2014 Plant Trends
Neon colors, black and white, and mixed annual combos in containers are trends for 2014, as predicted by the folks at HGTV Home and the HGTV Home Plant Collection. It is touted that these trends provide sufficient plant choices to cover every fad and fashionable step a garden guru may take.
Container gardening probably will never go out of style. And there are plenty of ideas when it comes to presenting thrillers, spillers and fillers in a pretty package. HGTV Home predicts that mixing complementary patterns in design, along with mixing plant varieties in containers, will continue to be in vogue. Look for color combinations using the bright colors of calibrachoa, geraniums, petunias, verbena and dahlias. Other bright colors can come from gazania, ornamental cabbage, primrose and calendula. Pink, red, orange and yellow deliver high energy, so look for these.
Black and white is a classy combination that adds elegance and a modern flair. Finding black or almost-black plants is easy. Look for mondo grass, pansies, aeonium, Ajuga, Heuchera, Alocacia, coleus, New Zealand flax, cordyline and Sambucus. White additions include bacopa, helichrysum, nemesia, alyssum, Argyanthemum, impatiens, Cleome, zinnia, dipladania, snapdragon, kalanchoe, Lobularia and Pentas.
Neon colors exploded in popularity last year and haven’t worn out their welcome. To add neon-colored pop to your plantings, look for brilliantly colored geraniums, bougainvillea and Gerber daisies. Use lime-green foliage to add a shock value to containers by planting Ipomea, Heuchera, lysimachia, dracaena, Alternanthera ficoidea ‘Yellow Form’ and canna lily.
If you’re having difficulty finding just the right color for your plantings, you can use that hard-to-find color as a container choice. Find a pot in that color or paint something that serves as an unexpected container.
If you need a refresher on how to plant a container, come to the Walter Andersen Nursery in San Diego at 9 a.m. on March 15 for a container-gardening class.
Melanie Potter
Walter Andersen Nursery
3642 Enterprise St., San Diego, CA 92110
619-224-8271
12755 Danielson Court, Poway, CA 92064
858-513-4900
walterandersen.com
