MENULandscape Trends For 2024
The 2024 Garden Trends Report from Garden Media Group focuses on climate change and the resulting ecological changes. Ecology is not a new term. It has been around for a long time and refers to the interaction of all living organisms within a given environment.
The report is intended to help garden centers and landscape professionals like us plan for what customers will be requesting. It also gives property owners a view of what’s happening elsewhere. It may confirm or legitimize some of the ideas you may want to try in your landscape but are reluctant to because it’s not being done by your neighbors.
This year, the report is very Gen Z/Zoomer oriented. Don’t tune out if you’re older, though. It contains good ideas for every generation. For example, we all need to have more concern for the environment. One way to accomplish this is by planting more native and carbon capturing plants. There’s also more interest in pollinators, especially bees and butterflies.
You can attract pollinators to your landscape with plants that these creatures require, such as bee balm, asters, goldenrod and, of course, milkweed. Milkweed is the only food for monarch butterfly caterpillars. Butterflies have long probisci and hummingbirds’ long bills, so they like deep, bell-shaped flowers to allow them better access to the nectar that is an important source of nourishment for them. These are easy for bees to access, too. While feeding on the nectar, these pollinators emerge covered with pollen that they carry to other plants.
Due to the growth in urban (and urban style) living, container gardening increased 200 percent last year. According to the report, the United Nations projects that 89 percent of the population will live in cities by 2050. Urban landscapes are usually on small lots in cities, but they can also be small space landscapes in the suburbs. The people who design these landscapes use creative means to maximize the number of plants they can grow in the allotted space. The report predicts much of the growth in containers will be hanging containers. This is one way to conserve space. Others include vertical gardens, green walls and green fences.
Another trend is what the report refers to as dark goth gardens, interest in which is growing on social media. It’s identified by eerie plants, pottery and statuary, and by plants left in place when they whither and fade. The result is an untidy look. There’s even an increased interest in cemeteries and what’s living there (plant material). But we’ve had this interest for years at Rochester’s Mount Hope cemetery.
A new term coined in the report is Hortifuturism. It appears to be the fusing of horticulture and science-fiction. It’s identified by bright, bold, vibrant colors and sci-fi movie style. The report anticipates more terrariums, survivalist and night gardens, neon-colored plants and foliage with bright variegation.
Each year’s report announces a color of the year. In 2024 it’ll be Cyberlime. The report says this punchy, vivid, hyper-bright color forms a powerful connection between nature and technology and can be matched with many other colors.
There you have it. The reader’s digest version of the 2024 Garden Media Group trends report. If you’d like to develop any of these ideas for your landscape, our landscape designers will be happy to provide professional assistance.
