One of the latest trends in garden-room design serves to demonstrate that property owners can't get enough of a good thing. If one room is good, then more are better.

Multiple garden rooms are being developed with different themes to satisfy different members of the family, said Emily Nolting, an ornamental-plant and landscaping specialist with the Kansas State University Research and Extension Service.

Over the last three years, said Nolting, who teaches outdoor-room design and landscaping, "I'm seeing a lot of expansion here — people growing into multiples. The rooms are becoming like coordinated wallpaper. Each is a little different, but they all work together."

Basically, a garden room is a defined outdoor space with a general theme, much like indoor rooms: dining room /kitchen, for example, or reading/knitting retreat.

"Garden rooms started by being very basic. They were private sanctuaries for the most part. Now they're extensions of our indoor living space," Nolting said. "They're more sophisticated in the use of accessories and plant varieties. Because they're so close (to the house) they can be monitored more carefully."

It isn't unusual to see garden rooms set aside as children's play areas, as outdoor kitchens equipped with stainless-steel barbecue sets running into the thousands of dollars, or as dining and entertainment centers, Nolting said.

About half of the gardens she's seeing have multiple rooms now. And it's a changeable feast, she said, with people planting different colored flowers every year, and opting for more shady garden rooms now, instead of sunny as they were at first.

"They give you options. You don't have to go far to enjoy them. They connect with all sorts of living things outdoors. They're a good fit for our increasingly complicated lives."

There was a time when homeowners personalized their garden rooms by placing an old wooden wagon wheel in the middle of a flower bed. Now, an entire industry has emerged around creating just the right garden room accessory, Nolting said.

Garden rooms also are an ongoing investment, she said.

"You start with the basic idea to make the areas into rooms. Then you develop the pathways and color movement to transition from one room to another. You add to that every year as your preferences and lifestyles change."