is becoming outdated.

“While these labels may be a good starting point or a way to convey a design taste preference, we instead strive to look toward the context of the site and foster a vernacular that speaks to the locale,” she reflects.

To buck the “labelling” trend, Sohbati recommends creating a more localized garden design style through regionally native plants grown from local nurseries.

Plastic Edging

Although plastic edging has been a mainstay for quite some time, again, in the spirit of bringing an organic feel to a garden, plastic is being tossed by the wayside. Kober prefers to use stone or metal instead—and in fact, even no edging at all is preferable to plastic.

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Massive Lawns

“The trend of massive expanses of lawns originated from 18^th-century Europe as a symbol of wealth, and it still persists today, especially across North America, as it remains the default image of a western ‘garden,’” Sohbati says. “This is outdated, uncreative, monotonous, and a huge missed opportunity for what each garden has to offer.”

Instead of going with the expansive lawn, Sohbati advises minimizing lawn space in favor of other climate-appropriate lawn alternatives (these might include succulent groundcovers or moss lawns), which can, in the process, reduce maintenance and your landscaping’s carbon footprint.

Using Too Many Varied Plant Species

Kober has been seeing landscaping that spotlights too many varying species of plants that “don’t collectively create a cohesive design.”

He says that creating visually dynamic landscapes can rely on an extremely basic plant palette—for example, a simple hedge design highlighted by a pea gravel top-dressing. “This aesthetic language echoes some of the trends we’re seeing culturally: a contemporary take on understated elegance,” he shares.

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Too Much Hardscaping

“One of the landscape trends that belongs to the past is the overuse of hardscape in the garden,” Sohbati says. “While thoughtfully placed paving with the proper material can create functional, flat areas for gathering and circulation, large expanses of paved areas can degrade the joy of being outdoors.”

As an alternative to all this hardscaping, bring in more plants, textures, and softscape, as Sohbati suggests.