Looking for consumer trends in container gardens requires the same savvy as any other trend-spotting category.
“Yes, pay attention. Just consider the sources and watch for the trends in articles. These trends are especially apparent in colors and styles,” said Sid Raisch, owner and consultant with Horticultural Advantage in
“Garden writers are frequent PR targets of companies releasing new products, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. If you can figure out which items consumers will be asking for, you’ll do very well, such as we’ve seen with Endless Summer hydrangea and Knock Out rose. However, beware that if a product doesn’t perform well in your area, no matter what was said about it and by whom, you will feel the repercussions,” he said.
Raisch said retailers shouldn’t feel it is necessary to stock everything that's written about, but take note of customer requests related to the magazines.
“If you can get the products in and get the customers back, you can get extra sales as a result,” he said.
What consumer publications are saying
In the Southern Living container gardening special issue, editor Steve Bender wrote: “Container gardening is the hottest trend in gardening today. And no wonder. Using pots means you don’t need lots of time or space to enjoy beautiful flowers, shrubs, bulbs, trees and more. All you need is to match the right plant with the right container.”
The container gardening issue contains sections on fancy and colorful pots; outdoor containers; creative containers; no-fail houseplants; and projects and ideas.
The cover story of the June 2008 issue of Fine Gardening focused on the winners of its 2007 Container Design Challenge. The magazine even gave its readers a recipe for success when it comes to containers: just mix “thrillers, spillers and fillers.”
The winning design came from a reader in
“The paddle plant’s broad leaves and the aeonium’s dark foliage add visual bulk to cover up the stalk of the weeping yucca. As a whole, the plants also inversely mimic the shape of their vessel, creating a pleasingly balanced composition,” the article stated.
Trends in plants and color
Fine Gardening’s Container Design Challenge encouraged readers to mix and match various kinds of flowers and pots for the most dramatic effect. Through all five publications, the theme of color in both the plants and the planters was the crucial element in container gardening.
Bright colors. Displaying dramatically bright colors, Traditional Home’s April 2008 issue used a pot with trailing fuchsia flowers to accent the green foliage in the garden of the Montecito, Calif., home featured.
Plants and pots alike were often used to accent their surroundings, whether it was the color of the house, the area where it was placed or the actual flowers and plants in the yard.
Country Home’s April 2008 issue advised readers when mixing plants to think about color and form, especially as it paired bright-green sweet potato vines, which tumbled over the edges, with pink dwarf cosmos or yellow and orange marigolds.
Choice plants. In the Southern Living container gardening special issue, there was an entire article devoted to coleus varieties and colors; another to geraniums; and another article dedicated to succulents.
Plants recommended for front-door containers that look good year-round and don’t have thorny or sharp edges include boxwood, Sasanqua camellia, cast-iron plant, palms and clipped ligustrum.
Among the plants mentioned most often in the container gardening articles were fuchsia, coleus, sweet potato vines, sedum and arborvitae.
In the April 2008 issue of Better Homes and Gardens, a lovely backyard featured arborvitae and sedum in round pots flanking containers of mugo pine on a patio. In a different section of the yard, the theme was continued as potted ‘Globe’ arborvitae, mugo pine and other evergreens unified the landscape by building on year-round greenery in flower beds, according to the article.
Contrasting foliage was used to add visual interest to the garden as a boxwood shrub worked with a bright hosta. Container plants such as ‘Lime Rickey’ heuchera also provided vivid highlights against a subdued backdrop, the article added.
Trends in urns, pots and planters
A trend found in all of the publications was the use of urns throughout the garden. From the most relaxed, simple garden to those of massive estates, urns were highlighted.
In the April issue of Traditional Home was a decorative concrete urn featured in the Montecito garden. Southern Living showcased a wide variety of pots from decorative urns, wall and gate planters, hanging baskets to strawberry jars.
One small
Again, urns were used along with concrete planters adorned with bouquetlike combinations of annuals. Bigger containers were recommended for maximum impact. Cement planters with texture in various shapes, from round to oblong, as well as planters with visual interest, stood out. Plain pots weren’t prominently featured in the photos.
As the name of the magazine might suggest, Country Home chose old metal containers and a well-worn washtub planted with fuchsia and coleus as planters.
Trends in pot placement
Containers weren’t relegated to the patio, but found their way into the actual gardens themselves, too. From locations around swimming pools to creeping up the steps of a front or back porch, pots were placed in a variety of locations.
The containers also varied in height and size. One publication recommended placing pots at a number of heights to create more interest.
Country Home showed the placement of pots filled with culinary herbs on the porch steps that led to the kitchen.
In the container gardening issue by Southern Living, groupings of containers with like colors of pots were shown. One grouping had decorative cement containers on a stone path to continue a color scheme. A group of earthen color pots on a brick patio showed another complementary color palette.
To illustrate how colors can work together, Southern Living even presented a paint scheme showing how to match plant colors with the paint hues of home exteriors for the best look.
“Containers vastly expand the industry opportunity for gardening out of the ground and onto the porch, patio, windows and deck, which all homes have,” Raisch added. “In other words, plants go anywhere people do today if we broaden the container garden idea a bit to include houseplants, which it should.”
For more: Sid Raisch, Horticultural Advantage, (937) 302-0423; www.horticulturaladvantage.com.
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- Tonie Auer
Tonie Auer is a freelance writer in
July 2008