Outdoor garden trends are revolutionizing home exteriors and reflecting an increase in sustainability efforts. Pollinator-friendly plants to a mini vineyard have emerged as new aesthetics that promote health and wellbeing for humans and pollinators populations alike.
While some gardening ideas, such as creating luxurious outdoor living spaces, have been widely adopted for some time now, other concepts are only just now making waves. Here are a few to try this year.
Vertical Gardens
Vertical gardens are an easy and economical way to add lush greenery into any room, using hydroponic technology to deliver water and nutrients directly to their plants. You can choose to install one freestanding or mount it against a wall.
They can be used for growing herbs, flowers and vegetables and are an ideal option for small spaces.
Many gardeners find outdoor space limited, making a DIY vertical garden an affordable and stylish solution.
Before embarking on your vertical garden adventure, it’s essential to establish an effective layout. A wall that receives direct sunlight should feature vibrant and sunny plants while those suited to shaded walls like ferns should flourish there.
Minimalist Gardens
As gardeners work to find a balance between work and play in their outdoor spaces, they’re also adopting sustainable living principles. This may involve designing an inviting front garden for first impressions, or keeping food close by in an edible backyard garden.
This year, minimalist gardens are an increasingly popular trend in landscaping that combine low maintenance plants and an aesthetic that takes cues from nature. Search out ornamental grasses such as blue fescue or black mondo as well as native species to create natural privacy.
Thuja Green Giant plays an invaluable role in creating an aesthetically pleasing minimalist garden by incorporating hardscapes and accentuating open areas into its streamlined garden design.
Edible Gardens
Food-scaping, the latest garden trend, utilizes traditional landscape designs to incorporate fruit trees, berry bushes and edible flowers and herbs into traditional landscape designs for an environmentally-friendly, practical and cost-effective method of growing produce at home.
Given interior paint color trends are trending toward vibrant, feel-good hues, it should come as no surprise that garden hues are making an appearance too. Think roses, hydrangeas, garden phylox and climbing plants with blooming all-year blooming patterns like climbing plants in bright hues like roses.
After years of symmetrical minimalism, we are seeing a return to curvaceous lines in furniture and planting. This trend is especially popular in front gardens where curvier shapes create a natural and whimsical aesthetic.
Outdoor Living Spaces
Gardeners who support sustainability initiatives are choosing plants indigenous to their area when selecting garden plants, while taking advantage of smaller spaces with terarriums, hanging planters as screening or no-water succulents.
This year’s popular interior paint color trend has found its way outdoors as well, with vibrant, feel-good hues showing up in plantings and furniture choices. Yet maximalism doesn’t seem to be the focus; more relaxed styles that blur the line between hard landscaping areas and soft planting are becoming increasingly fashionable too.
Edible gardening is an increasingly popular trend that incorporates fruits, vegetables and herbs into traditional garden designs. This multifunctional landscaping method, commonly referred to as foodscaping, makes it simple for anyone to produce their own fresh produce at home.
Mocktail Gardens
Faced with climate change challenges, many homeowners are seeking resilient gardens. Pineapple sage has quickly become popular as an adaptable replacement for rosemary and mint, giving homeowners peace of mind about the future of their garden.
2024 is a year for vibrant, cheerful colors – and that sentiment extends into gardening and landscape design as well. Add roses or hydrangeas for an instant boost in vibrancy, or try creating a cottage-inspired meadow style garden by intertwining flowering weeds into the design scheme.
Foodscaping is an emerging outdoor gardening trend that integrates edible plants into traditional garden designs. By using raised beds, window boxes, or container gardening ideas you can transform your garden into an edible space for harvest.
Urban Farming
After years of subdued colors like pale greens and dusty browns, we are finally seeing bold, lively hues make their debut into gardens this year. From plantings themselves to accessories and furnishings, vibrant plants like tulips and pineapple sage offer an eye-catching update for 2024.
Gardeners are seeking ways to save both time and money this year, according to Craig: ‘Searches for drought-tolerant plants such as azalea are increasing, as are GYO produce gardens.’
Wildflowers and grasses native to their region are becoming a more frequent sight in lawns across America, replacing more conventional varieties. Meanwhile, homeowners are opting for water-saving green walls instead.