Growing Viral EDIBLES AND ORNAMENTALS ARE TRENDING HOT
F
ads are fleeting. Remember steampunk, planking, selfie sticks, the ice bucket challenge and the Macarena? Social media platforms and marketing staffs predict and inflate fads. Eventually, the air escapes and we read about the next must-have product. Gardening has fads, often called trends. By definition, a fad arrives overnight and quickly disappears. Trends gradually evolve and may (or not) endure. Both are lumped into one category when predicting the most popular colors, plants and design choices for gardens and outdoor living areas. Garden Media Group, an influential public relations and marketing firm, releases an annual trend report. For 2022, it predicts growth in seed starting, container gardening and “organic and natural products.” Beginning gardening tools will be hot sellers, along with vegetable and herb gardening and the creation of outdoor “escape areas.” Similar to other trend reports, GMG predicts edible gardening will continue to gain strength with flower gardening to help ease our anxiety about food prices and pandemic chaos. National gardening predictions may be fun to peruse, but gardening is local. In Sacramento, we have our own unique “trendy fads” and tastes. We know what we like and so do our local nurseries that buy and stock based on your requests and buying habits. What are our neighbors buying from local nurseries?
DV Jill Franklin and Kevin Johnson Photo by Linda Smolek
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ILP/GRID APR n 22
By Dan Vierria Garden Jabber