Gardening in France - Grower’s digest February 2021

Go outlandish indoors

A leading US Instagram “plant influencer” (she influences buyers, not the plants themselves) has revealed that the major trend for houseplant buyers in 2021 will be towards more adventurous or unusual foliage indoors. Under the pandemic with more people working at home, houseplant buying boomed.

Summer Rayne Oakes, on Instagram as homesteadbrooklyn, says that easy-care philodendrons, anthuriums, and aglaonemas will be popular, as well as plants in the Hoya genus – tropical plants native to Asia and Australia (pictured below).

The out-of-season to be jolly

With spring’s arrival comes danger of occasional late frosts, and thus the need to protect your fruit plant blossoms and ensure good crops later. All the work you did pruning and feeding can be undone during one fateful, freezing night!

Trees are obviously too big to cover but you can ensure that smaller fruit-givers are trained against protective, south-facing walls where possible.

Roll on summer

With one eye on long, lazy days in the summer sun and plenty of gardening to be done, now is the ideal time to refresh your outdoor furniture and storage items.

This elegant, robust and practical ‘trolley’ on casters is made of acacia wood and comes from La Redoute, priced €159.

It can be put to various uses – either as a serving or storage place for your barbecue; a cabinet for tools; or even a display pedestal for your latest growing triumphs.

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