January 27, 2025

PHS shares 2025 gardening trends

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) highlights emerging trends that span floral, landscape and ornamental design, as well as houseplants and vegetable gardening.

4 minute read

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) highlights emerging trends that span floral, landscape and ornamental design, as well as houseplants and vegetable gardening. Gardeners nationwide can look to PHS for inspiration and expert guidance in the year ahead and see many of these trends in practice at the Flower Show taking place March 1-9, 2025. 

“These 2025 gardening trends aggregate a mix of ideas and approaches stemming from our observations attending professional conferences, exhibitions, visiting countless personal and public gardens, and conversations with horticultural professionals,” said PHS vice president of horticulture, Andrew Bunting.

“They are a fantastic reflection of what gardeners are focusing on right now, and the direction the industry at large is headed. From professionals to the beginner gardener, these trends offer inspiration and education that everyone can take something away from,” he said.  

This list of top 10 trends provides gardeners of all experience levels with inspiration, education and exploration in the garden. 

 Top 10 gardening trends of 2025 

  1. Tropical foliage 
Incorporating plants with great foliage is a simple way to create long-lasting ornament in a home garden, stoop garden, containers or window boxes. With the introduction of new annual and tropical foliage plants, there are more options than ever to create a great accent in the summer garden, adding unique color and seasonal flair.

Plant options: Colocasia, elephant ears (‘Pharaohs Mask’, ‘Redemption’, ‘Royal Hawaiian Waikiki’); coleus (‘Talavera Sienna’, ‘ChargedUp Campfire’); caladium; and begonia.

  1. Influencing the garden  
Garden influencers are taking social media by storm, sharing exciting, educational content on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube. Videos inspire gardeners with creative tips while organizations like PHS offers expert advice through gardening “How-Tos,” demonstrations, plant recommendations and more to help gardeners cultivate their green thumb.

  1. Bringing Nature Home
Inspired by Doug Tallamy’s influential book of the same name, this trend emphasizes climate-friendly, ecologically diverse, home gardening that anyone can implement. With climate change and its effects becoming increasingly prominent, gardeners around the world are turning to approaches that preserve, protect and restore local ecosystems through incorporating native and pollinator plant species, and adopting climate-friendly maintenance strategies. 

Resources such as The PHS Gardeners Blog, and PHS’s educational programming are great places to start this education journey and discover new approaches and inspiration in gardening. 

  1. Gardens under glass
Creating gardens under glass is making a comeback among houseplant enthusiasts. Ranging from simple terrariums to large-scale greenhouses, the interest in gardening using a glass environment has boomed. 

Plant Options: Begonia, gesneriads, ferns, Selaginella (spikemoss), Fittonia (nerveplant), Peperomia, Pilea 

  1. On the Wall
Living, “green” walls and vertical gardens are popping up as both outdoor and indoor installations. Green walls are especially popular in office buildings and other public spaces, and many incorporate amazing displays of tropical plants. 

Plant options:

  • Outdoor green walls: sedum, Heuchera, hens and chicks, sedges, Liriope
  • Indoor green walls: Bromeliads, tropical ferns, pothos, kalanchoe, Philodendron, and Monstera

  1. Photos of a Designing with Natives arrangement workshop led by Leah Blanton and held at the Manayunk Pop Up Garden on June 26, 2024.

    Photo from a Designing with Natives arrangement workshop led by Leah Blanton and held at the Manayunk Pop Up Garden on June 26, 2024.

    Urban Gardening

Gardening is no longer thought of as a suburban or rural activity. Urban gardening is flourishing as city-dwellers transform small spaces—courtyards, stoops, window boxes, and containers—into vibrant gardens. Community gardens — where people join a shared public gardening space, are also booming, offering access to fresh food, cultural preservation, and shared joy. Meanwhile, efforts to plant fruit trees and expand street tree canopies through community-led stewardship are bringing greenery, resilience, and health benefits to urban neighborhoods across the U.S.

  1. Horticulture as Therapy
Gardening is gaining recognition as a powerful tool for wellness, with research showing its benefits for mental health and overall well-being. As awareness of mental health grows, hospitals and healthcare systems are increasingly using horticulture for healing.

  • Water-wise Gardening
As droughts and climate change impact more regions, water-wise gardening is gaining traction worldwide, even in parts of the world that are not known for being extremely arid. For home gardeners feeling frustrated with the constant maintenance of watering and keeping their gardens thriving in increasingly dry climates, waterwise gardening offers a solution. 

Plant options:  Cacti, succulents, ornamental grasses

  1. The Houseplant Phenomenon
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, houseplants have become a global obsession, making gardening accessible for anyone, regardless of space. From homes to offices, houseplants bring beauty and wellness indoors. 

Plant options:  Aroids such as Anthurium, Philodendron, Monstera; Sansevieria snake plant; Ficus shivereana; Hoya 

  1. Photos from the August Farmstand with Love Where You Live in Nicetown-Tioga at the Nicetown Park, on August 17, 2024.

    Photos from the August Farmstand with Love Where You Live in Nicetown-Tioga at the Nicetown Park, on August 17, 2024.

     Backyard Fruit

Growing fruit is gaining popularity alongside vegetable gardening, appealing to both professionals and hobbyists. Many gardeners are incorporating fruit trees to combine delicious harvests with garden beauty.

Plant options:  Diospyros kaki, Asian persimmon; Diospyros virginiana, American persimmon; Asimina triloba, ‘paw paw’; Amelanchier canadensis, serviceberry; Pomegranates, which were once thought to be a subtropical or Mediterranean tree, are now hardy and fruit producing in USDA zone 7.

Please visit PHSonline.org. 

Photos courtesy of PHS.

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