These 2024 Gen Z Garden Trends Are Wild
Integrate vibrant, colorful, and eclectic design with these Zoomer-approved houseplant and garden ideas.
Thomas J. Story
We might be well into 2024, but plant trends continue to bubble up, and with them, new ideas for the planting season ahead. The latest must-plant for spring isn’t what you’d expect, either. Gen Z is leading the way with funky and eclectic garden choices that are both whimsical and wacky.
According to garden-industry trend spotter Katie Dubow of Garden Media Group, Zoomers are shaping the botanical shopping space with “nearly three-fourths (73%) willing to pay more and wait longer for sustainable products that are of better quality.” They are also more interested in unique pieces that have a story, as well as knowing where those pieces are from and who made them, being a generation more apt to share these details and integrate them into their own narrative online.
According to Garden Media Group’s annual trend report, there are five key themes that keep popping up in Gen Z’s pots and plots. From Technicolor garden accessories and unusually colored foliage to thematic gardens that might make some squeamish—this generation definitely has one of the most amusing and unique integrations of personality into the plant space that I’ve ever seen. With spring just around the corner, it’s go-time for planting, and we hope you find that one of these quirky plant possibilities will bring unexpected joy and creativity into your own garden.
1. Goth Gardens
With hundreds of thousands of social media posts using the hashtags #Gothgarden, #VictorianGardens, and #Halloweengardens, Gen Z is dancing with the darker side of horticulture—literally. With plant selections ranging from deep burgundy to almost black foliage, landscapes and patio pots have gotten significantly moodier over the past year and include nighttime theatrical touches like the up-lighting of trees and shrubs. When it comes to garden tourism, cemeteries are becoming a popular attraction with some memorial parks offering movies, yoga, and hort-therapy. These travels have then influenced the creation of memorial and grave gardens back home, inspired by the first modern cemeteries where gravestones doubled as planters.
Goth-Worthy Garden Accessories
Courtesy of West Elm
Courtesy of Uncommon Goods
Courtesy of Gardener’s Supply Company
Try the Trend with Sunset Plants
2. Sci-Fi in the Garden (AKA: “Hortifuturism”)
This is a futuristic trend that’s perfect for small spaces and houseplant collectors—think closed ecosystem terrariums, survivalist gardens, and moon gardens where oddity plants play center stage. It’s all about otherworldly botanicals with bright variegation, unusual succulents, exotic specimen plants, and star-flecked or silver-hued foliage. Take the look outdoors and illuminate your garden with neon lights or glowing orbs for a total cosmic experience.
Future-Fusion Garden Accessories
Courtesy of Anthropologie
Courtesy of Bed Bath & Beyond
Try the Trend with Sunset Plants
3. Bugs Are a Feature: The New Pollinator Garden
Insects have gone mainstream, with intricate and colorful beauties finding their way onto home decor and jewelry, and also being more welcomed in our gardens. In fact, the National Gardening Survey saw a 10% increase year-over-year in people planting for bees, butterflies, and birds. While Gen Z is no stranger to welcoming wildlife and wildflowers into their gardening, they’ve taken it one step further by integrating beneficial habitats into their plot planning. By incorporating choice native shrubs and evergreen grass-like plants, Zoomers are providing winter shelter for wildlife as well as insuring the spring and summer offerings of pollen and nectar.
Wildlife Habitat Garden Accessories
Courtesy of Amazon
Courtesy of Design Within Reach
Courtesy of Uncommon Goods
Try the Trend with Sunset Plants
- Platinum Beauty™ Lomandra
- EverColor® ‘Everest’ Carex
- Butterfly Candy™ Buddleia
- Diamond Spire® Gardenia
- DownHome Harvest® Bless Your Heart® Blueberry
4. Hanging Gardens
Small-space gardening interest continues to rise as the United Nations projects that 89% of people will be living in urban areas by 2050. Combined with an increased interest in container gardening, the Garden Media Group predicts demand will continue to trend upward. In fact, there was a 200% increase last year in households engaged in container gardening, and it is not just any containers that are predicted to grow in popularity—the focus is specifically on hanging gardens. When it comes to selecting the right plant for your hanging pot, choose botanicals with draping or cascading forms that require less maintenance and will naturally “spill” as their foliage grows.
Hanging Garden Accessories
Courtesy of Terrain
Courtesy of Urban Outfitters
Courtesy of Ballard Designs
Try the Trend with Sunset Plants
5. Color of the Year: Cyber Lime
A punchy near-neon color has entered the garden in 2024: This hyper-bright green is said to signify the powerful connection between nature and technology. This color should evoke creativity in the garden, brightening up dark corners and dull landscapes alike. Despite its vivid appearance, it’s quite versatile, working incredibly well within a plant palette of fuchsia, bright oranges, yellow, and shades of pink—not to mention it also plays center stage elegantly in neutral vessels like white and tan.
Bold Garden Accessories
Courtesy of Etsy
Courtesy of Revolve
Courtesy of Second Nature Garden Design
Try the Trend with Sunset Plants
- Heart Throb® Hydrangea
- White Wedding® Hydrangea
- ‘Lemon-Lime’ Nandina
- ‘Sunshine’ Ligustrum
- ‘Everillo’ Carex EverColor®
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