by Marvin N. Miller, AIB President

Last week I had the chance to visit a brand new garden center. It was so new that there were absolutely no plants in the greenhouse or nursery but only a few near the entrance to welcome visitors to the open house. The opportunity reminded me of what many gardeners – at least those in parts of the country that get freezing temperatures – might be viewing in mid-winter as they look at their gardens from the indoor-comfort of their homes. It’s a blank slate, waiting for spring.

At the same time, I know the avid gardeners among us are probably scouring the pages of their mail-order gardening catalogs looking for inspiration for the coming season. This is what gardeners do in the dead of winter. Mail-order garden companies know that. That’s why our mailboxes are filled to capacity this time of year. They call it inspiration. (The post office calls it revenue.)

For many gardeners (if not most), spring will involve several trips to the garden retailers in the area. (The average gardener visits over three retailers for their gardening needs each spring.) The trips are made to collect the plants that will transform that now-blank slate into a statement for the gardener and his or her visitors. The statement also shouts to passersby that, “A gardener lives here.” And the individual statements of various homeowners collectively say something about a neighborhood, and neighborhoods collectively say something about a city or town. The messages are plenty and well-known: beauty, care, and pride.

Make no mistake, a community effort to plant or even to coordinate individual plantings is great. It is, after all, the basis of the many programs for cities involved in America in Bloom. Yet a recent study conducted at the University of Illinois to document the proliferation of community gardens found that, in the Chicago area, almost 75 percent of the total garden area was in home gardens, even in the urban environment and even in this city which prides itself for its public plantings. (Chicago is one of our America in Bloom cities!)

So, what gets planted in the garden? It often is a reflection of results (what was planted in the past that worked), relationships (what a friend or relative has planted), or other recommendations. These three R’s say a lot about many of the gardens in this country. The other big influence is impulse – what looks good at the point of sale. Incorporated into these influences, of course, is habit. We all have a habit of using the same few species over and over again. It’s easy to do once we find a reliable player that deals with our soil, our climate, our water and our level of care.

“Old reliables” tend to dominate our landscapes. The planting of “old reliables” is most common among annuals. Yet, we can see the pattern also used in perennials, trees and shrubs, especially in homeowner associations, residential developments, and other instances where one person or firm influenced an entire landscape.

Unfortunately, in parts of the United States, the planting of “old reliables” en masse is coming into question. Sometimes this occurs because a certain plant was widely used before its long-term characteristics were revealed. The Bradford Pear, an ornamental tree valued for its shape, its beautiful spring flowering, and even for its colorful fall leaves, provides an example. This tree was widely planted both as a street tree and in people’s yards throughout a good part of the Eastern United States. Only after thousands were planted did folks come to realize that the tree often became quite brittle after it was 20 years old and ultimately a maintenance challenge. Ash trees, prized for their many positive characteristics especially as shade trees, is an example of a tree that has fallen into disfavor in recent years because of Emerald Ash Borer, which is denuding neighborhoods in many states where ash trees were widely planted. This unfortunately follows the pattern of decline witnessed when American Elms succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease. (Elsewhere in this issue is an article relating the health of trees to human health, which suggests that wholesale decline of tree numbers in an area can lead to increased mortality related to cardiovascular and lower-respiratory-tract illnesses.)

Another “old reliable,” but in the annuals category, is the common impatiens, Impatiens walleriana. Again, due to disease in parts of the country, the plant isn’t quite that reliable anymore. Impatiens Downy Mildew (IDM) is a disease has been documented in the U.S. for over 100 years, but it has gone largely unnoticed until the last two gardening seasons. Even now, IDM appears to be a major threat only along the eastern seaboard, the upper Great Lakes, and in a few pockets on the West Coast, though this area is spreading. Where it has raised its ugly head, planting the common impatiens has become a risky venture. (New Guinea impatiens are largely unaffected.)

So, what’s a gardener to do when the plant which has become habitually planted is no longer reliable? Simply put: begin anew. Seek advice from friends, neighbors, and other avid gardeners. In many communities, a master gardeners’ program could be an excellent source of information. And if you have good garden retailers upon whom you can rely for solid advice, they too can serve as a source of information.

If you live in one of our America in Bloom cities, ask some of those involved what works for them. One of the great positives that has been reported by AIB cities is the great exchange of information that occurs not only between municipal, business and residential groups, but also the exchange of gardening information among all of those involved. Also, as the University of Illinois study suggested, don’t be afraid to look over the backyard fence of a friend or neighbor for some inspiration and to see what’s working for others.

Certainly as you stare at your blank slate, imagine the possibilities. The palette of choices is quite large. And there is a whole world of horticulture waiting to deliver once spring arrives.