Top 10 Garden Trends from Our Viewpoint

BY DIANE BLAZEK

At National Garden Bureau and All-America Selections, we have multiple sources to track popular garden items and topics. NGB’s New Varieties program represents the new plants breeders are submitting. The AAS trials attract the newest genetics from breeders. Additionally, National Garden Bureau conducts proprietary market share surveys for our breeder members which shows the highs and lows by crop class. Lastly, and probably even more telling, are the social media interactions and reactions.

Here are the top 10 trending items over the past 12-18 months.

1. Growing food/Victory Gardens 2. Tomatoes 3. Planting for pollinators 4. Unique color/shape 5. Perennials 6. Foodie favorites/herbs 7. Houseplants/home office plants 8. Replacing lawns 9. Container edibles 10. Flowering shrubs

Top 10 Garden Trends from Our Viewpoint

Growing food/Victory Gardens Anytime there is a recession, our industry has benefited from an interest in growing one’s own food. But nothing prepared us for the surge in gardening newbies that 2020 brought. Because National Garden Bureau’s founder James H. Burdett, wrote the original Victory Garden Manual in 1942, we relaunched the concept of Victory Gardens in March 2020 and dubbed it Victory Garden 2.0. That original blog post got more than 4,000 shares on Facebook alone! Look at any gardening survey and you’ll see that food gardening remains the top area of interest for both new and experienced gardeners. Tomatoes never go out of style The number one crop for entries into the AAS Edible Trials? Tomatoes. The number one selling seed item for e-commerce retailers? Tomatoes. The number one bedding plant item at retail? Tomatoes or peppers. The edible class with the most new variety submissions to NGB? Tomatoes. Today, hybrids are regaining favor as gardeners realize some of the challenges of growing heirlooms and the benefits of growing hybrids. Planting for pollinators We must support those who support us! Our most popular blog posts over the past few years are always the ones about how to plant a pollinator garden or which plants are best suited to attracting pollinators. Our Year of the Monarda article got 1,300 shares on social media and the other pollinator blogs get just as much attention. Unique color/shape Four specific varieties come to mind in the unique color/ shape category. Mad Hatter pepper (AAS Winner), Zinnia Profusion Red Yellow Bicolor (AAS Gold Medal Winner), Potato Clancy (AAS Winner) and the Mangave Praying Hands. Uniqueness is always an attention-grabber and gardeners love to show off the cool and unusual. Perennials Be it the interest in natives and nativars, or the pollinator support, or the thought that a perennial is a no maintenance garden plant (!), the interest in perennials is very high. NGB Members who are perennial breeders continue to work on new genetics that are longer to bloom, have better disease resistance and stunning new color ranges. Foodie favorites/herbs In the 2000’s the Food Network and Cooking Channel viewership exploded and viewers started making the featured recipes at home. It didn’t take long for them to realize they could grow their own ingredients and save money so herb and vegetables sales grew. The “grow your own” trend grew even faster in 2020 as people were stuck at home and began experimenting with all types of new cooking and baking styles. Houseplants/home office plants Although on the rise pre-pandemic, the interest in house plants surged when everyone was forced to work from home. If you’re going to be home all day you want your space to look good, especially when it’s in the background of your umpteenth Zoom call of the day. National Garden Bureau recognized this growing interest in houseplants and announced our Year of program, in 2022, will now include a houseplant category. Replacing lawn with…

“Be it the interest in In honor of National Garden Bureau’s 100th anniversary in natives and nativars, or the pollinator support, or the 2020, we conducted a “Future of Gardening” survey. In that survey, we asked what the surthought that a perennial is vey participants thought the a no maintenance garden lawn of the future would look like. The majority felt we would plant (!), the interest in still have a traditional lawn in 50 perennials is very high.” years, but it will be smaller than today’s lawns. What will replace the square footage that used to be green grass? Flowering shrubs (see below), pollinator friendly plants (see above) and vegetable/fruit producing plants (see above). Container edibles (compact) I hesitate to call this a trend because container edibles have been around for a long time, but it’s not going away. As more and more gardening is done on decks, patios and balconies, there is an increased need for compact plants and breeders are responding. Of note are compact berry bushes for containers (such as Midnight Cascade blueberries for hanging baskets and Bountiful Blue blueberries for containers and tubs), compact tomato plants (such as Siam tomato and Patio Choice Yellow tomato (an AAS Winner). Flowering shrubs It’s not your grandmother’s yard! Or is it? Kudos to companies like the NGB members who are bringing out new flowering shrubs. There are so many new varieties that are more compact, more floriferous and uniquely colored that make them just too tantalizing to not purchase. So it is like grandmother’s yard, but better, when things like reblooming azaleas and hydrangeas or unique shrub roses are available.