Top 10 Plants Saved to Idea Boards This Year
At the end of each year, we always like to look back…before we look ahead. We like to see and learn from finding out what plants were the most popular with gardeners, and then we ask ourselves why? Was it varieties with bright colors, or plants that invite pollinators into the garden, or hydrangeas that offer blooms we can later bring indoors?
Granted, pandemic election years aren’t necessarily a “butterflies and rainbows” kind of situation – unless you have a garden. When you have a garden, you can plant whatever you want! Perhaps it’s a rainbow of color utilizing pollinator-friendly plants or a big patch of tomato, pepper, and basil plants so you can enjoy fresh veggies each day. That’s the beauty of having a garden of any size, you decide exactly what it is going to feature.
This crazy year did encourage many to head outside and start creating gardens, and thousands of gardeners enjoyed using our new Idea Boards feature. If you haven’t seen this yet on our website, it is a place where you can save a list of plants and categorize each board by color, type, location, etc. If you use Pinterest, the boards will feel somewhat familiar but even those of you who haven’t used Pinterest will catch on quickly. You do need to have a user name and password for our website, and then you can get started right here.
I tend to use Idea Boards in two ways. First, I use them as I’m planning my beds. I name my beds – The Big Bed, The Front Steps Bed, The Shade Bed – and then add plants I might want to use in those spaces to the appropriate Idea Board.
The second way I use Idea Boards is more a work function than a personal tool. As I’ve written different top 10 (or 20) lists this year, I’ve tried to create Idea Boards as complements to the articles. I’m able to make my idea boards public so that others can access those boards. As an example, this idea board features red plants that will attract hummingbirds.
This idea board video demonstration was created by the Garden Design team and is an excellent tutorial on how to create your idea boards.
Last week we looked at all of the idea boards that were created this year to see what were the 10 most popular plants saved in 2020. I was a little surprised to see that the list is composed of nine perennials and one annual, but it is a list of great plants. If you want one of these plants, you might want to place your order early. Chances are good these popular varieties will be of interest to many others as we head into spring.
Learn More
Explore this Idea Board that features Plants for Cut Flower Gardens.
Watch this video from Laura at Garden Answer that highlights some of her favorite 2020 perennials.
Better understand the differences between the sun, part sun, part shade to shade gardens with this article.
