Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
10th January 2026
Make Lemonade
Gardening trends for 2026 have been predicted in a Garden Media Group trends report. It all makes me cringe a bit as I am not really a fan – or even believer – in trends, as most of them seem to be devised by people in an office, where the pen is mightier than the spade.
But, I thought I’d share them anyway.
The buzzword in gardening for 2026 is ‘lemonading’. In the report, ‘lemonading’ is described as ‘gardening with resilience, creativity and optimism’. It’s about celebrating unexpected outcomes (or cock ups, as we call them) instead of trying to control every detail. Apparently, ‘lemonading’ equates to asking ‘What can I do now?’ when things go wrong. It also involves being enthused by a wilting plant, a patch of weeds and a buddleia growing in the paving as they all give you a chance to ‘try something else’.
The report describes it as, ‘treating mistakes as experiments and letting your garden evolve with personality’ (sharing this sees me trying to curb my personality!).
Apparently it is our younger gardeners that are driving this trend forward as they embrace what they call ‘chaos gardening’. It involves things like scattering a handful of seeds ‘willy-nilly’, to see what comes up, and letting moss and clover crowd out the grass in lawned areas.
Interestingly, I may have been ahead of the curve here as a couple of years ago I shared the fact that I mixed up lots of different seeds from old unopened seed packets and sowed them in raised bed to see what would emerge. It was a ‘mild success’ in so far as I had an interesting display and some unexpected food, but it was born out of hating waste not wanting to set a trend.
‘Chaos gardening’ also describes the trend toward more relaxed gardens requiring minimum maintenance. Now I am definitely not a fan of that, as even the most casual looking garden requires a fair amount of maintenance to look ‘unkempt’. There is a very fine line between low maintenance and neglect, and sadly there is a tendency to use the former to describe the latter.
Design and Bark-itecture
Design-wise, the Garden Trend Report also predicts increased interest in Bento Box Design and ‘bark-itecture’. (Monty Don missed out on that pun with his dog-friendly Chelsea Show garden last year). Known as the Botanical Bento concept, this theme follows the principles of a Japanese bento box, and involves incorporating decorative landscaping elements, such as low walls, hedges, pergolas, or paving, to create distinct zones. These zones, or ‘rooms’, offer a different theme, function and aesthetic options.
I just want to whisper quietly – ‘it’s been done’. In my years as a garden designer a lot of ‘my’ gardens were laid out in this way. It makes a garden feel bigger, and provides individual areas for a greater usage. Everyone gets to have their own favourite space and it means your clients can agree to disagree.
Berry Good, Honey
In other gardening trends, The Royal Horticultural Society are predicting less flower-power and more table-top vegetables, as people try to ease the cost of living crisis. I don’t want to be a party pooper, but I always recall Stephen Fry telling me that when he first started growing tomatoes, due to the set up costs (and a lack of experience), each one cost him over a fiver.
As well as tomatoes, popular choices will include table-top chillies, compact aubergines, hanging basket cucumbers and even 50cm grape vines.
Blueberries were a big hit in 2025, due to how easy they are to grow, and their guise as a superfood. However, there is a new berry on the block – the honeyberry. Also called edible honeysuckle or blue honeysuckle the fruit looks like elongated blueberries, but are even easier to care for, don’t need much attention and are described as the new superfruit.
In and Out Plants
Not surprisingly, gardeners are also predicted to keep leaning toward plants that will tolerate the extreme weather conditions we have, be it drought or flooding. Echinacea, salvia, verbena, hostas, sedums, achillea and ornamental grasses will be amongst the ‘go-to’s but roses and bulbs top this list with bulbs being layered. I have always layered bulbs in pots and containers but not thought about doing the same in beds and borders – and of course I missed a trick not naming it, as it is now called Lasagne Planting.
Our menopausal weather will mean that some indoor plants will tolerate being outdoors in our warmer, drier summers. This also has a name – ‘In and Out plants’. Indoor varieties such as spider plants and tradescantia will be used more and more in outdoor summer bedding displays. Lantana, native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa and therefore a popular house plant in the UK, flowered prolifically at RHS Garden Wisley last year meaning it – along with more delicate salvia hybrids – have the potential to become outdoor plants.
How to Suc-seed
Thankfully, nature-friendly gardening continues to increase in popularity, inspiring the RHS to launch its year-long Bringing Nature Home campaign this year, and which will champion plants’ benefits for wildlife, especially pollinators.
A little more bizarrely, the RHS are also predicting that 2026 will be the year of the tomato as hot dry summers make the fruit easier to grow. Seed sales soared last year and are expected to continue to do so this year. And yes, botanically its, a fruit (specifically a berry) because it develops from a flower’s ovary and contains seeds, although due to the way it is used, it is widely thought to be a vegetable.
Seed companies and growers have also been looking into their crystal balls, with Farmer Gracy predicting the biggest change in gardening will actually be the gardener’s mindset, with 2026 gardening being about purposeful planting and making the most of every space – for people and wildlife.
A survey by Thompson & Morgan for 2025 revealed that roses remained top of the wish-list, lawns were re-imagined, and climate-smart planting will lead the way into 2026, with raised beds, water-saving methods and drought-tolerant planting being top priorities.
And also championing the tomato, Sutton Seeds offer new heavy cropping varieties as well as other new varieties of vegetables for 2026.
Water Good Idea
Garden storage is now another opportunity to encourage sustainability, as solar-powered garden sheds with rainwater harvesting systems become more accessible. As the cost of manufacturing drops, it is a clever way to water plants and power garden lights.
Last year’s drought has seen some gardeners experimenting with new ways to use water butts. Some are punching small holes in strategically placed butts to provide a slow release of water into the soil for natural storage and to free up capacity for the next rainfall.
And of course there are some hi-tech solutions too, with AI-enabled water butts that self-empty based on the weather forecast currently being trialled. If successful, expect to see them on the Gardening Trend List for 2027.
Leave a Reply