I hope you all have a "Knock Out" new year! Okay, so my continued attempt at humor has hit a snag. Or should I say, a "thorn." Okay, okay, in all seriousness, [for a second] can you guess the identity of the plant below? [Just testing.]
I spent a little time today visiting garden websites. Oregon's own Dulcy Mahar is a favorite. Although she and I have never met, I consider her a kindred spirit, a fellow plant-a-holic, garden guru extraordinaire, sporting a familiar, dare I say, quirky sense of humor. [For awhile she coddled a bevy of garden gnomes and even had the nerve to admit it.] Anyway, Dulcy recently devoted a column to predicting garden trends for 2010. She expects Agave to be the new Phormium. How did you know, Loree? Gardeners will continue to eschew the "rules." You know, the "planting in threes, tall plants in back..." stuff? Gates, arbors and large containers will be all the rage, Dulcy says. Do you agree?
I'm so not a trendy gal. Until the movie came out, I thought "Prada" was a type of burrito. However, I believe there is an upside to being in the know about what's hot and what's not. For one thing, savvy retailers are ready to bow to our whims, making it easier for us to meet our goals. ... Okay so maybe there is only one thing. And after musing it over a bit, I can see there is a downside for those wont to petty jealousy. The, "Damn, she got it before me," sort of thing. I never do that. However just ask my friend Carol and she'll reveal more than you want to know about my penchant for lusting over other peoples' things: "Do you think they'd miss it?" I ask her in a voice bordering on rude while drooling over, say, a concrete fountain or a wrought iron bench in someone's front yard.]
Crooked trellis--more proof that I'm not perfect. No more doubts, guys, okay?
So, please dear friends, humor me with your predictions for 2010 trends.
More photos from last summer's gardens.
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46 COMMENTS, Click here to add yours:
Hi Grace, even after being covered with frost, my knockout roses still have blooms. I'm beginning to think they are going to bloom all twelve months.
As for trends? I'm afraid I don't pay much attention to trends, but I do what works in my garden. I guess I end up with some trendy things, because they are out there to buy and I happen to like them. I am sure I have plenty of things that are untrendy!
Have a very happy New Year!
Grace girl .. I have gotten up at 5:30 this morning .. so my predictions might just sound a bit from the "twilight zone" and no, NOT from those movies !
I haven't allowed myself to start drooling full time on here (note to self to buy adult bib for those romps on the net) However I did see a few new heuchera that made my heart flip.. So my prediction for some hot plants for 2010 will be the heuchera, tiarella and heucherella family .. more foliage than flowers this year. One in particular was "Autumn Leaves" I stumbled ? upon on the Terra Nova site .. BIG sigh ! BEAUTIFUL and of course "Autumn" in its name was perfection !
Joy
P.S. Your roses are gorgeous !!!
Grace,
I do agree that garden art of all kinds will be gaining popularity. Which is good, because now maybe I'll actually be able to find some in Vermont! I liked what Dulcy had to say about the importance of entry gardens... lots of potted plants and a bench or table.
Just found you blog, Grace, and love it. Superb photos and what great plant combinations. Quite stunning.
I look forward to visiting regularly and working my way back through your older posts.
Johnson
I forgot - I agree with the prediction that big pots will be the latest 'great idea'.
Not only do they give scope for extravagant planting, they are environmentally sound requiring less frequent watering.
I hope I'm right - I've just bought a load!
Johnson
I've never understood "trends" in gardening. I used to post a forum where one of the forum gurus referred to "cutting edge" this or that all of the time -- what does that mean? lol
The pictures of your Phlox are lovely. The beauty of Phlox is timeless and they should be hot every year.
I predict that I am going to grow more accustom to visiting your fabulous gardens Grace! I will add that more will wish to create wildlife habitats in their midsts and grow more of their own food. Gardeners will rally and put Monsanto in its proper place. Truly organic and permaculture gardening will rule the day in 2010! Wishful thinking! Lovely Lovely gardens!! So lifting my spirit on this frigid New England day! Best Wishes for the New Year Grace! Carol
I'm not trendy or friend shopping myself...if I like something and can afford it, I buy it. I like to have different things around me...I am not smart enough in gardening to make a prediction about a popular plant...I know the Sedum is becoming increasingly popular in my yard with everyone that walks by, (mail lady included) wanting a snippet of it...
