Plants, gardening, horticulture and even botany are on trend. It’s an exciting time to be part of this growing fashion. Jean Vernon shares five new plant trends coming your way.
Biomes
This was an exhibit in the Great Pavilion at RHS Chelsea 2022. The BIOMES display was created to reimagining the way that we experience plants in our home. So many people have discovered the beauty, versatility and decorative benefits of houseplants in our homes. Terrariums and bottle gardens have been launched into orbit and transformed into indoor ecosystems to thrive inside our homes. You can recreate an environmental niche with specially automated climate controlled units that control temperature, airflow and humidity to keep your plants healthy and handsome. Growtropicals.com
Carnivorous plants
I can’t think of a better way to get kids and teenagers interested in plants. Introduce them to a plant that eats meat: A carnivorous plant. But these beauties aren’t just for the youngsters. There’s a growing following, pardon the pun and actually these plants can be employed as quite efficient, chemical free ‘pest’ control, especially in the greenhouse, conservatory or house where flies can be a summer problem. The plants are quite alienesque in appearance and attract and then capture mostly flies in their ghoulish traps, where they are very slowly digested into plant food that can be absorbed by the plant to fuel growth activity. There are several specialists that sell plants mail order or pay a visit to the major flower shows and you are bound to find a little shop of plant horrors lurking in the plant marquee.
Succulents
The great thing about succulents is that some can be grown as indoor plants but enjoyed outside in the summer garden. Many are half-hardy which means that they need winter protection from the frost, but there are also many other types that are winter hardy and can be grown as garden plants. The popularity of these fascinating, fleshy leaved plants is growing. They are fascinating to children, teenagers and houseplant fans and are the perfect bridge between growing houseplants and getting interested in gardening.
Cut Flowers
One of the lovely things about having a garden is sharing its bounty. You might think that I mean herbs, fruit and vegetables and of course these are lovely things to share. But actually I mean flowers from the garden. A little posy picked from your plot, right up to a fabulous homegrown display. We can spend a fortune of sending a birthday bouquet, but imagine picking one from your garden. You’d be surprised how easy it is to make a beautiful handpicked gift and there are so many things you can grow. Start small but sowing and growing a few things from seed, it’s the most cost effective way to fill your garden. Add a row of flowers to the veg patch, plant an extra row of bulbs or some flower filled perennials and start picking. Plus of course you can bring them indoors to fill your home with cut flowers.
Nature
These days hopefully you don’t get labeled a tree-hugger or bunny-hugger when you express a love of nature. In fact, nature, wildlife and the environment are hot topics, in focus and on trend. That’s great news because they need all the help that they can get. Sharing the wonder of the natural world with the youngsters is very rewarding, it’s so important that we educate and inform and drag them out into the wonders of nature. Sometimes it’s hard to get started, so look out for family events locally to you where they can see nature at its best and speak to experts and enthusiasts. Or make a nature table for them, collecting leaves and twigs and feathers and items when you take a walk outside. Help them make a display and share it with their friends and other family. Ask them to gather new facts and figures about the things that they collect, take photos and make it into a family project.
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