A look at my predictions and ideas for UK garden and plants trends in 2022 – the must have plants we’ll be buying & growing, trending gardening styles, colour schemes, hard landscaping and ongoing sustainability and outdoor living themes we’ll enjoy. I look at how naturalistic planting will be a big garden trend, with people wanting to create stylish gardens, packed full of plants and personality that they can use for more of the year, moving away from straight lines and formal bedding. Plants with a long season of interest, from long-flowering perennials like Salvia ‘Amistad’ through to ornamental grasses and small trees like Eucalyptus and Cherry trees, with fantastic spring blossom, autumn colour and beautiful bark for winter interest will be key plants in creating this effect in small gardens.
I also think growing tropical style gardens and exotic plants are going to continue to be trendy in 2022 as more new gardeners look for planting styles that bring colour, fast-growing impact and a holiday feel. Some of the popular exotic plants are bound to be trending on a more mainstream level in 2022, with foliage plants like Tetranapanax papyrifer ‘Rex, Colocasia ‘Pink China’, Schefflera taiwaniana and variegated Fatsia japonica plants like ‘Spiders Web’ providing architectural interest and a definite tropical, exotic or jungle garden vibe to any UK garden. Trachycarpus hardy palms are also bound to be even more desired as more people realise how easy and tough these low-maintenance foliage plants with real impact are. I think these will be joined by bright and bold colours, as plants like Dahlias, Cannas and Petunias bring punchy summer colour, brightening up even small, roof or balcony gardens. Purple would be my pick for a trending colour, again Salvia ‘Amistad’ and other foliage plants bringing this rich and stylish colour to many planting schemes.
In terms of hard landscaping, stone and bold, chunky timber will be big, but this will be contrasted with more contemporary garden materials and structures like Corten steel, stainless steel water blades, modern water features, gabions and porcelain / vitrified garden paving tiles as more people invest in their outdoor spaces. I can also see the upcycling, recycling and DIY garden trends continuing to grow as more people reuse household items to create garden decorations, planters, seating, bars and screens.
Growing from seed will continue to grow in 2022 as more people find how rewarding and cost effective it can be for flowers & vegetables. From salad crops and tomatoes to flowers like Nasturtiums and Cosmos, there’s so many easy seeds to grow for gardening beginners. With sustainability issues and rising plant prices, growing from seed is definitely something to give a go in 2022! I can see more people including vegetable plants in ornamental or mixed borders from flower filled cottage gardens, to bold tropical style displays to make the most beautiful, productive gardens and borders possible.
Houseplants like the variegated Monstera ‘Thai Constellation’, Kentia palms, cacti and succulents will continue to be massively popular and I think we’ll see more of these appearing in gardens, whether creating container displays of spiky or colourful succulents like Mangave and cacti or working some exotic foliage into summer displays as the house plants go outside for their summer holiday. I think more of the glossy leaved evergreens like Schefflera, Fastsia japonica and ferns will allow people who’ve enjoyed growing stylish and green houseplants to recreate the same look outside with tough and undemanding plants for borders and pots.
Lastly, sustainability in the garden and wildlife gardening will be huge, as more people value the importance of using peat-free composts, reducing lawns and lawn care, organic gardening, plants for pollinators, providing food and habitats for bees, birds and the other wildlife that we share our spaces with (hopefully!).
Growing Tetrapanax: https://youtu.be/XL-8SrbEdpM
Growing Schefflera: https://youtu.be/NDyCzJIQr-I
Colocasia Pink China: https://youtu.be/I-X_oPCCO7Y
0:00 Intro
1:43 Naturalistic planting style, Salvia ‘Amistad’, ornamental grasses & small trees
9:43 Garden rooms, screens and using our gardens!
10:44 Tropical style garden plants – Tetrapanax, Colocasia ‘Pink China’ & Schefflera
15:16 Bold colours, Dahlias, Cannas, Petunias and Purple Plants!
16:47 Corten steel, stone, gabions, black fence paint & steel water blades
19:58 Growing from seed and vegetables in mixed ornamental gardens
21:05 Trendy houseplants – cacti, succulents & foliage in the garden
23:03 Tough, resilient Mediterranean plants, sustainability & wildlife gardening
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Thanks,
George
37 Comments
Polemonium / Jacob's ladder is another great one for purple with tropical fern like leaves
where is reddish yellow cosmos flower which see photo on your video bottom left
I can't wait for the days to get longer again so I can get back into the garden when it's not pitch black out! I have So Many Plans! I think your trends are spot-on. I also know you're right about not buying one of each, but having lots of the same plant in the garden for impact. I still went and bought a lot of individual plants, because gardening so easily becomes like a game of pokemon… XD. Solution is to buy a house with a bigger garden!
Another interesting video, George. I am afraid that I will spend 2022 continuing my trend of buying exotic palms, succulents etc. on impulse and then wonder where the hell to put them!
Anyone tried growing Washingtonia Robustas in UK? I have a small one on the go, and about 10 seeds doing ok, just a blade of grass each atm
Great video. Just bought some chamaedorea radicalis arborescent. Should be hardy enough for my 8a area here in Germany. Do you have experience on this plant or do you have it? Regards from a German follower 🙂
I have two cats, are Cactus a danger to them? Will they brush against them? Like Cactus but that thought puts me off
On the subject of hard working, very tough plants, I would recommend Polypodium cambricum and it’s cultivars. Happy in sun (once established) or shade, they at their best during the winter, coming into frond with the late summer/autumn rains and not going dormant until mid summer (some of the other species stay green until the new fronds start appearing).
