Trendy gardening

So while I wait for the garden to thaw, dry out, warm up and generally become more pleasant for working in, I thought now's a good time to look at the gardening trends for this year. Ah yes, that old January chestnut. The thing with trends is that anybody can start one - and once started they can become self-fulfilling prophecies. Either that or everyone ignores them by February.
Anyhoo, here are mine:

Black & white We'll all be clamoring for flowers in these 'colours'.
Hardy evergreens Following the last winter, we'll be looking for evergreens that survive cold winters. This may include dwarf conifers; gawd, did I really say that?
Dahlias Yes, I know these have been back in favour in recent years, but I believe 2011 is the big one.
Cut your own OK, so I've stolen this one from elsewhere, but after the huge increase in GYO veg (which will continue to grow in 2011, but not as much as in recent years), gardeners will realise they can also save a fortune on visiting the florist.
Growing up with vertical gardening Yes, we all love our climbers, but I think there will be a huge increase in demand for these. And, as gardens get smaller, growing walls, veg walls, green walls etc will finally take off.
Green roofs Similarly, green roofs will start to become popular with gardeners - not just designers, scientists, those with huge estate gardens and 'greenies'.
* Research shows that covering walls and roofs with plants can cut down on your heating bills (see Gardening with a purpose).
Lawns Finally, we'll all get so miffed with our lawns that they'll finally revert to their natural states - or be given a good topdressing - of concrete, and converted to patios.
Gardening with a purpose We'll all wake up and realise that gardens aren't for sitting in and enjoying, but they are a wasted space and so should be used for some higher purpose - biodiversity, wildlife, food supplies and biofuels & green energy (this one is done a bit tongue in cheek!).

Does anyone else have anything better?

Google Adwords want to thank me

I've just received a personal thank you from Google Adwords for advertising with them.
If you want to see it, go to http://www.youtube.com/adwords10?x=93d0b20d87d44fc2b496ba94fc4866d2
Makes me feel all warm inside.

Bitch fest

I’ve been part of the gardening trade/horticultural industry for about 25 years – yes, really, that long! And I’ve always been impressed about how friendly an industry it is. When you go to trade or flower shows or press days you usually bump into the same people – many are now old friends (others you try to avoid!) – and you have a good catch up, find out what they’re up to and generally have a good gossip about things - and try to find out about the latest rumours, or even start some. All in all, it’s good clean fun and even the bitching and gossiping is done in good spirits.

But now, all that seems to have changed. Or maybe there’s something in the air – or the water, or maybe it has all been a sham and the masks and gloves have finally come off.

I’ve been checking out numerous blogs and forums recently and on just about every one someone is saying something nasty about someone else, or the company they work for or just having a general moan about life/people/the industry in general. Maybe it’s the pressure of having to blog or put up posts regularly that’s to blame; what/who can I write about/take the mick out of today!

In no way am I in favour of the internet/blog police coming along with their big plodding feet and truncheons and putting a stop to all this – generally it brings a smile to my face (even when the work I do is the subject of some abuse), sometimes it can be very interesting and gives you an insight into people’s characters. And as Oscar Wilde once said: “The only thing worse than being talked about – is not being talked about”!

Some are just down right funny and are essential reading. Undoubtedly, the best of the bunch is Garden Monkey. No-one that I know of knows who he/she is as they blog anonymously – which adds to the fun. But I do know that the Garden Monkey police are on his tail and are digging around to try and find out who she/he really is; slowly, slowly catchee Monkey! Lots of names have been put forward – including mine; how I wish…! And, of course, there are lots of people trying to copy the Monkey, but none so far have come anywhere close.

If you’ve not looked at the blog then I can thoroughly recommend you go now. Now hopefully that will keep the doubters off my back and promote me to a friend of the Monkey so he doesn’t ‘talk’ about me. One thought: there is an English idiom “Speak to the organ grinder not the monkey”, so who pulls the Garden Monkey’s strings?