Trendsetters

Photo © Joe Szurszewski Photography

I don’t use TikTok or Meta’s Reels, or any of the other short-form video platforms that drive the cultural conversation. The reason is because the one time I downloaded TikTok, I opened the app and then immediately lost a week of my life. I remember one moment, I was looking down at the screen, and the next, I was being shaken back to reality by my wife. My beard was longer and my eyes hollow. The days had passed in a blur of plucky tunes and robot voiceovers and pets and extreme closeups of faces and “duets.” Sadly, I was none the wiser for any of it. Just drained of vitality.

OK, so maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit. Nevertheless, the quick-vid apps are notoriously addictive. And once the algorithm finds your groove, you’re stuck in it. That’s challenging for a content consumer, but for a content creator, the conditions are ideal. And so, #GardenTok thrives. Plant people show off their plant babies and offer garden tours. They give hacks and tips (sometimes unhelpful, unfounded or downright false) and indulge in memes about gardening struggles. Some of these creators are influencers. That is, they influence the habits and buying trends of those folks that watch them. But that does not make them trendsetters.

I believe trendsetters should be understood as a kind of aggregate organism, like an animal herd. Wholly separate from one another, they are drawn by instinct to the same ends. But when something in their environment (either social or actual) shifts, they change their course and the way they do things. That makes it hard to know the origin of a trend. It just kind of happens. Enough in the herd move their heads toward the south, or the smell of rain and fresh grass, and the rest move with them.

You look for trends in the way regular people live, buy and think. And in this issue, we have reports from some of the best trend seekers around. These folks aren’t influencers. They aren’t the ones with the loudest voice and the biggest platform and craziest ideas. Our experts have receipts to back up the trends they’ve found.

It’s perfect timing, too. As you plan for the coming year, this is an issue that can guide some choices. Did you know that meadows for the home are back in fashion? Do you have the plants to offer to those meadow-inclined folks who will be asking for them?

These are the things you need to know for the coming year, and we’ve got your back. The cool thing about knowing these trends ahead of time is that now, you can become the influencer. You can hop on #GardenTok or Reels and offer your incredible advice and expertise. You can drive customers to purchase from you because you are on top of what’s cutting edge in the plant world. You see, knowledge of trends makes influencers — not the other way around. So, get influencing.

Maybe I’ll peek in once in a while to see how you’re doing. I’ll just have to make sure someone’s nearby to retrieve me when I get lost in the algorithm.