Grace I forgot to comment on your wonderful photos! Each one a treasure. I love the various pathways which seem to lead one into your paradise and your sculptures and trellis. I admire so the white line in your grasses mirrored by the phlox and your white trellis. Your Acanthus makes me drool too... I once had it growing under a large outcropping of rock ... It did survive for years and gave me one flower or two. Yours is lush and verdant! I am so inspired by you and your garden! Carol
Grace, your garden is a wonderful inspiration.
I want the 2010 garden to be on an El Grande scale. Lots of everything! More stone. Concrete statuary. Arbors and improvisational carpentry.
Romance, at least until February is over, will be a new theme.
Maybe I'll prune my boxwoods into more formality to compliment the romance.
Abundance, especially roses, will follow pruning all by a third.
... then the next six weeks will be over and I'll go outside and return to reality.
My prediction for me is I will spend too much money and get rid of more grass. I don't really pay too much attention to the "latest" gardening trends either. I still like a lot of old fashioned plants, but there are always a few very new ones that catch my eye. I find around here that the newest are always so expensive I usually wait a couple of years if I really need it.
Thanks for sharing so many new and pretty pictures!
Hi Grace,
Haven't given this too much thought yet, but I agree that gates and other ornamental artwork will be big, especially if it's practical art (like a gate or a bench). I also think that watering cans will be coming back in style. And I believe hot colors will be the rage this year.
So much for my predictions.
Cindee
Grace I have not thought much about gardening YET, except to realize some of my failures in the veggie garden were due to not having enough compost and manure in the beds.
Your garden is beautiful and interesting. In the second photo, do you know the name of the round-leaf, low growing plant? I like the shape and fullness. Enjoyed your post!
I predict that my whole garden will be out of style in 2010 because Junk gardening decor will go out of style and word 'green' will be run into the ground which is also iffy in my garden.
Heirloom will be the by word again and I hate Bradywine tomatoes.
Chemical free will also continue and I hate bugs and do not care how I kill them.With that said I see bugs and locusts once again devastating the farmers crops like in the 20's and 30's.
I do not see succulents ever catching on in the northern gardens.
I am oh so not trendy and I cannot even scream April Fools.LOL
To be serious as if I wasn't before I see more hot colors in the garden.
More in container and raised bed gardening sized plants especially in Ohio where the whole state is rock, stone and clay and the profiteers see dollar signs.
In the landscaping arena I see more and more cold, hard stone, pizza ovens and stainless steel.
Now that I have thoroughly ticked off everyone.....
Have a Happy New Year Grace and may it be filled with love, good health, family, friends,stolen garden ornaments and many, many more beautiful pink flowers.
Lona
¡Es precioso! el jardin, las fotos, las plantas, las flores... TU BLOG es una maravilla. Enhorabuena y que tengas un Feliz año 2010
Once again amazingly beautiful photo's Grace!
I'm not sure how I feel about Agave's becoming trendy. I guess I need to see it as a positive because that means a better selection right? Not a bad thing. As for my being on the front edge of a trend, wow, something I never thought would happen!
So how about showing us a few pictures of what your garden looks like right now? In its winter slumber?
My prediction - some publisher or someone will want you and your garden and writing talent!
I predict... you're gonna keep me laughing throughout 2010. I spilled my iced tea when I came across your Prada comment!
I also predict that Oregon gardeners will begin lurking around your homestead for a real live glimpse at your beautiful gardens. :)
Happy New Gardening Year!
I predict with my crystal ball that I will be introducing some plants from your garden into mine in 2010 Grace :) All best wishes for the new year and may all your plants prosper in the new decade.
I don't pay too much attention to trends either, but I have noticed a ton of Agaves down here. I do agree with Catherine that the only prediction I have for the new year will be to spend too much money at the nursery....is there such a thing as too much money at the nursery. The one trend I hope will stay is for people to start looking at natives & compatibles for their areas.
