7 Growing Gardening Trends to Try in 2024 Jacky Parker Photography – Getty Images
Whether you have a sprawling ranch like the Drummonds, a modest-sized backyard, or a cart full of plants in your living room, everyone is looking to enjoy more plants and flowers this time of year. 2024 is all about thinking outside the box and curating a space and plant collection that suits your vibe. Not sure where to start with your spring refresh? Fear not. We've rounded up the gardening trends to try in 2024, so we're sure you'll find what you're looking for.
Maybe you dream of a whimsical cottage garden with wildflowers and arching trellises that will transport you to the English countryside. Or maybe you want a Zen space with orderly rows of flowers, flowing water, and plants that attract pollinators. Maybe you're looking for ways to green up your indoor areas with lots of bright houseplants. Whether you're a minimalist or maximalist, a color lover or a neutral lover, or a combination of all of the above, the latest gardening trends for 2024 have something for everyone. Read on to discover the hottest trends and get pro tips for creating your own natural wonderland.
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Color Blocking
This year's Philadelphia Flower Show, the largest in the United States, was filled with bouquets of flowers arranged by color. Planted in flower beds or windowsill boxes, like the purple and yellow petunias pictured above, they make a stunning sight.
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Cottage Garden
Cottage gardens have a beautiful, uncluttered feel, and they work best with a mix of flowers, like slightly untidy rose bushes, vines climbing a trellis, and meandering stone paving. When horticulturist Laura Hooper, founder of floral studio Foxhill Garden in Mount Vernon, Virginia, created her dream cottage garden, “I planted lots of specialty varieties, beautiful perennials, and wildflowers.”
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Garden of the Senses
Imagine a garden filled with colorful flowers, lush shrubs, herbs, and a small water rock garden. It's a treat for the eyes as well as the senses. That's the sensory garden that plant expert and Living Wild author Hilton Carter created in his Baltimore home. “I've got some lovely lamb's ear, rosemary, some larger sage, and boxwood,” he says of the beautiful blend of visuals, soft touches, and fragrances. He also made it pleasing to the ears. “I created a little water rock scene with circulating water,” he says. “Not only is the sound of the flowing wonderful, but it attracts birds.”
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Electric colors
Cyber lime is taking gardens by storm with its particularly vibrant color, making it the color of the year, according to Garden Media Group's 2024 Trend Report. The color (as seen in this wedding gown hydrangea) is so vibrant it almost looks like it was generated by AI. Growers are combining lime with other bright hues like orange, fuchsia, pink, purple, and yellow.
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Sustainable Gardening
“There's been a rise in more sustainable and organic gardening in the last few years,” says Laura. Sustainable gardening means maintaining soil health with compostable organic matter and planting flowers like lavender, lilac, and honeysuckle that attract bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other valuable pollinators. It's also about nature-friendly pest prevention. “If you're spraying anything for pest control or to fertilize your flowers, it's all certified organic and done at times that won't disturb wildlife or pollinators,” says Laura.
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Giant Topiary
Ancient Romans pruned plants into animals, geometric shapes, and even human forms. Over the years, decorative topiaries have become a common fixture on entryways and front porches, but now home gardeners are sculpting boxwood, cypress, juniper, and other shrubs, says Hilton. And they're taking a more free-form approach. Think shrubs in clouds and other abstract shapes. It's easy enough with just a sketch and some garden pruners.
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Rare variegated plants
Unique houseplants are popular, especially variegated plants, which have variegated leaves, stripes, and pale yellow, green, and white edges (like this Monstera Deliciosa). Next time you're buying plants, also look for Monstera Albo, Monstera Thai Constellation, Variegated ZZ, and Syngonium Albo. Hilton notes that marbled variegated gold plant is also becoming popular.
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