Garden Writers Symposium "Round-up"- AZ style

As our plane flew into Tucson, AZ, the startling landscape opened up like parchment unfurled, its tawny hues of dappled sand and green-grey plants revealing a soothing palette of desert colors that bid us welcome.

Team GMG (Suzi, Stacey, Katie and I) had arrived for the 2012 Garden Writers (GWA) Symposium, to participate in the most highly anticipated event of the year for professional communicators in the lawn and garden industry.This year's 64th symposium was attended by some 600 print and broadcast garden communicators and bloggers from around the world and top growers and vendors showing off new plants and products.

Our car meandered and climbed up the winding drive that crested in front of a stunning pink-toned adobe and stucco hotel and conference center, with towering cactus, swollen succulents and scarlet desert flowers dotting the landscape like silent sentinels against a cobalt blue western sky.

Between the hectic pace of greeting old friends and new, we prepared for our dinner party at Maynard's Market and Kitchen, an historic converted train station turned upscale restaurant. Cool jazz and smooth voices entertained as we mingled with our media guests and clients: Fall Creek® Farm & Nursery, Hines Growers, RESCUE!® all natural pest control, Premier Tech Horticulture and American Beauties Native Plants/North Creek Nursery.

 

Friday and Saturday saw the exhibitors hall packed with colorful booths brimming with new plants and products, like an open-air market filled with heady earthy scents wafting throughout the aisles.

Crowds gathered around the new flowering Bloomtastic!™and Patio Tropics!™ plants from Hines Growers, ground-breaking new BrazelBerries™ small ornamental fruit collection from Fall Creek® Farm & Nursery, all natural pest control traps from RESCUE!®, stunning native plants from American Beauties Native Plants® and new sustainable PRO-MIX® planting and potting mixes from Premier Tech Horticulture.

"That couldn't be a crinum," exclaims a writer peering intensely at the new Bloomtastic! Crinum Purple   Dream. The leaves look almost purply black!" 

"You mean we can now grow thornless raspberries in containers right in our backyards?" gasps another as she points to the new thornless dwarf raspberry shrub, Raspberry Shortcake™, part of the BrazelBerries collection.

People studied and handled the new fly tape and eco-friendly stink bug traps at the RESCUE! booth and enjoyed a festive atmosphere at the Premier booth.

Workshops like "Let's Talk Plants" romanced the attendees with alluring plant images and  meaty phrases in a lightning speed dating style. Joe Gray , senior vice president of Hines Growers casually chatted about their new plant introductions with the attentive audience and moderators, charming the crowd with asides.

Along with the exhibits, there were scores of workshops and garden tours that included a special visit to a unique seed listing organization that I'll dig into deeper next time.

Ciao, AZ... we loved our visit.

Next year...hint, hint...

Oh, Canada!

~Lynne

Garden Media Group

Get Ready for National Planting Day on September 8th

Let's hear it for the first ever National Planting Day!  Hosted by Keep America Beautiful and its affiliates, National Planting Day celebrates the value and power of native species in our environment.

Do your part and plan to plant natives at home or join in a volunteer effort with your friends and family to beautify your community. It's that easy!

Why natives you ask? According the National Planting Day website, they're actually losing ground to suburbanization, fragmented habitats, ornamental plants and

invasive species. These plants are really critical to attracting pollinators and insects, which in turn provide food for birds and ultimately many more animals up the food chain. What's great about natives is that they're hardy, low maintenance plants that require less water than other ornaments. If you want to learn more about natives, check the American Beauties website at www.abnativeplants.com.

And to get involved in your area on National Planting Day, visit  http://www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Get_involved.

Happy Planting!

-Stacey

Garden Media Group

2012 ASLA Survey Shows Top Outdoor Living Trends for 2012

Design by Dan Maffei, APLD

The American love affair with the back yard shows no signs of slowing, according to the 2012 Residential Landscape Architecture Trends survey conducted by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

The results show a preference for a low maintenance outdoor space for lots of entertaining.

American Beauties Native Plant Garden

Landscape architects with a specialization in residential design across the country were asked to rate the expected popularity of a variety of residential outdoor design elements. The category of gardens and landscape spaces, with 94.9 percent rating somewhat or very popular, was followed closely by outdoor livings spaces at 91.5 percent, which were defined as kitchen and entertainment spaces.

Across all categories, here's how respondents rated things:

• 97.4% rated grills as somewhat or very in-demand for 2012
• 96.6% rated low-maintenance landscapes
• 95.8% rated fireplaces/fire pits (95.8 percent)
• 95.7% rated seating & dining areas (95.7 percent)
• 93.1% rated lighting features
• 89.9% rated decorative water elements

Garden trends are on the top of our minds. Be sure to sign up for our 2013-14 Garden Trends Report.

