Goth gardens and horti-futurism join container and community gardens as trends for 2024

Our gardens are like the rooms in our homes. They change over time, often due to trends. And like home trends, garden trends can include looks that stay with us for years as well as looks that are fleeting.

Some of the biggest garden trends this year — and some that have been around for a while — are container, pollinator, and community gardening, according to Katie Dubow, president of Garden Media Group, a trendspotting firm that focuses on the garden industry.

“Every year we see more people growing in containers, and there is also a steady rise in pollinator gardens," she said. "And since the pandemic, younger people, the Gen Y and Gen Z, are really passionate about their community gardens. They’re interested in sustainability."

There are also new trends that aren’t as expected, such as goth gardens with dark plants and spooky statues, and “horti-futurism,” which give a sci-fi look with unique lighting and neon or metallic-colored plants.

Dubow said an interest in the occult, spurred mainly by TV programs, raised interest in goth gardens, while nighttime botanic garden exhibits such as Astra Lumina in places like Los Angeles, Seattle and New York are influencing gardeners to horti-futurism elements.

Goth gardens can include eerie elements

Jeanine Standard, media and public relations manager at Proven Winners, a DeKalb, Illinois, firm that provides plants for greenhouse growers, said the goth trend is one she’s seeing a lot of this spring.

“It’s a way to have fun with plants, show creativity and passion for gardening,” she said.

In this look, she said gardeners grow plants with mostly black, dark purple, bronze or scarlet flowers and foliage, often with silver or white plants between them to break up the darkness.

“Eerie elements can also be added to set the mood and add a little mystery in the garden," she said. "If they are going all-in, they might add some unique non-plant features like gravestones, broken fences, wrought iron or tiny gold lights. I’ve also seen light fixtures made from branches hung in trees.”

She said this look works well in a darker part of a garden, in smaller spaces and in pots.

“I’ve seen them under trees, in grassy patches…. You could do just a small section. It would be a little overwhelming to do a whole garden.”

Standard said some plants with black foliage that work well for the goth look are a sweet potato vine called Sweet Caroline Bewitched After Midnight, Dark Side of the Moon astilbe, and Rock ‘N Grow Back in Black sedum. Shrubs with dark purple foliage are Jazz Hands Bold loropetalum and Wine & Spirits weigelia.

Horti-futurism inspired by space and sci-fi

Jason Jandrew, chief product development officer at Ball Horticulture, a West Chicago, Illinois, firm that develops, breeds and distributes plants to growers, said horti-futurism focuses on sci-fi in the garden and has become more popular due to consumers’ interest in space.

“It’s a fun, whimsical look that creates modernism in the garden," he said. "It includes plants with bright variegation, silver hues and metallics in their foliage, and plants with interesting forms reminiscent of sci-fi-favorite movies and TV series."

He said this look can be used in an entire garden, in small areas, or in just one pot, and because many of the plants have interesting metallic foliage, accent lighting is often used to highlight them.

“They look especially nice at night. And when there is moonlight, you have your own natural spotlight in the garden," he said.

He said moon gardens, in which white plants are used for a dramatic look at night, are part of this trend.

Jandrew said plant options for a horti-futurism garden include the neon-colored Ocean Sunset Orange Glow delosperma; Night Sky petunia; Armeria Dreameria, which has a unique alien shape; Silver Falls dichondra in a silver color; and Beacon White impatiens, which would fit in a moon garden.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Goth gardens and horti-futurism are among 2024 gardening trends