These Cities Are the Gardening Capitals in the U.S., According to Instagram

Over the last year or so, there has been a bigger appreciation for the wonders of the great outdoors. After being stuck inside for so long thanks to coronavirus restrictions, many of us are basking in nature, spending more time outside, and partaking in one much-loved hobby: gardening.

Breck’s, the largest U.S. importer of Dutch flower bulbs, recently conducted a study that revealed the gardening capitals across the U.S. Through analyzing the Instagram hashtag, #GardensofInstagram, the company used location data to tally the number of times a particular city, state, or country was tagged.

The number one city? New York. With 79 posts captioned with the #GardensofInstagram hashtag, it seems as though New York City loves to garden. This makes sense, given the rise of urban gardening trends such as vertical gardening, which utilizes the space you do have, such as fencing, wall space, and railings, as many urban properties do not have much outdoor space. Another popular trend among the urban city crowd is balcony gardening.

Taking it to the West Coast, coming in at number two on the hashtag rating is San Diego, California, with 53 Instagram posts. Other Golden State cities with green thumbs include Fresno and Los Angeles. Just behind San Diego with 49 posts Royal Oak, Michigan, came in at third place in the survey.

“Michigan residents have a particular passion for gardening,” Breck’s explained in the report. “tulip farms and flower farm cooperatives span the state from Holland to Detroit.”

Residents of Holland, Michigan even celebrate the flower with their own annual tulip festival, Tulip Time, an eight-day experience with over six million tulips blooming throughout the city. Running for the past 92 years, millions of people have gathered to enjoy Tulip Time, which has been heralded as the nation’s Best Flower Festival.

You can read more about the report here.