2014 Garden Trends

The Garden Media Group says the following 12 trends will dominate during 2014.

1. Ground Up: Composting

2. Super Foods, Super Models: Edibles including hard to find specialty herbs and vegetables are being home-grown.

3. Drink Your Garden: Emphasis on leafy greens, garden fruit and strawberries to make your own home-grown smoothies.   Growing grains and grapes.

4. Dress Up Your Yard: There's a greater interest in expanding the living space to the outdoors with decorative elements such as pillows, throws, lanterns, tabletop fountains, garden art.  Social trends contributing to this include camping, lawn parties and barbeques.  Outdoor spaces reflect the personalities of the people living there. Hand-made plant pots.

5. Bee-neficials:  Sustaining environments that are bee-friendly is high in importance for the environment conscious individuals.  Planting flowers that will attract bees will be on the increase.  Following pollinator friendly practices.

6. Cultur-vating:   Bringing the world to your garden, growing plants, especially vegetables and herbs, that are not native.  Shopping at farmer's markets, buying local.

7. Simple Elegance: Monotone flower plantings. Mono-plants - singular varieties emphasis.

8. Frac’d Up: Geometric gardening, dimensional gardening, explosions of colour, architectural plants, native plantings.

9. Young Men Get Down and Dirty: Young men 18-34 are spending $100 more than the average gardener. Grilling, gardening, taking classes, getting out in nature.  Growing hops, making their own beer.  Shopping at local hardware stores.  Taking the kids outdoors and sharing nature.

10. Think Gardens:  More emphasis on indoor gardening, especially in commercial applications and in the workplace.  Indoor plants inspire productivity, reduce stress, and are vital to mental health.  More schools are developing garden spaces, outdoor classrooms.

11. Fingertip Gardens: From sharing gardens on blogs, Pinterest, etc. to apps that inform the gardener; gardening is going high-tech.  Also more emphasis on technology in the garden such as hydroponic gardening, solar lighting, SoLoMoCo: SOcial, LOcal, MObile & Commerce.

12. Tree-mendous Reversal:   Trees can increase property values by 3-10%.  A view with trees has been known to speed recovery from illness, businesses on tree-lined streets have better sales, trees reduce stress of mind and body, absorb noise and help clean the air.  Did you know 4,000,000 trees within an urban area disappear each year?  Plant a tree. 

The complete 2014 Garden Media Trends report is available for free download.