As the economy begins to stabilize, homeowners are still spending on outdoor living and landscape architecture, but they're forgoing many of the bells and whistles that became fashionable during the housing boom and instead are refocusing on the basics, according to a recent survey by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). ASLA surveyed residential landscape architects about their perception of the popularity of various outdoor living and landscape features and elements for 2010.

Nearly 95 percent of the survey respondents rated outdoor living spaces such as kitchens and entertaining areas as somewhat or very popular this year. Overall, the market for residential landscape design has dropped significantly, according to Nancy Somerville, Hon. ASLA, the organization's executive vice president, but there is still plenty of demand from clients who need to sell their homes and are looking for any way to differentiate their properties from the many others on the market. Upscale residential landscape design hasn't paused, however, Somerville notes. High-end homeowners are still requesting outdoor living and landscape design as much as ever.

Creating outdoor living and entertaining spaces is still popular, but a lack of ready financing means that homeowners are changing their approach to projects. "The real difference is that people are looking at ways to economize on what they're doing," Somerville says. "We're seeing people scaling back or doing bigger projects in increments."

While classic outdoor living elements such as dining and seating areas (according to 95.6 percent of survey respondents), grills (94.4 percent), lighting (93.4 percent), and fire pits or fireplaces (94 percent) remain very popular, interest in elements such as outdoor sinks (50 percent), refrigerators (52.8 percent), and showers (36.5 percent), as well as high-tech systems such as outdoor televisions (35.6 percent) and stereo systems (57 percent) has declined overall. Other outdoor living elements rated somewhat or very popular for 2010 include:

Installed seating such as benches, seatwalls, ledges, steps, and boulders (90.6 percent);

Weatherized outdoor furniture (77 percent);

Counter space (73.5 percent).

Many types of water features will still be popular this year, including decorative elements such as ornamental pools, waterfalls, grottoes, water runnels and bubblers (86.8 percent); hot tubs and indoor/outdoor saunas (79 percent); and swimming pools (72.4 percent), the survey found. However, other recreational amenities such as sport courts are reportedly much less popular.