Last February I was invited to attend the Capitol Home and Garden Show at the Dulles Expo Center in Virginia to learn all about spring gardening trends. I was able to check out some amazing garden and outdoor displays set up by top local landscape designers.

I went looking to get some new hot ideas for my garden. This year they had so many great ideas and trends set up for people to see! There were 6 (wow!) gardens actually set up to walk through so I could get ideas to take home and try out in my own yard.

Spring Gardening Trends

Container Planting

Containers can add a lot to your yard without adding a lot of cost. Large planter pots look great flanking your driveway or front porch. Depending on how much you want to spend you can find containers in all shapes and sizes at your local home improvement store, garden stores, and even at your town’s big box store. They can be placed in your yard as well to add some much needed color to a grassy area, or on a back patio or porch to accent a sitting area. The best thing about planting in containers is that you can move them around for a new look when you feel the need to update the yard (without adding any cost), and update them year after year as your tastes change. As you can see in my picture below, containers can even be used in ponds.

Re-purpose, Reuse, and Recycle

Many homeowners have a continued focus on using recycled materials in their garden and yard. Vertical gardening using pallets is an easy, inexpensive way to soften and add color to fences, walls, and the side of buildings. If you do a quick internet or Pinterest search you can find a plethora of pallet ideas. Using reclaimed wood for garden boxes not only helps the environment but it looks and feels like it belongs there.

Planting in Pots

This is actually my favorite idea that I got from the home show. It is so simple yet so smart. When planting flowers or bulbs they look better when they are planted in bunches. Professionals plant several flowers or bulbs together in small pots and then plant the whole pot in the ground! This way you can get your flowers started in late winter or early spring inside the house (basement, shed, or garage) and then plant them in the ground after the final freeze. The result you get is gorgeous, full looking beds that could have been done by a professional. If you look closely at the photo you can see where I dug away a little so I could get a picture of the buried pot.

I had the pleasure to sit down and have a one on one with Jennifer Bertrand who is best known as the winner of HGTV’s ‘Design Star’. She gave me some amazing ideas for my own house, in particular my home office that I have been thinking about. I also met and talked with John Gidding, who was the host of HGTV’s ‘Curb Appeal’, and last year’s host for the ‘HGTV Dream Home’. He gave us ideas for outside the house including landscaping, gardening tips, and something I never really thought was important, house numbers. Who knew they made such a difference?

It was an inspiring day where I got new and unique ideas for my yard and garden!