Hello, my name is Ben and I’m a geriatric millennial.
I’m old enough to remember being taken, two pupils at a time, to the school office so that we could look at the school’s first ever computer. I’m now writing on a laptop and next to me is a hand held device with substantially more computing power than was used to send astronauts to the moon.
Feeling a bit more geriatric…
My grandfather saw his county’s first steam-powered farm engine, the rise of the car, the moon landings and the evolution of the internet world in his lifetime. I’ve seen a lot of change in my life so far too; some of it hasn’t been great, but a lot actually has.
It seems a bit odd to say it during these troubled times but generally humanity is still moving forward.
Changes In Gardening
I’ve seen some interesting changes during my gardening career to date. My first years in professional horticulture coincided with the garden makeover revolution.
The BBC TV show Ground Force was popular Friday night viewing; Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh sneaking into someone’s garden while they were away and surprising them with a new garden.
There was always a water feature (Charlie Dimmock’s speciality), a Japanese maple, and a load of decking. I assume the BBC bought these these materials in bulk and kept them in a warehouse, just picking up one of each every time they went off to film. I wonder what happened to those gardens, whether any remain. The decking will have had to be replaced at least once by now, and I suspect those water features broke down and were probably removed. Water features need maintenance.
Gardens like this are not something you can make over a few days
At the time it was revolutionary. The idea that a beautiful garden was something you could just build as a DIY project was alien for a generation brought up on gardens that were lovingly nurtured over time. John Brookes had led the charge on the idea that gardens could be living spaces, outdoor extensions of the house, decades before but Ground Force injected the idea of the lifestyle garden into the minds of ordinary people.
Ground Force was gardening selling its soul, but it also created a whole industry. Now you can’t throw a stone in many parts of the UK without hitting a garden designer or landscaper, but both were remarkably rare at the beginning of the new millennium.
We’ve also seen peat free compost go from niche to mainstream, the movement away from the intensive use of chemicals in gardening, the rise of Dutch Wave/New Naturalism and, for better or worse, increased interest in growing native plants.
And many other things too.
The New Horticulture Movement
As society changes, so does gardening. I never thought I would become an anachronism in my early 40s but here I am.
There is a bold new type of gardener, or horticulturist as many prefer to be known, that has shaken the binding chains of the old ways and instead embraces a new approach to gardening.
Is this a precious azalea with a long history, or something to just throw away after it’s flowered?
Books filled with knowledge and information are out, replaced with social media personalities serving bite-sized pieces of wisdom. Plants are there to decorate and delight the here and now, not to be grown for longevity. No need to learn how to grow things; if a plant dies you just buy a new one.
The New Horticulture movement allows absolutely anyone to be an expert. The gurus of the movement, a great many of whom started gardening during Britain’s Covid lockdowns, now lead thousands of disciples. Cheats and hacks are king; there’s no need to put in any effort because New Horticulture takes all that bothersome business away.
In New Horticulture you do what you feel rather than learning what is known. A quick glance at the headline of a new idea and that’s it, you know all you need to know. It’s a wonderfully liberating way to garden.
And well-established gardening institutions are keen to get in on the action.
What About Me?
I don’t plan to engage with the new movement. I will remain civil but I’m already happy on my own path.
I love plants, gardens, design, but above all I love ideas. I don’t want gardening to be easy, I want depth and breadth. I don’t agree with everything that comes along but I do relish every opportunity to immerse myself in the subject.
‘Natural’ plantings aren’t always easy
My bookshelves are lined with gardening books, written in many cases by people who are not only dead but don’t even have any followers on TikTok either. I’m increasingly moving away from books that tell me how to garden, drawn instead to books that explore new ideas and asking why we do it.
I think a lot of us are like this. We’re learning so much about how soils and plants work that it’s shaping our thinking on how we garden. This is an exciting time to be an interested gardener.
Why Is New Horticulture important?
Through my career a number of people have helped and guided me and I owe it to them to be open to others. I don’t force it, but if someone approaches me then I try to help.
There’s nothing like a New Horticulturist to put you in your place. In New Horticulture even people are disposable, as I found last year when someone I had hoped was destined for great things complained that being around 24/7 to answer questions was “weird and creepy”. It was unpleasant to find out what this individual really thought of me; I’ve long been sceptical of the idea that the gardening world needs young people, and this experience cemented my views.
Why plan your own display when you can get someone to plan it for you?
This is why we need to accept and value New Horticulture. There are those who like to throw themselves heart-and-soul into their gardening and there are those for whom gardening is about pretending rather than pursuing any particular standards. Naming this movement accepts its existence and allows us to compartmentalise it. There’s no point reeling against changes in gardening culture as anyone who does will simply be marginalised. Much better to accept change and encourage more of the things we value.
