Gardening Trends of 2022

January 4th, 2022

   Will we stick with it?

Will all of those new COVID-induced gardeners stick with their new hobby in 2022?

   That’s the big question the gardening industry is wondering after some 18 million new gardeners took to the soil in 2020 as COVID forced people to stay at home.

   At least so far, the gardening boom is showing no sign of a let-up.

   Seeds and plants were in big demand (and short supply) for a second straight year in 2021, while 86 percent of gardeners said in an Axiom Marketing research study that they gardened as much or more in 2021 as in 2020.

   That jives with a broader McKinsey Global Institute “stickiness test” survey that claims that 75 percent of people will stick with “home nesting” in 2022, a category that includes gardening.

   Apparently, a lot of us like spending more time at home… and the activities that go with it.

   Here’s a closer look at what gardening trend-watchers see unfolding in 2022:

Who’s gardening and why?

   Research by the National Gardening Association finds that the biggest growth in gardening has come from Millennials (born roughly between 1981 and 1996), although there’s been disproportionate growth in two other groups not previously into gardening big-time – renters and people of color.

    “Men under 35 show the most significant increase,” says Katie Dubow, president of the Chester County-based Garden Media Group and author of its 2022 “From Crisis to Innovation” Garden Trends Report.

   She cites one study that showed “eight in 10 young people think gardening is ‘cool’ – and that more than half would rather go to a garden center than a nightclub.”

   David Wilson, a Lower Paxton Twp. horticulturist who’s marketing director for Overdevest Nurseries’ Garden Splendor line of plants, says that COVID and the resulting work-at-home boom has shifted where younger people want to live – and therefore how they garden.

   He says that pre-COVID, “young people wanted to populate urban and inner-city areas where the interest in gardening was very limited and confined to houseplants and plant culture in containers on decks and balconies. Now, because it has become acceptable by employers to allow folks to continue to work from home, the need for ‘more space’ and ‘getting away from the masses’ has fueled a strong movement out to the countryside and into suburbs.”

   He says that should translate into more and bigger in-ground gardens and even more demand for plants.

   “The vast majority of retailers that I’ve talked to reported continued strong returns last season,” Wilson says. “Most of them see this continuing into 2022… On the whole, it looks like maybe we are seeing the beginnings of a new wave of interest in gardening that will take over when all of us old Baby-Boomers ‘down-size’ and hang up the spades, rakes and shovels.”

Slimmer pickings, higher prices

   All of this new demand – combined with COVID- and supply-chain-related staffing, production, and shipping problems – will likely add up to both higher prices and tight inventory for plants and gardening products in 2022.

   Ted Ventre, owner of Hively Landscapes in Dover and a Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association board member, says there’s a “near crisis” in plant availability.

   He says tight supplies “have been brewing since the Great Recession that saw the demise of so many small nursery and propagation operations that supply the landscape industry.”

   COVID-related labor issues and the huge spike in demand accelerated the shortfall the past two years.

   “Unlike many materials that are in short supply,” Ventre said, “you can’t grow more plants simply by adding another production run. It takes five to 10 years to grow a three-inch-caliper tree.”

   He cites a recent poll by the National Association of Landscape Contractors that found 80 percent of landscapers either increased prices in 2021 or are planning to increase them in 2022 – mainly because of higher labor and materials costs.

   The plant industry also has been plagued in the past year with drought and other weather issues, shipping delays in hard goods, trouble acquiring pots, and 10- to 30-percent increases in plastic and fertilizer prices.

   The upshot? Gardeners will need patience, flexibility, and probably a higher budget in 2022. If you see the plant you really want, best to grab it rather than wait for it to go on sale later.

   “Everyone expects all of this to become worse before it becomes better,” says Ventre.

 What’s on the 2022 gardening radar?

   Axiom Marketing asked gardeners what specific new projects were in their plans for 2022.

Vegetable gardens remain high on the garden-plan list for 2022.

The top answers, in order, were: 1.) create a new vegetable garden; 2.) add new annual and perennial flowers; 3.) add more garden space in general; 4.) install plantings for pollinators; 5.) add new trees and shrubs; 6.) add new container plantings, and 7.) add new native plants.

   Curiously, younger gardeners are primarily interested in growing their own food and the family benefits of gardening, while older gardeners say they garden mainly to beautify the house and for the exercise.

   On the landscaping front, “I can sum it up in one word: pools,” says Ventre.

   He says his firm is booking jobs into 2023 already for “custom pools with unique shapes, surrounded by extensive outdoor living areas that typically include a pergola, pavilion, or even a complete pool house.”

