Is Your Garden a Fashion Victim?

of. Just try, as I did, to buy a deep color in a pastel year. I got charged extra and had to argue with the salesman. And that was for the navy blue I wanted to use in my bedroom - a very private place. Had I been considering it for my house his argument may have had a bit more effect - I wouldn't want to raise the ire of the neighbors by sticking out like a sore thumb, now, would I?? (Would I. . .??)

And guess which colors are most likely to go on sale, or be offered by retailers as loss leaders so that they become affordable and hard to resist? They have all but the most independent minded of us by the short and curlies - redecorate, and you will end up with some version of this year's colors.

So the up-to-date, well-maintained looking house now conforms to a certain fashionable color palette. Enter the garden magazine.

They, too, have to come up with fresh ideas to keep readers reading - and what better than the changes in color and plant styles? They look for a garden to photograph. Gardens usually come with a house attached - often painted in this year's colors.

We read and devour the pictures. Within the pictures certain plants jump out at us. They match the house! Or the car, or the new dress I'm so crazy about. Love that color! Gotta have that plant! The magazines make it easy on us - they tell us what the plant is, and often even direct us to places where we can buy it.

Nursery owners will tell you that when Horticulture or Fine Gardening feature a plant, customers will soon be in asking for it. Savvy nursery owners also know that the plants featured (and thus requested) are likely to be new ones, in the latest colors, and will have at least a portion of those new plants on the shelves. It's just good business sense.

So the question for us is - if we rush to buy these plants in this year's colors - are we fashion victims? And the answer is - maybe.

If you hurriedly scrap last year's planting scheme in order to be up to date with these latest colors than I'd say yes - and I'd also say you probably haven't discovered the true joy of gardening, which involves a true love of your

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