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Plants that Pop, Preserve, and Protect
We spoke with Ryan McEnaney, marketing and communications manager at Bailey Nurseries, about this year’s yard trends and to learn what you should be planting next spring.
When crafting your landscape, “It’s about finding plants that do more than one thing in more than one season,” McEnaney explains. Hydrangeas, for instance, produce lovely summer flowers in multiple colors. “They are great in cut arrangements, and you can dry the flowers and save them for decor for Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
“The native plant movement has transcended plant people,” McEnaney says. Everyday home gardeners are now embracing native plants, especially in the upper Midwest, “where people are thinking more ecologically in their garden.” He points to the buttonbush, which is native to the U.S., stretching from the east coast to Minnesota. The bush will grow round and perhaps 5 feet tall, “and it looks like it has fiber optic cables coming out of it,” he adds. It colors well in the fall and is deer resistant.
“We get a lot of questions about variability of scale,” McEnaney notes. People with smaller lots want nice outdoor living spaces, too. And homeowners want privacy, but not if it’s an unmanageable bush (talking to you, arbor vitae). McEnaney points to the serviceberry bush, which “produces beautiful white flowers in early June,” he says. “Later in the summer, birds love the berries, and it brings nice fall color. Plus, you get a privacy screen in a decent size.”
[Read this next: Master Gardener’s Yard is a Permaculture Paradise]
Landscaping Trends: What’s Out?
Cut the grass, like get rid of it. Not all of it, of course, but many homeowners are reducing the amount of lawn they need to manicure, says Ryan McEnaney, marketing and communications manager at Bailey Nurseries. Lawn-covered slopes aren’t usable for play or seating, so they’re becoming terraced gardens. McEnaney notes that a lawn’s edges and borders are easy to minimize with native plantings or low-water ground coverings. Less lawn means lower water use, less mowing time, and reduced fertilizer needs.
Metal Roofing Rocks
Adobe Stock/Dmitry Koshelev
Metal is one of the fastest-growing residential roofing options in the industry. A metal roof can last 50 to 70 years—more than double the lifespan of asphalt shingles. Not just for modern farmhouse builds or rural sheds, metal roofing is increasingly popular nationwide, gathering close to 20% market share in residential roofing, according to the Metal Roofing Alliance. (Asphalt shingles still dominate.) Plus, insurance companies nationwide like when homeowners install metal roofing; it’s more durable than traditional shingles, and metal provides better protection from fire, wind, hail and snow damage. That frozen stuff can slide right off a metal roof’s smooth, hard surface, reducing the likelihood of ice dams and excessive snow loads.
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