This Week in the War on Women, 3/23-29/25: Open Thread: Coping

In these fraught times, I thought it might be a good idea to discuss coping with the war on women, rather than dwelling on the Mu$k/$Rump (Mumps) crap show tonight. So I hope readers and commenters will feel free to post a nice variety of coping strategies in the Comments. One way I like to cope is to take some time off and get out into nature. That includes gardening.If you are interested in gardening, then you probably want to keep up with the trends.Garden trends go in and out of fashion just like clothing and home decor — you might be interested in some of these ideas, but don't take them as gospel — they want you to buy stuff! So resist most, but choose maybe one or two of your favourites — and where possible, buy from local small businesses.For 2025, here are some trends:Naturalistic designs, less structured/more relaxed, with native plants for birds and insects.My Spring ajuga explosion makes pollinators happy; trees hide a lot of the neighbours’ yardBold colours and textures, the more daring, the better.Water-wise plants that don’t require much watering once established.Living fences/hedges to provide privacy without a straight line that stops the eye.Luxury and nostalgia, fast-growing plants that provide a “lived-in look”.Growing your own cutting flowers and forage, to bring the outside in.Personalized details that make your garden work for you and support your mental health. Water gardens often encourage contemplation!Also:“Nativars”While native plants are typically defined as growing in nature without human intervention, 'nativars' are created by selecting and crossing native plant seedlings to produce desired traits such as compact size or brighter colored flowers. In many cases, they provide food and habitat for pollinators and wildlife, just like their wild counterparts, but with the added benefit of being more adaptable to home gardens—thus attracting more home gardeners to use them.Fire-resistant gardensI know this isn’t new to the West, but here in the Midwest, I’m beginning to hear more about fire-resistant plants and what makes a good, fire-resistant perennial. Perhaps going hand-in-hand with concerns about fire resistance is an ongoing desire for plants with good heat and drought tolerance.Expanding living spaces for people and wildlife, such as parking strips, unused driveways, and rooftops. To which I would add side yards and balconies.Snowdrops to the side of my garage, even earlier in SpringPortable gardens for renters.More varieties of gardening educational experiences.Internet Gardener Laura AKA @gardenanswer shows off some new bright heat-tolerant flower varieties for 2025 and teaches how to use containers: YouTube VideoThis Week in the War on Women provides a weekly summary of news on women's issues and information on current political actions. We welcome all who are interested to join, to write for us, and to provide relevant links and stories.Go to sheshouldrun.org/...If you hit a paywall on articles linked in diaries or comments, try pasting the link in at https://archive.is/ to see if you can get free reads.Keep in Touch with the War on Women!Our Daily Kos group homepage is HERE. Click the FOLLOW button on that page for delivery of all our posts to your Activity Stream. OR click at our series tags: ThisWeekInTheWarOnWomen & wow1 and topic tag WarOnWomenArchive of Trailblazing & Activist Women in History/wow2 HERE.Everything blogged & reblogged to our group here. The Open Thread Is Now OpenThis Week In The War On Women is a team effort. Thank you to everyone bringing links to the thread. Let us know how you are coping!