Getting trendy.

I think we're heading for a new revolution in how we garden. We've gone from the 'exotics and bamboos' phase of around the year 2000, through 'grow your own fruit and veg' (which is surprisingly hard work if you're not a TV gardener) and we're now in a phase of growing cut flowers, as well as growing plants for nature and generally gardening along more natural lines.

Phormium tenax 'Tricolor' used to be a 'hot' plant!

Every year the horticultural media speculates what's going to be 'big' at Chelsea, and pretty well every year they've been wrong. How can they expect to be right when horticulture spans from the commonplace to the rare, the small to the big, the window-box to the country estate? Guessing the trends in gardening is a lot more complicated than looking at what designers have sourced for their gardens at Chelsea, or just what's looking good in May. Picking up trends in gardening is also more than flicking through magazines to see what's nice enough to be on their glossy pages; a magazine photographer will take pictures of what looks nice, not what's worthy.

We know some long-term trends all too well; conifers have sadly fallen from grace despite continuing to be excellent garden plants (it's worth noting that conifers are still popular across Northern Europe where their good looks and resilience to cold are still appreciated). Similarly heathers are frowned upon as being 'dated', despite being excellent garden plants. When was the last time you saw lots of bamboos at your local garden centre, or hundreds of Photinia 'Red Robin', or when was the last time a TV gardener told you how to plant the fairly hardy Musa basjoo? If you want to gauge what trends have been and gone just go to your nearest garden centre or nursery and ask them what they used to sell lots of but don't any more; you'll get this list and probably a few more things.

Pinus parviflora 'Bonnie Bergman' is still a fantastic plant!

Where are Potentilla fruticosa cultivars with their cheerful colourful flowers over a long season? Where are all the grasses that were thought to be the great garden plants of the future? Where are the Astilbes and all the other traditional 'bread and butter' garden plants? They're still out there, you won't have to look far to find one, but they're not fashionable any more.

Media and plant shows used to have a great hold on the British gardener- if Geoff Hamilton recommended a plant on Gardener's World on a Friday night then stocks would be depleted across the country on Saturday morning. Flower shows were the place to be inspired by designers who would dazzle gardeners with exciting combinations. Now, what's happened? Gardeners just don't get excited as much any more; there's no more gardening hysteria. Maybe it was always inevitable, after all people move on in the search for new and more exciting things. Maybe gardening reached the limit of what it could do to capture the interest of the 'man on the street'.

Grasses looking great at Knoll Gardens; has our love of them waned a little?

I think one of the things that has brought mixed changes is internet plant shopping. While very convenient and a simple way to get hold of plants without leaving your home (or even your garden!) the internet has muted our connection with new and different plants. A trip to a good garden centre or nursery was an opportunity to become entranced by lovely new plants, often skilfully and artfully displayed together in combinations worthy of a Chelsea gold. This was the great day of the retailers who sold you plants that you could grow by allowing you to experience them first hand. Plants could be prodded, poked, stroked, sniffed and generally otherwise enjoyed first hand and, if they passed muster, could be put straight into the trolley and be taken home (oh yes, and paid for too!).

Now plants are bought by clicking a button their only chance to shine is by looking pretty for a carefully controlled picture, their only chance to express their texture, form, scent etc. by having carefully worded descriptions written. Where is the interaction with the plant beforehand? And where is the opportunity to ask someone about the plant there and then? Possibly even more crucially where is the opportunity to pick up a plant and carry it over to the other side of a sales area to compare it with another and see if colours work well? Some of the magic of buying plants for the garden has been lost through e-commerce, even though it has revolutionised the way we can buy plants. We're no longer enjoying shopping for plants as much as we used to.

The bright garish colours of Coleus seem to be fuelling their revival

How we buy plants is one thing, but what we buy is another. I think the biggest single influence on gardeners is now other gardeners. Rather than take the word of the TV or a magazine as gospel we now want to hear recommendations first hand. We want to see plants in other people's gardens, we want to speak to other gardeners about their first hand experiences with plants. This makes it very difficult to predict trends because people are now talking to each other instead of to a nursery. That sounds like a very commercial thing for me to say, but think of it this way... if we don't let nurseries know what we want then how will they know what to grow for us? And the more nurseries have to guess or just stick to their guns and pray they're growing the right thing, the more likely they are to make mistakes, lose valuable income and possibly cease to exist.

That would really take the fun out of it, wouldn't it?

(Oh, and my prediction for future trends? Well that would warrant another post...)