Though this might be of interest to others, it was published in the Seattle Times
(Seattle, WA-USA) recently:
WHAT?S HOT IN THE GARDEN FOR 2008 (Hint: Think green)
Beef up the patio. Hold the chemicals. And garnish the yard with high-performing, low-work plants and a dash of organically grown vegetables.
That?s the menu of gardening trends as we head into 2008.
Here?s a quick look ahead to what?s in and what?s out on the gardening scene.
WHAT?S IN: WHAT?S OUT:
*Anything ?natural? or ?organic.? *Chemical sprays.
*Composting yard waste. *Bagging leaves and grass clippings.
*Recyclable rice pots. *Plastic pots.
*Native and no-spray plants. *Non-native plants that might become
*Compact, low maintenance plants. invasive.
*Plants with long-lasting blooms, *Plants that take a lot of pruning and
colorful leaves and spraying.
multi-season interest. *Boring or ?two-week wonder? plants
*Varied plantings aimed at attracting that don?t change with the seasons.
birds, bees and butterflies. *Big lawns and the same old new plant
*Lots of landscape color, especially types that everyone else has.
orange, gold, mango and *Bland beds with little more than boxed
similar ?warm? colors. or balled evergreens.
*Rain barrels and conserving water. *Running sprinklers indiscriminately.
*Rain gardens *Piping rainwater ASAP into the gutters.
*Do-it-yourself landscape projects *Hiring a company to do entire landscape
(at least the planting part) improvements from A to Z.
*More elaborate and fully furnished * A basic concrete patio or deck with a
patios. table and standalone grill.
*Small-scale, organically grown home *Large vegetable gardens that take a lot of
vegetable and herb gardens. digging, hoeing, weeding, etc.
*Container gardening, including changing
the plantings throughout the four
seasons. *Packing all the flower pots away at the
*Pondless water features (moving water end of October.
empties into a vault instead *Free-formed, hand-dug, clean-out-once-
of a surface pond). a year water gardens.
*Sweeping, curved garden beds. *Squared-off garden bed.
Any comments. - Toby