There have been a lot of garden and plant related trends over the years. Some are promoted through marketing, with industry giants hoping to recoup investments or to simply sell more. Others come from middle”men” (and women) looking for clout (and clients) with branding efforts. There have been clever individuals seeking to become tastemakers, and influencers. While still others are simply grassroot efforts that have been pushed by everyday folks, as in, we, the people. Obviously, this interconnected network feeds itself and our conversations help to keep this going, while we watch carefully to see what consumers and what communities around the country do.
As dirty as I made this system sound—and as cynical as I am—this is life in any industry and I’m ready to dive in. I’ve spent the last few weeks combing through lists online from a wide variety of places. I made a spreadsheet. I counted what I saw the most, removed a few things I just don’t like or agree with. I’ve also added my own thoughts to the list below—with a touch of my signature humor.
Hope you enjoy and I’d like to have your thoughts in the comments about which trends you think will matter the most in 2026.
(Featured photo at the top of this post is Erigeron glaucus ‘Bountiful’. A great plant for those of us on the West Coast who care about naturescaping and pollinators.)
1: Mindfulness, Lemonading and Dialing Back
“Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.”
Marcus Aurelius
This is the year where we crash to earth and deal with the reality around us. Families and communities are divided, no one is sure what chaos will come from DC next. Make lemons out of lemonade, edit your pandemic projects, and become mindful every moment of every day of the precious and delicate nature of things like liberty, freedom, and democracy.
Dial back and take care of yourself.
2: Gardening for Cut Flowers
“I must have flowers, always, and always.”
Claude Monet
Put a flower on it. Put a flower on it alllllllll. I’m skipping the growing part of this trend, and instead will buy the efforts grown by others.
I love this trend because I will find arranging flowers very relaxing this year. Flower farming is Queen so why not join in and enjoy by planting a few rebloomers of our own.
During my time in the horticulture program at Clackamas Community College the local cut flower trend was more than just that. Around here, in the PNW, it’s definitely part of a lifestyle, and I’m fairly certain it’s as popular in other regions.
For many years I’ve followed the work of Deborah Prinzing with the Slow Flowers Society. The popularity of Floret is also another clue to this trend. Whether you let your garden run wild like me, or you plant your plants in rows for your floral harvests, do what makes you happy.
(The above photo is of a mug bouquet created by Baldassare Mineo at his Italo Gardens in Medford, Oregon. He harvests from his garden nearly year round and sells these arrangements on Saturdays when his garden is open.)
3: Specimen Plants
“A beautiful plant is like having a friend around the house.”
Beth Ditto
Our garden spaces are shrinking. The average American yard has shrunk by about 26% since the 70s. Many people have tiny plots and patios. Not a lot of room to grow in, so what is a gardener to do when they lack space? Collect and grow some perfect specimen plants in containers.
Enjoy the act of their care, focus on hardy plants, and give them all you’ve got in terms of being as creative as possible. Growing this way is a wonderful horticultural challenge. I’m working harder at it, and I’m finding it rewarding.
I think container arrangements like the one below, and container gardening in general, will also see a resurgence in the years ahead. It’s always nice to be able to move the various bits and pieces around too.
4: Patio Culture with Fragrant Plants
“Smell is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and all the years we have lived.”
Helen Keller
Smaller spaces with room to entertain our family and friends, as well as to relax and be present in our lives, means more compact design and a simplification of what matters. I loved that several sources are emphasizing the importance of fragrance near these spaces. It’s something I plan to work harder on incorporating this year since I’m known to shove my face into any flower to see if it holds a scent for me.
Make these spaces with love, and gather with an open heart there.
5: Compact Fruit Shrubs and Trees for Smaller Gardens
“The fruit of your own hard work is the sweetest.”
Deepika Padukone
Growing any food in your garden that’s cost effective and which makes your culinary life easier is always a good idea. As an accomplished home cook, I can think of few things I enjoy more than the ritual of planning and cooking a meal for friends and family.
New on the market are more compact options for folks with smaller spaces. I recommend trying them out. I say this as someone who will be doing the same this season so stay tuned. Smaller trees and fruit shrubs will be welcome in many gardens. I need to add a few berries back into mine.
6: Food in the Landscape: Foodscaping, Exquisite Edibles
“Growing your own food is like printing your own money.”
Ron Finley
Recently I had to give up my community garden plot since I no longer have the time or energy to care for it and it hurt my pride deeply. For years I’ve deeply enjoyed growing food, and it has long been one of the most wonderful gardening activities I’ve ever done, but for now, its time for me to support local farmers by participating in a CSA program.
