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Here are the landscape trends for 2016 from Monrovia. The perennial, shrub and ornamental grower shares not only color trends, but also trends in plant sizes, shapes and textures, as well as technology that’s making a difference for homeowners who like to garden. Take a look at these trends to see how they might impact your landscape business this spring.
1. Grow to give.
Technology enables gardeners to share their bounties or reap the rewards of others who are willing to share. Apps, such as ripenear.me allow gardeners to interact one-on-one with others in order to give away extra fruits and vegetables. Other organizations, such as Nextdoor.com, AmpleHarvest.org and Sharing the Bounty connect home gardeners with extra produce to their local neighborhood food banks. Friends with Flowers is leading the movement to transform flowers gleaned from neighborhood gardens into arrangements for local hospices. Homeowners are also sharing seeds via Seed Libraries.
Read more: Identify Plants With New Mobile App via American Nurseryman Magazine
2. All white.
The clearest color trend is a more toned-down palette with a focus on calm and harmony, particularly shades of white from crisp to showy, ivory to “dirty whites.” Colors in the garden continue to mirror those that are hot in the home as a result of the here-to-stay trend of the inside-out lifestyle, and at least four of the major consumer paint companies selected shades of white as their top 2016 colors. Clean, fresh, optimistic. Not far behind white will be blue, which Monrovia saw huge demand for beginning in 2015, and isn’t a bad pairing with white.
Read more: 2016 Pantone Colors of the Year Go Soft
3. Granny gardens.
Nostalgia plants in delicate blush tones and pale shades that conjure up earlier garden eras—foxgloves, begonias, peonies, gardenias, camellias, hostas, sweet peas, alliums, heavily-fragranced rambling roses, Japanese anemonies and Pachysandra are flying off of nursery shelves even as interest in the polar-opposite plant group of succulents continue to zoom. Fueling this trend is part two of the edible gardening wave of the last decade, adding old-fashioned flowers to food crops and lush locally-grown bouquets of romantic florals that are popping up from Pinterest posts to TV weddings.
Read more: New Plants for 2016 via American Nurseryman
4. Lighting innovations.
Reports from Houzz and the American Association of Landscape Architects confirm the surge of interest in upgrading outdoor lighting to enhance the garden experience. New innovations, such as brighter and more efficient LED bulbs, the convenience of lighting systems controlled by mobile apps and the trend toward larger and more individualized outdoor spaces are spurring sales of outdoor lighting.
Read more: LED Grabs the Spotlight
5. Mini me.
Space-saving containers encourage gardeners to embrace compact and dwarf versions of beloved plants. These include dwarf boxwoods, weigela, and compact hydrangeas and shrub roses are on the horizon.
Read more: Containers Enhancing Landscape Design
6. Shaped up.
The geometric shape trend is holding steady. What has changed is the expansion beyond sculpted plants, such as sheared topiaries to garden beds in geometric forms with plenty of right angles.
Read more: Directional Landscape Design
7. Flowers having fashion moments.
The rise of Pinterest and Instagram has created deep demand for name-in-lights, cover-story worthy, 10k “likes” plants notable for their supersized assets: bigger and bolder blooms, blooms that come on two or three times a year, flowers that are multi-colored, shrubs with colorful stems or unique and interesting foliage and super fragrance.
Keep Reading: The 8 Hottest Garden Trends of 2016
