A "new" trend in gardening is disposable plants, but this is not really a new thing - just the type of plants and how they are used has changed. People have been using small plants such as petunias for a long time as annuals. The trend now is to use plants that take longer than a year to grow and to use them for only a single season outside and let them freeze. People have been doing something similar to this with Christmas trees - for...dare I say centuries? Houseplants are another good example, anybody that buys a houseplant and expects it to thrive in the dry air that exists in the winter is only fooling themselves. Sooner, rather then later, it will die. The moisture necessary to keep most plants healthy would destroy your home. People in the northern states consider it sacrilege to kill a palm tree, yet they kill thousands every year - somebody has got to be buying all of those palms I see at nurseries and big box stores. Right?

Updated September 26, 2010