WAS GRANDMA’S GARDEN TRENDY?

            The old saying,“ What goes around, comes around”, seems to be true with gardeners.  Did Grandma know that some day gardening would be America’s #1 leisure activity and a very huge business?  Was Grandma’s gardening different than today’s Gardeners?

            Most of our garden traditions and trends today originated during the period of Grandmother’s Garden (1865 – 1915).  Just as people then were yearning for a simpler life – nostalgia for the past as they faced the new industrial revolution – so we are people looking for a simpler time during the technology and information age. 

 

   Let’s take a look at the trends summarized from a decade of studies, services and interviews with gardeners. Many of the plants and the gardening styles today are similar to a century ago, giving credence to the saying that nothing is really new, just rediscovered.

OTHER GARDENING TRENDS

Indications are that gardeners want more pleasure for less effort.  They are opting for more landscaping, less lawnscaping. Part of this trend is driven by cold, hard economics: landscaping is an investment that pays off in higher home values and less maintenance.  But the real driver here is the immediate payoff:  more comfortable and useful outdoor living space.  Gardeners are choosing easy care plants:  hydrangeas, coleus, ornamental grasses and spring flowering bulbs, which need little care once established.

SMALLER SPACE

            Going along with less maintenance, gardens are becoming more personal and intimate.  There is less dependency on classic design and more self-expression.  Gardeners are making use of all available space from patios to rooftops.  They are also taking advantage of the many dwarf perennials, trees and shrubs on the market, like container fruit trees and Gardening patio Clematis.

 

            Container gardening has been on the fast track for a decade, and home gardeners are finally realizing that the bigger the pot, the better.  Large containers have more visual impact and require less frequent watering.  Also spurring the trend to big is a new generation of inexpensive resin pots that look great and weigh less – much, much less – than traditional terracotta.

 

            The new term is “Potscaping” – clustering groups of containers and using containers within a garden border is a popular trend.  Anything goes in a container, from annuals to perennials to dwarf trees or vegetables.

            Adding another dimension – Vertical gardening is popular.  We’re no longer willing to let our plants lie down on the job.  Today, more gardeners are using trellises and arbors, combined with vines and climbers, to add a third dimension to our landscape.  Besides relieving the monotony of ground-hugging plantings, vertical accents increase privacy and create instant focal points even before their plant buddies mature.

            Using garden art is adding personality in the landscape.  Gardens are viewed as outdoor rooms as well as entertainment destinations.  We’re spending money on statues, birdbaths, gazing globes and all the traditional garden art as well as sophisticated and high end furniture.  Designed accessories manufactured specifically for outdoor use:  lighting, fireplaces, restaurant quality cooking units, and audio gear, increasingly blur the line between indoors and out.

     Colorful foliage and texture is fascinating. The use of dark purple and black foliage plants continue as a trend.  Coleus and white variegated plants also remain very popular.  Ornamental grasses and ground covers are still top sellers.

  More houseplants - ferns, snake plants and palms aren’t just for your Grandma’s parlor any longer.  Homes are being filled with houseplants.  Many houseplants do double duty:  indoors during cold weather where they add living color and clean the air; and then moved outside to decorate the deck or patio in the summer.  For many people their first introduction to gardening is tending to a houseplant in college or in their first apartment.  Plants are adorning desks in offices more than ever before and improving the beauty and reducing stress in the work place!

            Water features are one of the hottest trends, but their use is changing.  Large, high maintenance ponds are being replaced by small container water gardens and fountains, which provide the sound and ambience of water without the time demands.

            Reflecting society’s current enthusiasm for healthy eating and a desire for fresh, flavorsome fruits and vegetables, vegetable gardening is coming back in vogue.  Herbs and veggies are being grown alone or mixed in containers.  Growing your own vegetables, flowers and herbs is a new status symbol of luxury.  It is a luxury of the heart that says, “I care, and make the time to do it.”  When a child learns where his food comes from, he is better equipped to make healthy food choices.

            I wonder what Grandma would think of these trends and how things have or have not changed.  Sunflowers were popular then, as they have become once again.   Tropical plants, especially those with bold foliage, were introduced into the more formal gardens, another trend rediscovered in today’s gardens.  Roses, peonies, phlox and hollyhocks were among the perennials commonly planted in Grandma’s time.

 

            The old fashioned gardens incorporated vegetables and fruits for aesthetics, show and food.  They were located close to the house and often used as intimate living space or an outdoor room, much as we see in today’s home garden.

            We have come a long way but we are a true reflection of our own gardening heritage. Come on let’s play crochet.

Tom McNutt is a professor emeritus at The Ohio State University. and retired NBC4-TV resident green thumb