It's time to celebrate—the new year will be positively brimming with fresh outdoor plantspiration.
Deanna Kizis
The holiday lights are still up, and New Year’s has yet to arrive, but I feel it’s my duty to tell you what the garden and landscaping trends of 2023 are going to be tout de suite. After all, gardens don’t grow in a day, and winter is the best time to plan.
To find out exactly what we have to look forward to in the new year, I asked the plant nursery Monrovia and Yardzen, the online garden design company—and they delivered. Each year Monrovia conducts a gardening research study by surveying 1,400 homeowners with above-average household income. They also ask more than 100,000 email subscribers what plants, colors, and gardening themes they’re interested in every month. The result is a reliable predictor of trends.
Yardzen, meanwhile, gets their information straight from their clients, which means they can forecast trends according to what their customers are asking for in terms of garden design for the coming year.
So, without further ado, let’s raise our glasses to 2023, and all the amazing new garden looks ahead.
What’s Hot This Year
1 /9Miranda Estes
Sowing Sanity
In Monrovia’s most recent study, homeowners who strongly agree with the statements “Gardening is good for my mental health and well-being” and “Gardening helps me feel hopeful and positive” increased over last year. “At the beginning of the pandemic, gardening was more about freshening up the areas where we were spending more time,” says Katie Tamony, Monrovia CMO and trend spotter. “Now homeowners are maximizing and personalizing their outdoor space. Gardening, and just spending time in an outdoor space that you have created, relieves stress and makes us feel more positive.”
2 /9Chad Mellon
Maximal Materials
The Maximalist look is gaining steam outside, according to Kristin Swenson, the communications manager at Yardzen. “Customers are asking for more bold and playful decor details—think a pop of handmade tile on a patio or around the edge of a pool,” she says. The idea is to use a variety of tones, volume, and texture. If you do it right, the look will be intentional, but not overly messy.
3 /9Caitlin Atkinson
Abundance Abounds
The Garden of Abundance trend is all about making your garden a bit wild, more productive, and connected to the earth. Monrovia says it’s time to mix in edible plants with the rest of your landscape, rather than containing them in raised beds. “We’re seeing gardeners appreciating the ornamental beauty of edible plants and mixing them in with their other trees and shrubs,” says Tamony. “An abundant garden incorporates the usefulness of edible plants with the love of pollinator plants. It also includes providing a season-long habitat for birds.”
4 /9Daniel Collopy
Renovation Invitation
Let’s face it: For many of us, now is not the time to buy a house thanks to higher interest rates. “Next year, instead of moving, homeowners will invest in the home and yard they have—asking more of their indoor and outdoor spaces as they look ahead to several years at the same address,” Swenson says. This means smarter use of side yards; features like a pocket-sized fire pit or plunge pool are appetizing additions. To follow this trend, when considering renovations in 2023, focus on making your garden more comfortable and livable, rather than redoing a yard solely for curb appeal.
5 /9Reprinted by permission from Artisan Books
Bringing the Outside In
Here’s something fresh: Monrovia says that larger plants that are usually kept outside are being brought inside to create lush, relaxing living spaces. Meanwhile, the bringing-the-inside-out trend continues apace; people are investing in quality furnishings, fire pits, pizza ovens, and water features.
6 /9Caitlin Atkinson
Adieu to the Pricey ADU?
Prefabricated sheds like this one from Studio Shed in Boulder, Colorado, are getting more sophisticated and are more affordable than building your own ADU, according to Yardzen. “Prefabricated sheds are much more affordable than going the ADU route,” Swenson says, adding that their clients also want thoughtful landscaping to make their shed feel like part of the overall design of their property.
7 /9Jennifer Yakey-Ault/Getty Images
The New Victorians
“Blame it on Bridgerton,” says Tamony, referring to the Netflix series. Nostalgic plants like roses, lilac, hydrangea, and hollyhock are back. Think of this trend as an elevated version of a cottage garden. To make it work, the look is casual but not disorganized with a palette of pink, purple, and white, and pretty, delicate foliage. White fences, gravel or brick pathways, and birdbaths are also de rigeur.
8 /9Marion Brenner
Climate Challenge
Los Angeles County just upped the “cash for grass” rebates by almost 70 percent this month, and, according to Swenson, two suburbs in Denver recently banned lawns in new developments. (You can read about them here and here). Meanwhile, homeowners in the West want to proactively design for climate change by using low water and native plants and designing with fire safety or floods in mind.
9 /9Thomas J. Story
Casual Conversation
Yardzen is seeing more requests for stadium seating and built-in benches that feel informal, cozy, and maximize small spaces. The look is less traditional than a symmetrical seating area or outdoor living room with sofas and a coffee table. “I love how the style conveys a custom feel and yet is also unfussy,” Swenson says.