How to Design a Garden for Extreme Heat – 5 Thermal Garden Design Ideas That Will Keep You Cool

Thermal garden design is the big new trend for 2026 that aims to offer a solution to extreme heat. An aesthetic response to hotter summers and climate change, designers are using a combination of restrained greens, soft neutrals, and natural materials to make gardens feel visually and physically cooler.

According to the many of their award-winning gardens are starting to play with Society of Garden and Landscape Designers (SGLD)temperature perception, using cool stone hardscaping, water features and calming green, gray and silver planting combinations to create spaces that feel both refreshing and calm.

The thermal garden design trend shows us how to create a garden for extreme heat. It develops key principles such as how to use shade, materials, water and plants, revealing how to grow in the hottest corner of your yard to create a cooling design. Now find out how you can tap into the trend and turn your garden into a place you want to spend more time in when the heat is relentless.

Thermal Garden Design Ideas That Will Cool Your Space

'Thermal garden design influences the temperature of your outdoor space, creating a comfortable living area ready to enjoy,' says California-based landscape architect Clay Tully.

'If an outdoor space is not comfortable or convenient, it will go unused and become wasted space no matter what good intentions you may have starting out.'

When faced with designing gardens in areas with extreme heat, there are several approaches you can use to put the thermal garden design concept into play. 'Dial back strong colors and focus on foliage, texture, and pale materials,' advises the SGLD.

'Pair light-colored stone or paving with soft, silvery plants to make small patios, terraces and other garden spaces feel cooler and more inviting.'

Clay Tully

Clay Tully is a licensed landscape architect and contractor in the Bay Area who has been in the industry for over 20 years. At his company Clay Tully Landscape Architecture he is involved in all aspects of a project including design consultation, permitting, construction, and post-construction care.

1. Think Carefully About Tree Choice And Placement

Choosing the best trees for climate change and thinking carefully about how to integrate them into your garden is a great starting point in thermal garden design. By planting the right tree in the right place, you're helping to ensure that the trees in your yard will offer cooling shade as well as being resilient in future.

'Strategically placing trees is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to change the microclimate on a hot site,' says Clay Tully. 'This will provide shade, instant cooling, and help define the garden.' It's a key element of desert landscaping ideas too.

For dappled shade, Clay suggests considering tree varieties like palo verde or desert willow, which you can find at Fast Growing Trees. For deep shade he advises opting for a larger faster-growing, estate-style tree such as the camphor, Chinese pistache, southern magnolia, or fruitless olive.

Choose species that are native to your region, as these are much more likely to be adapted to the climate so they will thrive. It's worth finding out how climate change is affecting growing conditions in your area too.

2. Choose Climate Appropriate Plants In Cooling Colors

'Filling open areas with lush plantings and reducing hardscape significantly cuts down on the "heat island effect",' says Clay.

'The more soft green space you have, the less radiated heat you'll experience. For hot climates I like tough evergreens such as Germander, Manzanita, or succulents like Red Yucca (Hesperaloe), available from Fast Growing Trees, and Cotyledon.'

Choose drought-tolerant planting that is well-suited to your local climate. Think about foliage color too. Look for plants in calming gray-green or silver tones that have low-to-moderate water requirements and will adapt to thermal garden design.

Choose soft swathes of plants with silver foliage as this will add a cooling note to the aesthetic when you're considering how to plan a dry garden. Try lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina) and Senecio candidans 'Angel Wings'. These evergreen plants are a must for thermal garden design, and can be planted en masse as a practical ground cover option.

Finally, sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) is a tall silver foliage perennial that can be used as a filler in borders.

Plants For Hot Climates

3. Knock Back on Hardscaping And Choose Pale Materials

Large areas of hardscaping such as brick or concrete walls and paved patios attract sunlight and hold heat, creating pockets of warm air. The smaller your garden the hotter it will feel. The response is often to plant more vegetation to reduce the heat island effect.

'Breaking up large paved areas reduces the surface area radiating heat,' explains Clay Tully. 'Add ground cover plants to create planted "joints" using the low spreading variety of lamb's ears 'Silver Carpet', or creeping 'Elfin Thyme'. Alternatively swap concrete entirely for decomposed granite, which radiates far less heat and cools faster too.'

It's a good idea to choose pale natural stone and light-colored hardscaping finishes like these porcelain pavers from Wayfair as these tend to feel cooler. Avoid dark colors when choosing pavers for patios and other hardscaped areas as these will store heat.

The best solution for thermal garden design is a layered approach that blends dappled shade, cooler landscaping materials in pale colors, and purposeful planting to create an environment that is a pleasure to be in during the hottest months of summer.

4. Find Ways to Make Your Garden As Shaded As Possible

In addition to the tree shade option discussed already there are many other ways to make your garden a more shaded space to bring relief from extreme heat during the hottest summer months.

One of the most popular options is pergola ideas. Choose pergola designs with additions like a retractable roof and roll-down screens to offer added heat protection.

'Build a pergola or buy a kit from brands like Mirador or Pergolux,' suggests Clay Tully. 'This can be expensive depending what type you choose, but it does instantly provide shade over an outdoor living area needing relief from the sun.'

Adding a combination of trellis ideas and fast-growing climbing plants lets you create a natural canopy that offers enticing dappled shade.

A pergola can also be customized to add extra elements to battle extreme heat. 'You can add an outdoor fan for air circulation, misters for extra cooling, or choose a model with a louvre system that opens and closes to control light from 100% shade down to a light glow,' says Clay.

5. Include Water In Your Design As A Cooling Element

For centuries water has been used in garden design as a cooling punctuation point. Beautiful garden pond and water feature ideas cool by evaporation as well as adding a soothing place to dabble your fingers in the water on hot days.

Water in any capacity is a refreshing addition in thermal garden design. It doesn't have to be complicated. You can opt for easy standalone features such as water spouts and water bowls, like this green slate fountain bowl from Wayfair.

'Pond-less water features such as basalt columns or stone bird baths spilling into decorative cobbles create a beautiful focal point while providing a meaningful cooling effect,' says Clay. 'Moving water cools far more effectively than still and stagnant water, which can actually heat up in direct sunlight.'

In this design (above) a trio of antique water spouts feed a series of small pools. A rill passes through the planting leading into a final cascade.

The gentle sound of the water creates a soothing soundscape. It's a wonderful example of how to use thermal garden design ideas to create a stunning focal point.

Thermal garden design is often a natural fit with xeriscaping ideas and desert modernism landscaping, as both choose design that allows the built and natural worlds to converge to deal with extreme heat.

Love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news? Sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox.