Gardening Trends For 2010: `Smart And Green´
February 16, 2010 in Gardening, Home Improvement
(Family Features) – Jennifer Smith starts each new year raking around and digging up what´s likely to be “hot” in landscapes and gardens during the months ahead.
“We´ve always got a few new plant releases and a few new tools for every growing season. One or two items may gain popularity through an infomercial. This year´s trends, however, are also indicating some real culture shifts,” said Smith, horticulturist with Kansas State University Research and Extension.
Her predictions for what will be “in” in 2010 include:
- More fruits and veggies – even if that requires adding some edibles to existing landscape beds, planting them instead of annual flowers, or plowing up and gardening part of the lawn. Fresh-picked taste, money saved, self-satisfaction and food safety will all drive this on-going change.
Spurring it along will be last year´s upside-down tomato planter, as well as Topsy Turvy containers for strawberries, hot peppers, and a combination of tomatoes and herbs. To help gardeners grow lettuce and basil year-round in their home, the market will be offering tiny indoor gardens with their own grow light. - More green – a rapidly building trend toward more eco-friendly yards, which this year will bring more containers made from recycled materials, more electric-powered equipment, and more native or near- native plants that need few to no chemicals to thrive.
- More gadgets – tools for today´s technology junkies, ranging from robotic lawn mowers to gardening applications for smartphones.
- Tropical foliage plants in the landscape – which in Kansas may mean moving houseplants outdoors for summer, using tropicals as annual plants, and/or planting more tender bulbs (e.g., giant elephant ears, caladiums, calla lilies).
- Moving-water sounds without pond maintenance – bubbling fountains and/or pondless waterfalls. The fountains will also provide water to attract pest-controlling songbirds.
- Smarter irrigation controls – whether person- or technology- driven. For the latter, weather stations that work with irrigation systems are becoming both smaller and more affordable.
