The Newest Thing Is Old Hat

Wednesday I had the great good fortune to attend a seminar at Spring Creek Growers, presented in part by Ball Horticultural Company.  The idea is introduce garden center folks and landscape contractors to the newest, most innovative "plant material" out there, in the hopes that we can entice our own customers to buy them.  (That's what they call it sometimes, plant material.  Isn't that a little, well, dreary?) 

'Phantom' Petunia

I love these events.  I love to hear about all the research and development that goes into the creation of a "new" plant.  I get all plant-geeky inside, just hearing words like vegetative or triploid.  And the facility at Spring Creek is very, very nice, and the food was delicious, and it makes for a great start for the spring season.

'Breathless' Euphorbia

What thrills me about springtime, though, does not necessarily thrill the customers.  The panel discussion pointed up a disconnect between what the Ball folks were promoting, and what the landscape contractors, re-wholesalers and garden center owners were looking for.  The Ball representative started the discussion by asking each of the participants how they felt about new plants, new innovations, new products.  You could tell he was very excited about Ball's product line, and he was right to be -- there are some very interesting new plants on the market.  However...

Zinnia 'Zahara Double Duo'

One by one, the panel participants said, in not so many words, that simply being "new" was not good enough.  The landscape contractor said that her clients never come to her, asking for the newest thing.  They rely on her to put together a plan that works for them, in their budget.  She believed it was important for her to find out about new plants, but the customer wasn't driving that.  The garden center owner said that a few of her customers came into the store looking for the latest in new plants, but that only happened if there were a big national marketing push behind the product.  She also said that much of the time, the new products failed to deliver on the promises made by these marketing campaigns.  The Wave petunias are a good example -- they don't perform here nearly as well as promised here, in our climate, as other petunias might.  The rewholesaler, who provides plants primarily to landscapers, said that he had to push the new products -- there wasn't a demand from his clients specifically for the newest varieties.

Coleus 'Redhead'

The discussions went on in this vein for about half an hour.  None of the panelists were using social media or traditional advertising to promote new products.  None of the panelists felt that "newness" provided a higher price point or profit margin.  In fact, while there was excitement about specific plants, I thought I detected a general skepticism about "newness" in general.  Simply being new doesn't mean a plant can solve a customer's problem or meet a customer's need.  It's hard to say what was going through the Ball rep's mind -- he put up a good front.  But it's got to be discouraging to have your customers tell you new's not where it's at.

Verbena 'Aztec'

I'll put my customer hat on for a minute.  Would I rather have a new petunia, in the rare and unusual shade of black?  Or would I rather just have a petunia that can make it longer through the heat and humidity of our summers?  I appreciate what Ball's doing here and I love some of the new plants.  But I hope they don't overestimate the importance of new and different.  I think many of us would be satisfied with a good quality, virus-free same-old, same-old.


All photos courtesy Ball Horticultural Company, and a big thanks to Spring Creek Growers for hosting us.  It was a very interesting, thought-provoking event!

On Trees and Statistics

Did you see the publicity on the recent study, conducted in Portland, Oregon, that concluded that large street trees actually reduce crime?  Now I love trees.  But when I heard about this study, soon to be published in the journal Environment and Behavior, I felt a curmudgeonly skepticism rear its ugly head.

I love trees.  Even Bradford pears.

The study, performed by the US Forest Service, looked at several years of crime data, cross-referenced with aerial photographs, site visits and tax data.  In part because one of the authors lived there, the study was confined to a single police precinct area in Portland consisting mainly of single family homes.

I love trees.  Especially cedar elms.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the authors find that the presence of large trees is negatively correlated with crime.  Smaller trees, however, are positively correlated with crime.  Their conclusion?  Big trees prevent crime, while small trees cause crime.  I'm oversimplifying a tiny bit; the authors do explain in the final paragraph of a 29-page report that correlation is not causation, and that other variables are more strongly associated with crime and that unknown variables may have a large impact on crime prevention. 

I love Baldcypresses.

You wouldn't know that from reading the rest of the report, though.  Nor could you tell that from the press the study has received so far. For heaven's sake, don't put up burglar bars.  They're positively correlated with crime.  Make sure you have a tree that's at least 42 feet tall instead.

I love Weeping Yaupon.

I'm pretty sure that the large-tree factor is negatively correlated with crime.  I'm just not convinced trees are preventing the crime.  The same characteristics that cause people to care for trees is perhaps responsible for a (very slightly) lower crime rate.  How about, for starters, home ownership versus renting?  Income levels?  Education levels?  Previous history of crime? Economic conditions? Ethnic makeup?

I love conifers, too.

Oh well.  Perhaps I'm just experiencing a "Bah humbug!" moment.  May it soon pass!

You can read the entire study here.

Garden & Gun?

This magazine surprised me so much I had to steal it from the dentist's office so I could get a better look at it and think about what this might mean.  It's a slick magazine, printed on high-quality paper with some high-quality insides too.  But Garden & Gun?  The "soul of the south?"

