Welcome to our first informal roundtable, in which various Ranters opine on garden-related issues. We chose trends for the inaugural discussion, because a few of us had just received interesting surveys and trend reports. Not all Ranters will join these, necessarily—just whoever has time and is in the mood.
On to the first roundtable question:
Ranters get trend reports regularly, usually from marketing groups. As a gardener who writes, what are the one or two biggest trends you’ve personally noticed over the past couple years?
Marianne: Houseplants is of course the biggest one. It’s a trend that I completely support as someone who has had houseplants for pretty much all of my adult life; however I wish there was some way to divest the smart mental/physical aspects of it—the common sense of it, if you will—from the rampant consumerism and bizarre anthropomorphizing that allows a $549.00 price tag on a small variegated monstera (or even $50 on a 4-inch pot of something less rare) to become a thing. That’s a lot of cash for something that may very well perish, and from the reports we also get about the extreme financial situations of the 24 to 38-year-olds who, overall, are driving this trend, it just doesn’t make sense. My twenties and thirties were so focused on frugality to get out from under student loan debt, raise kids, and be able to buy some land that I couldn’t imagine paying even $10 for a plant at that time.
Anne: What about gardening is good for your “mental health?” It’s largely nonsense and partly true. Having worked with people suffering from real mental illness, I would say it helps psychosis not one little bit and I’d not want someone having a psychotic episode, or in a manic phase of bipolar wandering around with a pair of shears. And for those of us who are not suffering in those ways, gardening may cheer us up and may render us totally miserable, depending on what is going on in the garden and with the enemies of gardening such as diseases and rampant pests. While I have great sympathy with people in distress, there seems to be an increasing tendency to conflate ordinary human misery with mental illness. I don’t think that helps people suffering with either.
Susan: “Leave the Leaves” is EVERYWHERE now—more of it every year. And the COVID-related increase in new gardeners. But I pooh-pooh trend reports as a general rule because what do I care about them? Turns out my 9-year-old paint color choice of grey-green for my living room is right on trend—for 2022!
Elizabeth: I love the houseplant trend (fabulous WNY houseplant nursery shown at top). I remember being mocked on this very blog for my boring houseplants. Connected to this, I also notice more plant buying on Etsy and eBay. (Not sure that’s a great thing, as few of the vendors are seasoned nursery people.) Finally, gardening education is increasingly being driven by social media.
Anne is happy to emulate Piet Oudolf (Lurie Garden close-up above).
Is there a major way your gardening practice has changed over that time?
Marianne: I’m loving the increased power and durability of battery powered tools, the use of which is definitely trending. Frugality and dislike of noise/smoke of gas-powered tools always drove me to use manual tools for most of my hedge clipping and weed whacking, etc., but realizing what could be accomplished in a much shorter amount of time with less noise and no emissions during use has made me a convert.
Anne: My approach to garden design has definitely been influenced by the new perennial movement—Piet Oudolf and co.—and the move towards more relaxed gardening.
Susan: None. Since covid, I’m just grateful my passion is gardening, not choral singing.
Elizabeth: As I get older, I am increasingly aware of the brevity of everything. I am much more likely to give up on badly performing plants earlier and make changes quicker.
What are recent movements/developments in the gardening world that you are less than positive about?
Marianne: Native vs. Non-Native. Meadows vs. Lawns. Wildlife vs. Aesthetics. The “vs.” that always seems to creep into the conversation. I’m increasingly uncomfortable with our tendency to look at things as either black or white—my side vs. your side. There’s little room for gray areas in a moralistic, righteous framework, and that makes it incredibly tough for new gardeners trying to find their way with limited knowledge and limited resources. It’s turned a lot of common-sense issues into points of contention and in my opinion, plays to the religious instinct of the human condition. It’s not good.
Anne: I’m not at all positive about the relentless moralizing and preaching.
Susan: Memes and even longer-form advice with no reference/credit cited. When there IS one, like the Xerces article recommending leaving the leaves, we find out there’s ONE anecdote given by their source—and it was the author’s own experience with woodland plants, with no mention of what kind of leaves he left. Another example is that the original National Wildlife Federation article recommending leaving the leaves specified (toward the END of the article) that it referred to woodland gardens only.
Elizabeth: There seems to be much more heedless jumping on whatever bandwagon is coming along.
Name a trend that isn’t happening but should be.
Marianne: I’d like to see a cultural trend towards using less plastic in the garden. We’re starting to see more of this in the home with things like laundry detergent sheets and cardboard packaging, but I think the garden is still an untapped market. I certainly do not advocate bans on plastics, as their use makes a lot of things much easier and more accessible to more people; I’d just like to see more reliance on using bulk materials, natural materials, reusable materials, and the recycling of plastic. And when I say ‘recycling’ I mean in your own garden—NOT as Someone Else’s Problem (which is what we do when we drop things off at the recycle bin.
Anne: Taking gardens seriously as an art form.
Susan: Communication about gardening relying on research, recognizing that this is SCIENCE, not macrame.
Elizabeth: I learned about gardening mainly from books. Can we get back to this? Otherwise, I’d like to see more education happening at reputable garden centers and nurseries, maybe trying to make it fun, with refreshments or whatever it takes. Beginning gardeners are getting terrible information online. Many of the big websites—I refuse to name them—are far too general to help with zone- and region-specific issues, not to mention that they are mainly content farms looking for clicks.
U.S. Rant Readers–If you are looking for science-based gardening info, reach out to your local Master Gardener association. Master Gardeners work hand in glove with your state’s horticultural extension service, so they are tapped into a community of bona fide experts. My local association has an “Ask a Master Gardener” section of their website that lets you can send a description of a particular problem and digital pictures. Experienced Master Gardeners then respond with the information you need. Many associations have websites full of great information specific to gardening in your area, such as lists of plants that grow well in your local area and advice on local soils. If you need help, just ask a Master Gardener.