What I will do instead is to incorporate more crops into my landscape, as I used to do here with my ex, and as of today, I’ve had an area cleaned up for a container garden in a very sunny area of the garden.
7: Naturescaping
“The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway.”
Michael Pollan
“My hope for what lies ahead in the field of landscape design—our own and that of the professionals—isn’t a revolution against the use of non-natives, but a resolution to educate ourselves about what has worked for Mother Nature through the ebb and flow of time and to put that knowledge to work in the planned landscapes that are everywhere a part of our lives.”
Lady Bird Johnson
I’ve been gardening ecologically ever since I planted my garden. My tiny space has long been my laboratory, and I’ve weaved native plants into it off and on for the last 2 decades. It’s a sustainable way to support pollinators, as well as to appease my own curiosity. I enjoy many natives for their ability to not need as many inputs—though that’s not always the case.
Naturescaping is gardening with local landscapes in mind. It’s creating native environments that will maximize biodiversity, providing habitat, food, and shelter for local creatures and insects. I do what I can, and if the trend is to have conversations about how to do this where you live, I think that’s wonderful.
Natives can live with exotics, and there are plenty of studies for you to discover on your own so as to make an informed decision about how you’d like to contribute to this improvement in landscape design in your own unique way.
Do what you need to do, and don’t let others have a larger say in what you do. Just make informed choices.
Since we are a cat family, I don’t garden to attract birds, and I am not purely a native plant grower. When I’ve worked with gardeners as a consultant, I’ve always insisted on the inclusion of a percentage of native plants in order to achieve some resilience and longevity. In my experience, I’m happy to say, everyone who has hired me has always wanted to lean into naturescapaing.
I think that’s lovely and was thrilled to see this becoming such a big trend in 2026.
8: More is More, Maximalism
“More isn’t just more. It’s a statement. It’s personality. It’s an electric jolt. Why blend in when you can burst onto the scene with something so unmistakable, so uniquely chaotic, that no one can ignore you?” Jay Sreekumar
In opposition to the minimalism of a few singularly stunning specimen plants, you can add layer upon layer, and make your space as stunningly dramatic as possible. More IS more. Many of my favorite gardens are Maximalist and the one I’ve included here is Floramagoria, the former home of Craig and Larry. (Here’s a great blog post about it by my friend Gerhard.)
The key to success with these gardens is a keen eye and true curation. It’s not just about collecting “all the things”. It’s about making sense of the overwhelming amount of planty information.
While I love this style so much, it’s one I’ve struggled to emulate and have just ended up needing to toss again and again. I love that it’s become more of a trend though. I find it to be a very beautiful style when done well, and it can be masterfully artistic.
9: Hydrangeas
“A dead hydrangea is as intricate and lovely as one in bloom.”
Toni Morrison
The only plant seen over and over again on lists for trends this year is the Hydrangea. Having been part of the judging team at Far West last year for new plant introductions, I can assure you that the number of these being introduced and sold is kind of astonishing. Then again, they’re ever-present in interiors, at events, in photos, and they are simply unrivaled in many ways.
While these have always died of thirst in my garden, I’ve long wanted a good one in my life, one to provide me with big blooms. Each summer I seem to go in search of them for arrangements for dinners, and I always tell myself that I’ll plant one eventually (again).
10: Ferns
“Only spread a fern-frond over a man’s head and worldly cares are cast out, and freedom and beauty and peace come in.”
John Muir
When it comes to ferns, I’m more than just a fan. Ferns have been one of my favorites groups of plants since childhood. My first job as a kid was helping to cut back Mom’s western swordferns all over her acre-sized estate-like garden. It’s the plant that was a gateway to ethnobotanical interests as a teen, and one that was a gentle nudge into my interest then to better understand ecosystems, ecology, and the wild environment.
I didn’t know them as Polystichum munitum until years later, but it’s what I call them now. I think about that a lot at Little Prince where I’ve been the grower tending to the ferns. So this might not be the trend you saw coming, but ferns will help us to be present, to make lemonade out of our lemons, and they go well with cut flowers, as polite ground covers in spaces of all sizes, they can be specimen plants, and ferns fulfill so many other gaps between trends.
Not my best sales effort, but it was worth a shot. 🙂
So keep ferns in mind when you’re out and about shopping this year.
And lastly, I’d like to add a big thank you to everyone who commented last week on my NW Flower and Garden Festival post. These folks will receive a free pair of electronic tickets: Pilar Hernandez, Heidi Roycroft, secretlykawaii45c556c23b and Bryon Jones
Ann Loves Plants 
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