Gardening trends are a mixed bag – some seem to have made deep roots, like rewilding (making gardens more biodiverse), while others have been resigned to the garden waste bin, like “No Mow May”, which has seen a -33% decline in searches year-on-year.
Now we’re in the thick of winter, patiently waiting for spring to return to our gardens, our eyes are on what 2026 will bring to our green spaces. For insider insights, we spoke to Chris Cooper, lawn specialist from Royal Warrant holders Hayter and Gary Farrell, Founder of luxury garden furniture brand Nth Degree.
Luxury outdoor living rooms
“2025 saw a huge range of garden trends, but one that grew massively towards the end of the year was ‘garden living rooms’,” says Gary Farrell, Founder of luxury outdoor furniture company Nth Degree. “An ever-larger number of people are aiming to create a seamless feel between interiors and exteriors, capturing the feeling of the living room in their outside space.
“This includes a large uptick in cosy, quality-of-life additions to garden furniture, including outside rugs, luxury coffee tables and sofas – in other words – furniture you’d more closely associate with the living room,” he continues.
“Outdoor living rooms are a great addition for those who make frequent use of their outdoor space to relax or to entertain guests – and if we see another summer as warm as 2025 in 2026, we’re sure more will be looking to take advantage of their garden living spaces.”
Bringing allotments home
“Allotments are in high demand – in fact, I can’t ever remember a time when allotments have been both this scarce and wanted by so many new and experienced gardeners alike,” says Cooper. “Two years ago, there were more than 150k people on waiting lists for allotments – and it seems like it’s only getting worse.
“You can see this online, too. Searches on Google for allotments have risen massively year-on-year, including ‘allotments to rent near me’ (+50%), ‘community allotment near me’ (+89%), ‘allotment garden near me’ (+91%), and so on,” Cooper explains.
“It looks like most have gotten bored of waiting and have instead taken fruit and veg growing back into their own hands, with a rise in searches for ‘home allotment’ (+40%), ‘winter vegetables to plant’ (+21%), ‘home vegetable garden’ (+22%), ‘best vegetables to grow at home’ (67%) and more.
“The allotment shortage certainly won’t see any big improvements into 2026, so expect this rise in home-growing fruit and veg to only get higher – with plenty more growing guides on TikTok and Instagram, something which we have already seen an influx of!”
Garden Privacy Hacks and Sanctuary Spaces
“Garden privacy is a big concern for homeowners – people want to escape to their own slice of nature, and they don’t want to feel watched with their morning cuppa,” says Chris, “which is another concern often related to overlooking gardens in newbuild estates, as raised by TikTokker Clairelm01.
“I predict we’ll see a big increase in tall, fast-growing hedges that add height to low fences, such as cherry laurel, bamboo and leylandii – as well as quick installations that protect from onlooking neighbours’ windows, like pergolas with climbing plants.
“Nobody wants to tempt a nosy neighbour, so any excuse to add more green or functionality to a garden whilst also improving privacy is a win-win in my book.”
“Garden privacy is also an excellent way of adding value to a home,” adds Farrell. “Luxurious garden spaces can feel spoiled by onlookers or potentially nosy neighbours, so aesthetically pleasing ways of making your space into a personal sanctuary are becoming increasingly desirable in the housing market.”
The Shift to Battery Lawn Equipment
“As we’ve gotten further and further through 2025, we’ve noticed a huge uptick in interest by professionals and home users for battery lawn equipment – mowers, power tools, you name it,” says Chris. “That doesn’t mean petrol isn’t as popular as ever, but it is noticeable how more and more are looking at non-petrol alternatives for a variety of reasons.
“We’ve heard from many that grants awarded to small businesses for switching to green energy have been a factor, as well as a desire to avoid noise pollution laws and reduce vibration levels in handles, for health and safety reasons,” Chris continues. “Unless there’s a huge policy shift away from green energy in 2026, which there’s extremely little chance of, we can see more and more people looking at battery-powered lawn tools.”
What are your predictions for 2026 gardening trends? Let us know!
