From floral facts to plant care hacks, “Living with Nature’s Best” brings you the latest updates on everything related to flowers and plants. In this article, we review the 2022 flower trends.
In 2021, we re-emerged cautiously from home, put weddings back on the calendar, and embraced the critical need for a sustainable future. Looking to 2022, the mood continues to be relatively upbeat, with flowers more than ever providing a simple connection among family, friends, and nature.
Trends and popularity have a way of ignoring timelines. What thrilled us, florally speaking, in 2021 will likely be a popular choice for 2022, with a few exciting tweaks and additions.
“Due to the challenges we have all experienced, trends will not be trends but a compilation of fads, which have a shorter time span,” says Jackie Lacey, past president of the American Institute of Floral Designers and director of education and industry relations at Floriology, powered by BloomNet. “The focus will be on thinking of ways to use what we have to create a new experience or enhance an experience we already have available.”
Blooming trends and floral forecasts
With much of 2021’s events and realities staying with us in the new year, our experts predict a long-term preference for the simple and natural pleasures of garden-style greenery. Here’s how 2022 will build on the current world of flowers, plants, and all things blooming:
2022 is the year of the tulip
While we may love all things flowers, tulips will be the most popular in the flower patch. Why? 1-800-Flowers.com chose this beloved bloom as the 2022 flower of the year because it’s cheerful, hardy, and optimistic. “The tulip is a joyful and happy flower that is the first sign of spring, and that connects to this year of joy,” says Alfred Palomares, Vice President of Merchandising at 1800flowers.com. If tulips sound perfectly in sync with qualities we have learned during this extraordinary time, this is precisely why the tulip will be a sought-after flower in the year ahead.
Flirty Florals: A 2022 best trend
Combine flowers with ruffled textures (think carnations and roses) and a looser arrangement style and you have a glorious new look for flowers in the coming year. “Feathery flower varieties combined with lacy and airy foliage in loose natural stylings create an elegant yet comfortable and laid-back style that has a positive and calming effect on our environment,” notes Valerie Ghitelman, 1-800-Flowers.com Vice President of Product Development, Sourcing, and Design. Ideal choices for the flirty floral look range from carnations to hydrangea, lisianthus, ranunculus, roses, and chrysanthemums.
Dried flowers
Dried and preserved flowers are truly having their day. Low-maintenance and long-lasting, dried flowers not only appear as flowers but also grasses, branches, leaves, and even weeds. With appealing shapes, colors, and textures, dried flowers are a huge hit and are as much an interior design element as they are a welcoming gift for friends and loved ones.
Sustainability and making do
“In 2022, we will continue to live and consume consciously,” says Stacey Bal, a floral designer, and educator in Forest Park, Illinois. “Mindfulness of humanity and the environment continue to impact our decisions, making it imperative that sustainability and transparency are a priority.”
Bal’s comment about environmental mindfulness translates to choosing our flowers with more than a mouse click and card swipe; it means finding beauty in unexpected places. For example, do you know what happens to the millions of tennis balls that have lost their oomph? Well, some of them enjoy a new life as vessels for exquisite dried floral arrangements.
“There are so many ways to celebrate what we have and what is around us,” says Donald Yim, member of the American Institute of Floral Designers and Professional Floral Communicators International and a Certified Floral Designer. “Now is the time for us to be creative with what we have, instead of looking for something new.”
Sunflower, last year’s pick for “Flower of the Year”
Does this eternally cheerful flower ever go out of style? This year country-fresh arrangements got a big boost from a few sunflowers tucked in. Sunflowers can also put on a more sophisticated look when paired with roses and Athos poms.
Sunflowers received a lot of attention as the anointed flower for 2021. So much so that magazines like House Beautiful featured the selection, solidifying what was trending in the floral world. Both the sunflower and also the Red Maranta prayer plant indicated hope for the year ahead and filled our homes with color and cheer. After a year of ups and downs, we support these two top choices for the year ahead.
Cosmos, another flower with meaning
Cosmos was voted the most popular garden flower in 2021, lauded for its graceful petal structure and luminous colors. The cosmos flower symbolizes deep, abiding love as well as harmony and serenity. In floral arrangements, the ever-popular daisy is a close cousin to the cosmos and adds a similarly dazzling look to arrangements.
Craspedia’s alluring circles and spheres
Irresistible spherical-shaped flowers such as Craspedia (also known as billy buttons) and poms found their way into many fresh and dried floral arrangements this year. The shape is so playful and contrasts beautifully with other more traditional bouquet flowers. These bouncy blooms might seem frothy but they express a profound sentiment: “the receiver lights up the sender’s world.”
Bright colored flowers
Profusions of color made the clouds of a pandemic year disappear. No need to be shy; burgundy wine, chartreuse, deep purple are all fair game either separately or all together. This Good Day bouquet is quite literally the face of optimism (right down to the Smiley Face vase) in a world that sometimes feels overwhelming and scary.
Small blooms and unique textures
Brides were so joyful to get their weddings back on the calendar and they showed it in 2021 with an adventurous approach to flowers. Instead of large, round traditional bouquets, many brides opted for a more playful bent. Quality beat out the quantity and each bloom was carefully selected for the 2021 nuptials. Blooms like ranunculus, asters, lilac, and lisianthus are turning heads as they walk down the aisle, both this year and next.
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