characters

Looks like kids gardening is going to be bigger than ever in 2012, by the looks of all the yowza grow kits marketed to them on the shelves.

Seems the gardening industry has caught wind of the fact that those Gen X and Y consumers they've been trying to reach have kids, and that a good chunk of any disposable income Mommy and Daddy have for gardening is probably going to go toward something they can do with their children. Same goes for the Baby Boomers and their grandkids.

And I don't think it'll just stop at grow kits. After all, Netherlands-based flower auction company FloraHolland just announced the release of its Hello Kitty line of plants, aimed at girls and young women. Now that's marketing MEOW!

Hello Kitty plants

Obviously, the industry also knows that kids will go for anything with a character on it – from breakfast cereal to bandages to toothbrushes and toilet seats.  Hence the Growums garden kits (tagline: "Add a little character to your garden!") retailing for $39.98 at my neighborhood Home Depot. The 50-plus characters - with names like Adam Apple, Duke the Cuke and Elvis Parsley are part of six themed edible gardening kits (pizza, taco, herb, salad, ratatouille and stirfy).

Growums ($39.98 at Home Depot)

And of course, there's an online component at Growums.com, where you can learn about the characters and their gardens, play games, use Growums for fundraisers, follow Growums on Twitter and Facebook and even "track your Growems" (I don't know what this means, since I didn't buy one and you have to enter the UPC code from the kit to find out). I think it's smart marketing - and as the mom of a 4-year-old, I'll know to steer clear of it in Home Depot if she's with me and I don't want to spend the extra cash. Kudos to Bonnie Plants for really thinkin' this one through!

$39.98 a little much for ya? How 'bout the $2.99 "Eco Plant Pals" (also available at Amazon.com). I found as part of a mondo kids' grow kit display in my Wegmans supermarket. These kits, too, feature their own cartoon characters, like Strawberry Sarah, Aloe Alin and Basil Bob:

Eco Plant Pals ($2.99 at Wegmans)

Princess Garden ($14.99 at Wegmans)

Carnivorous Creations ($24.99 at Wegmans)

Looks like "fairy gardening"– that gardening trend in which tiny plants are grown as part of a miniature scene fit for a fairy - has really taken off. I know I saw a lot of fairy gardening stuff on display, at least, at the 2011 Garden Writers Association symposium this past summer in Indianapolis: 

Fairy Triad grow kit ($24.99 at Wegmans)

But the most exciting thing for me personally, as an incurable plant nerd, were all the kits offering the opportunity to grow exotic edibles (well, exotic in my western NY Zone 6ish garden, that is).  baThere were kits for bananas, peanuts, coffee and even pomegranate trees. And as the kid who always wanted to sprout an avocado pit on the windowsill to make my own tree, I'm willing to slap down the $4 or $10 to see if it actually works.

. P

Pomegranate grow kit ($4 at Wegmans)