People are reading more, learning more specializing. There s no need to grow your own carrots or onions. People grow what they feel like growing. He s especially noticed an upsurge of interest in woodland plants and alpines. There s an alpine society from Calgary that comes up here for rare plants every year.
Herbs are another growth area.
Ten years ago, Hole s selection was far more limited, but now people cook more Indian and Middle Eastern dishes, Hole says, and that s spilling into the garden. These dishes call for fresh herbs, which you can t buy here year-round, so people grow their own. To the point, he says, Hole s now sells some 20 varieties of basil unimaginable in 1990. He hasn t noticed a surge in growing organic produce at home, though people are looking for alternatives to pesticides. And while Hole s offers a heritage line of open-pollinated plants that grow true to type, most people want the corn variety that s going to grow here and taste really good implicitly meaning a hybrid.