10 Garden Trends for 2024

Celebrate the beauty of untamed gardens by incorporating native plants, grasses, and wildflowers. From the Netherlands in the early 1980s, this planting aesthetic combines a diverse range of plants that easily blend with the surrounding environment while welcoming a range of pollinators. Embrace a more relaxed, natural approach that mimics natural habitats and encourages local biodiversity.

Creating a vibrant and thriving garden involves incorporating pollinator-friendly plants that attract and nourish vital creatures like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. These include colourful blooms such as lavender, coneflowers, bee balm, salvia, and cosmos, known for their rich nectar. Offering a mix of annuals, perennials, and flowering shrubs ensures a continuous supply of nectar throughout the growing season. Embracing organic gardening practices, avoiding pesticides, and providing various shapes and sizes of plants will maintain a nurturing environment for these essential pollinators, fostering a flourishing garden that contributes to the broader ecosystem’s well-being.

 

Drought-tolerant florals are a savvy choice for any garden, especially in regions prone to dry spells. These plants, such as succulents, lavender, yarrow, and sedum, possess exceptional resilience in arid conditions. Their ability to thrive with minimal water makes them environmentally conscious and low maintenance. Incorporating these resilient beauties into your garden design ensures a colourful and vibrant landscape, conserves water, and reduces overall maintenance.

Embracing edimentals in your garden introduces a delightful blend of beauty and functionality. These plants, also known as edible ornamentals, serve a dual purpose by offering aesthetic appeal and culinary use. Think of vibrant nasturtiums, which showcase gorgeous blooms while their leaves and flowers enhance salads with a peppery tang. Incorporating edible plants like rosemary, basil, or thyme into landscaping elevates the visual appeal and offers fresh herbs for culinary adventures. With edimentals, your garden becomes a canvas that not only pleases the eye but also nourishes the body, making it a practical and aesthetically pleasing choice for any garden enthusiast.

Gothic gardening, an intriguing trend, celebrates the dark and mysterious aspects of plants and garden design. It emphasizes deep, dramatic colours and textures, creating an ethereal and somewhat mystical atmosphere. This style often features plants with darker foliage or flowers, such as black tulips, deep burgundy roses, and purple-black irises, evoking an air of intrigue and elegance. Combining these striking hues with stone sculptures, gothic arches, and intricate wrought-iron structures adds a touch of medieval charm to the garden.

 

Gravel gardens, also known as rock or alpine gardens, are becoming increasingly popular due to their low-maintenance nature and suitability for arid environments. These gardens typically incorporate a variety of gravel, pebbles, and stones with carefully selected drought-resistant plants. The well-draining gravel soil allows water to percolate quickly, making it ideal for plants that thrive in drier conditions. Succulents, ornamental grasses, and Mediterranean plants are commonly found in gravel gardens.

In an era where air quality is a growing concern, air-purifying gardens gain significant traction. These gardens focus on incorporating plants that have air-purifying qualities, effectively filtering pollutants and improving the surrounding air quality. Plants like snakes, spiders, peace lilies, and Boston ferns are renowned for removing toxins from the air. Besides enhancing the garden’s aesthetics, cultivating an air-purifying garden contributes to a healthier indoor and outdoor environment.

 

Hortifuturism represents the fusion of horticulture and futuristic technology. This trend incorporates innovative techniques, such as vertical gardening, hydroponics, and aeroponics, to maximize space and efficiency. Futuristic elements like automated irrigation systems, intelligent sensors, and sustainable materials are integrated into garden designs. Hortifuturism aims to create high-tech, eco-friendly, visually striking and environmentally conscious gardens.

Rain gardens are designed to mitigate stormwater runoff by utilizing and filtering rainwater naturally. These gardens are strategically placed to collect rainwater from rooftops, driveways, or lawns. They incorporate a combination of native plants, like grasses, flowering perennials, and shrubs, specifically chosen for their ability to absorb excess water and filter out pollutants. The plants in rain gardens help prevent soil erosion, recharge groundwater, and reduce water pollution by trapping and naturally breaking down contaminants.

Embracing local seed sources involves selecting plant seeds from nearby regional sources adapted to the area’s specific climatic conditions. It emphasizes using seeds of native plants or locally adapted varieties better suited to the region’s soil, temperature, and rainfall patterns. Offering a variety of seeds from flowers to vegetables and herbs, West Coast Seeds produces Canadian non-GMO seeds and can be found at any Sheridan Nurseries location.

These exciting trends offer a glimpse into the ever-evolving world of gardening, providing opportunities to explore new ideas, enhance sustainability, and create beautiful, functional spaces. Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned gardener, 2024 promises countless exciting possibilities to cultivate your green paradise.