I think some of the larger fronded clones (like Whitley Giant) look very tropical, especially if grown in hanging baskets or you can establish them on tree branches,
Interesting thoughts. I always enjoy this time of year reviewing what went well and what did not work out or opportunity to improve, enhance and change. Your video gave me something’s to think about trying. I look at gardening as an ongoing journey. You never arrive but instead strive to try new things and learn more. Look forward to seeing what you try in your garden on 2022
Great video George. Couldn’t agree with your predictions more…I ended up in an eBay bidding war for Colocasia Pink China last week…and lost!
Hi George. I think your predictions are solid choices. As you rightly say the last 2 years experiences have driven this. I suspect it's brought this trend forward a decade or so regards the appreciation of the outdoors. The changing climate also affects our planting options and unintentionally increases our more exotic options by default. Garden "rooms" I agree will be seen and appreciated much more.
Personally for me the goal is to keep zone-pushing in my own little insignificant way to see what can be done. Failure is inevitable along the way but hopefully with some success. Everyone's different, my taste is for clean lines but exotic planting mixing arid and lush foliage in well-groomed borders. I like it to look ship-shape at all times. Some people have a more relaxed vibe and that's cool for them. I like to chill also, when the works done. Then I can sit on my chair, surrounded by palmage, imagining myself at Robin's Nest waiting for my buddy Magnum to return home so we can enjoy a cold 🍺. Cheers mate. Video is a great one as always 👌
Hi George, Can you advise what is the best source for the tropical plants? For example, the tree ferns… ??? Thanx in advance.
The Jungle Garden Influencer!… George and Schefflera taiwaniana, personalities of the year… beside the Waggie of course!
"Combining plants to create your own patch of paradise" So true! And yes, it shows your personality… May be i could try
about yours…Wild, Powerful, Contrast, Harmony (I know its kind of antagonist…), Elegance… That's all for now!
Many, Eucalyptus seeds available on line. But I'm sure you know where to order some other small Eucalytus plants.
Happy trendy 2022! <3
Greater burdock has nice large leaves as can pumpkins. They look good as a ground cover. I thought I found a wild type Colocasia down on the road side during the summer, a stones throw from my house and got excited but after digging some up and examining the plant I found out it was greater burdock 😂 I am going to mix some into one of the beds though.
I have a colocasia plant in a pot, in the polytunnel but I’ve left the leaves on it… should I take them off? Prune it down to soil level? Leave it as is?
Love your enthusiasm!!! Love the plants in your garden – top of my wishlist is the schefflera ❤
Hi George great vid again and yes l also agree with your predictions and trends,sadly getting hold of China's,scheffs and similiar popular plants is goin be a challenge much like exotic style gardening,this is where splitting plants up and repeat planting really works….and it's free yippeee🤣last spring l bought 2 huge esculenta bulbs which did very well to the point they produced 5 good sized bulblets which are fetching daft money on the tinterweb ,my point being with a bit of patience and luck it doesn't take long to make a really decent display for not much money…..winner😋
Hi. Any idea Where is the best place to get some schefflera Taiwaniana from . Thanks
Evergreens are going to be huge this year 🤣👍🏻
Great video , thanks !
imagine how modern gardening will be seen and studied as history by those of the future.
lawns are falling out of fashion because they are using too much water.
Absolutely fantastic video George, I agree with so many of these points 👍 We painted all our boundary fences purple last year, it is such a great colour for enriching the green foliage. Keep it up 🌴🎥
Can you do a video of a garden tour? Like where you slowly walk around your garden, point to each plant, and name what it is? Or if you have a video like that, would you be able to reply with the link?
Another question!!! Any thoughts re begonia luxurians?? I live on the south coast (Portsmouth) so it's not too cold here…and will it tolerate a shady border? I have 2 fatsias already so wanted something different…just starting my (very small) tropical garden journey 🙂
Great video. Hopefully it’s going to be a great year!! Always inspiring especially when the weather is too cold to get my hands dirty.
Over 2k views in 2 days shows the quality an content of your videos, keep them coming an look forward to your next video. 👌👌👌👌 Thanks 🙏
Good info. beautiful palm tree. Enjoy gardening
Hi george going off topic but could do with some advice if you can help. I have lots of young schefflera alpinia in 7cm pots but the roots on them are really poor the plants look healthy above ground but wondered if i could do anything now to improve the roots and get them going? If you e any tips it would be much appreciated. Thanks
Great video. I firmly agree with your comments. I must be ahead of the game as I changed lots of my planting last year to purples and whites.
From palest of lilacs to the deepest purple of irises and salvia amistad and I have to say, it looked amazing. I like to have a clash in colours too so planted some bright orange cannas with the salvias – such a glorious clash
Hi George, lovely to see your video .You really inspire me.I've got a lot of plans for my garden. I have dug out another border and bought more shrubs to put in.Any advice on what to use as a border edging to keep the slate shale off the border please?
Interesting video George. Will we get to see more of your garden this year and work in progress on your projects?
Checking these off mentally as you speak
Salvia are beautiful, so many varieties and the bees love them
I like the decor in the back at 16:47, is it a rusted metal piece?
Great video, thank you for so many ideas!
Do I need to water my tree fern in the winter
You certainly have your finger on the pulse! Excellent predictions, especially the naturalistic style, the recycling and the mixing of food and ornamental. I really hope these things do catch on because formal gardens with plastic lawns and no flowers has had its day.