Garden trends for 2016

-"Slow flowers"-locally-grown flowers
-Locally grown food-farm to table in movement
-Urban parklets
-Increasing use of succulents and drought-tolerant plants
-increasing focus on foliage, especially plants displaying changing fall colors
-Greater appreciation of subtle colors, all white and one color gardens
-Gardening in containers with increasing use of edibles (including berries) & succulents
-More interest in treating pots as a small-scale landscape including terrariums, living walls,...
-Vertical gardening
-Layered, living landscapes with combinations as trees, shrubs, perennials & grasses as advocated by Doug Tallamy
-Natives species used increasingly used in landscape design for their form, foliage, flower and wildlife attracting qualities.
-Pollinator gardening
-Manageable maintenance with carefully chosen plants naturalistic, relaxed, loose planting style
-Sustainable features integrated with design for highly functioning landscapes responding to the topography and architecture with appropriate appealing plant choices in scale with the garden.
-Interest in increasing function of landscapes with plants that attract pollinators, urban homesteading, growing food, keeping chickens, beekeeping, vegetable beds, growing herbs, composting, harvesting rain,..
-Protection & conservation of resources
-Efforts to improve health of topsoil
-Makers lifestyle-engaging in hands-on projects
-Use of technology for help with plants
-NaTECHture to engage kids with gardening, health & fitness
-Welltality-focusing on the health benefits of plants
-Increased use organic lawn products and decreased use of potentially harmful garden chemicals for safety of pets, children, and environment
-Increasing use of firepits
-Painted arbors, fences & houses-dark green or dark blue instead of white, brown, or gray (following popularity of black houses & fences in Europe)
-Increased interest in lighting schemes such as colored lights for a holiday theme or favorite sports team colors to light up the landscape for a big game night.
-Gnomes