Gardening Trends

Here in Wisconsin we are finding ourselves with plenty of time to contemplate our upcoming gardening season over this long cold winter looking out over expanses of seemingly unending snow cover.
Some of the many garden trends recently identified to consider include:

Rob Zimmer, Post-Crescent media, our local NE Wisconsin garden news source

• orchid-color of the year
• "drink your own" garden-plant fruits and vegetables for smoothies and healthy drink & brewery gardens with hops, grains and herbs & grapes for wine
• pollinator garden
• growing berries in containers
• adding sparkle with beads
• vintage and recycled items in yard art

Garden Media's 2014 Garden Trends Report

•  "ground up"-composting
•  "super foods" (quinoa to dandelions) & "super models" (straw bales & keyhole gardens)
• "drink your garden"
• "dress up your yard" with personal stamps
• "bee-neficials"
• "cultur-vating"-growing the world in your gardens, mixing cultures and embracing what is local to your region
• "simple elegance"
• "frac'd out"-explosions of color in fractional shapes
• "young men get down and dirty"-young men 18-34 are spending $100 more than the average gardener
• "think gardens"-benefits of plant recognized as they show up in offices, schools & hospitals
• "fingertip gardens" mobile apps & technology
• "tremendous reversal"-losing more than 4 million trees a year, Americans are being asked to plant trees

2013 Residential Landscape Architecture Trends survey conducted by the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Outdoor Design Elements (Overall rating for 2013)-Percent Rating Popular or Somewhat Popular:

• Outdoor living spaces (kitchens, entertainment spaces) – 94.5%
• Gardens/landscaped spaces – 94.4%
• Outdoor recreation amenities (pools, spas, tennis courts) – 76.3%
• Sustainable design practices – 74.8%
• Vegetable/fruit gardens – 76.4%
• Turf lawns – 52.2%

Landscape/Garden Elements (Overall rating for 2013)-Percent Rating Popular or Somewhat Popular:

• Low maintenance landscapes – 93.9%
• Native plants – 86.6%
• Fountains/ornamental water features – 84.7%
• Food/Vegetable gardens (including orchards/vineyards etc.) – 82.7%
• Organic gardens – 65.3%
• Xeriscaping or dry gardens – 63.8%
• Ponds/streams – 58.3%
• Rain gardens – 58.2%
• Rooftop gardens – 50.4%
• Plant walls/vertical gardens – 47.9%

Better Home & Gardens Top Gardening Trends for 2013

• Fragrant flowers
• Variegated beauties
• Easy-to-please bulbs
• Mixed bouquets
• Mini homesteads
• Community gardens
• Heirloom seed saving
• Old-fashioned flowers
• Sharing our gardens
• Permeable pavers
• Personal herb garden
• Chicken-loving city folk
• Eat what you grow
• Huge hanging baskets 
• Sensory gardens
• Less grass-more flowers

Trends we've incorporated into our gardens 

and
trends I plan to experiment with in my gardening