Being in the know on gardening trends can help field customer inquiries and increase sales. Last year saw quite a few garden trends emerge, from designer pots to grouped potted containers, garden rooms to urban chic garden hard-scape, from drought-proof massed garden beds to rain gardens. People wanted their individual stamp on their gardens, with minimal upkeep and maximum output. ‘Holistic,’ ‘sustainable' and ‘organic’ entered their vocabularies and became ‘de rigueur.”

This year we can expect these trends to develop and take on new lives of their own. Visit our Feature Websites for a more definitive look at the new trends. The information sometimes looks contradictory, try to see what is driving the trend (my take is that it is a desire for an elegant, finished look with minimal input and imprint on the environment), to get a better grasp for what will be the must-haves in your regions. Enjoy your surfing; what you will gain is a greater understanding of what your customer will be looking for this spring.