Not Your Grandma’s Garden: Millennials Are the New ‘Plant Parents’

Not Your Grandma’s Garden: Millennials Are the New ‘Plant Parents’

Millennials may be best known as tech savvy “digital natives” who love a good matcha latte with almond milk, but as with any generation, there’s more to them than that.

Including a skyrocketing interest in gardening.

In recent years, the number of millennials — that is, people in the 23- to 38-year-old age range — who have set down their phones and picked up pruners in their place has grown at a rapid clip. In fact, in a 2022 survey by Axiom, 76% of millennials said they planned to plant more in their gardens compared to the previous year. Overall, 62% of respondents said they were going to expand their gardens, meaning millennials outpaced the rest.

No wonder some observers call millennials the “gardeners of the future.”

Seeds of Inspiration

Where did this fresh fascination with flora come from?

It’s not possible to pinpoint a single aha moment. Instead, there seem to be multiple seeds of inspiration:

• According to The Fredonia Group, many millennials see gardening as a first, lower risk step toward the responsibilities that come with what is often referred to as adulting, things like parenting and home ownership. Considering that in a 2020 survey by OnePoll, many of the millennials who described themselves as “plant parents” said caring for their leafy underlings was more of a challenge than they expected, this exercise is probably well-advised.
• Millennials tend to be environmentally conscious and interested in reducing their carbon footprint. This has increased the appeal of growing vegetables and herbs, which lessens the emissions associated with transportation and large-scale agriculture. (It also gives millennial gardeners more control over the use of pesticides and herbicides.)
• As apartment dwellers or first-time home buyers, millennials see gardens as an extension of their living spaces, even if it’s just a patio-size containers, a raised bed in a small backyard, a compact vertical garden, or hanging plants in every room to create an “outside is indoors” vibe. 
• Millennials often live in urban environments and crave a connection to the natural world.  Gardening allows them to experience the beauty and peace of nature firsthand.
• Unlike previous generations, millennials tend to focus more on well-being, work-life balance, and good mental health. Nurturing plants is a well-documented way to reduce stress and anxiety. The repetitive motions of gardening, like weeding or watering, can be meditative and promote mindfulness.

Beauty Isn’t Everything

Making a statement is a huge factor in millennials’ garden design decisions. 

Yes, some choices are dictated by space constraints, but even in the smallest footprint millennials like showing off their unique (and sustainable) personal style. These are people who will forego the more typical terracotta pot or ceramic urn in favor of a unique vessel that’s been thrifted, repurposed, or found. And while an eclectic mash-up of “old things” pressed into service as planters — think dented tea kettles, suitcases that have seen better days, and rusty coffee cans — might not appeal to gardeners who prefer something more formal, the quirk works for many. 

Of course, for every millennial who leans into the mismatched look, there’s another who prefers the clean lines and geometric shapes of minimalist design. 

Obviously, it’s not just containers that define a millennial garden; it’s what’s inside them (or in the ground) that counts, too. 

Here, too, millennials have dispatched some long-held notions, chiefly that plants should be chosen mostly, if not exclusively, for their looks. They go, instead, for a more holistic approach that says while it’s nice to beautify space any garden has to be good for the planet and not drain its resources.   

For instance, because many millennials are concerned about declining bee populations, they’ll plant flowers to support the ecosystem and attract pollinators. They’re also likely to pick native plants, especially since they require less water and, for the maintenance-weary (or maintenance-wary), less work.

Terrariums filled with easy-care ferns and mosses are popular among time-stressed young gardeners while carnivorous plants — Venus flytraps, pitcher plants, and sundews — and many succulents and cacti appeal to millennials’ interest in the unusual. 

And while it’s not strictly a millennial trend, even goth style is making its way into some of their gardens.  Black hollyhock, black calla lily, bat flower, and black dahlia all carry out the theme, as do dark purple coleus, dark green hostas, and black mondo grass.

In Good Hands

While gardening provides a respite from their tech-heavy lives, millennials are also quick to use apps, online resources, and social media to learn more about their hobby and improve their likelihood of success. There are even “plantfluencers” who share tips, tricks, and inspiration on various platforms.

Granted, the next generation of gardeners may have a different way of doing things than those who came before. But the future seems safe in the garden-gloved hands of today’s “plant parents.”