2026 Garden Sector Search Trends

Inspired by becoming an Associate Member of GIMA – the trade association that represents the garden industry – we decided to investigate some of the current trends in the garden industry, using organic search data to unlock insights around what's currently popular.

This article highlights what some of the rising trends are that garden brands need to be aware of and shares ideas on how these insights can be used to help your marketing planning.

A growing sector

In 2023, the environmental horticulture sector contributed £38 billion to UK GDP and by 2030 is projected to surpass £51 billion.

With eight in ten UK adults (84%) having some garden space, around 27 million people in the UK reporting on enjoying gardening as a hobby and the average UK resident having visited a garden centre 3.8 times in 2024, it's clear that the demand for gardening products still remains high.

With a sector that has these credentials behind it, there's even more of a reason for brands to ensure they are keeping on top of what's happening and then adapting their marketing approach accordingly.

Top gardening search trends

Using Google Trends, we analysed several different gardening related search queries to then discover four terms that have seen a definite increase in their popularity recently.

Drought resistant plants

One thing is clear. The impact of the climate is going to have a fundamental effect on how people are gardening in the future. This was suggested months prior to this year's succession of record-breaking heatwaves by the RHS in their 2026 gardening predictions.

User search behaviour has reflected this recently, with a rise in the use of "drought resistant plants" and "drought tolerant plants", which according to Google Trends is 200% higher currently than the preceding five years.

People using this query also searched for queries including:

drought tolerant plants
alan titchmarsh drought resistant plants
drought resistant plants for pots
drought resistant grass
drought resistant shrubs

The inclusion of celebrated gardening personality Alan Titchmarsh seems to be centred around him receiving a large volume of media coverage for his advice on the topic. This alone highlights a good learning around how a 'brand' that is seen as authoritative and trustworthy will become even more popular.

Sustainable gardening

There is an increasing interest around "sustainable gardening", which is seen in the search data and reflects the growing interest for many people to consider this across multiple aspects of their lives.

Average interest is up 350% versus preceding years and as the graph above shows, with 2026 seeing a noticeable increase.

Looking further into search data we can see that people are asking questions around the topic such as "what are some sustainable gardening ideas?" And "what's the most eco-friendly way to garden?".

Indoor plants

While search interest for "indoor plants" has not seen as high an increase as the previous topics, it's still 20% up on the preceding five years.

Also, compared to some of the more seasonal searches - something that often typifies the garden retail industry as a whole – this topic is something people are looking for all year round.

Popular related searches for this query include:

large indoor plants for sale
large indoor plants for living room
indoor plants online UK
50 most common house plants with names.

Composting

Another topic seeing some increased interest – up 30% versus the preceding five years – is "composting".

Users seem to have related interest in topics like:

How to start composting
Composting bin
Garden composting
Home composting.

One observation, which is something to consider when looking at search data in general, is that users can have different meanings of the same topic. We see this related to composting, with the presence of related queries for "composting toilet", which has a whole other intent.

This is reflected in the significant peak seen in the above graph for February this year (2026), which seems to have been largely driven by queries related to composting toilets.

Garden furniture

One final search term for a key area of the sector is "garden furniture". Unlike the other queries featured, this one has seen a drop in search interest in 2026, when compared with the preceding five years.

The chart demonstrates how each year the search interest follows the same pattern – a lack of interest in the Autumn and Winter, with an increase that peaks in April and May. However, you can also see a slight decline in the overall interest when compared to 2022.

Within related searches there appears to be a change in behaviour of people searching less for "rattan garden furniture" and "garden rattan furniture", but an increase in terms such as "garden furniture sale" and "garden furniture set".

Why search intent matters; not just search queries

One final, but important thing to consider in relation to using search terms to inform your marketing planning, is to not just be aware of the popular queries that are being used, but also to understand the intent behind them.

Search intent is the main goal a person has when they are using a search engine to find the answer to something.

There are four main recognised types of search intent:

Informational – people want a specific answer to something, facts or a guide (e.g. “how to grow vegetables”)
Navigational – people want to go to a specific page or website. They already have a brand name in mind (e.g. “thompson & morgan plants”)
Commercial – people are carrying out their own research before deciding on a product or service (e.g. “best lawn mowers”)
Transactional – people want to complete a purchase straight away (e.g. “buy compost online”).

Our recommended approach to using search data is to gather your various queries (keywords, questions people are asking) and then group them under the most relevant intent.

Doing this then allows you to see how well you are matching these different queries and intents across your website, then identify opportunities to improve your pages or content to match these.

To sum-up the importance of using search data, Stevie Keen, Head of SEO at Bluesoup said:

The search landscape for gardening is competitive, but by drilling down into niche topics and displaying topic expertise, there are real opportunities to compete for an audience that’s typically highly engaged.

Beyond this, Google search data offers a real insight in general into the behaviour and needs of your customers. This can include it providing you with ideas related to broader activity, including key messaging or even go as far as informing product development.

As well as helping to shape your organic search strategy, looking at data trends like this can also influence how you use paid search activity.

Emily Walton, Digital Director at Bluesoup said:

If you're operating with PPC as a core part of your strategy and you're tracking more than 30+ purchases per month, then AI Max would be a great addition for your account. This tactic would allow you to keep on top of constantly evolving consumer search terms without the heavy lifting of daily search query research. Approximately 15% of the search queries Google processes every day are completely new and have never been seen before by the search engine.

Interested in learning more about how search data and research can be used to inform your marketing activity, including your organic search strategy? Contact us and let's talk.