Find harmony in the less tidy garden. (Contributed)

In the spirit of my annual New Year’s resolution to learn something new every day, I did some research on Calscape about adding butterfly friendly natives to my partly shady garden and did some reading on garden design trends for 2025. Turns out the new trends are more of a reminder of good past ones than revolutionary ideas. Here are a few to consider.

Adapt to the challenges of a changing world by finding harmony in a less tidy garden. Yes, you read that right. By adopting a more relaxed and organic gardening style, nature is encouraged to thrive. The birds, insects and other critters will thank you when you don’t rush to tidy up fading perennials, remove seed heads or rake up every leaf in the garden.

Fire-resistant gardening can play a big role in creating defensible space around your home. Focus on creating a garden that is not only beautiful and friendly to the environment, but more resilient in the face of a wildfire. This doesn’t have to mean gravel for 30 feet out from the house either. There are many ways to protect your home.

Add more native plants and “nativars,” which are cultivated native plants specifically designed to thrive and fit into residential gardens. While native plants are typically defined as growing in nature without human intervention, “nativars” are created by selecting and crossing native plant seedlings to produce traits such as compact size or brighter flowers. In many cases they provide food and habitat to pollinators and wildlife while adapting to the home garden. 

If you want a low-water landscape but aren’t into only succulents, you can have it all by choosing plants with leafy foliage and vibrant blooms. Create your own version of a cottage garden by planting shrubs like grevillea and blue hibiscus and perennials like yarrow, catmint and kangaroo paw. You can still use water responsibly and have a beautiful garden, too. 

Container gardening never goes out of style. Bring nature onto your deck, entry, windowsill, patio—wherever you can enjoy edibles, fragrant flowers, lush foliage or any combination you choose.

Borrowing from past trends—embrace the smaller garden. You can create an instant meditation garden that encourages you to stop and sit for a couple minutes by placing a small bench where you can view something interesting in your garden. Small gardens are not only compact, they are easier to care for. Containers on the patio or deck allow you to grow plants for food as well as for the birds and the bees. There are more new dwarf vegetable, herb and flower varieties being introduced every year.

Combine ornamental plants with edibles. Your veggies don’t have to be in a special raised bed or plot but can be planted throughout the garden. Think tomatoes, pole beans and other vining veggies trained on a metal obelisk within a perennial bed. Or compact versions of beans, eggplant, chard, hot peppers, tomatoes or edible flowers like nasturtiums planted among your other plants or along path borders.

It all comes down to enjoying your garden anyway that works for you. Nothing is as personal.


Jan Nelson, a landscape designer and California-certified nursery professional, will answer questions about gardening in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Email her at ja******@ao*.com, or visit jannelsonlandscapedesign.com.

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