Going fabulously fake. Super-sizing. Turning the practical into art. There are plenty of I-can-do-that garden ideas designed for maximum wow at Toronto’s Canada Blooms, the annual festival of all things horticultural in full swing all this week. Here are my top five ‘likes’. Click on any photo to start each slideshow for more details.

1. Try un-natural: Want an instant garden? Got a small space? No time for maintenance or just want to camouflage something necessary but ugly? Choosing fake materials rather than real can do the trick. (And who doesn’t love a little irony in the backyard?) I saw photo murals used to fabulous effect, for instance. Outdoor wall wrappings can disguise a cement block wall, the side of a garage or a garden shed, for instance. Fake grass is a no-brainer for high traffic areas but it works equally well when used as camouflage. I’ve seen a small shed, used to store garbage bins, virtually disappear when covered with the stuff. Strips of faux turf (or even green carpeting if you’re going full-on hippie recycler) stops weeds from springing up in the spaces between stepping stones.

In Canada Blooms’ Graffiti Garden display, a pop-up garden was created using leftover garden material. Using strips of fake grass or carpeting can create a similar patchwork effect that’s charming and easy to keep weed free.

Not just for high traffic areas and personal putting greens, fake grass can be used like wall paper to cover eyesores and make them virtually disappear.

Use an outdoor photo mural (or paint and plenty of patience) to create a “stone” wall only a few inches wide.

Using the technique of trompe l’oeil in the garden is not new but I predict we’ll be seeing more of it as gardening space and time for garden maintenance becomes increasingly limited.

2. Big is big: The new zen garden is still harmonious and tranquil, but twee it ain’t. In one display, stepping stones the size of small couches lead you past a stream of water rippling over a table-sized rock. The spaces between each boulder created mini ravines that sheltered delicate flowers. In another display, three kitchen sink-sized bowls were hung in a tiered formation to create a dramatic (yet surprisingly quiet) waterfall. Beyond them, not one but nine vessels, some waist-height, were arranged to create a multi-level cascade. Click on each photo for display and designer details.

In the display entitled “A Japanese Influence”, designed by James Thompson, huge stones create a remarkably relaxing environment. The stone in the foreground is part of an elevated pathway. Rippling water sheets over the stone in the centre of the photo.

In the “Adults Play At Night” display, designed by Joe Genovese, large bowls create a super-sized fountain that still maintains a sense of quietness.

Also in the “Adults Play At Night” display, rocks are substituted with 9 bowls and urns to dramatic effect.

3. Turning the simple into the sensational: Ontario-based sculptor and fine artist Floyd Elzinga has proven that the simplest and most practical of outdoor features can be shockingly beautiful. Never have downspouts looked so amazing. If you love this look, check out his giant fir and pine cone sculptures. They aren’t practical. They’re just very cool.

In “The Rain Game” display, drain pipes by Floyd Elzinga, stole the show.

This Floyd Elzinga downspout masquerading as a tree branch got second looks.

Who says a downspout has to be boring. This one in “The Rain Game” display at Canada Blooms would make a corner of the garden into a big feature.

4. Old ways, new looks: Whether made of rock or wood, these walls elevated fencing to a whole new level. Traditional fieldstone work took on a sculptural quality with the addition of moss-filled slashes. The gabion, an ancient design (a cage filled with rocks) still used today, usually for erosion control and road building, shed its utilitarian image to form chic privacy screens and double-tiered moss gardens. And a barn board fence multi-tasked as plant container-slash-living art gallery with small shadow box-style frames.

The Landscape Ontario Otium Exercise Garden had plenty of ideas for promoting outdoor activities but I liked the wall at the rear of the display. This stone wall gets a distinctively modern twist with the addition of zigzag crevices filled with mosses.

Jacob’s Gardenscape display used pebbles in wire mesh screens to create privacy screens that were handsomely minimalist. You can imagine how the screen would get even better with age and exposure to the elements.

The traditional gabion goes modern and multi-tasks as moss garden and partial privacy screen in a design by Jacob’s Gardenscape.

The Jill Jensen Botanicals display shows how far you can take a recycled wood fence.

5. Fairies living larger: The fairy garden trend is just getting bigger–literally. I’m not one to go in for teeny tiny gardens populated by teeny tiny figurines but seeing magical mushrooms the size of footstools and fairy condos towering upwards of four feet in height was refreshing. If you love this trend, why not really go for it?

Elves and fairies live large in this magical hi-rise at the Vandermeer Nurseries “Fairy Frolic” display.

These mushrooms will stay bright and cheery once the blossoms around them fade.

These wood mushroom ornaments, spied in the Vandermeer Nurseries “Fairy Frolic” display, would look striking in any garden, whether blessed with a community of fairies or not.