We have been looking at the latest garden trends of 2023 and thought we would share our findings to help inspire you to update your gardens and give them a bit of a makeover. The top 5 trends that we have encountered are:
- Use of resilient plants
- Growing your own fruit, veg or flowers
- Growing meadows/wildflowers instead of lawns
- Making the most of small spaces
- Sustainability
Use of resilient plants
Our seasons are beginning to be more and more intense. Very hot summers coupled with very wet winters and springs can make your garden look sad year round. To combat this, the use of drought and water resilient plants is becoming an important choice for us. Whilst there isn’t a huge variety of plants that will tolerate both, there are certainly plenty to choose from for a wide variety of tastes, such as:
- Rosa Rugosa – A tough, easy to grow rose available in a variety of shades of pink and white
- Geranium Rozanne – Small pretty blue flowers
- Galium Verum (lady’s bedstraw) – Tall fluffy yellow flowers
- Asphodeline Lutea (King’s Spear) – Long fragranced star like flowers
- Erodium Manescavi – Small magenta purple flowers
Take a look at this post by The Royal Horticultural Society for more information about plants for wet and dry soils.
Growing your own fruit, veg or flowers
Something that has certainly stuck around throughout the years after the pandemic is the desire to grow your own food. Allotments are still in high demand, so many have opted to use their gardens instead.
The great thing about growing your own food is knowing exactly how it is grown, what pesticides (if any) are used and they are always fresher and tastier than the supermarkets! What’s best is that you don’t need a huge amount of space either. Some plants such as strawberries can be grown in a tall, specifically made pot. Cherry tomatoes will happily grow in cheap, standard pots and beans and peas are vertical growers that just need some bamboo sticks to give them something to anchor onto.
Of course, if you’ve not got the time to put into a home allotment, you could always grow herbs. Hardy herbs like rosemary and lavender require very little maintenance.
Or, if you’re more of a flower person, you could grow your bouquets. Whether you are thinking of selling cut flowers at your local market, want to share your bouquets with your friends, family and/or neighbours, or simply want to create your own bouquets or centrepieces for your home, growing flowers is for everyone.
Further reading
Take a look at a few previous blog posts to learn more about growing fruit & veg in your garden:
Growing meadows/wildflowers instead of lawns
More and more people are reducing, or in some cases completely removing, grass lawns from their gardens and replacing them with meadows or plots of wildflowers instead. This creates a more cottage-like, cosy feel which is becoming more and more popular.
There are other reasons people are ditching grassy gardens including;
- Hosepipe bans are becoming more common. Long grasses and wildflowers don’t require as much water as short lawns as they retain moisture for longer.
- Cutting grass can be expensive. If you have a petrol or electric lawn mower, it can be expensive to mow the grass every week – especially if you have a large area to maintain.
- People want to be more eco-friendly and sustainable. More people are using native wildflowers to attract pollinators.
Making the most of small spaces
With housing markets and interest rates in a spot of uncertainty, many people have decided to stay put and make the most of what they currently have. So although some may have a small garden space, people are finding innovative ways to make it benefit them and their specific needs.
For example, you can grow some fruit or veg vertically via the use of planter boxes, containers, or even hanging baskets. If flowers are more your thing, you could trail plants over an arbour, a wall trellis, or over a pergola if you have one. Or, if you’re feeling really adventurous, you could try to make a living wall.
Sustainability
One of the biggest garden trends we have seen for 2023 is all about sustainability. There will always be more each of us can do to help make our gardens more eco-friendly and sustainable. A few things you could do are:
- Install a water butt. This is one of the best and quickest ways to make your garden more sustainable. Water butts are relatively cheap and very easy to install.
- Peat free gardening. Peat-based bagged compost will soon be banned in 2024, so now may be a good time to look for alternatives.
- Wildlife habitats. Installing insect houses, gabion planters and bee houses is on the increase to help keep our gardens pollinated.
- Buy fewer but better plants. Instead of buying many smaller flowers that bloom for a very short time, you could opt for plants that grow quickly, bloom for longer and that fill a space with next to no care, such as begonias.
We hope you found this post on top 5 garden trends of 2023 helpful. If you have any other tips, tricks or advice, please feel free to leave them in the comments below. We love hearing from you!
Want to keep up with all things Owatrol? Why not follow us on social media? You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest at @owatroluk or at the hashtag #owatroluk
About Owatrol Team
Our team are ready and willing to support you with your requirements whether it is protecting your newly laid deck or renovating a luxury yacht, whatever the application Owatrol has the solution you are looking for.