   “Areas to cook, watch the game, and gather around a fire feature are increasingly considered ‘must-haves’ for these all-encompassing outdoor spaces,” Ventre says.   

Projects out front

   Garden Media Group’s Dubow says the front yard also looks to be a key target for 2022 improvements, especially since so many homes have been changing hands lately.

   Behind that suspicion: social-media mentions of “front yard” and “front porch” were up five-fold this year.

   “Curb appeal has been rising, but the front porch is the new destination,” Dubow says. “It’s like having a new room to enjoy, decorate, and plant.”

   Among the projects she foresees are painting shutters and front doors, adding window boxes and planters, adding front-porch curtains, and planting front-yard trees.

   Entertainment and privacy areas out back as well as kid-related yard projects such as trampolines and playhouses also are shaping up as popular, Dubow adds.

Cut flowers are shaping up as a hot trend in 2022.

Cut flowers

   Another trend thought to be tied to COVID is an increase in both growing and buying cut flowers.

   Bouquets and cut-flower sales have been on the upswing since COVID hit. The thinking is that they’re an inexpensive way to bring cheer home.

   2021 saw another 10 percent increase in cut-flower sales, according to the Produce Marketing Association.

   “As I’m out and about, I’ve heard many people gushing about their tall-growing dahlias and zinnias,” says local landscape designer Erica Shaffer. “I think having the luxury of cut flowers in the garden, for self-love or gifting, has a special place in the gardener’s heart. What a joy it is to create homegrown bouquets!” 

   “Throughout the country, boutique businesses are popping up selling old-fashioned and heirloom flowers,” adds Andrew Bunting, vice president of public horticulture for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, best known for running the Philadelphia Flower Show. “If you go to any farmer’s market, there undoubtedly will be many purveyors of great, homegrown cut flowers.”

   Shows like Netflix’s The Big Flower Fight, HBO’s Full Bloom, and lots of social-media floral-design videos are also helping to fuel the cut-flower interest, which is spilling over into cut-flower gardens in the yard.

Rock gardens and variations of them are becoming popular lately.

Water-wise gardening and “gravel gardens”

   Even though we had a wet late summer this year, Bunting sees more gardeners planting with an eye on the opposite side of our increasingly erratic weather equation.

   “With more and more unpredictable weather patterns and in many parts of the country increased episodes of drought, planting gardens that requires little water is  becoming increasingly popular,” he says.

   That’s translating into more use of succulents, sedum, hens and chicks, yucca, ornamental grasses and other drought-tough plants as well as installations of rock gardens and two variations on that theme: gravel gardens and crevice gardens.

   These two types of gardens use gravel as mulch and mini-outcroppings of rock to house collections of plants that do well with little water, little to no fertilizer, and sharply drained soil.

Lots of new houseplants have been showing up in home work spaces since COVID hit.

Even more houseplants

   Houseplants have been hot for several years now, but both Hershey Gardens conservatory habitats manager Jody Davey and Penn State Master Gardener state coordinator Nancy Knauss see them growing even more in 2022.

   Davey says that with so many people spending more time at home these days, “collecting plants and keeping them inside the home has once again come into vogue. This time around, the race is on to collect and grow houseplants and then photograph them in the most unique and interesting ways for social media.”

   She says plant-loving empty-nesters are converting children’s bedrooms into “jungle rooms” or “green rooms,” while others are repurposing weatherized sun porches, underused dining rooms, and even spare bathrooms into houseplant havens.

   Knauss also believes social media is driving a lot of the houseplant rebirth.

   “There are so many videos to watch about the hot new varieties and how to grow them,” she says. “Plus, you can order plants online.”

   Knauss adds that breeders are fueling the interest by introducing novel variations on tried-and-true favorites.

   Diane Blazek, executive director of the National Garden Bureau, says that the increase in people working at home is another houseplant-boom contributor.

   “If they are working at home, they want something green in their home office,” she says. 

Home-grown fruits

   Finally, the new interest in vegetable gardening apparently is spilling over into home fruit-growing, says PHS’s Bunting.

   Dwarf fruit trees, compact fruiting bushes, and less common species are particularly catching on.

“Growing fruit trees is no longer reserved for those with orchards,” Bunting says. “Even just a few fruit trees can produce hundreds of pieces of fruit for jams, jellies, cookies, ice cream, or simply eating as-is. Dwarf fruit trees come in many varieties including figs, mulberries, apples, and pears, and are ideal for growing with limited space.”