Re: PNW Show

> Dear friends I had the most delightful time in Settle. 

Welcome back!!!

> I was surprised at the small use of water in the gardens.   One of the
> speakers touched on that as they talked of trends.   Seems gardeners
> are tired of water garden maintenance.   What do you think?

I would think that in Seattle water gardens wouldn't be appreciated 
very much.  You can just look up and get all you want.  ;)

Seriously, I agree.  My original plan was to have a water feature coming
out from under my deck -- it would only go under a foot or so to give the
illusion that it was larger.  But now that I'm not even finding time to
to do the dishes I'm glad that I never tackled that project.  It would've
looked cool, but it would be dirty and full of muck in no time because
I can't keep an eye on it.

> The other big talk was gardening is on the down slide.   A survey was
> taken of 21-36 year olds and they don't garden, have no interest in
> gardens and do not fore see having interest in gardening.   Since the
> midwest is always slow to catch up with trends, I am assuming we will
> still see a good year this year in the greenhouse.

I think a big part of this is that most 21-36 year olds don't have houses
yet.  Many of them are still in or have just finished college and are 
out looking for jobs.  They get an apartment in the city and live there
until they can accumulate enough money for a downpayment on a house, and
once they get to that point they're broke again and can't afford to garden.
I see that trend all the time at work.

There's also the issue of free time.  As you know, workers in the US put
in more hours per week than many other nations, so that doesn't leave
us much time for our hobbies.  That's especially true for couples with
children and even worse for single mothers.

However, people still want and appreciate plants.  They just don't want
to have to take care of them.  I see the trends switching towards low-
maintenance pre-designed gardens or large containers.  At the other end
of the spectrum we have the rabid collectors who want new and unusual
stuff, but the casual gardener is going away.

Chris

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