Suzi
Garden Media Group

May is Garden for Wildlife Month

Who doesn't love becoming one with nature! Our friend and master gardener Nancy Bell, from Gateway Garden Center, paid a visit to NBC's The 10! Show to help viewers transform their backyards into a habitat for wildlife.

Nancy shared some great native plant options from American Beauties that will help invite birds and butterflies into your garden. Watch her here...



-Stacey @StaceyGMG
Garden Media Group

Easy Ways to Save Water

This spring, Americans should make conserving water one of the most important environmental actions they take at home.  According to the EPA's WaterSense publication, “One of the best ways to save energy across the country and in our own home is to use water more efficiently.”

Mother Nature Network's Roni Robbins lends advice on easy ways to save water at home. Not to mention how it will help cut utility bills.

Don’t water your lawn on windy days when most of the water blows away or evaporates. (Photo: tympsy/Flickr)

Below are tips for preserving this natural resource when landscaping - since it accounts for between 30-70% of water used daily in American homes, depending on the region and season. Taken from “100 Ways to Conserve.”

Rain Barrel from The Growers Exchange

• Don’t water your lawn on windy days when most of the water blows away. Also note: trickling or cascading fountains lose less water to evaporation than those spraying water into the air.
• Water your plants deeply, but less frequently, to encourage deep root growth and drought tolerance. More plants die from over-watering than under-watering. Set a kitchen timer when watering your lawn or garden to remind you when to stop or redirect the water. A running hose can lose up to 10 gallons/ min
• Check the root zone of your lawn or garden for moisture before watering. If it’s still moist 2-3 inches under the soil surface you have enough water. Install a rain sensor on your irrigation controller so your system won’t run when it’s raining. Use a rain gauge, or empty tuna can, to track rainfall on your lawn. Then reduce your watering accordingly. A can of tuna also measures sprinkler output. 1in of water on 1sq ft of grass is 2/3 of a gallon of water.
• Next time you add or replace a flower or shrub, choose a native, low-water-use plant like those from American Beauties for year-round landscape color, and save up to 550 gallons a year
• Direct water from your roof’s rain gutters into a rain barrel to water your garden. 

Soil Reef soil amendment

And finally, a GMG tip: Soil Reef, a biochar based soil amendment, helps your soil retain water and nutrients.  Use it in your garden or in containers and you won't have to water as often.

For other easy ways to save water in and around  the house, check out the graphic home tour navigator at www.H2ouse.net to target room-specific conservation ideas.

And, use this tool on the EPA’s website to calculate the savings you would achieve by using water saving products.

 Katie @KatieGMG
www.gardenmediagroup.com 

The Rise of Conscious Consumption

Earth Day is just around the corner. You don't have to pick bugs by hand off your plants or wash your car in rainwater to be a good steward of our planet.

Decades after Earth Day launched in 1970, support for a cleaner earth, air and water for us and future generations has adherents from boardrooms to bedrooms throughout the world.

The message of sustainability and our roles as Mother Earth's caretakers is quietly shaping how we grow gardens in our own backyards or within communities.

Suzi McCoy, the Garden Media Group's chief garden trendspotter and green living expert, has long proclaimed, "Just plant something." And this message is catching on as statistics bear out.

According to the Garden Writers Association's 2011 Fall/Winter Lawn & Garden Survey of nearly one-thousand people across America, close to 70% of American consumers have a lawn or garden and three of five believe the issue of sustainability in gardening is important. (TechnoMetrica)

We're calling this trend: Conscious Consumption.

GWA's survey indicates that nearly 58% of respondents have reduced the use of chemicals and 53% have reduced or eliminated watering their lawns. Plus, 48% have used compost or other natural nutrients instead of chemical fertilizers, 66% have grown edible plants, veggies, fruit or herbs and more than 52% have created habitats for insects, birds and wildlife.

According to the 2010 Cone Survey 83% of consumers still want to see more brands, products and companies that support worthy causes.

"We finally moved from "me" to "we" and consider the earth and each other when we purchase," says McCoy.

You can preserve the earth's delicate eco-system and enjoy the wonder of nature in your little piece of heaven with American Beauties Native Plants. Their partnership with the National Wildlife Federation is an example of the mindshift. When you buy an American Beauties native plant, a donation is made to NWF's Certified Wildlife Habitat Program.

And the birds, butterflies and bees will thank you.

~Lynne Garden Media Group

Spring Ushers in New, Easy to Grow Plants to Color Your Garden

It’s the first day of spring and time to take a lesson from Mother Nature’s palette to create a garden masterpiece with new easy to grow, low maintenance plants.

Susan McCoy, gardening expert for the Garden Media Group, a Philadelphia area firm specializing in green living and garden trend spotting says, break the rules when choosing colors. “You learned to color with crayons and experimented with mixing paints, so take that sense of play and extend it to the garden.”

