For starters, it’s going to be a great year in the garden as we let go of the pressure to be perfect and instead enjoy making our outdoor spaces work for us in the way we want.
These are some of the horticultural trends heading our way.
COFFEE COLORS
The Pantone Color of the Year 2025 is Mocha Mousse, a pale chocolate brown and coffee. In the garden this translates into relaxed earthy tones.
The RHS has helpfully published a list of plants that match this palette, including Digitalis parviflora ‘Milk Chocolate’, a small-flowered foxglove with bronze flower spiers, Carex ‘Milk Chocolate’, a warm-coloured sedge, and Geum’ Lisanne. ‘, a perennial plant with yellow petals and a brown calyx.
To the mix I would add the classic dahlia ‘Café-au-lait’ and chocolate cosmos.
MULTIPURPOSE GREENHOUSES
Hartley Botanic has identified a trend to divide greenhouses into different zones using partitions, allowing gardeners to have more control over growing conditions and adapt microclimates to specific groups of plants.
People are also increasingly creating separate areas in their greenhouses for a variety of activities, from growing plants to relaxing, dining, and entertaining friends and family.
Hot Topic: Think about using your greenhouse in an unconventional way
A TWIST TO THE TRADITIONAL
Reacting to the culture of instant consumption, gardeners are beginning to value good craftsmanship, which requires the ultimate luxury of time, whether it be handmade tiles or decorative stone carvings. But they are also adopting new materials and technologies.
For example, the Pathway Garden at RHS Chelsea 2025, which represents a homeless charity, is designed using only recycled materials, including a “mycelium wall” made from recycled waste from last year’s flower show.
RETRO FURNITURE
Rattan is gone, retro is in fashion. Having watched the 1956 film High Society starring Grace Kelly over Christmas, I’m convinced we all need more mid-century patio furniture in our lives.
Think white wicker pieces with dove gray cushions, or olive green sets with pink and white striped soft furnishings and a cloud of gardenia falling down a wall as a backdrop. Spend money on Adirondack chairs or look for stylish, affordable alternatives, like Ikea’s Skalboda armchair in polyester powder-coated steel, which comes in orange or black.
FOCUS ON THE GROUND
There is a growing awareness that soil health is important. Instead of using harsh chemicals, we are starting to realize that, just as a healthy gut is vital to our own well-being, we need to start from scratch when it comes to our gardens.
We can do this by embracing no-dig gardening, making our own compost to create a closed system, and adding sustainable mulch to our boundaries.