MINNEAPOLIS — If you’re looking for a little inspiration as you’re dreaming of next year’s garden we have the answer from the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society. The top 10 garden trends for 2024.
- Consider the environment. Expect movements like leave the leaves, No mow May, converting lawn to meadow or prairies, planting with natives and avoiding the use of peat moss are all good examples you’ll notice more this year than in years past.
- Grow your own fruit. Fruit is often lower maintenance than growing veggies. Traditional raspberries, apples, or pears are a great option but you can also experiment with some fun edibles like peaches, hardy kiwi, blueberries, or cherries for example!
- Decorate with houseplants. Less stuff, more plants. That seems like a good motto to me. Sansevieria, spider plants, pothos and dracaenas are easy to grow and thrive in almost any indoor environment.
- Certify your garden. There are many ecological certification programs for home gardeners that draw attention to pollinator-friendly landscaping and monarch butterfly waystations. Give yourself some credit!
- Use less resources. Choose drought-tolerant species so you can water less or make a rain garden to capture heavy rainfall on your property.
- Say goodbye to boxwood. These high-maintenance hedges are out. There are some blight-resistant varieties or pick a different evergreen that is less prone to disease.
- Plant more grasses and sedges. Highly under-utilized in the home garden, grasses and sedges provide habitat, texture and sound to the garden that blooming perennials just cannot.
- Plant more hydrangeas. Who doesn’t love them? These favorites aren’t going out of style any time soon.
- Bring in the tropics. Have some fun with a tropical twist to your garden. Elephant ears, bold begonias, cannas and hibiscus offer a taste of the tropics. Bring one home to your garden!
- Plant for pollinators! Native plants are always best. So many of our favorites include Mountain Mint, Pasque Flower, and No Area. And don’t forget to add some bee hotels. Leaving some bare spots for ground nesting bumblebees is another fantastic idea.
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