Year of the …

Ellen C. Wells

In the Chinese horoscope, 2020 will be the Year of the White Metal Rat. Not quite as appealing, I’d say, as the National Garden Bureau’s five beautiful plants they’ve lined up for the coming “Year of's.”

That’s right, NGB is up to five! They’ve added a new category for 2020—flowering shrubs. And they’ve started with the most ubiquitous flowering shrub there is (at least in the Northeast), the hydrangea.

The other four “Year of's" are:

Bulbs—Iris

Annuals—Lantana

Edibles—Corn

Perennials—Lavender

Each year, NGB chooses a crop for each category that’s easy to grow, genetically diverse and has lots of new breeding to show off to folks who may not be familiar with the plants. This “Year of” program works best—as with everything—if you engage with and use it! There will be a ton of logos, images, resource sheets and more available for download from the NGB website (www.ngb.org) beginning November 1. And you’ll need to download those as soon as you can because consumer publicity begins January 1. GP