January 24, 2021 by IG

Garden Trends: Stumbling Into a New Decade

What’s in a Trend?

You might have come across various lists of garden trends compiled by gardening magazines, blogs, or so-called plantfluencers. And you might wonder, why should you care about trends? Well, for one, it’s fun to look forward to exciting new things, whether it’s a plant you’ve never seen before or a beautiful way of displaying it. Or, a trend might be of increased environmental consciousness and inform your approach to gardening, making you a more responsible steward for the ecosystem in your garden.

If you’re a business, you can use trend data to maximize profit. If you’re a consumer, you can make smarter buying decisions by recognizing hype (Pink Princess Philodendron, anyone?). From a historical point of view, trends give us a glimpse into the psyche of an era. Like the Tulip Mania of the 1630s when 12 acres of land were exchanged for 2 flower bulbs, according to 19th century journalist Charles Mackay.

‘Semper Augustus’ tulip illustration. Purportedly, this was the rarest and most beautiful of all the “broken” tulips and in 1638 was advertised for 13,000 florins for one bulb — equivalent to the price of about 108,000 lbs. of cheese or 108 fat oxen at the time.

Photo by of illustration by unknown artist, from the Brandemandus Tulip Book, municipal archives, Delft.

And, trends are often cyclical. Chances are, what was once fashionable, will come back in style again and again. By recognizing trends, whether in garden design, plant selection, or perhaps the more obvious example of fashion, we can learn to distinguish our own tastes from the noise of marketing and avoid getting swept up in Tulip or Pink Princess Mania. Although, isn’t getting swept up in the growing trend of gardening itself how we come together to form this community?

Quarantine Gardening

Garden Revival member jahnu built raised beds and planted corn, cucumbers and zinnias during the 2020 growing season.

Photo by jahnu.

According to the Garden Media Group, the gardening industry gained 18-24 million customers this spring. As early as March, headlines like “Food Supply Anxiety Brings Back Victory Gardens” from The New York Times began to appear. Social distancing and travel restrictions spurred on an interest in ornamental plants as well, as people focused on improving their private spaces. Online seed and plant retailers couldn’t keep up with demand and, at times, had to suspend sales to catch up. According to garden writer Margaret Roach, some weeks, Vermont based High Mowing Organic Seeds’ sales were up as much as 300% from the previous year. To my disappointment, there was no end of season overstock and, therefore, no end of season sales at my usual haunts like Wayside Gardens and Bluestone Perennials.

Google Trends shows interest in gardening spiking worldwide in the spring of 2020.

Photo by Google Trends.

Virtual Gardening

While the gardening industry boomed, public gardens suffered from loss of revenue during lockdown and then reduced visitor capacity in the interest of social distancing. Like many other activities in 2020, visiting gardens became a virtual activity. The head gardener at Wollerton Old Hall in the English county of Shropshire documented some of his gardening tasks almost daily on Instagram. I felt at once transported and enlightened watching him expertly stake unbelievably fast growing delphiniums. It was vicarious gardening and garden therapy in a stressful, uncertain time.

Discreetly staked delphiniums at Wollerton Old Hall Garden.

Photo by IG.

The National Garden Scheme, a charitable program in England and Wales which makes over 3,500 private gardens accessible to visitors posted garden tours on YouTube. Gardeners narrated tours of their own gardens and I was able to see places I might never have a chance to visit.

At the same time, social gardening activities like conventions and lectures had to move online. This opened attendance up to a global audience and, in some cases, was provided pro bono, on a donate-if-you-can basis. The Garden Masterclass, which was created by garden designer Annie Guilfoyle and garden writer Noel Kingsbury as a series of one day workshops hosted throughout The British Isles couldn’t hold its planned workshops but held webinars and made lectures by garden gurus like researcher James Hitchmough available for free to the general public on their YouTube channel.

Looking Ahead

Over the course of the past year, businesses pivoted, the gardening community grew and adapted. The Gardening Media Garden Trends Report (GTR) calls this the “The Improv Era.” So, what’s next? According to the GTR, Americans are reducing lawn size in favor of larger mixed planting areas and people are looking for tiny plants for tight spaces like balconies and window sills. Also, we can expect greater demand for houseplants and home office plants, as well as dedicated garden rooms in our homes. This, I’m sure, comes as no surprise to our gardening community on Discord.

As working from home became the new normal for many, so did home office plants.

Photo by Peachy00Keen.

The topic of houseplant trends deserves its own post. For that, I went to our plant expert Fruchtpudding who is familiar with the houseplant market. Frucht obliged with quite a few insights. Look for that post on the blog, as part of an ongoing series of articles exploring garden trends.