Dec 4, 20227 min read

Instagram hashtags — How to use them to promote your garden

Updated: May 12, 2023

With over 1,100 photos posted on Instagram every second, it’s difficult for garden centers, landscapers and plant nurseries.

If you want to increase your post reach quickly, add hashtags. Just one can increase post engagement (how many people see and interact with your post) by over 12%. That’s just one #. Imagine what 10 would do.

The key is knowing the right hashtags to use for your gardening business that will boost reach and increase engagement.

But how do you find the best hashtags for your garden? Which hashtags are the most popular right now? And should you include them in the comments or the caption?

We’ve answered these questions and more in our comprehensive guide to Instagram hashtags for gardens, garden centers, landscapes and plant nurseries.

The power of hashtags for gardens

With over 1.2 billion monthly active users projected by 2023, Instagram is one of the most important social media platforms for the plant-loving world.

How can you get more people to see your posts, interact with your profile, and ultimately make a visit to your business? Hashtags are your secret weapon for getting more eyes on your account — especially eyes from people who haven’t followed your garden center or landscape business yet.

By continually sharing engaging content and focusing on niche hashtags (more on that later), you can optimize your posts and be seen by more people.

With your garden’s Instagram business account, you can track metrics for each post. That means you can see how well each post performed and use the data to refine your social media strategy. If you’re not tracking hashtags, you’re missing out on valuable information that could increase engagement.

Determining which hashtags bring in the most likes, comments, and replies helps you reach a wider audience.

If you have an Instagram business account and use hashtags in your posts, follow these 4 steps to see how effective they are at reaching new flowers.

Grab your phone, go to Instagram and open a post.
Tap ‘View Insights’.
Find the section called ‘Impressions’. Here you’ll see how people found your post. The sections are usually ‘Home’, ‘Explore’, ‘Hashtags’ and ‘Other’.
Under ‘Hashtags’, you’ll see how many people found your profile post through the hashtags you used.

Using focused hashtags (specific words like #lupin, not #flower) increases your chances of landing on the Explore page. With over 200 million Instagram accounts visiting the Explore page daily, you want to be on that page.

The Explore page is what you see when you tap the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the app.

Instagram chooses content to display based on what the app thinks you’re interested in. If you’re using hashtags related to what people already search for, you have a better chance of showing up on their Explore page.

How to look for hashtags for garden centers and landscapers

When the hashtag first came to play in 2007, the rule was to use as broad of a hashtag as possible.

Nowadays, the broader hashtags have more posts, and you’ll get lost if you try to compete with generic tags such as #flower with over 106 million posts.

Why specific, smaller-volume hashtags are better for gardeners and landscapers

There are 2 reasons why focused hashtags are better than wider, more generalized tags:

Better chance of being seen. Take #flower for example. If you scroll through the 106 million posts with that hashtag, you’ll find pictures of people holding flowers, growing flowers, wearing flowers, random quotes, memes, and several girls posing interestingly on a car. We’re still not sure why they hashtag flower… but the point is, if you slap #flower on your next post, it’s going to drown in the sea.
Better chance of being followed. When you use specific hashtags to identify your post, someone looking for what you’re posting is A) more likely to find it and B) more likely to follow you because you posted something they’re actually interested in. Take a photo of a lupine for example. #lupine is way too wide (over 215 thousand posts). # Purplelupines has over 1K. And all of these posts are about the actual flowers… not girls on a car. With that specific hashtag, people are more likely to engage with your post because it's exactly what they wanted to see.

Tricks to finding and using the right hashtags

Go for mid-level hashtags. As we mentioned above, avoid the # with millions of posts in them. Use hashtags with a range of 5K–100K posts. If you find the sweet spot between too low and too many, you have a better chance of increasing post engagement.
Use up to 30 hashtags in a post. Instagram allows 30 hashtags per post. But our in-house social media expert suggests 15–20. The more you use, the more likely your post will be seen.
Change your hashtags. Instagram doesn't like it when you use the same set of hashtags on every post. Mix it up. Our expert suggests creating different blocks of hashtags and saving them on your phone. That way, you have them ready and you’re not creating them from scratch every time or repeating the same set over and over again.
Include location-based hashtags. Location-based hashtags are extremely important for gardens. What are location hashtags? It’s when you put the name of a city in front of (or behind) the word garden. Take Copenhagen for example, #copenhagengarden is a much smaller hashtag than #garden or #copenhagen. This means that someone interested in gardens and flowers in Copenhagen is more likely to find your post.
Research what’s relevant to your niche. Instagram is all about speaking to your audience, and it’s no different with hashtags. Hashtags have to match your post. Don’t do something weird like #love in a post about a plant you’re growing from seed. Instead, make the hashtag specific and relevant to your audience.

How to research the hashtags for landscapers and garden centers

The last thing you want is to post and have it go unseen. Adding the right hashtags to your Instagram account is the difference between reaching new potential customers or logging in and seeing zero hearts.