Rather than being annoyed that respected institutions spend their time and effort courting the New Horticulturists we are liberated to seek out others who share our values. Their world is an alternative to ours and doesn’t need to overlap; we do our thing, they do theirs.
Businesses can pursue specific audiences rather than trying, and failing, to be all things to all people. Some will focus on New Horticulture, tailoring products and services to that part of the market, while others will focus on those wanting a bit more depth and breadth to their gardening.
Specialist shows take work and commitment, so aren’t for everyone
It also allows employers to focus their efforts on recruiting and encouraging the right sort of people for their needs. In some places the followers of New Horticulture will be perfect. Differentiating not just between outlooks isn’t about dividing people, it’s about helping people find the right working environments. A more traditional gardener, what should probably be referred to as Traditional Horticulture or Trad Hort, won’t be happy in a New Horticulture world.
At a time when skilled horticulture seems to be under threat we must do whatever we can to get people into the right jobs. New Horticulture isn’t age-group specific; we must bear in mind that there are plenty of New Horticulturists in their 40s, 50s and beyond, and there are also young people who are looking for in-depth gardening who are younger.
So three cheers for New Horticulture and its disciples. Long may they enjoy their gardening endeavours. They can have their world, I can have mine.
While there is a place for the “New Horticultural” movement devotees, I’d rather live in Ben’s world. Creating my personal garden has been a labor of love encompassing over 50 years of dreaming, planning, schooling, and hands-on experience.
In my opinion, established gardens project an aura of beauty and serenity can’t be acquired overnight. I’m open to new ideas, but respect real horticultural knowledge and talent.
I think you can always tell a garden that has been designed and installed, as opposed to one that has evolved organically. There’s something artificial about them, and I agree that quick-fix gardening too will lack soul.
Forty years ago, there was a significant upswing in the interest of perennials in North America.. Marketers tossed out promises that, unlike annuals, you could plant perennials once and they would live forever. Of course, plants die. It’s a hard and necessary lesson for a new gardener. One sentence of yours resonated: “I love plants, gardens, design, but above all I love ideas. I don’t want gardening to be easy, I want depth and breadth.” Thank you Ben.
Indeed perennials will, if not divided and rejuvenated after a few years, fade away. Nothing lasts forever.
That said, I’ve heard stories of baptisias grown for 40 years, which is impressive.
I’ve always been embarrassed to say it for fear of sounding pompous – maybe I am – but gardening to me is a branch of the fine arts. People are compelled to write or paint or compose music, and gardeners are the same – they agonize and study and search and play with and develop their work, and who cares if no one else is captivated? – it just take 20 years, that’s all. If you’re good, the merchants may come calling, or not. So don’t despair. This culture of Throw-away Quick Plants may be the latest trend but thus it was ever so. The people who love to garden are not going to go away, and they’ll bring their curiosity with them.
If you consider a garden as a three-dimensional artwork, something between a sculpture and a painting (which is not unreasonable), then yes gardening is indeed a branch of the fine arts.
And as with art there will be those who only engage with the most basic forms.
I adored Ground Force even though I didn’t like the decking and wondered what happened to the gardens later. It was funny and droll and had a great brass band soundtrack. BBC America aired it back in the early 2000s. As a jobbing gardener, I just loved watching them work. Having so many garden shows on British tv convinced me even further that I was born in the wrong country. Garden Rescue, Charlie’s current show, has the same flaws, gardens made in haste, sometimes so rough around the edges they don’t seem well thought out or easy to maintain. I especially dislike when they put a water feature across the path with a narrow non-disabled-friendly plank of some sort across it, so the whole back of the garden is cut off for anyone who can’t walk easily. Later shows in that series have Charlie going back to visit the gardens and often these one or two day creations have turned people into passionate gardeners who have added plants and improved what they were given. I am able to watch a lot of these shows on YouTube and on HDClump and its new gardening offshoot site. I know that Titchmarsh has said that he regrets putting in so many decks. I adore him, too. He’s delightfully twee.
As far as books go, I read loads of old ones and have stacks of them that I own. Authors who died before the Internet. One of my favorites is Marion Cran, who was recommended to me by Anne Wareham. Many such books, I order online used or get them through interlibrary loan. They are not about instant two day gardens at all, but about gardening being an obsession. Some are journals of life mixed with gardening.
I don’t have the patience for quick and gaudy videos but I could watch with great pleasure a half an hour YouTube video of John Lord puttering around his garden centre.
