“Our research would say 80% of the 21 million new folks who entered the category in 2020 are going to come back, regardless of what happens with COVID-19,” Sutterer says. “In fact, about half of that 80% actually say they want to even do more because they had such a great experience.” And what will everyone be growing? For 2021, it’s clear that the bliss of being in nature, in general, will be bigger than ever, with people increasingly turning to their yards for exercise, stress-relief, and a creative outlet. Both seasoned and new gardeners are keen to surround themselves with beautiful plants, and they are looking for more unusual, adventurous species like tropicals. But they also want to keep up the “victory gardens” they started because of the pandemic, especially to help their neighbors. As the pandemic drags on, Sutterer thinks that this boom in homegrown produce is “not just about growing food for you and your family, and the benefits that it brings to you personally.” He believes it’s also about taking “a few extra zucchini, a few extra tomatoes, a few extra cucumbers, to my local food pantry to help those in my community as well.” If you’re planning to get in on this trend, one resource to tap is Plant a Row for the Hungry. This nonprofit organization, affiliated with the Hunger and Health Coalition, encourages growers to sign up and donate their produce to those in need. The donation is tax deductible and can be gifted to local food pantries and food banks. “Why wouldn’t you want to take what you’ve created inside and carry that out to your backyard, where you have this creative space, combined with the intangible that you really have no control over?” Lamp’l says. “You’re taking what nature has to offer, which is pretty amazing in how you can feel out there, and then bringing in your elements to it: your lifestyle, your preferences for how you live your life, and just extending it to that environment to create an ideal living space.” If you’re looking to bring the indoors outside, Kate and Charles Sadler of King Garden, a landscaping firm in New York, recommend privacy screening with hedges or fencing, providing shade in summer and fire pits in the winter, and even screening movies outdoors. “It’s like reading fiction. Why do people read it?” says Charles. " It’s to have another experience. So the tropicals, I think they do that [for gardeners]." Marianne Willburn, who has a book coming out in March about using tropicals indoors and out, suggests starting with what she calls a “Summer Romance” type. “It doesn’t have to be forever!” she explains. “Any tropical or subtropical plant can be used as an easy container annual to provide vigorous, dramatic foliage accents to create a vacation atmosphere on your patio or deck just for the growing season.” Some of Willburn’s fast-growing foliage favorites for big containers include Red Abyssinian banana (Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelli’) and Canna ‘Bengal Tiger’ or Tropicanna® Gold. For outstanding tropical blooms, she recommends tuberose begonias and mandevilla vines. “The houseplant trend was already booming pre-pandemic, but with everyone setting up home offices and the like, people are inevitably focusing on making their homes more livable and workable. Plants are a big part of that,” Oakes says.
