Spotting trends is an odd mix of seeing what you expect to see and seeing what you don't expect. At last month's San Francisco Flower and Garden Show, I was surprised to spot native plants in a third of the display gardens.
Now, if you've been to the show, you know that these are not “real” gardens. The venue is dimly lit, and the gardens are spotlighted stage sets that are planned months in advance and then built in a couple days in the cavernous Cow Palace. Most of the plants are still in pots, covered with mulch.
But the increased use of natives suggests that designers are becoming more aware of the benefits of using natives, they are becoming seduced by their beauty and toughness, they are learning to use them in their designs, and the plants are becoming more widely available.
Several of the gardens used a groundcover manzanita or ceanothus in the foreground for its lush greenery. A garden focusing on the ecological value of trees was mostly natives, including an oak, a madrone, pink- and white-flowering currants, red-twig dogwoods, a vine maple, and several native wildflowers. Another garden with an oak had manzanitas and some spiny-leaved, yellow-flowered oregon grape.
But the most eye-catching natives were the pink-flowering currants at the garden designed by Mariposa Gardening and Design of Berkeley. I paused for a moment in front of the mass of delicate-looking pendant clusters of pink flowers, and several people stopped to ask me what it was. The currants still looked healthy toward the end of the show, whereas some of the magnolias, with their larger and more fragile flowers, were looking droopy.
More important, the garden designers I talked to were enthusiastic about using natives and were happy to promote the use of native plants.
Other trends in garden design are applicable to all gardens, including native gardens.
A continuing theme at the annual show is sustainability. This year, several gardens featured recycled materials such as tumbled colored glass, and pointed out that the plants used were drought-tolerant. I noticed more emphasis than in past years on designs based on environmental responsibility.
Another evergreen theme is water in the garden. At the Cow Palace, as well as in an urban or suburban environment, a water feature provides drama and helps to drown out extraneous noise. Many of the gardens used water, from a spa or rill to a waterfall and pond. A suburban garden with a water feature and native plants would be irresistible to local wildlife.
And finally, a garden show is an especially good place to showcase whimsy and art in the garden, which translate well to real gardens. A huge metal sculpture of a bunny holding a carrot provided a nice accent to an edible garden. You might not want to copy the two gardens that took the idea of relaxing in the garden to an extreme by putting beds in the garden.
But you could bring comfortable chairs outside and have movie night in the garden on a balmy night, using the side of the house as a screen, as suggested in the garden by Deanna Glory and The Village Gardener.
© 2008 Tanya Kucak