Discover the latest garden design trends

 

Dancing flowers, textural groundcovers and a compelling array of native plants were among the many garden design trends highlighted at the recent Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (MIFGS). More than 100,000 visitors strolled through the exhibition gardens, soaking up green space inspiration and the latest garden designs from leading designers. Each carefully curated plant selection told a different story, with health, escape and wellness recurring themes. Natural pools and saunas, fire pits, pavilions and balcony settings sat amid intricately layered plant-scapes. The message was to slow down, reset and re-engage with nature. We take a look at some very specific gardening trends that made an impact at this year’s annual MIFGS.

Main garden design trends at MIFGS 2025

The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show is held at the world-heritage listed Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens, at the northern tip of the central business district. It is the largest floral and garden event in the South Hemisphere. A few of the garden design trends on show were:

• Sustainable gardening: From composting systems to reducing water usage and vertical gardens, exhibitors highlighted eco-friendly gardening techniques and products.
• Native plants focus: Many exhibitors showcased garden designs and landscaping ideas incorporating indigenous flora.
• Wellness and health: Therapeutic gardens with mindful meditation and relaxation spaces were a common theme at MIFGS.
• Dynamic edges: using grass and irregular edging in gardens is having its time in the sun with less ‘structure’ to many of the pieces showcased at MIFGS.

Nostalgia garden beds

With an emphasis on profusion, colour and form, the ‘Nostalgia’ beds were filled with interesting layers. From a showcase of Mexican plants available in Australia to romantic drifts of white butterfly bush, and evergreen perennials like penstemon and Persicaria plus spiky torch lily (or red hot poker), there was interest at every level.

Tip: Check out this guide to growing and caring for butterfly bush.

Brent Reid’s best plants for the garden

Along with a lilly pilly hedge as a border, Brent Reid of Candeo Design filled his ‘ODE’ garden with favourites including hydrangeas and Heatwave Glow (a salvia), dwarf feather grass and the much enquired-about plum-coloured Greater Burnet. “All the other trends come and go. Plants can outlive all the trends.”

Native plants: one of the big garden design trends

Hardy, low-water and hailing from all over the country, Australian native plants are enjoying a resurgence, with MIFGS fans swooning over eye-catching cultivars like yellow Birthday Candles and the delicate purple plumes of mulla mulla from Western Australia. Statuesque favourites like silvery eucalypts, grass tree and banksia were dominant forms, grasses held the mid-ground and kangaroo paw and native daisies provided bright spots aplenty.

Tip: Take a look at the top 10 bush tucker plants you can grow at home.

Grass having an impact in gardens

Tall and blonde, Chinese silver or maiden grass, dwarf feather grass, common tussock grass and kangaroo grass brought movement, bulk and personality to many displays, filling spaces and mixing just as easily with florals as with other native species. Long-haired plume grass made an appearance as a landscaping idea, with golden, nodding heads catching the eye whenever the breeze blew. Elsewhere, all manner of grasses were clumped and placed to deliver height and colour variation. Lower and denser, verdant carex, sedge and mat rush provided lushness at mid height. Meanwhile, at ground level, it was all about tufting plants.

Velvety no-mow grass (Zoysia), kidneyweed and a winsome Australian native, lime-coloured cushion bush, all spread in undulating fashion to provide buoyant verge coverage and create a living carpet in almost lurid shades of green.

All about Rob Cooper’s award winning MIFGS design

In this gold-medal winning garden design, ‘e’skāp’ by Rob Cooper of Distinctive Gardens, grasses played a major role in softening the sleek structural elements. Sedge (carex) and a grape vine were planted to rise up through a steel grill staircase and platforms. Mat rush and kangaroo grass fringed a water feature, providing textural fill and movement across the whole expanse.

Bringing garden designs back down to Earth

Rustic materials are in favour, with hardwood, bricks, crushed rock and boulders used in most of the MIFGS gardens. The patina of rust-hued steel was a favourite, defining the edges of beds and planters and popping up in screens, sculptures and fire pits. With crushed stone paths underfoot and rock slabs forming steps, timber was used as a decorative element, to construct interesting backgrounds, screen spaces and give depth. In Jocelyn Bennett’s ‘Re-Set’ garden, timber blocks swung from a wire grid “drawing focus to the present moment”. Emily Rubia and Zoe-Beth Rush repurposed batten fencing as a rich background for their verdant tropical garden, ‘States of Green’. And offcuts were elevated in a stacked feature at the rear of Tanya Kathleen’s display, ‘Live in Joy’, adding to the riot of colour in her plant palette.

Tip: Channel the charm of a camp fire with your own built-in fire pit.

Old-fashioned florals are back at MIFGS

Designers inserted cheery pink and gold highlights in the form of many old-fashioned florals. In the pink, strawflowers – aka paper daisies – were a popular inclusion (also in bright yellows) alongside showy snap dragons, dahlias, cone flowers, crimson bottlebrush and a sweet WA native, pink mulla mulla. Profusive golden cobs of ‘Birthday Candles’ banksia were a standout as a vigorous groundcover, and pretty yellow native, common everlasting, paired well with silver foliage.

Dynamic and irregular edging

For paths that don’t follow the straight and narrow, take your lead from the show garden designers who used groundcovers to blur edges, and inserted turf and other planting to disrupt paving materials. Irregular paving featured in multiple gardens, demonstrating how safe passage and an interesting journey through the garden can be achieved. The pattern can be visually dynamic, with pavers and plants spliced to create a graphic pattern (Paul Pritchard’s driveway). Other treatments are softer and loose, with groundcovers bubbling up randomly between pavers. Simply leaving one path edge uneven is another strategy, providing an opportunity to fill the gaps with plants. From an environmental viewpoint, irregular paths have real benefits. The planted insertions help to slow run-off when it rains and allow water to permeate an otherwise hard expanse, and reach the ground.

Small space garden design at MIFGS

Balcony gardens and courtyards can play the same game, albeit on a smaller scale. In the Chin Liew Studio balcony garden, fleshy-leaved plants and bright flowers disrupted pavers while others tumbled from tall pots. It was a rebellious approach to a confined urban space, bringing fun to a hard-working functional zone.

Tip: Makeover your small space into a garden haven with these easy tips.

Darker pond linings for better reflections

The darker the water, the better the reflections. Dark linings for still ponds bring visual depth, even if the water is shallow. “Water, lights and sculptures elevate a garden,” says Jason Hodges, who strung the pergola structure in his ‘Doable’ garden with fairy lights from Bunnings. The pond is edged with Adbri capping and perimeter planting includes ‘soft and hardy’ perennials, as well as balled buxus. In his ‘Elemental Garden’, Joel Emmins included a hand-carved stone water feature surrounding it with light and airy plants including dwarf chalk sticks (foreground), No-Mow grass and silver swan euphorbia, with silver princess eucalyptus at the rear.

 

Tip: Want to create your own water feature? This guide shows you how.

Keep in mind...

• Before installing a pond or water feature, check your local authority’s safety regulations and guidelines. Always supervise children around any body of water.
• Check suitability of plants for your region, as some may be classified as weeds in certain states and territories.

Want more garden design inspiration?

Keep wellness in the garden top of mind with this guide to creating a therapeutic sensory garden.

 

Photo credit: Sue Stubbs.