Today subtropical gardening continues to gain popularity once again. All around the world people are beginning to take an interest once again in plant collecting and creating subtropical gardens (EPS, 2001). The development of subtropical gardening is occurring at a steady pace, but not in the same way that it did in the 19th century.
Globalization is one of the main things influencing and driving the development of subtropical gardening right now. The popularity of subtropical gardening is now much less concentrated towards any particular region of the world than before. As more and more information and goods are shared across the globe, an interest in subtropical gardening begins to turn up in a wide variety of areas (PNWPEPS, 2001). People from such varied places as Bulgaria, Argentina, Sweden, and Australia, where subtropical gardening has not been known in the past, are becoming interested in it and ambitiously starting nurseries and gardens.
Subtropical gardening is also experiencing resurgence in England (EPS, 2001). Many of the old Victorian subtropical gardens have been restored or are presently undergoing restoration, and it is probable that all of them will be restored within the next 20 to 30 years. The process will be gradual however since funding is still somewhat lacking. (A few are being restored in slightly different forms, incorporating elements from styles such as woodland gardening and natural gardening, allowing for lower maintenance costs.) Visits to these gardens are becoming increasingly popular, perhaps more with travelers from abroad than with the English themselves. There is usually a fee, providing a limited but steady amount of funding for continued restoration and maintenance.
Numerous small nurseries specializing in exotic plants have also appeared recently in England, including Trevena Cross, Architectural Plants, Oasis Designs and others. One nursery, the Palm Centre, offers a huge selection of hardy and tender palms to European gardeners, as well as tree ferns, hardy bananas and many other hardy exotic plants. These nurseries continue to provide gardeners in Britain with a limited but diverse and growing selection of subtropical plants.
Subtropical gardening has never really caught on in most of the United States. A conventional form of gardening brought over from England before the Victorian Era and evolved here still defines most people's notion of what a garden is. “Gardens here are considered in various ways: as settings for the house, to establish status and respectability; as ‘landscaped’ yards; as plant collections; or as creative designs, too often lacking spiritual or deep-seated traditions” (Beatty, 2001). People who try to achieve a tropical look in their gardens in the United States are generally still few and far between.
Subtropical gardening is beginning to develop somewhat more rapidly, though not excessively so, on the West Coast of the United States and Canada. This may be due in part to the climate generally being a bit more similar to Europe (The Pacific Northwest mirroring Britain; and California with a largely Mediterranean climate), which makes it easier for West Coasters to draw from European experience. The West Coast also has slightly closer contact with some prime locations for plant hunting, such as Latin America, Southeast Asia and Oceania.
Since the formation of the Pacific Northwest Palm and Exotic Plant Society in British Columbia, the Vancouver and Victoria area has become somewhat of a "horticultural mecca" in Canada. Even prior to that, this region had drawn more influence from Britain's passion for gardening than in the United States (PNWPEPS, 2001). This shows today throughout the gardens of southwest British Columbia. Vancouver is now creating an “oceanwalk” lined with palms, bananas and other exotics at English Bay. The influence of the PNWPEPS has also extended into Washington and Oregon to a lesser extent (PNWPEPS, 2001).
Some enterprises in this region are beginning to follow Britain's example in sending out plant collecting expeditions. These expeditions are still not generally able to find funding from wealthy landowners, but have generally been successful in expanding the palette of plants available in the area. The region now has a few mostly small nurseries specializing in subtropical and exotic rarities, such as Piroche Plants and Heronswood (Heronswood, 2001).
California, and especially the San Francisco area, is also very gradually developing towards a more general interest in subtropical gardening (CHS, 2001). In particular their climate allows them to exploit flora from Central and South American cloudforests, and South Africa. Here also numerous small nurseries are appearing and there is a higher than usual amount of support from local Universities such as UC Berkeley.
So it can be said that the development of subtropical gardening today is steady and it is global. This would seem to make sense given the present state of world economic affairs and the present distribution of wealth in countries that would be interested in subtropical gardening. It cannot develop as quickly as it did in the Victorian Era, since most subtropical gardeners lack the resources and funding to undertake ambitious private projects. However with economies generally healthy and more means of communication becoming available between all parts of the world, it is developing at a good steady pace. “Gardens evolve from a confluence of culture and climate. The adaptation to the region's climate comes from a cultural interpretation incorporating intellectual and spiritual thought and values” (Beatty, 2001).
The future of subtropical gardening will probably continue to depend largely on these social and economic factors. It would probably take some major catastrophe or social, economic or political restructuring of society for things to change abruptly in some unexpected fashion. It is also possible that a threshold might be reached at some point in the future where certain individuals, modern William Robinsons, so to speak, could stimulate enough interest in the general public to gain funding necessary for subtropical gardening to develop very rapidly once again.
In the meantime it will be interesting to observe the changes in subtropical gardening in coming years. If its history is any indication, the future of subtropical gardening will be quite exciting. It will likely continue until all hardy exotic plants are found and introduced and all possible combinations of subtropical plants are tried in gardens throughout the world.
