Gardening Sweet Spots
By Donna Hessel
Look Around Now for a New Perspective
On a calm day with little snow covering, take a walk around the yard and look at it like a stranger would, noting areas that could benefit from new plants or a redesign in the spring. It’s a good starting point for planning. Then, create an idea board. Grab a cork bulletin board and some pushpins or make a foamcore board criss-crossed with ribbon. Check out design ideas and garden trends for 2026.
Find a comfortable spot, pour a cup of your favorite beverage, collect your favorite garden catalogs and magazines, and start planning. Clip and post on the board whatever catches your eye or ideas that might come in handy later. These dreams will become reality when it’s time to start buying.
A Focus on Pastel Colors?
Pantone – the color guru company for the design community – has named Cloud Dancer as the Color of the Year for 2026. It will be showing up in many elements in fashion and materials for home interiors this year. Pantone is recommending palettes of pastels for the year. Pastels might also be the basis for selecting new plants for your gardens. Pantone describes Cloud Dancer as “billowy white that encourages relaxation and focus (which also happens to be a garden trend this year) and a color readily found in nature.” Think white flowers such as daisies. If your color vibe is bright, not pastels, the addition of something white will balance surrounding colors and make them pop.
Other Trends to Consider
A Space in which to Relax. Laura Janney, landscape designer and architect, sees “quiet pockets to escape to” in your back yard as a definite 2026 trend. She envisions places to connect with nature, including seating of some sort and elements to involve all the senses.
Joe Raboine, a landscaping expert and VP of Design at Oldcastle APG, the parent company of Belgard, is promoting biophilic design. This type of design correlates with Laura’s idea to create a space that engages taste, smell and sound, as well as vision. It can be accomplished by including edibles with florals, water features, unique textures and eco-friendly, sustainable plants.
Foundation Plantings for Year-Round Interest. Do your foundation plantings warrant updating? Catherine Trudeau, another landscape designer, suggests adding varieties that provide interest in every season. She suggests dogwood trees for red and purple tones and hydrangeas for summer bloom and interesting dried flowers throughout the winter season plus seasonal berries. She also recommends mixing evergreens with deciduous trees to provide a beautiful backdrop for the fall season.
A Welcoming Entrance. While you’re considering foundation plantings, take a look at your front entrance. Is it inviting? Ideally, it’s an introduction to your home’s interior – perhaps featuring flowers in the same color scheme guests will see inside. Add a bench or other seating for a brief respite from the day’s tasks. An arresting sculpture or art element makes a statement. A seasonal wreath on the door is always a welcoming touch.
Assistance from Smart Devices. It seems we can’t do much these days without AI chiming in! Relatively new in the gardening realm, AI and other “smart” sources can, however, provide useful resources and spark ideas. Gardening apps, accessed from a cell phone or computer can provide an instant answer to a question. Many can provide advice specifically for a gardener’s circumstances. Accessing an app ties in with another 2026 trend – precision gardening. Precision gardening is a data-driven approach using technology and site-specific strategies to meet each plant’s needs when needed vs. following a one-size-fits-all process.
One of the most popular apps is for plant identification. There are also apps for planning and plant care. Stephanie Rose, who hosts a website titled Plant Therapy, tested 12 apps and has the following recommendations:
- For Plant Identification – Picture This app helps identify flowers, leaves, trees, herbs and can help to identify plant problems. Picture This was best at identifying plants, plus it’s user-friendly. Additional plant I.D. apps are PlantNet, Google Lens and Leafsnap. The advanced version of Leafsnap has a diagnostic feature to identify a plant problem.
- For Garden Planning – Planter, IScape, Gardenize and Gardroid are suggestions. Planter will map out where to position each plant. It also has companion planting recommendations, lists when to start plants indoors, transplant outdoors and predicts first and last frost dates. If large-scale landscaping is in your future, IScape will add design elements and plants over pictures of your home and space so results can be easily visualized. Plus, a materials list can be generated from the designs. Gardenize is a virtual journal and Gardroid is targeted to vegetable growers.
- For Plant Care – Planta is successful on many fronts. It identifies plants, can be used as a light meter, can diagnose sick and dying plants and is a way to set reminders for watering, fertilizing and more. From Seed to Spoon will be beneficial for food growers, especially those new to veggie gardening. Garden Manager also covers a lot of ground (no pun intended) and includes reminders for when to start transplants, thin, harvest, and more based on a specific location. It will also help with a garden layout and make suggestions based on current weather and growing conditions in that location.
Adding More Keystone Plants. Keystone plants are native plants that play an especially important role in supporting wildlife and keeping ecosystems healthy. Examples of keystone plants include oak, willow or birch trees, shrubs such as elderberries, spicebush and wild lilac and perennials like goldenrods, native asters, milkweed and wild sunflowers. Rebecca Sweet, a writer for the Garden Gate online newsletter, suggests referring to the Homegrown National Park website to help identify keystone plants for your region.
Gardening to the Max. If more is more is your vibe, you’re on trend for 2026. Spending more time in the garden, transitioning from low maintenance, simple and streamlined to abundant and maximalist is in style. The focus is on planting what you love, creating a space with layers of plants, weaving together natives, pollinators, edibles and succulents. Go for it and delight in the results!
Creating Super-Green Gardens. Lush, textured layers of foliage from glossy leaves to airy fronds that contrast with each other – intrigue and tranquility existing in perfect harmony. Green-drenched gardens are a rising trend. The key to success, according to Rebecca Sweet, is incorporating multiple layers of shapes, sizes and textures, along with various shades of green from chartreuse to olive to lime and dark green. Picture cascading chartreuse Japanese forest grass surrounded by global-leafed blue-green hostas and shadowed by an elegant Fernleaf fullmoon Japanese maple. Add a bench and you’ve come full circle to the garden in which to relax and take refuge.
Which 2026 trend sparks your interest? That stroll around your yard, observing like a stranger, will provide perspective and the inspiration for new plantings and new designs that you can implement come spring. Happy planning!
Article Resources:
Garden Therapy website – Host: Stephanie Rose. “From Seed to Screen: Top 12 Gardening Apps for Green Thumb” – October 21, 2025
Garden Design online newsletter – “We share 8 gardening trends on the rise in 2026” By Rebecca Sweet, Landscape Designer, Speaker, and Garden Writer
Pantone Color of the Year – from Proven Winners online newsletter – 12-19-25
Photo Credits:
Idea Board-pexels-7552446
Pantone.com-Pantone Cloud Dancer
Garden refuge-pexels-9784068
Entrance2-pexels-3142467
Entrance1-pexels-33021500
Garden Apps-pexels-52587
Garden Design and Photo courtesy of Rebecca Sweet, Garden Design Newsletter
Green Foliage-pexels-154786467-26861600
