Space for EVs and flood protection planting among garden predictions for 2025
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Gardeners are expected to put the “green” into green-fingered in 2025, with front gardens for EVs and planting for flood prevention, experts suggest. The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has predicted what will be popular next year with gardeners, drawing on inquiries from their members, trends in gardening and flower shows, and industry insight.
Front gardens will be on the front line of ongoing shifts driven by climate change, the RHS says, with an increasing number of electric vehicles on the road and householders looking to have easy access to charge points. The horticultural experts say permeable paving and gravel gardens flanked by low-maintenance plants are low-cost options for front gardens that make room for cars to charge, while also cutting the risk of rainwater run-off and flooding.
There is also likely to be a growth in “sponge city” planting, with developers and councils increasingly providing smaller scale growing spaces in more urban areas, to soak up heavy rain and protect against flash flooding. Green roofs and walls, which can cut flooding, cool buildings and roof-top solar panels, and improve air quality are also likely to proliferate. The charity’s online shop RHS Plants even sells small modular green wall systems for internal and external use because of consumer demand.
Guy Barter, chief horticulturist at the RHS, said 2025 was likely to see new ways of designing, growing and maintaining spaces. “The EV revolution could usher in significant changes to what front gardens look like, while city centres could be punctuated by many more growing spaces that serve the dual purpose of providing refuge for people and wildlife but also all important flood proofing capabilities.”.
