Common-Sense Trends Taking Root In Gardening

One of the major reasons for the continued success of Sunset magazine has been its ability to stay on top of home, garden and travel trends.

And, as Senior Editor Kathleen Norris Brenzel said a recent Northwest Garden Show in Seattle, some common-sense movements are gathering steam.

“Trends in gardening are certainly not as ‘hot’ as fashion, in which hemlines go up or down from year to year,” Brenzel said, “but we have identified nine distinct garden trends:”

A move toward less formal gardens.

“People are beginning to take clues for their landscape from where they live,” Brenzel explained, “and we see landscape architects using plants that are native to the region and landscape styles appropriate for those regions.”

Increased use of native plants.

“At one time it was unusual to see natives in retail nurseries,” Brenzel said, “and you had to wait for native plant society sales in spring and summer, but now they’re becoming more and more available.”

New emphasis on “exterior decorating.”

“People are loving their outdoor spaces as much as indoor spaces and are learning how to select flower colors that go in the garden. They’re treating the garden like an extension of the house. There’s a resurgence of popularity of accessories like gazing balls, finely crafted furniture, garden sculptures and paintings on walls.”

Food gardening is becoming more sophisticated than ever before.

“We’re tasting things like baby vegetables, fresh greens and wonderful combinations of greens in salads in fine restaurants and want to grow them,” Brenzel said. “Home gardeners are beyond corn, peas, potatoes and are really getting into the unusual fresh greens, the mesclun mixes you can create in a salad bowl with nasturtiums and things like that.”

Ditto on flower gardening.

Floral designers are taking bouquet making a step beyond, creating arrangements that combine more than just flowers.

“We’re growing foliage greens, and whole gardens are becoming cut flower gardens,” Brenzel said. “Nowadays people are cutting branches from flowering shrubs, trees and deciduous plants which are starting to send out little blooms. So bouquets are changing as well.”

Garden tools are becoming as beautiful as they are useful.

“We gardeners never tire of looking for new tools. In fact, I heard of one man who bought one of those beautiful stainless steel shovels from England and mounted it over his fireplace,” Brenzel said.

Gardeners are continuing to be more environmentally conscious.

“We’ve seen it rising for the past decade, but it’s reaching new heights. You can see this where people are planting gardens to attract butterflies, beneficial insects and wildlife. They’re tuning in to nature in the back yard.”

Gardening is going high-tech.

“That’s not a surprise, with computer software designed to help design landscapes, look up sources for hard-to-find plants, and the Internet, where you can talk to other gardeners. I was at the Sunset booth in a garden trade show last year and a grandmotherly woman started asking questions, saying, ‘I was surfing the Net the other day …’ so this trend will continue, with CD-ROM’s having video capabilities to show you how to go out and do various tasks in the garden.”

The interest in gardening is soaring.

“It amazes me that every time I go to a newsstand I see new garden magazines, and being a garden magazine junkie, I always buy all I see. Every month there’s more, so I think there’s a lot of opportunity for all of us,” she said.