Hello Grace,
I am excited to see much more Agave in the landscape. Without a doubt, my absolutely favorite succulents.
Rats! Now I will have to trade in my Phormium for an Agave. And it has only just reached a presentable size. I guess I'll have to rebel and be "retro" because at this point I have spent so much money overwintering it at the nursery for the past 6 years or so that I can't get rid of it. Alaska is always behind the trends anyway. I'll get rid of it in another ten years, that sounds about right. As for gardening trends in Alaska in 2010: giant vegetables (as usual), ornamental grasses (I told you we're behind the times), and chickens.
Thanks for a beautiful post.
Christine at Last Frontier Garden
yes, but why does your trellis have to be perfectly crooked? :)
I'm not sure if this is cheating b/c I'm naming a catagory, but I think the "trend" will be native plants. I predict it will be untrendy to grow fussy plants or those that are not appropriate for your region.
Fun post!! We'll see what happens!
Well... I'm going to move my Bergenia this year. They Need more sunshine! I love the old bike in your garden. I need to look for more interesting items!! (Don't you think I should get a couple of old tractor seats - being from Iowa?) ;-) I'm not very trendy either... but I do love to get ideas from everyone else! Looking forward to a great 2010. Want to head to Iowa and give me some helpful hints?? :-)
You are not perfect??? What? You are a riot.
I do like to see what grows well for others and see if it will do as well in my garden. Your love of 'pink' has me drooling much of the time.
Happy New Year to you!
Gorgeous photos to send us into the New Year Grace! I especially love the one of the chair with the container at its feet.
I think the prediction of gates, arbors and containers is right on. I got a new book for Christmas (which I hope to post about soon) called "the New Low Maintenance Garden." It talks about the new generation of gardeners who don't want to spend all their time taking care of their gardens but rather making the garden work for them. I like this concept ~ a place to play, relax and entertain. I hope the trend is for having what you love but in a more simplified way.
Everything looks beautiful, Grace! Thanks for sharing, as ever. I too am planning for 2010. No follower of trends here--I just plant what I like and hope for the best! So far, it's working out just fine. Happy New Year!
I predict that we will plant new flowers, pull weeds, expand our gardens and continue to blog about it in 2010. Happy New Year Grace
Grace, I wanna cry. Lemme have a garden just like yours. Pleeeezeee ...
Does this work? Is Santa still around? huhuhuuuuu ...
A very happy new year to you, a beautiful friend with a beautiful garden!
Your garden is just beautiful! I am not sure what the predictions will be for the new year but I am sure the "experts" will tell us(-:
I will be happy with more "junk" for my garden as usual(-:
Happy New Year!!!!!
Seeing what all of you predict for trends is informative and interesting. I tend to agree with those that think Native plants, less watering, less lawn and as green as can be will be the way most are leaning. At least in theory although most gardeners love beauty and color so who knows what will catch our eye. That's what is so great about gardening, everyone's space and conditions and time contraints are different so our gardens are always different than everyone else's and nothing is right or wrong if you are enjoying what you are doing. I can't wait to see what all of you have cooking out there this spring...you are all very inspiring.
Oohhh!!!Pictures #2,4,6,7- Ahhh!!!
They deserve to be in garden magazines. Wonderful, Grace! My Acanthus didn't bloom last summer and turned to a mess in December.
Big containers and big garden art pieces will work for me. Accidentally, I already have several of them. Many bloggers wrote about agave, so let it be!
P.S I'll put my answer to your last comment on your Bl. plot.
