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When the landscape is sleeping under a blanket of snow, or it’s just too cold to work outside, the team at Hively is as busy as ever preparing for the upcoming season.  Reviewing our operating procedures, working on equipment, and offering training to our staff are all important winter tasks.  We also spend time with our industry peers and vendors learning about industry trends for the coming year.  Here are a few trends that we are watching…

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We see the already strong demand for scheduled landscape maintenance continuing to increase in 2025.  Being able to find time to be present with family and friends continues to be a challenge for many of us.  Work, school and extracurricular activities, managing the home, all make big demands on our time leaving less time for being with family and friends.  Hiring a landscape professional that can take care of your entire landscape using proper horticultural practices can save you time and money.      

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Hively has been designing and installing custom pools and pool environments for decades.  The trend over the last couple of years has been larger pool areas with dedicated pool-house structures and details like sun shelves and integrated spas.  While this demand isn’t waning, we are seeing an increased demand for smaller plunge and soaking pools.  These smaller pools can be designed to fit into a wider variety of landscapes, take up less room and require less care and maintenance while providing the ideal place to soak away your cares, year-round.  And if you don’t want to go for a swim, the smaller pool easily fills the role of an introspective water feature!    

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Artificial intelligence, or AI, is seemingly everywhere and the landscape is no exception.  Two of the most popular applications of AI in the landscape are autonomous mowers and AI “landscape design”. 

 Autonomous mowers are small electric mowers that run on their own to keep turf areas looking neat and tidy.  While not ideal for every property, these mowers do offer advantages over conventional mowers, with my favorite reasons being 1) they work by themselves on a schedule that you can control. No need for you to push them around the yard; 2) because they are electric, autonomous mowers are extremely quiet, often operating at night so you can enjoy your yard during the day.  

AI landscape design services are still new and relatively untested, but they are out there.  As you might expect, I’m a little skeptical!  We have had inquires about installing landscapes that were “designed” using an AI landscape design service and have found that these services struggle with recommending the correct plant and construction materials for a specific installation.  On more than one occasion our design team has had to completely revise an AI design to make it feasible, costing the customer additional time and money that would have been saved by working with an experienced landscape designer from the start.   

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As the region continues to experience tangible changes in climate, the trend for bad bugs and disease to move into our region will continue.  You have probably heard of Spotted Lantern Fly which continues to proliferate… so keep up with the Stomp, Squish, Scrape!  In 2024, parts of PA, MD, VA, NJ, and NY were subjected to quarantine of boxwood plants to minimize the spread of boxwood blight.  This disease can wipe out boxwood and related plants like pachysandra.  Boxwood blight has been around as long as boxwood has but its infiltration into our region is new, and worrisome. 

Other bad bugs that will continue to trend upwards in our area include the Hemlock woolly adelgid and the Emerald Ash Borer that attack the eastern hemlock tree (the State Tree of Pennsylvania), and ash trees, respectively.  While adelgid and EAB are both treatable, early identification is vital for treatment to be effective.  

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Whether your landscape is large or small, we are seeing a growing demand for intimate spaces separate from the larger landscape and ideal for quiet relaxation and reflection.  These unique spaces can be carved out of the larger landscape with plantings designed to screen the area, or by installing privacy screens.  Some of the best designs mix these two elements to create an area that feels secluded, like a sitting room in your own backyard!  

Smaller landscapes can create the feeling of seclusion using similar design tools without needing to be physically separated by large plants or screens.  In a smaller landscape, low shrubs or groundcover border can delineate a space, with furniture placement to emphasize the usefulness.  Installing an informal stepper pathway to these secluded areas encourages use without the broader invitation of a formal walkway.    

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