Design and Photo by Margie Grace Associates, APLD

McCoy says to take cues from Mother Nature’s color wheel. “Mother Nature is daring,” explains McCoy. “She mixes amazing color combinations, from bright hues to soft pastels.”



Gardening experts say it’s easy to have a show stopping garden with continuous color spring through fall by picking the right plants for the right spot. New plants out this spring prove to be just what the gardener wants: easy to grow, full of blooms, and low maintenance. 

“The first thing you want to do when planning this year’s garden is to determine the “feel” of the garden, where you want your plants and the overall color scheme,” says Margie Grace, Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) member. “Then select plants that will create balance and draw the eye.”

Tropic Escape Hibiscus from Costa Farms

“Those looking for a backyard oasis can bring it home with the new Tropic Escape Hibiscus Collection from Costa Farms,” says McCoy. The over-sized flowers almost the size of dinner plates come in a dozen tropical colors like Caribbean Cocktail yellow and Tiki Temptation orange, and bloom twice as long as traditional hibiscus. These easy care hibiscus take the heat in sunny locations and add punch to any outdoor décor and quickly turn a deck, patio or balcony into a party.

 

Bambino Bougainvillea
from Hines Growers



“Bold colors are dominating this spring,” says McCoy. Purple, red and orange are showing up in many new plants, like the new dwarf Bambino Bougainvillea from Hines Growers. These new plants are more compact than traditional bougainvillea and produce abundant flowers. Plus, they’re drought tolerant once established. “They give spectacular color in the landscape, are ideal for containers and create a colorful spot in small outdoor spaces.” 



American Beauties Native Plans

Another planning idea is attracting birds and butterflies to the garden. McCoy loves native plants from American Beauties Native Plants for beautiful flowers and plants that are ideally suited for regional conditions. Plus a portion of each sale supports the National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat program.



Herbs in the landscape, in pots or in the kitchen garden are also hot this spring. Grace uses herbs to add color and texture in borders and mixes them in containers with veggies or perennials. 

Using herbs. like this wall of rosemary,
in the landscape gives gardeners beauty and function

McCoy agrees. “It’s so easy to pot up herbs indoors and out for fresh ingredients year round.” She loves the rare and traditional new herbs like stevia, lemon grass and bee balm, the herb of the year, she’s found at The Growers Exchange. “Perennial herbs like rosemary look stunning cascading over walls or out of containers,” says McCoy.

If planning a garden is challenging, it may be time to call in a professional. She says that professional landscape designers like Margie Grace, a recent International Landscape Designer of the Year, can help bring life to a garden with beautiful native and low-maintenance plants and natural materials. To find a local, professional landscape designer, check out APLD’s website.

 -Karen

Garden Media Group

What's trending now? Conscious Consumption.

Here at the Garden Media Group, we're always on the lookout for cool garden and green living trends. Since the release of our GMG 2012 Garden Trends Report: Cultivate the New Good Life with the Power of Plants, we're focusing on each one for your feedback and providing a forum to share your thoughts.

Case in point: The trend toward Conscious Consumption.

According to the 2010 Cone Survey, 83% of consumers still want to see more brands. American Beauties Native Plants' partnership with the National Wildlife Federation is a great example of this mindshift.  

 

When you buy an American Beauties' native plant, a donation is made to NWF's Certified Wildlife Habitat Program. It's a great way to make a conscious decision to grow plants that attract butterflies, bees, birds and beneficial insects and enjoy the beauty that native plants provide- right in our own backyards.

If we each do our part, together we can make a difference in the world and give back to Mother Nature.

Let us know how your buying habits are influenced by the Conscious Consumption trend-- or are they?? And add your comments to the conversation. We'd love to hear from you!

Cheers!

Lynne

GMG

Tips for a January Garden

Most gardeners are dreaming of Spring during this cold, blizzardy winter month of January.  Although, most of us east coasters had been experiencing a VERY mild winter, there is still a lot to be done. 

The main tasks and priorities this month are:

• Planning! What plants are you going to focus on for the coming year? Analyze last year's planting, fertilizing and spraying. Make notes to reorder successful varieties as well as those you wish to try again.

•  Dig out those seed catalogs for inspiration! When reviewing for new varieties, consider American Beauties Native Plants, which have improved insect and/or disease resistance for your area. Watch also for drought-tolerant types. 

• If the ground isn't soggy or frozen, January is a good time to turn the soil. This will expose insect eggs and help reduce the number of pests.  Consider adding biochar to the mix for greater water retention and increased nutrient absorption.

• Feed the birds to help them survive through the cold winter.

• Prune shrubs and bushes.

• Brush snow from evergreens as soon as possible after a storm. Use a broom in an upward, sweeping motion. Serious damage may be caused by heavy snow or ice accumulating on the branches. 

