Gardening expert teaches This Morning viewers about orchids

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More confident colours such as reds, oranges and purples – with plants such as crocosmia, salvia, canna and varieties of echinacea – are expected to prove popular. Houseplants are also set to be more colourful, with low-maintenance varieties in brighter hues – like the red succulent “x Semponium” Sienna – expected to overtake sales of the green-leafed varieties.

The appetite for colour will even extend to fruit trees, the RHS forecasts. Red-fleshed Snow White apples high in anthocyanins – thought to be anti-inflammatory and anti-viral – will be more common.

Gardeners are also expected to try growing more exotic fruits such as pomegranates, chokeberries and serviceberries. Meanwhile, many are now keen to lessen their impact on the environment, the RHS said.

That could spur a resurgence in home composting and even a focus on scything, which is easier than a mower on wildflower patches and reduces use of fuel.

Flowers could also share the vegetable patch with food crops as people respond to the carbon footprint of shop-bought bouquets by growing their own.

Guy Barter, chief horticulturist for the RHS, said: “Many gardeners are embracing new ways of growing as their skills and interest develops.”

This includes “investing in cold frames, raised beds, conservatories, sheds and greenhouses in order to grow more efficiently… and concentrating their efforts on reducing, reusing and recycling”.

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