Beyond the seeds The latest crop of catalogs has lots of other new stuff besides seeds. White Flower Farm is jumping big into water gardening with a new section of its spring book. Prices include shipping. Water gardens are an important gardening trend, and there's a nod to trendiness in many of the catalogs. The National Garden Bureau proclaims 1996 the year of the radish and sunflower.
Pansies are old-fashioned and romantic, a favorite recurrent gardening theme.
Among perennials, newer versions of old favorites are popular. Take Heucheras, no longer your grandmother's plain Jane coral bells. They are newly fashionable and carry fancy names and leaves that may be crinkled or deep red or swirly and marbled. And climbing hydrangeas. And wild ginger.