• Indoor Hyacinths and Amaryllis should be in full bloom adding a touch or much needed color to windowsills or heated greenhouses. Other house plants will appreciate a feed with a good quality liquid plant food. 

• Increased humidity in your house by placing plants on trays lined with pebbles and filled with water to within one half inch of the base of the pot. If you heat with wood, keep a pot of water on the stove. The added moisture will be healthier for you as well as your plants!

 What other tips can you offer?

Flower Power: Garden with a Purpose

Put your garden gloves on and join the fun because ‘gardening with a purpose’ is taking root.

The purpose may be growing your own food or ‘greening’ urban communities, building backyard habitats or starting gardening programs in schools, connecting with community or making your town more beautiful. Whatever the purpose, people young and old are embracing “Flower Power” and planting for a greener good to change neighborhoods and communities - one garden at a time.

We've had trouble wrapping our heads around saving the rain forests, but we now are wrapping our arms around the fact that we are the earth’s caretakers. We now are are consciously making choices to save our own backyards and our home environments with green plants and beautiful flowers.

These "backyard conservationists" are transforming yards, gardens, rooftops and even urban alleys into green and productive spaces, knowing they are making a positive impact. We've discussed this for several years in our GMG Garden Trends Reports. Check them out to see how we're moving from a nation of "outdoor decorators" to gardening with a purpose.

I’m always impressed when I travel outside the US at how many towns – big and small - are full of flowers and plants. How many homes have lush gardens – no matter how small the yard . . . or the family income.

So I ask you: What’s missing in our culture that we don’t recognize the power of flowers to change our lives for the better? Why don’t more cities compete for America in Bloom? What are you doing to help spread the word about the power of flowers . . . and gardening with a purpose?

How can y'all, who love to garden, help share that love with others to turn our country into a nation of gardeners – inside and out?

Let's Spread the Love -- Flower Power!

Suzi

Garden Media Group

Five Fall Garden Tips from Landscape Design Pros

It’s finally feels like fall here in Kennett Square. It was a gorgeous weekend, and as I walked around my yard cleaning up the last of my plants and bringing my houseplants indoors, I remembered what some of our good friends at the Association of landscape Designers suggested to do this fall for a fabulous garden next year.

And since that is what we all want, I wanted to share these tips from the landscape designers:

1. Plan now, bloom later. Judy Nauseef, APLD, to take stock of your garden now to see what worked and what didn’t, where you have holes and what needs to be replaced or moved.

I like to take a photograph from the second floor window to get a bird’s eye view of the yard.

2. Give your containers a fall facelift.
Give your tired containers a fresh look by adding bright fall annuals and colorful foliage in bold fall colors of red, orange, deep purple and gold. Peter Cilio at Campania fills birdbaths with apples and gourds for a festive look.

3. Plant in the fall.

Fall is an excellent time for planting and giving plants a jump start on spring. Plus the weather and soil conditions are better in the fall, as opposed to spring when it tends to be cold, muddy and wet. This new Solidago 'Golden Cascades' from American Beauties Native Plants is an excellent fall bloomer that the bees just love.

4. Deer proof your garden
Deer used to be so cute, until they started eating the fruits of my labor. Winter months are some of the deadliest times for deer destruction in the garden. I’m checking out some new high tech deer repellent “machines” from Havahart. One sprays water and the other gives them a static electricity shock on the nose to train them to go to your neighbors for dinner. Watch this very funny video for more information.

5. Winterize your accessories
I love my Campania containers and they have withstood some harsh winters here in Pennsylvania. I just raise my cast stone planters and statuary up on blocks of wood to let them drain and keep them from absorbing any moisture from the ground that tends to freeze and thaw. Terra cotta planters, which can absorb moisture and are subject to winter freeze-thaw cycles, should be stored indoors for winter.

For more fall garden tips, click here. Remember, fall is for more than watching football games and raking leaves. It’s the best time to protect your investment to ensure a glorious spring garden.

Suzi

Garden Media Group

'Art in the Garden' at North Creek

Yesterday I attended North Creek's Open House. This year's theme was 'Art in the Garden.'  Needless to say it was gorgeous! Everywhere you turned there was a beautiful piece of artwork or an amazing plant that I had to immediately own. (OH...and a surprise SCARECROW at the end of the post...can you guess who it is?)

This is one time when words just will not do the event justice...so I went prepared to take pictures. Take a look for yourself. I've listed the artists below that displayed their incredible talent. Check out their websites...you won't be disappointed.

• Dan Benarcik, Susan Benarcik, Bill Johnson, Rhoda Kahler, Jan Kirsh, Stan Smokler, Marcia Tate, Harriet Wentz and Lenny Wilson.

I came across this Scarecrow...and then I took a closer look!!!! WHO IS THAT???

WOW....it is Steve Castorani's face on that Scarecrow!

-Karen
GMG