Don’t just slap on a few hashtags and hope for the best. It takes time, research, and energy to find and test the best hashtags for your business.

Here are my friend’s (she’s a social media expert working for the EU) top tips for how gardening centers and plant nurseries can track down the Instagram hashtags that’ll boost engagement.

From the app, go to the Explore tab (the little magnifying glass).
Type in one word related to your business. Start with a broad keyword like ‘plant’ or ‘flower’.
Now, you’ll see the top accounts and top posts associated with that keyword. Tap ‘Tags’ on the menu bar.
You’ll see ideas for hashtags and the number of posts in each of them.
You can either scroll and find hashtags that match your business or refine your search.
To refine your search, start by adding your city in front of or behind ‘’garden’ or ‘flowers’. For example, the hashtag AtlantaGarden has only 5,000+ posts. That’s a lot, but it’s not in the millions. Your post has a chance of finding an audience.

Another great way is to see what your community (audience + competitors) is using.

Plus, if you’re working on being more organic or sustainable, look up hashtags about that. Always think about how you can expand your hashtag search and reach a new audience.

How can gardens use hashtags to boost engagement

Instagram captions have a limit of 2,200 characters. Some people like to include their hashtags in the caption because it makes the post longer and forces people to interact with it for an extra second.

However, we don’t think it looks so nice to have a chunk of hashtags after your caption. It looks a bit desperate.

To not look spammy, add hashtags as a comment under the post. That means you’ll publish your post and then comment on it — pasting your hashtags.

What are the best hashtags for garden centers and landscapers to use?

Generic:

Since we’re dealing with plants, it's a great idea to always include the plant name as a hashtag. Even the latin name is a great way to put your image in front of the right audience.

#gardensofinstagram #backyardgardening #lovegardening #gardeningismytherapy #mygarden #containergardening #gardentips #gardenlife

...here's a list of 20 for your garden

#garden #gardening #gardenlife #gardenlove #nature #landscape #outdoor #gardendesign #gardener #gardeninspiration #gardensofinstagram #green #gardenbeauty #flowergarden #growyourown #vegetablegarden #backyardgarden #gardenlover #landscaping #gardenflowers #gardenstyle #beautifulgarden #gardeninspo

Location-based:

#gardencountry #gardencity + in your language like #danskblomster

Landscape and hardscape gardening:

#gardenfurniture #gardendesign #outdoorliving #outdoorfurniture #rattanfurniture #rattandirect #newbuildgarden #newbuildhome #gardenrenovation

Top hashtags for plants #plants #plantsofinstagram #indoorplants #houseplants #plantlover #plantstagram #plantlife #greenthumb #nature #succulents #botanical #jungalow #urbanjungle #horticulture #houseplantclub #plantparent #plantgang #plantaddict #plantsmakepeoplehappy #planttherapy #plantstyling

Best hashtags for flowers

#flowers #flowerstagram #flowerporn #flowerlovers #flowermagic #floweroftheday #garden #nature #flowerphotography #instaflowers #blooms #botanical #beautiful #rose #flowermarket #petals #flowerpower #flowerarrangement #flowerdesign #floral #gardenflowers

20 of the top hashtags for perennials

#perennial #perennials #perennialgarden #perennialflower #perennialplants #garden #gardening #landscape #flowergarden #nature #perennialgardening #perennialsofinstagram #perennialflowerbed #perennialplant #perennialgardenplans #perennialgardenideas #perennialgardeninspiration #perennialgardenplanning #perennialgardenplants #perennialgardenbeds #perennialgardenlove #perennialgardeners

You asked — We answered

How do hashtags work on Instagram?

Instagram hashtags work a lot like folders. Within each folder, you’ll find posts, stories, reels, and videos. This makes it easy for users to find what they’re interested in.

Hashtags fuel the Instagram algorithm — the mysterious brain behind the app that analyzes everything you like and suggests content based on that.

Should I add hashtags to every Instagram post?

Yes. We wrote an entire blog post about it because it’s important.

Every post, reel and video should include relevant hashtags.

Is it OK to use the same hashtags over and over again?

Avoid using the same set of hashtags over and over again.

First of all, if you use specific hashtags, there’s no way that the same block works for every single post. Plants are different… your # should be, too.

Secondly, spending the extra time to switch out hashtags and research which ones are working will increase post engagement and bring more followers to your account. More followers and more profile interaction equal a better chance of getting new visitors to your garden.

How many hashtags should you use on an Instagram post?

Instagram suggests using 3–5 hashtags per post. But we think a limit of 15–20 is better.

Instagram’s maximum is 30 hashtags.

Using more hashtags is the best strategy for increasing reach and engagement on Instagram posts. This may change as the app moves to a more focused content feed. To stay ahead of any algorithm changes, start using super-focussed hashtags on your posts now.