Gardening Sweet Spots
By Donna Hessel
You may be totally satisfied with how your garden looks — your coordinated color schemes, the amount of time you spend maintaining perfection and all other aspects of your gardening regime. But it’s always a good idea to keep an open mind and maybe shake up the status quo. One of these gardening trends identified by gardening gurus could be just the key to making your gardening efforts better than ever in 2023.
Growing a Bouquet of Cut Flowers
Wouldn’t you love to walk out to your garden and cut a variety of beautiful blooms for a centerpiece for your table? Maybe you already have some flowers in your garden that make good cutting flowers. If not, here are some suggestions as to what to plant next spring.
Choose flowers that have strong stems and tend to bloom for a long period of time. Consider the following:
- Aster (Symphotrichum and Aster) – perennial – blooms August through October
- Coneflower (Echinacea spp.) – perennial – so many colors! Blooms summer through early fall
- Celosia (Celosia spp.) – annual – blooms summer through fall
- Blazing Star (Liatris spicata) – perennial – bright pink! Blooms mid to late summer
- Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia spp.) perennial – blooms late summer to frost
- Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) – annual – blooms mid-summer to frost
- Dahlia (Dahlia spp. and hybrids) – tuber – so many types and colors! Blooms mid-summer to frost
- Delphinium (Delphinium hybrids) – perennial – blooms early to mid-summer
- Floss Flower (Ageratum) – annual – purple! Blooms late spring to frost
- Iris (Iris germanica) – rhizome – perennial – lots of color choices; each flower lasts one day, but buds open on a stem in succession
- Salvia (Salvia spp.) – perennial – shades of blue, purple and pink – blooms late spring to frost
- Shasta Daisy (Leucanthemum superbum) – perennial – blooms early summer to fall
- Zinnia (Zinnia spp.) – annual – lots of types and colors – blooms mid-summer to frost
Creating Cottage Gardens
Some gardeners like to see empty, mulched spaces between plants. Cottage gardeners plant things close together to create an expanse of colorful blooms. Cottage gardens are on the rise because they also require less maintenance, they support lots of types of pollinators and they flourish without use of harsh chemicals.
Designing Mediterranean-Style Gardens
Where gardeners need to be drought-conscious, Mediterranean-style gardens are catching on. They need less watering and can be as stunning as a colorful cottage garden. If you would like to try this style, look for olive trees, varieties of lavender and fragrant herbs such as oregano, basil and thyme. Add a colorful climbing plant – maybe a clematis or mandevilla.
Swapping Lawns for Meadows
This was discussed in detail in September’s Gardening Sweet Spots blog. I’m glad to note that this is a definite trend for 2023!
Adding Texture with Foliage Plants
Textured foliage is inviting to touch. Soft moss, fuzzy lambs ears, or sinuous ornamental grasses are some to consider adding to your garden. Consider how the sunlight hits your garden and how you can take advantage of it by selecting plants with leaves that reflect the light. Adding plants with textured foliage makes your plant composition visually interesting.
Adding Rare & Unusual Varieties of Houseplants
Growing a collection of houseplants has been trendy for a couple of years. Gardeners are now adding houseplants with the following characteristics to expand their collections:
- Unusual colors of foliage or plants with variegated foliage
- Large leaves – plants with leaves that increase in size as the plants grow are popular
- Intriguing shapes, such as bird’s nest ferns or other plants with unusually shaped leaves add interest
- Interesting patterns and textures – Look for veining that stands out, pink veins, or leaves with bumpy, ridged or mottled leaves
- Hydroponic varieties – they grow in water and in a clear glass container, the roots provide an interesting addition to the foliage
Going Vertical
The interest in vertical gardening has seen an increase in recent years. Many homeowners are maximizing space in smaller yards and those whose gardening is restricted to balconies are “gardening up.” If you want to join this trend, consider adding hanging baskets, planter boxes or containers. If you have a fence on your property, take a look at adding shelving, pouches or mounted containers. Or, just train a climbing plant on the fence. Creating a living wall – literally a garden planted vertically – may be beyond your capability, but adding plants to an arbor, trellis or pergola can accomplish much the same visual effect.
Keeping Things Cheery and Bright
Seeing a garden full of vibrant flowers is an immediate mood booster. Gardeners are getting more creative with color. Color can also come from non-plant materials such as colorful pots or other elements such as doors, chairs, garden art, trellises, and tomato cages. Vibrant outdoor pillows, blankets, and patterned rugs also do the trick. Planting in containers is a great way to try out different color combinations that can be modified annually.
Using Natural Materials
Increased interest in creating calm, serene spaces has led to a rise in the use of natural materials for hardscaping. Natural stone pathways are capturing the hearts of gardeners. People will slow down to watch where they step on a rustic stone pathway and in doing that, they will take time to appreciate your garden.
A broken stone path with moss in the wide joints is lovely. If you want to grow grass between the stones, leave three to six inches between stones. Walk along your stone path before you make it permanent to make sure the spacing of the stones is comfortable.
Keeping Up With Trends
These trends have been in the forefront for several years, but are still worth considering:
- Drought-tolerant gardening – be more conscious about what you plant in your garden and which plants will flourish with less watering
- The warming climate – our growing zones have changed and that impacts what plants will thrive and when they should be planted
- Accommodating wildlife – attracting pollinators to the garden is critical; pay more attention to plants that support the variety of wildlife important to our ecosystem
- Low-maintenance gardening – always of interest as gardeners age and find gardening to be more of a chore than a pleasure
- Homegrown produce – who can pass up a tomato straight from the garden? Vegetable gardening continues to grow in popularity, for both the taste and health benefit
No doubt, you will discover new plants – both flowers and veggies – in the catalogs that will be arriving soon. Consider incorporating them into one or more of the 2023 trends you will take advantage of next year to make your garden better than ever.
Photos courtesy of pexels.com
