Gardening Trends of 2016

You’ll notice many trends are carrying over from 2015 but their momentum is growing! Pinterest have just released their 100 Hottest Trends list based on the most popular repined posts and many gardening pins feature, and Garden Media Group have published their take on garden trends for 2016.

Garden Media Group says that “horticulture is intrinsically tied to health and wellness from what we put in our mouths to our environment”. This year is about connecting and working with nature to ensure sustainable practices and create longevity in your garden.

From smart technology to smart plant choices, gardeners are becoming more aware of caring for their environment. Many are purchasing plants for their functionality as well as beauty, such as low water plants or natives, and using these lower maintenance plants to create a more relaxed look and feel. Garden Media Group say this is the year that garden technology such as smart readers which use soil temperatures and moisture levels to instruct gardeners when to water and to feed their plants and water recycling/catchment techniques will start popping up in gardens across the globe.

This passion for preserving the earth mirrors the burst in popularity of growing your own food. Growing your own food not only to saves you money on the grocery bill and means you know where your food came from, it also can give you immense pride in enjoying your own well-tended harvests. Raised vegetable gardens were picked as a Pinterest Hottest 100 trend so if you don’t have one, we suggest you plan to get one in your garden for the coming spring! See our Pinterest page for ideas (you don’t even need a large section!).

Pam Penick, author of Lawn Gone! and The Water-Saving Garden, says, “I think we’ll see more gardening with a purpose. The younger generation especially is interested in making a homesteader's garden rather than a purely ornamental garden. Interest will continue to grow in plants that attract pollinators, growing food, keeping chickens, beekeeping, vegetable beds and composting.”

Container gardening will remain hugely popular in 2016 with people now growing everything from herbs to blueberry shrubs in beautiful pots. With more people gardening in urban spaces and retirees downsizing to smaller sections, dwarf or smaller varieties of people’s favourite plants will become more and more popular. Container and indoor plants bring beauty and softness to patios and indoor spaces. See our article on the benefits of growing indoor plants and how to care for them.

Foliage is the new flower. We’re seeing this in everything from wedding flowers to wall paper trends. Tropical and sub-tropical plants are taking the world by storm with the interesting textures, shapes and bold patterns of their foliage. Sort after plants include dwarf bananas, canna lilies, bromeliads, philodendrons and ever popular palms. Make a statement and create a relaxing resort feel in your garden.

Lastly but not least another one to watch is the trend of unstructured gardens. Many of the beautiful displays at last year’s Chelsea Flower Show were rambling English inspired cottage gardens with meadows of wild flowers or rambling shrubs and roses.

Follow our Pinterest page to stay up to date with this year’s gardening trends.