Garden Rant: Forget Gen Y. Make way for Generation G. - 0 views
-
I spent a lot of time talking with and learning from gardeners from many different backgrounds and age groups who would no more hire a landscape designer than I would hire a personal stylist.
-
I feel even more strongly that many Gen Yers take a holistic approach to gardening and are comfortable reinterpreting the definition of what a garden can be. For example, their commitment to the environment, their passion for figuring things out for themselves and their tendency to rely on the internet rather than on books
-
Whether it’s trading in lawn for meadows, ornamentals for edibles or chemicals for compost, the gardening world seems more open to change and innovation than ever before.
- ...1 more annotation...
-
And in true Gen Y fashion, when we asked where she got her ideas, she explained most came from browsing Flickr (which coincidentally, is where we found her).
-
There are many parallels to how learning is changing and how gardening is changing. The concept of a gardener some may have as a fogey in a big floppy hat is as quaint as the concept of a knitter being an elderly lady with a cat or a professor being John Houseman in the Paper Chase. Note how younger gardeners are learning - not from books. I see this constantly. They reject the idea of manicured lawns as not only old but of questionable morals given effects on environment. They believe in eating META local. They believe in collaboration and community. This is continuing adult learning, and it's blended learning. Note where Emily Goodman got her idea for her garden design - not from a book. And guess what - it's not limited to age. Just interesting to me how stuff like this is happening in so many aspects of the world outside higher ed. I think this offers more evidence we need to keep up.