Yes they’re tapped into a community of experts but MANY MG groups (that I follow on social media) promote the “Leave the Leaves” advice and meme, originated by and credited to the Xerces Society, which is an advocacy group, not peer-reviewed, and their article about leaving the leaves credits a single anecdote as evidence that the practice doesn’t harm plants.
Jenny, I’ve got to add my voice to Susan’s on this one. I’m a HUGE supporter of MG groups nationwide and the Extension service in general. However, it has been my experience that sometimes, personal opinion by individuals gets mixed up in the advice because it sounds and feels good or is very popular – and there might be not a lot of evidence to back it up. The superiority of native vs. non-native plants are one such trend. Again, there are some incredible MGs out there, we just need to do a broad amount of research on the issues that concern us. – MW
Picking up on your final comment: “Beginning gardeners are getting terrible information online. ”
Have you discovered the resource available to all across the country? I’m speaking of Cooperative Extension services. There are hundreds of volunteers trained in horticulture just waiting to share the scientific research based information they’ve learned. Many of these units have developed specialized programming to address the needs and concerns of their communities and offer them at no cost. Riparian buffers, native plants, composting, beginning gardening for homeowners and apartment dwellers. Cooperative Extension is one of the best kept secrets around. Let’s get out the word that it’s FREE!
I would love the gardeners in the social media group I admin to pay attention to BOTH extension services and Master Gardener resources, as occasionally imperfect and biased as even they can be, but it’s the Wild West out there. People respond to the last two visible comments, ignore what came before and swear to whatever they decide is right. I have had people ask me why I am bringing up science; they’re talking about gardening and science has nothing to do with it.
What is the fabulous WNY greenhouse mentioned? Thanks
It’s Potratz, in Erie, PA, which is just over the border, so I count it as WNY.
Oh yeah Peggy F, I love it! RIPARIAN BUFFER is my new term for 2021, it’s a whole new way of perceiving plants. Our extension service updated their PDFs to mobile friendly web.
Anne,
Since you’re eminently qualified, I’d love to hear more about how you diagnose people with “real mental illness” as compared to all the fakers.
Agreed. That comment raised my hackles.
Speaking of basing things on science, there has been science done on the most effective ways of treating various types of mental illnesses. Paranoid schizophrenia is different from depression is different from seasonal affective disorder–and you can’t lump them all together, of course. Exercise, fresh air, and yes, gardening, have been shown to help for some types of mental illness.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6334070/
(I have not read this article but it looks great so now I will.)
Of course, talking about mental illness is quite the minefield.
Well, that’s a huge issue to deal with here. I don’t diagnose people – that’s a funny question, but perhaps illustrates my point. Better that we leave that to the professionals and it was never my particular responsibility.
While I have great sympathy with people in distress, there seems to be an increasing tendency to conflate ordinary human misery with mental illness. I don’t think that helps people suffering with either.
Your flippant and puerile quip about hiding the garden shears from someone with bipolar disorder certainly didn’t sound like “great sympathy.” It sounded more crudely insensitive.
Agree again. Strongly!
To a different comment, I would name a dog, if I had one, “Riparian Buffer.” What a great phrase!
There is a reality here which, perhaps you are right, we should not mention.
Agree. I know lots of people with varying levels of anxiety who are helped daily by their gardening habits / joys. Perhaps folks in the UK don’t suffer the high rates of A/D that we Yanks do. Doubtful?
A/D is? I don’t know.
I do know that psychosis is is an entirely different thing to anxiety or depression.
For the record, Master Gardeners are not experts, or professional horticulturists. They are trained volunteers. Per a relevant online article by Leslie Halleck: So what do master gardeners do? Master gardener programs are volunteer programs affiliated with a State Cooperative Extension Service office and a land-grant university that educate the public on gardening and horticultural issues.
That and many MG don’t know much about their own ecosystems nearby and are too easily ready to rely on chemicals. It’s a resource but you also have to know how to sift through the weeds.
Honestly, join a native plant society or Master Naturalist program and get to know some botanists and biologists. Find the oddball people who are propagating plants you like online and follow them. With the publishing industry as it is, you won’t find the knowledge many of these people have in the pages of a book.
Since the Master Gardener topic came up, I will note per Garden Rant”s 2013 article, a much better “title”, and one we’ll use if asked – Citizen Horticulturist. We are Citizen Scientists in reporting sightings of Monarch butterflies, so it’s an apropos title. The Garden Rant article is here – . https://gardenrant.com/2013/03/so-what-do-we-think-of-master-gardeners.html
Thanks for sharing that 2013 article Debra! 143 comments of interesting commentary.
I feel bad about saying this, but…I joined my local Master Gardener group several years ago. There was classroom instruction and an exam. There were people in the class who never gardened before. They joined in good faith, nice people. One of them, for example, at a display of evergreens at a local garden show, referred to every tree as a pine tree when talking to the public. People believe the “Master Gardener” designation. Some of us discussed that it should be changed, because even after forty years of gardening, I would not call myself a “Master Gardener.” I can’t even count the times that someone was disappointed that I didn’t know the name of a tree or shrub and said, “I thought you were a MASTER GARDENER!” I wouldn’t mind a name change.
My real job is in psych. One of the many subjects we touch upon is “Leisure Skills.” When people engage in a hobby they enjoy, it can help lift them out of depression, help distract them from ruminating thoughts. Any number of hobbies can excite/distract a person. If nurturing plants works for some, that’s great. PS. I didn’t get the impression that Anne was mocking the mentally ill.
Thank you so much Alison. I wasn’t. I have been haunted by feeling bad about having apparently given that impression ever since. You leave me feeling a mite happier.