No, I didn’t take crying lessons from Erika Kirk; I just don’t like pink!

The Pink Saga Continues in the Garden...

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen my recent dramatic lamenting of just how many PINK flowering plants I’ve inherited at my new forest farm property in Oregon. (Login to IG for video reel HERE) I just do not like pink. As a botanist and plant lover I certainly appreciate many pink-flowering plants out in nature. Of course. But as a professional horticulturist and lifelong gardener I do get a bit particular about my color choices for my own gardens. Pink is not one of those color choices. But, apparently, this is NOT a popular stance up here in the Pacific Northwest because almost everything that blooms in spring is PINK! Mostly due to the dominance of spring-blooming Rhododendrons that anchor most gardens here.

Get a Grip

I’ve seemingly upset a lot of people with my lack of a penchant for pink. Now, a lot of folks did not get the humor and thought I was actually having a real crying fit and melt down over SO MANY PINK flowers in my garden. I was told I “need to get a grip about plants” in a repost and in DMs, while another commenter stated I must have “taken crying lessons from Erika Kirk”, and then was told by many I just needed to learn to love pink and work with it. Perhaps my next career should be in acting. Don't worry folks, I'm really OK! Just having a little horticultural fun.

It's ok to make intentional choices

Rhodies (Rhododendron spp.) are a plant that I grew up with along the East Coast and in Germany, where I grew up. So I'm certainly not new to the much of the plant palette that's common here, or many of the natives to the area. Rhodies certainly are gorgeous plants and there are a number of species native here to the PNW. So I get the loyalty to them!

Let me ask all of you though…if you really did not like the color red, and you bought a house with all the interior walls painted bright red, would you just force yourself to eventually like red or just work with it? No. Of course not. Color is a deeply personal matter and we all react mentally and emotionally in our own way when surrounded by colors we love or hate.

There’s an entire industry called landscape and garden design - along with interior design - that is devoted to making specific thoughtful choices about color, aesthetics, and mood in your garden. In addition of course to making the right plant choices for the right places along with many other goals related to sustainability and wildlife.

Bruise Gardening

So whilst I may not rip out ALL the pink plants (There are a few Rhododendron that are coming in a darker almost purple-pink that I’ll probably let stay), I have already started my color transition. I was also asked "if no pink what other colors ARE there?". Well, I do blues, purples, whites, oranges, chartreuse, peach, etc. And I usually will let a few yellow intruders stick around. I call it “bruise gardening”!

As I introduce you to more areas around my new Oregon Forest Farm, I will also start showing you some plants I'm excited about that are NOT pink that are starting to bloom. And don't worry, white, lavender, purple, and orange Rhodies and azaleas (and color variations thereof) are MOST welcome in my garden.

Your garden should bring you personal joy, and if pink doesn’t do it for you either, I’m giving you permission to go ahead and not like it! But don’t worry, I don’t like waste perfectly good plants, and I’ve already hooked up with at least one new local connection on IG who came and dug up a few of the small pink azaleas. They’ve made him super happy, which makes me super happy.

You do you gardeners!