Get into gardening
EVERY year, a secret meeting of wildly influential people takes place in a European capital behind bolted doors. Their mysterious mission? After a two-day conclave, white smoke is piped from the chimney and they announce to an eager waiting world their choice for the colour of the year!
It’s described by colour gurus at Pantone as “a symbolic colour selection – a colour snapshot of what they see taking place in our global culture that serves as an expression of a mood and an attitude”. Marketing speak if ever I heard it! And the colour we are encouraged to embrace for 2017? “Greenery”. As gardeners, we already knew that! It works for us every year. But Pantone continues with its creative descriptions – “it’s a fresh and zesty yellowgreen shade that evokes the first days of spring”, going on to say that “the more submerged people are in modern life, the greater their innate craving to immerse themselves in the physical beauty and inherent unity of the natural world”.
We all know all about the benefits of being outdoors communing with nature and it’s one of the reasons we are so passionate about the activity.
So this week, I decided to ask other experts, but this time from the great world of gardening, to see what the trends for 2017 might be.
Colin Dale, head of plants at Notcutts Garden Centres, said: “One of the biggest emerging trends is more passion for wildlife-friendly planting.
“Customers are increasingly aware of the sharp decline in birds, butterflies and especially bees in our gardens and they are determined to tempt them back.
“Plants like buddleja and catmint are more popular than ever for attracting butterflies, and anyone fond of bees should look out for asters or lavender in their local garden centre. At Notcutts’ 18 garden centres nationwide, we also offer a range of bird feeders, nest boxes and houses for bugs and bees.”
Hillier Garden Centres is promoting a clever new product called Smart Cover from the Westland Gro-Sure range this spring.
This is a protective and decorative mulch which is made with natural wood fibres. You water it after spreading it on the ground and the fibres will lock together and stay in place.
This mulch acts as a barrier which impedes weed growth (but allows bulbs to emerge) and prevents the need for chemical or hand weeding as well as keeping soil moist. It’s a great way to
tidy up your borders this spring after you have finished weeding them.
Dobbies Garden Centres will be stocking a range of traditional gardening tools by Moulton Mill. They are made from ash and stainless steel – a hand trowel comes in at £8.99, digging forks and spades are £29.99. For indoor plants, the Dobbies look for spring 2017 is cacti and ferns planted in metallic pots in black, rose gold and copper.
Lubera is a Swiss specialist grower of fruit trees and bushes (lubera. co.uk). Staff there predict that the trend for small space fruit growing will continue as more of us live in cities or simply do not have large gardens.