SEVERAL DAYS OF SUNSHINE - TIME TO LUST AFTER NEW PLANTS

Soon, there will be a multitude of plant sales and gardening shows filled to the brim with plants begging for a new home and I will be there - vulnerable and filled with uncontrollable desire to take them home and not even consider whether there is space available. I wrote the following article several years ago and my son, Matthew, created the images. It is just as relevant today as it was then, and I'm hoping reading it will jog my memory and help me keep my desire for new plants in check.

WHEN DID MY GARDEN BECOME A FASHION STATEMENT?

For years I have been digging, planting, rearranging, and enjoying the fruits of my labor. I have carefully selected plants that catch my eye and placed them in my own little corner of the world without giving much thought to whether my additions fit this year’s definition of “Garden Fashion”. My garden has been the one respite I can count on to take me away from a world filled with dictatorial “ins” and “outs”.

Discovering plants that I enjoy and finding places to plant them is what motivates me to get out there and painfully rediscover every muscle in my aging body. When plant conflicts surface, the offenders are relocated to areas where they can live in harmony with their neighbors. If they are sickly or cannot get along with others, they are quickly dispatched. Whether any of the plants are on any current favorable list is of no significance. I want comfort and contentment in the garden and a place to share with friends who are equally content to be here.

Recently, as I finished reading another article filled with advice about what will be “in and out” for this year; I found myself heading out into the garden. I strolled around, visiting my little charges, checking to see how they were getting along with one another. Many cherished, reliable plantings are treasures descended from those that once graced the gardens of my Mother and Grandmother. They have given birth to new offspring at a reasonable rate and stayed within their boundaries, producing healthy foliage and reliable bloom with a minimum of pampering. Wondering how in the world these fantastic plants could ever be considered out of fashion, I made note that some of the latest and greatest plants added only a couple of seasons ago lacked the vigor I expected and others were becoming garden thugs. I wondered what it was that convinced me to give them a try in the first place. Then I remembered an article that I read before making those purchases. As my mind wandered, I began to ponder the driving force behind the annual barrage of magazine and newspaper articles touting the latest fashionable new plants for the year.

The word “fashion” brings to mind the clothing industry and the annual spring, summer, fall and winter rituals. How in the world is anyone convinced to wear some of that stuff? Well, maybe it is just the result of clever marketing and has absolutely nothing to do with value. What if the textile industry produced a warehouse full of a fabric so disgusting that no one would purchase it? Create public demand and the problem is solved. With the right designer label, a celebrity endorsement, a sexy super model, an exotic romantic setting, and creative press releases all of those lime green polyester hip-hugging bell bottom pants with matching head scarves and purses go flying off the shelf. Clothing fashion is probably a good example for demonstrating that the driving force behind the marketing of plants may not be as much about demand as it is about supply.

True gardeners are most likely able to resist the latest trends in fashion because we consider jeans, sweatshirts, garden shoes, rubber coated gloves, and floppy hats to be constantly in vogue. There seems to be very little concern about which pair of jeans “will go” with what sweatshirt before heading out into the garden. Concerned with getting only enough dirt out from under our fingernails to be presentable at the garden center, we wonder if there are really too many pollen stains to wear this outfit to the grocery store. But, are we gardeners playing to the same drummer - just a different tune - and becoming slaves to “plant fashion”?