It's a sparse, serene Zen garden. Or it's a three-season outdoor room, with grill and fireplace built in. Maybe it's a cozy pocket for unwinding. Or perhaps it combines all of the above.

Trends in Baltimore-area landscape design are capitalizing on homeowners' yearning for less maintenance, more environmental awareness, and a more natural look, as people continue to invest in outdoor living spaces that are attractive and functional.

“That's the new American garden — you don't have to have boxwoods and azaleas. You can have perennials and grasses; you can have texture,” said landscape designer Ashley Kidner of International Landscaping and Design in Baltimore.

Some 60,000 people are expected to turn out to see how he and more than a dozen others carry out such landscape design trends at the Maryland Home and Garden Show. Following the theme of “Art in the Garden,” the event — the largest such expo in the state — will have 450 displays and booths, which include landscaping displays, home improvement vendors, crafters and educational features over the first two weekends of March.

Kidner's firm, for example, plans to feature in one of its displays a Zen garden, which relies on structure, texture and rocks. With few, if any, plants to tend, such spaces are drawing interest, he said. (International Landscaping has the premier space at the show because its display last year was deemed the best by a panel of landscape professionals from around the state.)

“You'll have a few boulders, gravel and a few plants — probably a pine, a camellia, azaleas as a backdrop,” he said, describing tentative plans for that section of his space. “They can [require] less maintenance; they don't have as much to them.”

Such exhibits are, of course, marketing efforts for companies, designed to engage potential clients in one-on-one chats. Many visitors leave with business cards or appointments for landscape architects and designers to come to their property to discuss applying their craftsmanship and designs there. But they're also interactive, real-life versions of HGTV and Pinterest — a fountain of inspiration that visitors can glean from for their own spaces.

One trend that visitors can expect to see at the Home and Garden Show this year is a focus on functional spaces. With baby boomers downsizing, younger people wanting to grow things in city-sized spaces, and the general cry for less maintenance, the move toward making small areas beautiful and functional is growing.

“If we put in a small patio, you can have one of those small fire pits, and you can move it around and put it away if you don't want to use it,” said Amy Wieland of Amy's Garden Design in Catonsville, whose niche is small-area and container design.

Container gardens are also “becoming hugely popular,” said landscape designer Claire Jones of Sparks.

And if seeing examples isn't enough, Kate Copsey, author of “The Downsized Veggie Garden,” will give a seminar on gardening in small spaces at 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. next Sunday.

The use of repurposed materials will also be prevalent at the show. Used stone, metals and wood are finding new life in patios, walls, garden steps and sheds. For example, Casey Heckrotte of Forest Hill Landscaping is likely to use old chairs as planters in his display, and maybe the wrought-iron base of an old sewing machine topped with bluestone for a patio table.

“When you put it in the landscape, it becomes a piece of art,” he said.

The plein-air artists who will be on hand at the Home and Garden Show certainly see it that way. New to the show this year, artists from Zoll Studio of Fine Art in Lutherville will circulate through the expo, painting the landscapes on display. How they approach the gardens can serve as a good model for visitors, said plein-air painting instructor Lisa Mitchell.

“Under every great design, there is an underlying abstraction ... that is created by shapes,” said Mitchell, who teaches at Zoll Studio.

Artists see these shapes first and details second, she said. Similarly, visitors viewing the landscapes at the Home and Garden Show can focus on how shapes and colors — whether it be plants, hardscaping or other elements — “work together to make a design,” Mitchell said.

What visitors observe at the Home and Garden Show can ultimately serve as a jumping-off point.

“People can go to see what the high design is, and they can expect to see it showing up at a more affordable level,” said Adele Ashkar, former director of the George Washington University landscape design program.

So while a high-end, built-in stone fire pit on display at the Home and Garden Show may be out of reach, people can use it as inspiration,” she said.

People often take the trends they see to home, garden and big-box stores.

Watson's Fireplace and Patio in Lutherville has gotten “a lot of traffic after the Maryland Home and Garden Show” in previous years, said employee Megan Maddox.

“I think it does give them ideas,” she said.