Garden Guy column: Garden snobbery
Botanical Latin, marigolds, geraniums (Pelargoniums), roses, correct color combinations, correct foliage contrasts, etc. are examples of things about which many gardeners feel strongly. Professionals and other knowledgeable folks in the horticulture world can give us instruction and rules so that we can get all things gardening “right”.
The pronunciation of botanical Latin is debated even among professionals in the industry. It doesn’t matter a hoot how we say these strange words. But there are those who differ. Likewise, many believe the use of the lowly, common, unimaginative marigold in any respectable garden should be banned.
Geraniums were relatively new and interesting to colonists at the time of the founding of our nation. Since that time, their use has become so commonplace that some of the horticultural arbiters of good taste have banished them from their plant lists.
More recently the Knock Out® series of roses have taken over nearly every subdivision from sea to shining sea owing to their traits that make them almost carefree and bulletproof. Many wish they had never been developed because they are overused.
Most of us go to nurseries and garden centers and simply buy plants that we like the looks of without regard to whether their flower colors or foliage shapes and colors will clash when we plant them. I expect that most of you, like me, don’t take the color wheel with you when you shop. Please don’t tell anyone I don’t do this. As they say, “there is no accounting for taste”. Someone needs to direct me to the taste maven.
I will admit that when I select roses, I avoid the Knock Out® series generally in favor of old garden roses. There are thousands and thousands of roses available and I don’t want the same ones that appear everywhere that I look. But I do not scorn them. I know that people have them and like them because they are reliable, pretty, and generally very low maintenance while in almost constant bloom.
As for marigolds and geraniums, anyone who reads what I write or hears me in a presentation knows that I think marigolds are a “go to” plant when needing something easy, quick, and colorful. Geraniums do very well here and come in a huge variety of colors. In addition to the plants many of us have, there are trailing ivy geraniums and scented geraniums for different interests and uses. I use up to 100 of these versatile plants every year (please don’t tell anyone).
I try to create good plant combinations both with flower color and foliage leaf shapes and color, but I am not an artist. My wife will tell you that I ask her to match suits and ties for me.
In the end, I like things that please me. You should like what pleases you. Let those who look for perfection and look down their noses at the rest of us for our selections and language stew in their own compost. Do what you want in your garden – that is what is “right”.