Gardener's Corner
Taking the guesswork out of gardening
by Judith Rogers

Imagine going to a nursery and browsing through pages of garden rooms to choose from much like the areas of coordinated furniture featured in a catalogue. This could certainly take the guesswork out of which plants go together and even the accents to add if they were already displayed in a garden setting of easy design, complimentary colours and location requirements that anyone could replicate. Magazines have long used this concept to give gardeners ready-made ideas by photographing mature gardens full of appealing plant combinations for the visual perception of how things mesh together.

The 'Do-it-Yourself' garden complete with plant list and pictured plant by number shrubs and flowers to create a patio, butterfly, Zen or any other type of garden could be just the thing for novice gardeners. They're busy working, looking after young families and usually don't have the time or money to spend on gardening mistakes, making this idea of having it all planned out for them kind of enticing.

A big question being contemplated by garden writers and growers right now is if the new and future generation of gardeners will want the intimidation of Latin names that they can't pronounce on labels, or a system that will effortlessly assist in the selection of plants. Unless a plant collector most people only want to know what colour the flower is, if it requires sun or shade, how to plant it, how big it will grow and suggestions of companion plants to put with it. Personally, I feel the globally known Latin names have to stay somewhere on a label because plants have too many region or culturally oriented common names that could cause confusion when referring to identifiable plants.

Along this line of making life less complicated a small wine company from Australia is making selection easier for customers with their creation of 'critter' labels and this has proved to more successful than they ever thought.

When putting together a garden wine and cheese reception recently a friend said she didn't know her wines but instead chose them by how pretty the labels were. Well, the Australian wine maker has labels to suit any occasion and it was fun that evening to choose wine from the 'butterfly' or 'bird' bottle, both a white and with very pretty labels for gardeners. A new wine coming out is called 'Wines that Love' and these bottles will include on the label the foods that go well with it for that special dinner.

I've had the pleasure of attending seminars and even a garden party at Pathways to Perennials in Kettleby and owner Lorraine Mennen has been promoting the marrying of compatible plants for sale and at her events for some time. Plants are grouped throughout the garden centre that look spectacular together, provide a contrast of textures or by growing requirements. When specific plants have been featured at a seminar, desirable companions are always on the table or nearby floor to motivate the purchase of the whole grouping. Talk about smart marketing that results in increased sales and happy customers that will return knowing the coordinating has been done for them.

This isn't to say that all garden centres will have the time or space to do this type of merchandizing but considering that most gardeners like simple, uncomplicated shopping, particularly for plants they know will survive in their zone, this approach is also a clever way to take the guesswork out of gardening.