What is Your Gardening Niche?

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Over the course of the years gardeners learn many things through experimenting, reading, and talking to other gardeners. There are many different ideas and concepts to use in your garden and eventually you develop a little niche. Dictionary.com defines an ecological niche as ” the position or function of an organism in a community of plants and animals.” Your gardening niche is that small area of the gardening world that you are more passionately devoted to than any other area of gardening.

You may have one or two of these areas and they may change over the years. It might be something small like one particular plant you just can’t do without. Or it might be a broad category that you love like vegetable gardening in all of it’s many varieties. It could be flowers or water features, pergolas or wildlife gardening. It could be anything. Your niche is your primary interest, the thing that gets you excited about gardening.

So my question today is: What is your gardening niche?

There are so many things I’m interested in right now from seeds to patios (yep we’re planning one of them, I’ll save it for a later post) but it’s pretty easy for me to single out the one thing that I could call my niche. It would have to be propagating plants. I’m still learning a lot about propagation and every experiment is a new learning experience for me. I just enjoy taking the cuttings and watching for roots to develop. The idea that you can encourage something to grow into a brand new plant from a small piece of another plant fascinates me. This past summer and fall whenever I drove around somewhere and saw a plant that interested me I said to myself “I wonder if I could get a cutting of that!” I’ve done cuttings mostly but I have dabbled with some layering. I’m hoping to try air layering of a Japanese maple this spring.

Now it’s your turn! Tell us what your gardening niche is. You can do it on your blog if you have one, if not just post here!

17 thoughts on “What is Your Gardening Niche?”

  1. Oh the Smokey Mtns & Cades Cove. I’ve been there many times. I love to go through the Cove again & again as each time you do you see something different—like you can’t see all. Picnics are great if only sitting on as old fallen tree. Did that too.
    I can’t tell yet just what my niche is as I love all areas of gardening. Hanging pots or yard plants I love it all. Trying to root a Poinsettia now that got broke off the mother plant. Little leaves growing so maybe I’ve seceded. That’s a red one. White is my next one. I love to watch all things grow. I’m trying to teach my ggkids to appreciate gardening. The oldest is more interested. He’s 6.

    I enjoy your blog very much. I just found it. Great.

  2. Good question! I have gone through many niches through the years, roses, veggies, woodland, native, herbs, all white, evergreens, now back to veggies again. Right now it’s fun with seeds until the weather is warm enough to be outside all the time.
    Thanks for a thinking post.
    Frances at Faire Garden

  3. For the past few years, it’s been the koi ponds. Everyone definitely needs some sort of movement in their garden, and when it’s something living, all the more fabulous. OK, so plants are living too, but they don’t come when you call or eat treats from your hand. lol.

  4. You’ve got me remembering my first venture into gardening…I bought 36 day lilies from Gilbert Wild…I still have my favorites…Kindly Light, July Gold, and a Lemon Lily that will smell delicious this spring.

    Really a great question. My niche has been pretty constant for the last dozen years…native plants.

    Gail

  5. hey dave, this the tina in tennessee. tina in new jersey-thought you had a capital T with your name? it was the only way i knew it wasn’t me! lol

    my niche is EVERYTHING! tough call but i love it all-except xeriscaping.

    i hope it doesn’t offend you, but i dubbed you the “cutting king” a long time ago. i am glad you identified it as your niche. i too love that-especially when visiting public gardens. cuttings don’t hurt the plants and the gardeners never mind you take a few!

  6. I guess my present niche would be container gardening, by necessity. It’s a challenge to see just how much garden you can put on one small balcony! Because of that, I’ve taken a keen interest in learning about wildflowers and hope to spend a good deal of time this summer photographing and cataloguing the local floral. Love your blog.

  7. Just reposted this–I saw a couple of typos. Hope I got them all!

    My niche is cactus. I love them, which is good, because in Arizona you can’t escape them. I especially like Mammillaria, Gymnocalycium and Echinopsis species and have many of them. If I lived in another climate I think I would lean toward establishing a cottage garden with lots of roses and other flowers.
    Aiyana

  8. My Niche would have to be the rocking chair front porch! I can hardly wait to put the plants on it each spring! I usually jump the gun and get the hanging plants out too soon then have to bring them in again on cold nights. I will try to do better this year and not get them out too soon… I just love my Southern Living porch!

  9. Dave you have now been included ,

    The criteria is that the blog must be related to the sector and must be interesting to other bloggers and ordinary visitors who may be interested in that specific niche

    steve
    The Power Guides

    PS Any New Posts you create will be included in Latest Posts until they cycle round to the next newer posts from other Gardening Bloggers, and only bloggers who post less than 4 posts per day are included in latest posts to stop spamming the guides are intended to be a resource for each local community

    Hope this helps

    Steve

  12. My niche is an easy one, perennials. For awhile I got stuck on just daylilies. Collectoritis still can catch me unawares whether it’s a sudden spurt of Hosta, hardy Geraniums, Sedums and so on.

    If I had to specialize more, it would be propagation of those perennials. I try all kinds of things and must be getting pretty good at it because every spring I find I have at least 500 plants to pot up and sell.

    Cuttings are cool too, I’ll have to watch your blog for more info on them.

  14. Lola,

    The cove is great! We loved it when we lived out that way. We’d probably go out there 2-3 times a year. Congrats on rooting the poinsettia!

    Frances,

    I think we’re all thinking about seeds right now!

    Tina,

    Koi ponds are pretty neat to look at. I know my dad has wanted one for several years now. Are they a lot of work to maintain?

    Gail,

    Daylilies are nice to look at. I’m planning on adding some of them in our yard at some point. Natives area good way to go!

    Tina,

    I’m interested in everything also but I do know there are some things that stand out more than other for me. No I’m not offended! Who could be offended by being a “king” of something! Although I don’t think I’m there yet. I’m just aspiring to rise above my station in the monarchy of cuttings! I still consider myself a peasant.

    Nancy,

    Container gardening can be fun too. I did that for our veggies for several years before we moved into our house. Photographing wildflowers sounds like a lot of fun! What kind of places do you visit for your pictures?

    Aiyana,

    A cactus garden sounds pretty interesting although potentially painful! I bet you’ve developed some good techniques for dealing with those needles. The prickly pear cactus is a native here in Tennessee. I’ve thought about rooting one of them for our landscape. Maybe mixing it with some sedums and other succulents. I like the cottage garden look also!

    Kate,

    Rock gardens are pretty cool. I don’t have enough rock in the yard to do that. Maybe someday!

    Melanie,

    I think we share that love of plant propagation! It does sound like you’re very good at it with 500 plants to sell! How do you do that? Do you take them to a farmer’s market or do people just come by to purchase them? It’s sounds like an interesting idea I’d like to learn a bit more about.

    Robin,

    I think bringing nature into the garden should be something everyone tries to do. We love to see the hummingbirds dart around the house. I decided last year not to use the hummingbird feeder but to plant plants that attract them. They really enjoyed the morning glory I potted up out of the back yard and the zinnias! Zinnias are hummingbird magnets!

  15. dave, you are indeed the best i have seen with cuttings and cutting king fits. now you might want to try air layering and grafting…i need some tips and you are good to learn from!

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