Garden trends to watch for this spring

Privacy concerns, organic plantings and wildflower gardens all likely to be top of mind

Pollinator-friendly roses make great screening plants. Photo by Minter Country Garden /PNG

It’s nice to be aware of the many changes and trends taking place in the world of gardening.

Climactic challenges are prompting many of us to seek more heat-and drought-tolerant plants to give a better and longer performance. Fortunately, innovative breeding programs are resulting in many excellent new varieties of annuals, perennials, flowering trees and shrubs and shade trees that offer greater adaptability to more extreme weather situations.

According to the Garden Media Group in the U.S., an organization that watches for and identifies new garden trends, 2023 will be a time of more individuality and self-expression. Many millennials have developed a strong connection to nature and are looking for more pollinator plants and significantly more habitat plants to support wildlife, especially birds and hummingbirds.

Rudbeckias, which are long blooming and drought tolerant, are garden favourites. Photo by Minter Country Garden /PNG

Organic gardening is also high on their agenda, particularly regenerative gardening, which aims to restore the original, rich, fertile qualities of our soils so they are better able to support beneficial micro-organisms, insects and worms and better able to sequester carbon.

As many of us live close together in high-density housing, privacy is becoming more essential. We’re going to see some creative uses of fencing, hedging and evergreen vines as screens around patios and other outdoor areas to provide greater privacy and a sense of seclusion.

With the ever-increasing food costs, more folks will turn to growing their own food and herbs. They will, however, be more strategic and creative as they learn to grow the foods they love in innovative ways. A significant increase in the number of garden apps will help them discover new ideas. Platforms like TikTok will be even more important for learning about the many aspects of how other folks are successfully and creatively growing unique plants.

Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Slender Silhouette’ is an attractive screening plant. Photo by Minter Country Garden /PNG

Now that many millennials have discovered the numerous health benefits of growing plants, both indoors and out, we will see an increased demand for different edible and ornamental plant varieties.

Going forward, many new, longer-blooming perennials will begin to replace annuals as garden favourites, especially if they provide longer periods of pollen and nectar production and return even bigger and better each year. Many new flowering shrubs, like compact, repeat-blooming hydrangeas, disease-resistant shrub roses and dwarf, fragrant butterfly shrubs, will be popular this year. In many cases, lawns will be replaced with mini meadows and wildflowers or cut flower gardens.

Cordless electric tools are gardeners’ best friends, and will continue to play a leading role in the garden industry.

This year will prove interesting in the world of gardening. With rising costs, higher interest rates and a possible recession, gardens, large or small, will become far more essential as an escape and as a place to restore our health, well-being and happiness.

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