Gardening is everywhere – and it’s not just your algorithm …

“Cool” to dig, it’s become mainstream. “I find myself asking if gardening is more popular or have I just moved into my middle-aged era?” says Terri Chandler, co-founder of floral studio Worm London. Statistics say otherwise, with 70 per cent of 18 to 35-year-olds in Ireland expressing a desire to grow their own food. As Hollywood actor Zach Galifianakis put it in his six-part Netflix series This Is A Gardening Show “the future is agrarian”.

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When it comes to gardening, the future is stylish, too. If Monty Don fronting a Barbour campaign isn’t enough to convince you, then perhaps the unveiling of Kate Moss’ namesake rose at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show will. (One style influencer attributed watching the Chelsea coverage as her version of Glastonbury.)

The renowned Peter Beales Roses has unveiled the Kate Moss rose – a compact soft cream rose with touches of blush pink

In certain circles, the eircode for an exceptional dahlia grower has become as highly coveted as the address of a designer sample sale. On Instagram, I get suggestions on my algorithm for a “summer pasture dweller” starter pack which includes seed packets, bougie trowels and vintage nighties.

Florist Willow Crossley creates displays and hosts workshops for fashion and lifestyle brands including Zimmermann, Dior and Aerin

As big name brands co-opt gardening to appear conscious – with wholesome content to match – you can’t help but question if the internet has reduced something nourishing into something performative. Isn’t this the antithesis of what gardening should be? “I don’t think that we’re dressing to look like we garden, I think we dress a certain way because we garden,” says florist Willow Crossley, who has become an accidental fashion influencer.

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Crossley says it’s 50:50 as to whether the comments section on her Instagram pertains to what she’s arranging or what she’s wearing (often Mother’s Half-Pipe cropped jeans, with wellies, when planting cosmos, if you’re interested to know), which has led to collaborations with luxury fashion brand Brora and an upcoming collection with Spanish fashion brand La Veste (available from September). The creative cross-pollination of fashion and flowers is unsurprising. “So much of garden design, and floristry, is about colour combinations and shapes, it’s the same as pairing a certain top with the right bottoms: they’re interlinked,” Crossley explains.

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Celebrity hair stylist Sam McKnight, whose verdant North London garden was featured on Gardeners’ World, echoes this; his choice of pastel flowers reflects his decades-long oeuvre of Chanel runway shows and Vogue covers. Watch how the delicate lines of the matilija poppy, or fried egg plant, mimic a diaphanous white crêpe blouse and it becomes clear: an appreciation of beauty is interdisciplinary. What’s the gardener’s uniform today? Bid goodbye to the cottage-core dresses of the pandemic (too twee, too tradwife) and show your nous in utilitarian staples that blend fashion and function.

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One style pin-up is American horticulturist Bunny Mellon, who gardened in an A-line utility jacket that always looked sharp. Equally, a painter’s smock implies the wearer could be on the verge of throwing pottery, potting on seedlings or simply frequenting their local cold-brew establishment. “I like the idea of a heavy one that’s a house coat. I can come home, slip this over my clothes and get outside straight away,” says designer Helen James. James’ cotton utility apron in Kelly green (€15 by Considered by Helen James at Dunnes Stores) boasts pockets perfect for storing secateurs.

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Look out for a restock of Abito’s denim overall jacket this season – an allotment essential which has garnered a cult following among Irish creatives and is worn by the team at Mark Grehan’s flower shops, The Garden (€240). If all else fails, a blue workwear jacket (€195) and gardening clogs from French brand Plasticana (€40 at Scout), worn with red socks, à la Monty, is the uniform of the hipster grower in both city and country.

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On a deeper level, gardening’s widened appeal is a sign of the times. Of mental health and climate crises; of a younger generation that’s traded binge- drinking for mindful activities. “Social media has undoubtedly contributed to the romanticisation of a bucolic aesthetic, but much of its appeal is rooted in a broader desire to reconnect with the natural world and embrace a more considered pace of life,” says Laura Shippey, creative director of fashion label Toast.

“Life is like a garden … tend to it kindly, forgive the weeds, and cherish what blooms,” says avid grower Pamela Anderson

Gardening now also appears to have a political charge. An anti-capitalist swerve which challenges the chokehold of big tech and far right climate deniers. Then there’s the human aspect: much of gardening is shared knowledge, verbally passed on at fetes, plant sales or inter-generationally. Would you rather engage an AI chatbot or get some IRL tips on dahlia cuttings from your neighbour? Perhaps the stakes are higher because younger generations don’t have the luxury of holding off until later life to become sustainably aware.

Dwayne Black’s Instagram @blackinmotion shows a fresh new-gen of growers

Must a gardener be stylish? Of course not. Most of us major in mess. Perhaps, though, the concepts needn’t be mutually exclusive. Wafting around in white linens is nonsense, but we recognise that a perennial border has tantamount self-expression as an outfit and the flowers we cut, just like our interiors, are an extension of our personal style beyond the wardrobe.

Lady Rhoda Birley photographed in the garden at Charleston Manor by Valerie Finnis for the Royal Horticultural Society

More than ever, a garden is a statement of identity. If you can wear something that enables you to stay clean, cosy and dry, and go about your day – riding the natural high from plunging your hands in the soil – then that’s a win. It’s DIOR not the Duchess of Devonshire feeding her chickens in Chanel tweed but, as Bunny Mellon once said, mediocrity is wasteful. Plump for something that’ll cause the neighbours to do a double-take.