Hortifuturism: Creating Your Avant Garden

Pride of Madeira ready to bloom

March is bursting with fresh energy.

All around us, buds are forming and bursting into bloom, new plants are arriving by the pallet, and our parking lot is starting to fill up daily with excited spring shoppers.

Whether you’re planting an entirely new garden, looking for design ideas for an upcoming project, or simply hoping to infuse some fresh energy into your landscape, I hope this edition of our newsletter provides just the inspiration you need.

Happy planting,
Jane

Creating Your Avant-Garden

Santa Clara Valley Green Gardener Training February 8 - April 25

Busy bee on Grevillea ‘King’s Rainbow’

Bold, unusual, experimental — welcome to your “avant garden.”

Inspired by the 2024 garden trend “hortifuturism,” this is not your grandmother’s garden. Utilizing bold, bright, neon colors and alien-like shapes and textures, the goal is to create a future-oriented, sci-fi look to your garden while adhering to principles that will make for a healthier future such as drought-tolerance and eco-friendly practices.

Color theory: Pantone’s color of the year is Peach Fuzz, while Garden Media’s is Cyber Lime. Incorporate these hues into your avant garden with these unusual, vibrant blooms:

Euphorbia rigida ‘Silver Spurge’
Many euphorbias fit well in an avant garden. The 2’ tall, waving stalks of gray-green leaves topped with neon green flowers are a first choice for hortifuturists looking to bring some outrageously eye-catching color and form into the garden. Toxic

Grevillea ‘Peaches n Cream’
Huge flowers in tones of yellow to peach flower strongly in winter, then intermittently year round. A large shrub with dramatic foliage, you can plant this one as a backdrop to your euphorbia or as informal, colorful hedging.

Euphorbia x martinii
Martin’s Spurge is a shrub euphorbia that when flowering has the effect of a thousand little eyes. Red stems and neon green flowers with bright red half-moons in the center make this the perfect drought tolerant addition to a compact avant garden. Toxic

Helleborus ‘Glenda’s Gloss’
Soften your adjacent neons with the muted color tones and contrasting dark leathery leaves of ‘Glenda’s Gloss’. A shorter plant, these look especially beautiful grouped en masse in front of shrubs or rising above short grasses or succulents.

Euphorbia ammak 'Variegata'
Twisting, spike-laden posts: whether you believe aliens are green or gray, this cactus-like, highly toxic specimen will bring some cutting-edge, otherworldly energy into your avant garden. Toxic; gloves and goggles recommended when handling

Leucadendron ‘Little Bit’
A South African native, this small shrub in the Proteaceae family boasts standout cream and orange ‘flowers’ from winter to spring that are great for unusual bouquets. (See more Proteaceae for sale at the nursery in our instagram post!)

Ozothamnus ‘Rose’
Growing to 5’ tall, light green, fragrant foliage topped with clusters of peach- to pink-toned tiny flowers resemble grains of rice, hence the common name, ‘Rice Flower.’ Plant as an eye-catching shrub in full sun; also prized for cut flowers.

The Equinox Approaches

NorCal Landscape & Nursery Show Flyer February 8, 2024 at the San Mateo Event Center norcaltradeshow.org

Before you plant your beautiful new avant garden, make sure it’s ready for Spring.

Here’s the action you need to take now to make sure your landscape is ready for the upcoming season.

Visit: Botanical Gardens!

Burkhard Mücke, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Get inspired and learn more about the world of rare and unusual plants by visiting a local botanical garden this spring.

USCS Arboretum & Botanical Garden
Santa Cruz
Visit “the Harrisons’ Future Garden”, stroll through collections of rare and threatened plants, then visit the gift & garden shop.

University of California Botanical Garden
Oakland
Make a reservation to experience one of the largest and most diverse plant collections in the US, located in the Berkeley Hills in Oakland. Or, sit back and experience their virtual tour.

Arizona Cactus Garden
Palo Alto
Visit this small historical cactus and succulent garden located within the grounds of the Stanford University Arboretum to see 100 year old specimens.

Image: Daderot., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Next up: Special Edition Nursery Newsletter -
Women in Landscaping!

Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day. Why not nominate a woman in your network for the Women in the Green Industry Award? Nominations due March 15th.