Monrovia, a leading grower of premium garden plants in the U.S., seems to have a knack for accurately predicting gardening trends. Last year, the company highlighted floratourism, which was set to increase as travelers seek a respite in a stressful world, as well as food security and how climate change could impact what and how home gardeners garden.
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1. Roses and Rhododendrons Renaissance
Gardeners are transitioning from the New Perennial landscape movement that dominated design for the past 20 years to a more integrated garden style with spectacular shrubs as the stars of vibrant mixed plantings.
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2. Garden Tribe
“We’re beginning to explore how the act of gardening affects people as well as impacting the planet, and to view gardening as a type of differentiator,” according to the report. “We’re seeing (thanks to social media) a new type of tribalism where the shared experience of gardening inspires a leafy sort of group therapy.”
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3. Pitch-Perfect Pines
This genius genus of plants — notably fuss-free problem solvers, but which also offer a distinct personality in the landscape — feels fresh and wow-worthy, inspiring a new generation of gardeners to see them with fresh eyes.
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4. Soil Matters
Programs to promote the development of healthy soils in commercial agriculture are taking root, with California’s Healthy Soil Initiative leading the charge.
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5. Suburban Plant Hunters
Gardeners, taking a cue from plant explorers like Dan Hinkley, are foraging nurseries, plant sales, even yard sales, for the rare and unique — and the bragging rights that come with it.
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6. Plants With Patterns
There’s no denying that plants whose foliage has been patterned with dots, dashes, stripes, and slashes have been spotted everywhere. According to Pinterest, saves of images of plants with interesting foliage were up by more than 533% in 2017.
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7. Hydrangeamania
Likely due to plant-porn images on social media, gardeners are scooping up new and improved varieties of hydrangeas as fast as breeders can grow them.
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8. Show Me How to Do It!
In the year of the woman, these gardeners will take back their power, engaging in record numbers the one-on-one services of coaches to teach them the how-to’s of DIY chores, ranging from using chain saws and pruning to composting, floral arrangements, and urban livestock tending.
This year, the company is predicting, based on extensive research, that the garden will be both a haven and a laboratory as gardeners seek a respite from a stressful world, and also dive into the flood of new plant choices they’re seeing in garden centers and on social media.
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“According to a National Gardening Survey, more than six million people nationwide took up gardening last year,” Monrovia’s Kate Karam noted in a recent blog post. “We’re watching this dynamic play out in unequaled demand for unique, sustainable, and social share-worthy plants and for gardening to be a differentiator of sorts.”
The slideshow above offers a brief look at eight trends Monrovia is forecasting for 2018. Check out the original blog post for a more in-depth look.