Garden Media Group releases 2019 Garden Trends Report

(Philadelphia) -- Garden Media Group recently released its 2019 Garden Trends Report: Rooted Together – Reconnecting with the Natural World. The 18th annual report dives deep into the intrinsic connection people have with nature and how banding together just may be the best defense to protect the earth. 

According to the report, today’s “social clock” society is online 24/7. In a desert of work, stress and the internet; nature, both indoors and outside, has become an oasis.  

“We are finding joy in nature to achieve peace and purpose,” says Katie Dubow, creative director at Garden Media. “While we’ve been obsessed with technology and absorbed with self-care, the planet has been gasping for air. But there is hope. A shift is on the horizon.”

The 2019 Garden Trends Report predicts a move toward a healthier relationship with the expanding technological world and dives deep into the value of maintaining our connection with nature. 

The team of trendspotters at Garden Media, who have had their finger on the pulse of trends for almost 20 years, sees the beginning of a change from the “ME” generation to a focus on “SHE” – Mother Nature.  

Dubow says this awakening cultivates a healthier relationship with technology, draws people outside, brings them in touch with their roots and gardening is a natural fit.

One of the reasons nature is calling us, says environmental author Michael McCarthy, is thousands of years of evolution. “We have a link to the natural world, which really goes to the essence of who we are. It’s where our minds evolved. It’s where we became who we truly are, and it’s where, really, we are most at home.”

He explains in his book "Moth Snowstorm," which has been compared to Rachel Carson’s "Silent Spring," that our love of the natural world is our best defense for saving it. He argues that sustainable development and eco-services are not doing enough to protect the planet. “But there is hope,” he says, “Finding joy in nature will help save the environment, and in turn, save us.” 

He also warns of the “thinning of the insect world” which Garden Media has identified as a one of eight trends for 2019. “Gardeners have taken up the mantle to save the bees,” Dubow says. “We need to garden to save all flying insects by planting not just flowers with pollen but majestic trees such as oaks.”

The good news is, according to the National Gardening Association’s annual survey, more people are gardening than ever before. One out of five new gardeners are Millennials, growing food outdoors and houseplants indoors.

From robot bees to pruning “blue screens”, the 2019 GTR: Rooted Together demonstrates how changing habits can cultivate a healthy lifestyle, healthy community and healthy planet. The eight garden trends show how our love of nature will become an emotional, physical and spiritual resource to help us connect and find a common focus to save the planet. 

The complete 2019 Garden Trends Report: Rooted Together is available for free download now.

Look for more details about Garden Media's 2019 trend predictions in the November issue of Nursery Management magazine.

Photo courtesy of the Garden Media Group