My own garden is far from instant. Still in progress and changing after fifteen years. We did once create a garden in two days for a client, though, just to see if we could, with the Ground Force soundtrack in my head the whole time. No decks! There were just two of us, without Tommy Two-Days, the builder.
In some ways Marion Cran was the original influencer; a media personality who, through financial necessity, endorsed everything from gardening tools to bird baths!
So this is an interesting idea to play with — compartmentalizing what has happened in much of garden media as a subset of garden media, instead of all of it? It is helpful to think of it that way — even if is a LARGE subset. And I completely share your thought that you welcome the breadth and depth of gardening — the deeper one goes the more intoxicating it is.
“The gurus of the movement, a great many of whom started gardening during Britain’s Covid lockdowns” made me smile. Britain and America. Thanks Ben. – MW
It is a large subset, but if that’s the way people want to do things.
But rather that trying to provide a homogenised ‘gardening for all’ we can accept that different people want different things, and rather than trying to show deeper gardening to people who have the gardening interest of a lump of wood we can instead encourage those who are actually interested.
I really enjoyed your article. I tend to digress your article reminded me of another time. I am 70 but still remember my family talking about.
The victory garden movement it was a massive grassroots effort during World War I and World War II that transformed civilian backyards, rooftops, and public parks into productive agricultural sites. At its peak, nearly 20 million gardens were planted across the United States, producing an estimated 40% of all fresh vegetables consumed in the country. I still have in my collection my parents books. Famous books/guides included Crockett’s Victory Garden, The Victory Garden Cookbook (1943), and the Victory Garden Leader’s Handbook, often focusing on self-reliance and “Food for Victory.”
We had ‘Dig For Victory’ here in the UK, although opinions differ over how effective it was. Crucially at a time when normal life was on hold it gave people a sense of empowerment; they might not be able to do much for the war effort but they could at least grow something to eat.
There is a difference between gardening and decorating outside with plants. Gardening is a long-term effort requiring learning about climate, soil, plants, etc. Putting out pre-planted containers is an easy way to have flowers. Not much different from buying bouquets for inside.
While I am committed to gardening, I have no problem with those who just want color on their patio. They are no different than homeowners who hire a garden designer and professional installation and maintenance. Neither are gardeners. But who knows, they just might get bite by the garden bug.
Oh 100%.
Without those who see plants as short term outdoor decorations nurseries would struggle for one thing. There’s room for all sorts of approaches, but we more committed gardeners must be allowed to do our thing.
Perhaps the New Horticulture will be like the fashion industry. The Slow Fashion movement and return of folks to making their own has picked up momentum. Not everyone rushes out to buy the latest from the runway. People are actually MENDING their clothes instead of tossing them. The throw away horticulture sounds like the throw away clothing scene. It can stay for now, but I hope it doesn’t “take root”. There are far too many “influenzas” around already. (That’s my husband’s term for influencers.) If one follows influencers, I wouldn’t call that person a gardener. We can hope the fad will fade.
I think this is here to stay, but we can hope that enough people see through the fad and choose to pursue something deeper and more meaningful.
try gardening in Arizona–you better be in for the long haul or you will be heart broken– many native plants & trees take years and years to come to maturity. I hope someone well versed in landscapes such as those at Kartchner Caverns state park will chime in because when it’s in bloom it’s drop – dead gorgeous.
An excellent point; the more extreme your climate the less likely ‘tricks and hacks’ are to work, but how sad that some gardeners will lose time, money and interest because they tried to follow an easy path.
i reside in a small city that likes to state, “If you’re not a Master Gardener, you’re not a gardener. It doesn’t seem to matter if you have a degree in Plant bioloby and and Art Degree in design, if you are not a maater Gardener, you do not know how to garden. One year, we were featured in the local water garden Summer Show. This woman came up to me and said, “you know if you were a Master Gardener, this would be a fabulous back yard.” Ben, is this the same as New Horticulture?
I started gardening with my mother about the age of 3. Her grandmother was a professional gardener in Poland and my mother listened to everything her Babka told her when they gardened together. I also listened to my mother as she scooped up the chicken poop from the hen house to add ferterlizer to her roses and many other plantings.
David Snyder, I too still have my Victory Garden book my mother’s gardening books (1930’s) Victory Garden and al my notebooks of each year of my home that I”ve lived in for the past 52 years.
I’m 80 now and I still garden but I stear clear of those that think, if you don’t do it their way, then you have no knowledge of gardening.
That sounds more like advertising for their master gardener course…!
It’s not the same as New Horticulture, it’s just people being obnoxious. There’s sadly a lot of obnoxiousness in gardening too.
I got this too well. Blah! Instant results with little effort. Poor plants.
