2005 Garden Trends! (8-10)

[Snowwark]

~All pics and green text from Better Homes and Gardens.~

8. Name-Brand Blooms.

Shoppers like the benefits that go with a trusted brand, like consistency and reliability. Today, more and more garden shoppers are paying a little (or a lot) extra for that same peace of mind. Among the brands promising better blooms and more moxie: Miracle-Gro Nursery Select, The Flower Fields, Wave Petunias, Flower Carpet Roses, and Proven Winners. Watch for these and other brands at fine stores everywhere.

9. Fancy Foliage.

Flowers may come and go (and look hideous as they go), but foliage can be a thing of beauty all season long. That may explain the boom in beautiful-leaf plants like coleus, caladium, Japanese maple, sweet potato vine, hosta, dusty miller, and ferns. Even flowering plants are getting into the act with new varieties sporting variegated or any-color-but-green foliage. Another benefit: many foliage plants will do well in shady areas that are a turnoff for most flowers.

Yep, this is a biggie!! Foliage is fun! I use a lot of coleus, sweet potato vine, ferns, etc., and thankfully the garden centres seems to have more and more to choose from every year!

10. Mixed-Up Beds.

arden designers are finding that more of their clients want plantings that go beyond a collection of perennials or a line of shrubs. Instead, they're asking for beds that combine plants of all types: annuals, perennials, vines, shrubs, and trees. Besides creating a more "natural" look, mixed plantings provide more lasting value and year-round beauty.

Well, my beds are indeed, mixed-up.

Your thoughts, Buds?

 

[sorcerormickey]

I've always really liked coleus - and they come out with new ones every year it seems! The different color combinations are great, especially in shadier areas - really perks it up. (Although, someone really needs to go talk to our neighbors across the street. They planted a whole bed of different coleuses, but they got the shade ones. After about 1pm, the bed is in full sun, so by the end of the day, the coleus are fried and laying on the ground. I'm amazed they've lived for the past month that they've been planted!)

 

[Snowwark]

Hopefully your neighbours will change the coleus for something more appropriate for that area, Sorcermickey.

Did you notice, no bottle or tire edging to be seen anywhere! How did they miss that trend?

 

[dianeschlicht]

I had great luck with coleus when we lived in NY, but not as much here in MN. I love it though. At our last house, we were limited to shade plants, so I had lots of hostas. I love those too, but not sure I have any place appropriate for them here. Do deer like coleus as much as they do hostas?

 

[gina2000]

I really, really love foliage. When I first started gardening, color (and lots of it) was all that mattered. In recent years, I've discovered the beauty of foliage...even dead foliage in a winter landscape!

My beds are mixed up. Hey....I'm mixed up...shouldn't my plants be also????

 

[Snowwark]

Diane, I've read that coleus isn't the preferred deer entree, but of course there's no guarantees!

 

[Mamu]

Over the years my garden trends have also changed. Although I still love those old time perennials that return and return and return.

I have found I'm drawn more to the foliage plants the last few years. They seem to put on more of a show as the summer draws on.

My newest favorite are the stain-glass coleus. Love these, they are a sun loving coleus. The more sun they get, the more they show off. They are bright and colorful.

 

[CajunDixie]

I'm not big on sticking with certain name brands of plants when I go shopping. I figure if I treat the plants right they'll live. Of course, I now avoid wax begonias and azaleas. I'm not big on foliage but I do have several Hostas on the north end of the house and a couple different coleus are added in the spring. As for the mixed up effect that is definately me! The day before Mother's Day I go shopping everywhere from my 2 local garden centers to WalMart and KMart. I pick up a couple perinnials and tons of annuals. Anything and everything from petunias to Gerber daisies. From white to orange to purple! Then on Mother's Day I lay everything out by colors and height around what perinnials I have. Youngest DS was big on orange marigolds and salmon geraniums one year so now I give him his own space to do anything he likes.