MENUWhat is the new normal? After a topsy turvy year, I referred to Garden Media’s annual Garden Trends report for the answer. I wanted to find out what our customers might be asking for this spring. As in the past few years, this year’s report had a lot of social, as well as landscape and garden trends. I chose to concentrate on the landscape and gardening trends.
Last year, I reported on the growth in demand for houseplants by young professionals who were opting for urban apartment and loft living. This year, houseplants continue to be a major growth factor but for a different reason. People who are working from home are interiorscaping their offices. Also, families are creating garden rooms bringing the outdoors into their living space.
The road to urban living is two-way. While young people are flocking to the cities, families are fleeing them for safety reasons. They believe that they’ll be safer from the corona virus in less populated areas. With so many working remotely, they don’t have to worry about the time and expense of commuting, either.
Avoiding the commute, remote workers now have more time to devote to their families and property. Many of these newbies are trying their hand at both ornamental and edible gardening. The majority are 35 to 44 years old and have more discretionary, spendable income than any other age group. They aren’t spending that money on their lawns, either. They’re actually removing some of those lawns and replacing them with pools and patios, as well as vegetable, pollinator, bulb and cutting gardens.
This group of new gardeners still want some lawn but they also want a bigger variety of other plants. Due to perceived food scarcities, many want to grow their own food, and many will be doing so in raised beds. The report mentions interest in the full range of plant sizes from tiny plants to large shade trees.
One fallout from the pandemic that may temper your enthusiasm is that retailers are reducing the number of products they’re offering. If the big box stores are doing this, your local garden center is apt to also. Don’t let this discourage you, though. Work with one of our professional landscape designers.
A design professional can help the first time gardener make sure the right plant is in the right place, and that the plant and the placement enhance the overall aesthetics of the property. They can help you blend the ornamentals and edibles into a beautifully integrated landscape. After all, even edible plants bear flowers before they bear veggies. The edibles become part of the overall design rather than being stuck in the outback where nobody sees them. Imagine just stepping outside your kitchen door and picking your homegrown tomatoes for dinner. And picking fresh herbs from the containers on the step as you return to the kitchen.
Here’s another way our designer may be able to help. Let’s say your heart’s set on a specific variety of plant. You can’t find it because it’s one of the casualties of the garden centers’ shortened inventory. Our designer may be able to find the plant at one of the countless wholesale nurseries we work with. The designer will also check to make sure your plant will be happy in the site you’ve selected and, if necessary, make any modifications to make it, and you, happy.
