Expert advice How gardens will look in 2050

Smart innovations and changes in planting will transform gardens in the future, as HANNAH STEPHENSON finds

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DROUGHT-TOLERANT species, Mediterranean trees, smart improvements and vertical growing are likely to dominate our gardens by 2050, garden designer Kitti Kovacs is predicting.

Kitti is creating Illusion 2050, a garden of the future, in a new category Gardens Of Curiosity at this year’s RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, showcasing how gardeners can adapt to climate change while maintaining beauty and biodiversity.

She cites a report by Kew Gardens in 2024 warning that more than 50 per cent of its trees, including oak, beech and holly, could be at risk by 2090 and calling on the horticulture industry and urban planners to increase diversity of trees and shrubs.

"They are looking for solutions, for replacements for these trees and shrubs which may become nonexistent because they can't cope with climate change - and we need to follow the same principles," she says. "Everyone can do their bit."

So, where will we be by 2050?

"We will be more aware of sustainable materials which are sustainably sourced, we will reuse things, repurpose materials and will be going back to natural materials," she says. "Plants we are using will be low maintenance."

SMART INNOVATION

Smart lighting which is wildlifefriendly, rain-monitoring irrigation systems and apps which provide information at your fingertips will become more prevalent as an aid to gardeners, she predicts.

"By 2050 we will have systems where a garden designer would create your plant list which is stored in a computer system which decides which plant should be watered at which time of the day."