In Greater Vancouver, the prospect of another hot, dry summer with more water restrictions is making many gardeners rethink the kinds of plants they will buy this spring.
The emphasis will be on drought-tolerance and sturdy, easy-care cultivars that can withstand a prolonged heat wave and thrive with barely a sip of water.
Expect to see a bump in sales of succulents and warm-season grasses as well as yuccas and windmill palms and highly decorative tender container plants like aeonium and echeveria.
Some nurseries are already cranking up their production of succulents to meet demand, especially for succulent mats that can be laid as a carpet to create a green roof or framed on a wall or used as a low ground cover in hot spots in the garden.
The chafer beetle problem — the reason thousands of lawns all over the Lower Mainland have been ripped to shreds by raccoons, skunks and crows looking for grubs — is expected to be dramatically worse than last year. Part of the reason is that water restrictions last summer made it impossible for homeowners to water microscopic nematodes into their affected lawns to combat chafer grubs.
As a result, more and more lawns are expected to be ripped out this spring and replaced with either artificial turf or hardy, low-maintenance landscaping or simply paved and gravelled and turned into no-maintenance spaces.
Planting more trees will also be one of the key trends this spring as Vancouver pushes harder to retain and expand the vital shade-giving canopy of its urban forest.
The city’s ambition to become one of the world’s greenest cities will require more homeowners to join the quest by planting more trees on their property.
In turn, this will also mean homeowners will need to learn more about how to care for young trees during their early months in the ground — trees will need to be carefully protected and watered to allow them to get their roots well-established.
Enthusiasm for growing food — what is being termed “edible gardening” — is expected to continue this year with more people growing vegetables and fruit-bearing plants in containers on roofs, decks, balconies and patios where space is limited.
Planter boxes that contain a water-reservoir or irrigation system will make it easier for busy, time-strapped gardeners to grow vegetables without having to stay home every weekend to do watering.
Miniature vegetables — ones that take up less room but offer an impressive yield — are also expected to be more popular.
As well, expect to see more heat-loving vegetables grown this year — tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants — as well as herbs and fruit-bearing plants that can be grown in containers.
Novelty ideas, such as growing vegetables and herbs up-side-down as cascading hang-basket plants, will also get tested more widely in small-space gardens.
Organic, chemical-free, pet-safe, wildlife-friendly gardening is now the norm, but eco-sensitive gardeners are expected to be looking for new ways this year to encourage and protect insect and bird life in their gardens and will continue to add nesting boxes for birds, bees butterflies and, in some cases, even for bats.
Source by : http://www.vancouversun.com/life/garden+trends+2016/11624475/story.html
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