It’s a pity some people feel this is the best way.
i’ve been in the throes of To Be a Master Gardener or not to ….. almost 70 and still happily trying new plants, loving the perennials who’ve grown up beside me for 50 years. I especially honour the geriatric plants like burgundy-scented peonies who still show up yearly as they did in my father’s garden in 1967.
Ben, you’ve given me much to consider on this snowy winter day. Many of my good gardening friends are gone now, but Pauline’s Pagoda Dogwood stands tall even after losing a limb to the ice storm and Hosta Plantagenai’s white jasmine will scent the white garden again in mid-summer.
I won’t stop seeking new plants and watching videos of new garden installs will pique my interest with great new choices. There is room for all of us in this world – young, old, healthy, disabled.
Thank you for helping me think through the MG impasse still hanging in question…
As a self-employed gardener I have a similar conversation with myself. Doubly so as I’m self taught.
I have great status among some of my colleagues because I know what I’m doing and I do help if I can. However there are some who ignore me anyway because I didn’t go to horticultural college, even though I’m demonstrably good at what I do. Some of those have the British version of a high school diploma and nothing else.
I’ve had to learn to fight my corner, but I’ve also had to be at peace with the fact that for all my accomplishments there are plenty of gardeners who are solely interested in what establishment you trained at.
We must fight our corners but also be happy to be who we are, and to do what we do.
I’ve enjoyed participating in the Texas MG program. I’d already been a nerdy gardener for many years when I finally joined. A good MG program focuses on volunteer service, continuing education, and, most importantly, providing mentorship and solid horticultural information to the community. I’ve no patience for MGs who think and act as if they know it all. Any gardener worth their salt should be awed by how much they have yet to learn. With a positive service-oriented outlook, you can be a fantastic and valuable MG volunteer at any age.
Another satisfying rant. Remember Matt James and his garden renovation show? I was so hooked on that. Fast forward 20 years and I don’t even do social media — talk about not keeping up with the times. I’m happy to compartmentalize that scene, as you say.
I’d forgotten about that show until you mentioned it.
“Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts”.
That is a magnificent quote, thank you.
Bryan Boyce, where did “Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts” originate? I’d like to use it in our magazine, California Garden (published since 1909) as the heading to our “Now is the Time” advice column. Fir us, attribution is everything.
Quote is from garden historian Mac Griswold. It is now my favourite thing.
Thank you!
Great article as usual, Ben…. Sad that some MGs need to appear holier-than-thou because that was never the intention…the goal was to learn and then share…. period….. I admit the MG courses gave me a solid gardening background that catapulted me to learn more, do more, try more and maybe even be more… I am humbled by the amount of knowledge and experience all gardeners willingly share with me so I am not sure about this idea there is a “new” horticulture…. makes me giggle actually; what is wrong with the “old” horticulture…. Ben, keep doing, sharing and being who you are… and we will too…we respect your thoughts, ideas and opinions and we pass them on. Thank you.
I guess there are always those people who seek status, and some of those who join the MG programme will do so because they can tell everyone how clever they are.
Here in the UK we have the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, membership of which allows you to have MCIHort after your name. It looks very impressive, but at its most basic it just means you pay your fees every year.
Ben, as I read this, your discussion reminds me of how the old establishment class would refer to “nouveau riche.” I wonder if some of those new gardening movement members-at-large will eventually learn enough to find their place in the vanguard of respectable gardening folk? I share your angst over those Insta-gardener influencers being hailed as experts for their social media skills rather than plant knowledge, yet I’m encouraged by the renewed interest in gardening. I wonder if, in fact, more people are buying and reading gardening books today than were consuming them in the good old days? Perhaps more real-deal nerds will find a way to grow up from the tiny seeds planted in the clickbait?
I have a nit to pick with the use of “New Horticulture movement” to describe this trend, because there is already an accepted use of that phrase: i.e., to describe sustainable gardening. Which is precisely the opposite of what’s being described here. Out of curiosity I did several web searches for the phrase and other than this post, all the results referenced sustainable gardening.
I’ve been gardening for more than a half century and while I have never had any interest in social media and think that the whole “influencers” thing is laughable, what’s being described here sounds far more like Marketing than a “movement.” Personally, I wouldn’t dignify it with a name, but if I did, I wouldn’t have chosen a descriptive that has already been widely accepted to refer to something entirely different — and indeed, completely opposite.
I’ve never heard of “New Horticulture Movement” connected with sustainable gardening in any way, although there have been various new horticultural movements over the last century.
But I would agree that it is a movement more akin to marketing. Everything is for sale, from egos to services to products. The pervasive idea that gardening is something you must pay to access every facet of.