Bring Your Garden Up-to-Date by Going “Downton”

As gardeners once again dig into the most popular hobby in the U.S., many are hopping online for inspiration. One place they’re going for ideas is StumbleUpon, the mobile and desktop exploration tool, and recent rankings of its 30 million users’ top gardening “stumbles” (searches) revealed a love for English countryside inspirations.

Influenced in part by the latest season of “Downton Abbey” and ongoing interest in the British royal family, English garden stylings are ever-popular. Just take a peek at the top five most popular garden trends on StumbleUpon:

1. Wall hangings and walled gardens
2. Eccentric potting vessels, including teacups, colorful bowls and cork pots
3. Wildflowers, in organic shapes and plantings
4. Trees, including apple, pear and magnolia
5. Topiaries, inspired by the English landscape

StumbleUpon’s top-searched flowers for outdoor planting included such traditional springtime favorites as hyacinth, crocus, tulips, daffodils and pansies. Herb gardening—whether indoors or out—also saw strong interest, with stumbles for mint, sage, rosemary, basil and parsley. And for those without garden plots but plenty of interest in bringing blooms indoors, StumbleUpon users picked orchids, paperwhites, geraniums, jasmine and gardenias as their favorites.

So, whether you’ve been thinking about redesigning a bit of backyard in the English style or accessorizing your kitchen window with a rosemary topiary, you’re not alone. Going “Downton” is a popular way to update gardens of any scale this spring!