From the August/September issue: Teddy Roosevelt's Shotgun.  Photo: James D. Julia Auctioneers

I'm trying to figure out just who the target audience is here.  The cover of the October/November issue features a 12-gauge Watson Brothers shotgun that is truly beautiful simply as an object.  Inside is an interesting article about rescuing turtles after the BP oil disaster.  There's a feature on artist Jack Spencer, who's not exactly someone your old southern granny would hang in her parlor.  There's a humorous bit from Roy Blount, Jr. and a pretty swanky look at what all the best hunters are wearing this fall.

The March/April 2008 Cover

As for gardening, there's a short feature on a little "weekend place," situated on an old 100-acre horse farm.  There was a picture of a flower bed, at least.  And there was an ad for handmade ceramics, decorated with botanical motifs.  I quite liked the ceramics.

Ceramic vases by Laura Zindel Design

It's an intriguing magazine, in an odd way.  It's like one of those pizzas with the unusual gourmet ingredients that you never thought you'd eat together.  I'm not sure I like pizza that way, and I'm not sure I like the magazine, but it was different enough to make me take notice, which is something.  And they said publishing was dying!

Some People Don't Garden

I've been thinking lately about people who aren't interested in gardening.  (Yes, they're out there.  Lots of them!)  I read an interesting post on Garden Rant several days ago about planting meadows on the standard quarter-acre lot.  The post dovetailed with something that's been on my mind for several years now: the disconnect between the gardening aficionado and the  typical owner of a front yard.  Now, I'm sure this gulf exists between the hardcore fans of anything and the more mundane citizen.  I notice it when people talk to me about certain TV shows.  I'm just not interested.  I don't know, I don't care, I don't have the first clue.  And I know in my heart, I would never pay money or spend my time to find out.

(Photo: Native Texas Wildscapes, Houston, Texas)

I bet non-gardeners feel the same way when garden people recommend hort-trendy stuff like bogs, meadows, wildlife habitats, rainwater harvesting or replacing lawns with vegetables.  I'm thinking now about bloggers, writers, Master Gardening groups, garden clubs, etc.  I talk to average people who are concerned about the environment and who want to "be green," but they have no idea how to do it.  Sometimes the answers coming from the horticultural community are completely insensitive to the ability and interests of these folks.  Take native gardens, for example.  There are some fantastic gardeners doing wonderful things with native gardens in Texas.  But it is not a project for someone whose prior gardening experience was paying the lawn guy.  It takes specialized knowledge, hard work and lots of time to get "front yard" results.

(Photo:  Michelle Christman)

Personally, I'm very attracted to the idea of the front-yard vegetable garden.  I love those Edible Estates people. Nothing would please me more than thumbing my nose at my local HOA and planting cowpeas on the front yard.  I'd be sued into the middle of next week if I tried it, though.  Likely couldn't get away with a meadow either, or native grasses or a wildflower garden or a wildlife habitat.  And I'm interested!  I have the time and the interest and the knowledge to do all these things (and I do them in my tiny back yard) and I can't pull it off in the front yard.

(Not my house!)

So what are we going to recommend for people who don't garden for fun but work in the yard because it came with the house?  They need a place for the kids to play and they need to stay out of trouble with the HOA. They aren't interested in devoting all their free time to gardening, but they love the Earth as much as the next guy and would like to "be greener."  Can we just start with some baby steps, please?  Like how to manage a St. Augustinegrass lawn with fewer chemicals?  Or how to properly operate the sprinkler system that came with the house?  Or simply not to dump chemicals into the storm drains?  Does it all have to be so esoteric all the time?

Garden Style

I've been wondering lately who's responsible for the direction of garden trends.  Are plant breeders driving this?  Magazines?  Commercial landscapes?  Somehow gardeners all get the same idea at the same time -- where does it come from?

For a while now, the trend has been for compact, evergreen shrubs with lots and lots of flowers.  I've noticed a steady "dwarfication" of old standards and an emphasis on outlandish color schemes.  Sometimes I like it -- the 'Peve Minaret' Baldcypress is a dwarfing version of the native baldcypress and I love it for its bonsai appeal in the garden.  But sometimes I'm not sure what the point is.  How many different dwarfing versions of nandina do we need? 

I'm curious: is this is just a local thing?  Do people in Wisconsin or North Carolina or Maine shop for compact evergreen shrubs that flower all the time?  They probably do in Florida and California.  More research is clearly required!

 

This is 'Peve Minaret,' a dwarf Baldcypress.  Height estimates vary from 8' to 20'.  

Still, a good deal shorter than the traditional form and highly ornamental, too!

A Winner!

Recently the gals at Garden Rant gave away a free copy of Emily Herring Wilson's book Becoming Elizabeth Lawrence.  I'm thrilled to report that I am the winner!  I can hardly believe it.  I love Elizabeth Lawrence, and I'm so excited to have my very own copy.  It's a collection of letters from Elizabeth Lawrence to her friend and mentor, Ann Preston Bridgers.  I can't recommend Elizabeth Lawrence's books enough -- start with A Southern Garden if you've never read her.  And stop by to peruse the Garden Rant website when you have time.  The writing is outstanding but it's their feisty attitude that I really like.