Mother Nature may not be quite cooperating yet, but if you’re like us, you’re looking forward to spring and summer and everything that comes with those season, including gardening. Looking for ideas to refresh or completely redo your garden this year? Here are eight trends experts expect to be very trendy this year.
Climate-Conscious Planting
Unless you have been living under a rock, you are probably aware of drought conditions throughout the western United States, including here in Utah. As such, many people are beginning to look for alternatives to more traditional landscaping that requires a lot of water. Replacing lawn with more eco-friendly alternatives is a very big trend right now. From low-water groundcovers to hardscaping, many are replacing lawns in all or part of their yards. In Utah, replacing your lawn can earn you some money. The Utah Water Savers program has rebate money for localscaping your yard or flipping your strip, but there are specific requirements you must follow to qualify, and rebate money may be limited. You can learn more about the programs and rebates on the Utah Water Savers website.
Natural Wildlife Habitats
As part of the focus on being eco-friendly, many gardeners will be creating spaces that are favorable to local wildlife. And, it starts in the same place as climate-conscious planting: by replacing lawn with other plants. Whether you want to make a space beneficial to and to attract butterflies, birds, beneficial insects, or bees, there are a variety of flowering perennials, native grasses, and trees that will invite wildlife into your space.
Cottage-Style Gardens
Cottage-style gardens came up repeatedly on lists of 2023 gardening trends. Cottage gardens feature colorful and fragrant flowers that are planted close together to create a sea of colorful blooms. They often include blooms with colors, textures, and scents you wouldn’t normally put together in an arrangement or planned garden, in part because cottage gardens don’t need to be carefully groomed or manicured like other garden types. Cottage gardens have also been known to feature elements such as bikes, wheelbarrows, sun dials, and other objects repurposed as planters.
New Victorian
Another popular type of gardening right now is New Victorian, which is similar in nature to cottage style (some designers call it an elevated version of the cottage garden). This look has a casual yet organized feel that highlights romantic beauty. Color palettes are typically more muted with pinks, purples, and whites, and the foliage leans more delicate. Roses, lilacs, hydrangeas, and hollyhocks are popular choices for a Victorian garden. White fences, gravel or brick pathways, benches, and birdbaths are also common in these spaces.
Going Vertical
For many people, getting a bigger space is not an option at this time, so they are looking for options to maximize their current space. In addition to maximizing smaller spaces, vertical planting can also create privacy from neighbors and make for beautiful backdrops for outdoor work-from-home spaces. All of this has made vertical gardening quite trendy. There are many options to maximize space with vertical planting, including arbors, trellises, pergolas, hanging boxes, planter boxes, fence shelving, pouches, other mounted containers, walls for training plants, and living walls.
Going Bold and Colorful
If you follow indoor trends, you know that bolder, more vibrant colors are very hot in 2023. Coming out of the pandemic, people are looking to brighten up spaces and make them cheerier with color. That extends to outdoor spaces, where people are throwing out rules and planting bold, colorful flowers they love and give them maximum enjoyment in their spaces. This extends to other areas of your yard, including patio furniture and hardscape elements such as pavers, tile on objects, and so forth.
Food Gardening
This trend is a carryover from the pandemic when people turned to food gardening to fill time at home, grow items that were hard to find in stores, save money, and eat more organically. In light of rising food prices, there is increased interest in food gardening this year. From herb gardens to vegetable gardens, food gardening will remain a popular option for gardeners in 2023.
Smart Gardening
Technology has been ingrained in pretty much everything we do in life, so why would gardening be any different. From online classes and webinars to social media groups to gardening apps, more and more gardeners are relying on technology to help them with everything from choosing plants that work well in their climates to creating overall plans for gardens. In Utah, the Utah State University Extension is a great online resource with an abundance of information on their website, online courses, and a Facebook group (Utah’s Gardening Experts) where experts answer questions and fellow gardeners share ideas.
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