Page 48 - enLIGHTenment Magazine - February 2017

outdoor liviNg trENds

ACTIVE PLAY SPACES

With children spending an alarming amount of their free-time glued to their smartphones

and tablets, it’s understandable that parents today are seeking ways to have their
children play outside as they had done growing up.

According to Garden Design magazine, consumers are interested in “active play

spaces” for their families. “I’ve had an uptick in requests for play and entertaining
spaces,” Tacoma, Wa.-based designer Sue Goetz of Creative Gardener told the maga-

zine. “Bocce courts, dog and pet spaces, dining areas, replaces, hammocks; people don’t
want places they have to weed. They want places where they can relax and play.”

Susan Morrison, author and designer at Creative Exteriors Landscape Design in East

Bay, Calif., told Garden Design that game courts for adults and families are popular.
“Most of my clients don’t have room for a regulation bocce court,” she said, “but I have

NOT YOUR FATHER’S LAWN
done petanque courts and recently got a request for a cornhole court. Yes, there is a
Lawn alternatives – synthetic grass and arti cial regulation size for cornhole!”

turf – are being explored by more homeowners

than in the past, whether for convenience sake
or out of concern to limit pesticide and fertil-
KEEP IT LOCAL
izer use where children and pets play. Lawn
experts and garden designers note that these It’s not just restaurant cuisine with locally grown food that is appealing to consumers

arti cial products are looking more realistic today. They are seeking the same sensibility in their yards and gardens. This has led to a

than ever, which has also increased its appeal.
rise in interest for native and endemic plants.

46 enLIGHTenment Magazine | february 2017
www.enlightenmentmag.com