Trends? There will be a greater virtual visiting of gardens, and the nature of the envy will shift: "how did Grace manage so much detail on her blog photos?" people will ask, for instance. A tripod? Her camera? Her processing? And more and more we will all work at 'the perfect picture' within our gardens as garden photography becomes more important - so watch for paths that disappear around a curve, focal points (those large pots?) to be seen through a lens, ultra subtle colour combinations. The actual experience, fleeting in time, will more and more give way to the perfact moment to capture forever - for better or for worse but I guess the for worse will be balanced by greater attention to detail... I love your photos and I really do wonder how you manage it, Grace! Jack
Trends? For me? The usual -- spend too much money on filling the patio pots, too much time worrying about what to grow in the veggie garden, and also on how to get rid of the houttynia under the Japanese maple (flamethrower? Will it hurt the maple?) BUT -- I am thrilled, thrilled to read that just maybe arbors are the coming trend, because I just inherited one from a dear friend who died recently and knew that I coveted hers. I am planning to lug it over here and plant a memorial lily garden for her, but Oh Joy! I am Fashionable!
I almost hate to see the agave become so popular. They will risk becoming common, and people are often contemptuous of plants that are common. However, I don't have a phormium, because they hate our hot summers. It could be the same for the agave, although they don't seem to mind cold temps.
I am taking a pottery course beginning in January, and I would like to make some nice pots for my garden. I love unusual pots, and that seemed to be the way to get some that are truly unique! AND I am going to build a tuteur for me! I have built so many, but always to donate to something. The next one is mine. LOL
I loved seeing these summer and spring photos of your garden, you always amaze me. It's like a better home and gardens spread. only better. :)
Happy New Year!
Do you think that bloggers influence garden trends?
Rosey
Wow, your garden looks amazing--all those colors, textures, and varying heights! I'm *so* not into trends, either. I have gotten way into yucca since visiting my niece in CO, though... but can't afford large containers or arbors. Quirky humor is good. (I think someone may have said that about me in a speaker evaluation form at some point. I took it as a compliment!!)
Grace your gardens are inspiring, beautiful, gorgeous, warmth to my freezing South Dakota eyes. As to trends, I once had a friend ask me if Elvis had died up here yet. Gloria
I'm going out on a limb here and saying - ORANGE! Okay, maybe not for everyone. Fabulous bark? Black flowers? I dunno. I suck at predictions! I love your garden to bits, though. Eclectic in all the right ways.
Hi Grace. I just saw that article yesterday. Garden trends are such an interesting thing. They definitely come and go, although trends are short lived, gardens are long lived, so if you find yourself "on trend" it's a fleeting moment. I have mixed emotions when that moment happens. At once, validation that you have good ideas, and at the same time, worry that the popularity of your favorites will cause them to grow tired. Thank goodness there's infinite variety and constant change in gardens. And boy has it ever become easier to find agaves in local nurseries - I remember it was a very different story a couple short years ago, hovering over a single $100 tiny agave at Portland Nursery wishing I had the plant budget for it.
As Baby Boomers age, I'm predicting less strenuous gardens. Not necessarily lower maintanence gardens, but gardens requiring less strenuous maintenance; plants that need grooming rather than regular overhauling.
Deirdre
Your shots are beautiful, as usual, Grace! I miss the green of Portland, but not the clouds- heard you've had so cccold weather this year. Redmond is cold, crisp, and...sunny :). A lot to do for the new garden-
My prediction for the year- permaculture. I think with all the 'green' hype the last few years, more and more people will be going greener than ever...my 2 cents worth!
Happy New Year to you, my friend :)
Hi Grace what a wonderful diversion from the cold of winter! Love love love your Prada burrito joke! Good one. On so many levels. Anyway, about trends. How about what we HOPE will be the trend, since we have no idea what the masses think. We hope the trend will be towards natives and friendly exotics, things that grow by themselves with no extra water, fertilizer, preparation or hand holding to get them through the year. Or staking, dead heading, let's see, have we left anything out? I do think this can be sold in a way to appeal to the fading energy of the baby boomers, mentioned in a comment already. Less maintenace means happy gardeners with more time to smell the knockouts. May 2010 bring you the best of the best, Grace. Let us join hands together in wishing some warm times for Christopher as well. :-)
Frances
Hi Grace,
Loving your new header... such a beauty!
Rosey
Grace, It's spring, I have been looking forward to your comments all winter, where are you?? I love your beautiful garden pictures, it's inspiring.
Annie
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