Top Five Garden Trends for 2025
With summer 2025 firmly in our sight, it is the perfect time to look at the key garden trends shaping outdoor spaces this year. More people are embracing natural materials, thoughtful planting, and wildlife-friendly design to create gardens that feel timeless, inviting, and full of life. Whether it is swapping the plastics for natural or handcrafted alternatives, creating natural screening, or growing heirloom vegetables, this year’s trends are all about gardens that work with nature.
1. The Cottagecore Garden is Here to Stay
The love for romantic, nature-filled gardens is stronger than ever. We are seeing a shift towards cottagecore garden aesthetic with soft, layered planting, climbing roses, and delicate floral borders. Flowering trees such as cherry plum, crab apple, and Callery pear are becoming more popular, creating a beautiful backdrop for relaxed planting schemes.
Gravel pathways winding through wildflower meadows, bursts of foxgloves, alliums, delphiniums, and lavender, and gardens designed to embrace natural beauty that feels timeless and personal.
2. Natural Materials for a Curated Look
Garden furniture is moving towards materials that last. Plastic rattan, for years, has been the UK’s go-to for patios, and is starting to be replaced by sustainably sourced wood, woven rope, and powder-coated metal.
Sustainability is a key factor behind this shift. More people are choosing handcrafted materials that improve with age rather than mass-produced pieces that need replacing every few years. Handwoven willow panels, reclaimed stone pathways, and terracotta pots all add warmth and texture, helping outdoor spaces feel curated and considered.
3. Gardens as a Sanctuary for Us and for Wildlife
Gardens in 2025 are designed as places to escape, recharge, and reconnect with nature. More people are looking for outdoor spaces that feel calming, immersive, and private. With homeowners opting for leaving fences to create a private oasis.
Gardens are becoming true sanctuaries, not just for homeowners but for wildlife as well. Trees such as small-leaved lime are RHS-approved pollinators and a favourite among our beekeeping customers. Wildflower meadows, nectar-rich flowers, and berry-producing trees and hedges make gardens welcoming to wildlife throughout the year.
4. Outdoor Lighting is Becoming Essential
Gardens are no longer just daytime spaces. People are investing in soft, ambient lighting to extend the use of their gardens well into the evening. The focus is on warm, layered lighting that enhances the natural beauty of the space.
Festoon lights are ever popular, whilst uplighting for trees are becoming more popular, helping to create tranquil, inviting outdoor spaces that feel just as magical after sunset.
5. The Heirloom Vegetable Revival
Growing your own produce is nothing new, but this year, gardeners are moving beyond the basics. There is a rising demand for heirloom vegetables, rare fruits, and edible flowers that bring unique flavours and diversity to homegrown food.
The focus is on biodiversity, resilience, and exceptional taste. Heritage tomatoes, rainbow carrots, and centuries-old bean varieties are making a comeback, often grown alongside nectar-rich companion plants that attract pollinators and naturally improve soil health. More people are also rediscovering seed-saving, choosing traditional gardening methods that support plant heritage.
Gardens in 2025: Thoughtful, Sustainable, and Built to Last
This year’s trends are all about gardens that feel natural, personal, and effortlessly beautiful. Whether it's replacing artificial materials with handcrafted alternatives, creating a natural privacy screen, or designing with wildlife in mind, 2025 is the year of sustainable, timeless garden design to last.
