The great gardening trends are directly related to the economy and weather factors. The United States is seeing one of the biggest shifts in how people garden and how homeowners not only plant, but use their yards.
With smaller yards, American gardeners are becoming more inventive in the limited space they call their own. While the rest of the world has been growing small gardens for centuries, we are only learning some of their secrets to doing small jobs.
Garden trends you can include in your garden:
- Incorporate small fruit plants into regular landscaping
- Houses have fewer lawns
- Plant drought-tolerant plant varieties
- Use small plants for smaller yards
- More fragrant plants in home landscapes
- Plants with year-round foliage and interest
- Plant for vertical gardening
- Efficient gardening
Include small fruit plants in regular landscaping: I have been writing and encouraging our clients and garden club members to include small fruit plants such as blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and grapes in their landscapes for the past 5 years. For centuries, Europeans have grown small fruit plants next to flowering shrubs and cut flowers. Because new homes in the US now have limited garden space and landscaping, the normal evolution of gardening will be to combine vegetable and fruit plants with common garden shrubs and flowers. Every year more and more people take part in food choices by growing their own fruits and vegetables.
With all the easy options, why not take control of your health with a garden? Here are just a few gardening options to help you get started on this healthy gardening trend.
- Gardening with organic soil. This is your standard, ground version. If you have a stain of dirt in your yard, why not use it?
- Hydroponic gardening. This method is simple and gives fast results. You can easily set up a dirt-free system that requires minimal maintenance.
- Aeroponic gardening. It is the process of growing plants in an airy or foggy environment without the use of soil. It’s a great option for beginners, and there are plenty of pre-built systems out there. Aquaponics is one of the newest and most popular variations of the healthy gardening trend. It combines fish farming and hydroponically growing food. Not only can you grow plants, but you can also grow your own edible fish if you wish. This is an amazing technique dating back to Aztec times.
If you’re ready to get your health back, save money on your grocery bill, and feel good about what you eat, why not join this healthy gardening trend. You can easily grow healthy food with minimal time and maintenance. Just imagine how much healthier you will be if you have a garden full of healthy food that you love.
Houses have fewer lawns: in recent years, weather changes have forced many municipalities to impose restrictions on water use during the summer months. Where once there were green lawns, we now see mostly brown straw that looks like blades of grass. Out of frustration, homeowners are turning to turf substitutes such as ground cover, ornamental grasses, wildflowers, and other low-growing flowering perennials.
Plant drought-resistant plant varieties: While planting drought-resistant plants often goes hand in hand with less lawn space, we’re still seeing more homeowners add drought-resistant shrubs and perennial garden plants to their regular landscape. Even homeowners who are not in restricted water areas want to reduce their landscape’s need for water.
Use small plants: Regular-sized trees and shrubs can easily clutter up a small yard. Never before have so many scaled-down versions of many of our long-time favorite plant varieties been available for landscaping. We will see more homeowners and apartment dwellers looking for these smaller shrubs and trees for their limited growing space.
More fragrant plants: Whether it’s nostalgia or just a sincere desire to stimulate the sense of smell, old-fashioned flowering shrubs and fragrant herbs are becoming quite popular again. Homeowners are looking for old-fashioned fragrant shrubs such as hydrangeas, spray roses, mock oranges, lilacs and viburnum.
Plants with year-round foliage and interest: small wallets force consumers to weigh their purchases. Buying plants is no longer an impulsive situation. Thought and planning is now included in this purchase. Gardeners are looking for plants that will enliven their garden throughout the year. Brightly colored plants are popular, especially when they change throughout the year. Colored plants, such as the latest varieties of Heuchera and Hellebore, create a parade of colors in any setting.
Plants for vertical gardening: Vertical gardening is rapidly gaining popularity, especially in urban areas. While apartment dwellers with balconies, apartment dwellers with tiny terraces and patios, and terraced houses are great candidates for vertical gardening, any gardener can create an upward-growing garden anywhere.
Efficient gardening. Efficient gardening is becoming more and more popular as more and more home gardeners start practicing practices such as composting, mulching, filling open spaces with additional plants, and recycling things from their gardens. These efforts will help limit the need for fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and supplemental watering.
As with fashion and architectural trends, they first start in Europe, crossing the ocean to the west coast, then to the east coast, gradually making their way to the rest of the country. Many trends started this way, but due to the economy and disruptive weather, these trends will take root much faster out of necessity.
