As increasingly warm sunshine signals the end of winter's cold, greenhouses are busy stocking shelves for eager gardeners.     

For 2024, all signs point to a continued interest in growing perennials, according to Carla Hrycyna from St. Mary’s Nursery and Garden Centre.

"During the past few years, people got more into gardening, and they were putting in a lot of annuals and vegetables. But people are seeing the value of perennials, in that they can come up year after year and the durability of those plants in their ability to sustain in the garden once they are established and how easy they are to come up. There's a little care of having to maybe trim them down in the fall or give them a little haircut first thing in spring before they see them grow back again. Perennials are going to be another focus again, for sure."

Carla Hrycyna.Carla Hrycyna.

The talk about trends is not just about plants but the direction that gardening is going said Hrycyna.

"There's little hints that Gothic plants are really going to be trendy. It's going to be in the capacity of being plants that have black undertones or darker colors."

Hotter summer weather could also see a strong trend towards rock or pebble gardens.

"They make me think of Alpine gardening, where you get plants that are a little bit more drought resistance."

The colour of year?

"Cyber lime. Plants that have that bright green, citrusy lime color tone is going to be a big one. The other color we're looking at is that orangey-peach color. It's a toss-up. Are people going to go for peach or a cyber-lime from the ipomea or hydrangea families?"

Half the province received a healthy dump of snow last weekend. But in other areas black soil has lain uncovered for several weeks.

Hrycyna says they've had customers inquire about tending to peonies that have started to bloom.

"If you have snow in your yard, throw it on there to get them back into that chilled state. If they were coming up a lot earlier, more in sort of a tight form? They may still have gone back into that slowed down stage with the ice on them. Because the durability of perennials is really good. They're hardy like that. If they have come up a lot quicker, they might have a little bit of a frost or die back or set back, but perennials will reemerge, and they'll start coming again."

The Lawn and Garden Journal returns Saturday morning at 9:15 on AM1250 with Hrycyna back for her sixth season as host. 


~With files from Chris Sumner~