When you are BUILDING A HOME, I have found out that the reps for most components — from brick to faucets to fixtures and beyond — want to start out by showing you what it currently most popular. There is simply no way to get them to stop doing this, so I have decided it’s actually quite useful. It helps me to immediately identify the exact trendy (and soon to be dated) things I definitely do not want. Why someone would go to the trouble of building a custom home, only to adorn it with all the same things you are going to find repeated in every new-build across the metroplex is beyond me. I suppose pushing the “popular” items can provide validation to the home builders who lack any real confidence in their own level of taste or their ability to make good decisions? Personally, if I were a salesperson, I would start by asking the homeowner what they are trying to achieve.

But even then, in one instance, after I described the dark grey, English stone I was looking to find for my exterior, the salesperson actually said to me outright, “Oh no no no, you don’t want that, that’s not what people are doing right now, light-colored stone is in.”

And I told him, “I’m not sure who these ‘people’ are that you’re referring to, but good thing I’m not building them a home!”

I feel the same way about plants and landscaping. So long as there is no technical or scientific reason that the things you love will not survive in your location, then I say go for it, don’t worry about what is on trend. Beautiful will always be in style.

The one caveat to this is that occasionally, a certain tree or shrub variety you have enjoyed in the past will become unpopular simply because it is prone to disease or other complications; and in this instance, I would advise you to take heed. Especially if there is a new, similar, variety of that same plant, with many of these undesirable characteristics bred out. These new plants aren’t trendy, they are simply superior to their predecessors.

But trust me, even if the plants you know you enjoy are viable options for your geographic location, it is not uncommon for landscapers or designers to almost eco-shame you for wanting more traditional shrubs that need moderate water (like rose bushes and hollies) rather than whatever popular, low-water, XERISCAPE PLANTS they are trying to talk you into.

"Have you no consideration for the environment, Good Sir?!"

I simply stand my ground saying, “No thank you, I don’t particularly care for the cactus-y, desert-y aesthetic, and I certainly don’t want to come home to a fake, amusement park version of it every day in my yard, incongruously surrounding my craftsman-style house.” Personally, I don’t care if my yard is the landscape equivalent of a HUMMER, just guzzling up tons of water and fertilizer, it is what I find beautiful.

When I see all of these Yucca-and-Gravel style landscapes around the city, I have a hard time believing that that many people suddenly fell in love with cacti and the southwest aesthetic all at once, and I wonder if perhaps many of these people were talked into it. I bet they pull up to their house each day, stepping over prickly plants while scratching their heads and thinking, “Man. How did I end up with this?! I distinctly remember telling my designer how much I loved the look and feel of my grandmother's cottage back in Ireland and her luscious green garden! This is... um.. I'm not sure what this is, but it's not that."

I say for now, everyone just plant whatever they want, whatever makes them happy. If we don't get climate change and global warming under control, we'll all be living in a scorched earth hellscape soon enough anyways, and we'll all get to enjoy the desert aesthetic whether we like it or not.*

But until then, I want my yard to look like this:

*A logical fallacy may have been applied to justify the type of water-guzzling garden that I enjoy.

But I basically grew up at a BEAUTIFUL PLANT NURSERY! Can you blame me? Switching to pokey, drought tolerant plants would be like telling a Texas cattle rancher it's time to trade in his beautiful horse for a more drought tolerant camel. That's what he's going to ride around the ranch from now on, a camel. That's cool, right? You okay with that Mr. Cowboy sir? Hold on, why are you getting your gun out...?