Celebrities and Roots

Rebecca Traister wrote a thought provoking article in Salon magazine about our waning interest in celebrities. She muses about our loss of interest in Britney, our collective shrug at the antics of The Famous.  At the same time, everywhere you look is an article about gardens, community gardens,  roof top gardens, container gardens, and blogs that even mention turning housing developments back into pastures.
Is there a connection? Are we as a nation actually tired of the trivial and the superficial and now looking to literally put roots in the ground? Planting a garden requires time, energy, you get dirty, sweaty, frustrated and occasionally rewarded. 
Two summers ago, my teen-aged nephew visited us in Italy. He had a ball helping us in the garden; he was totally entertained by the bizarre corkscrew carrots we grew. (Umbrian dirt is incredibly hard and clumped, the poor carrots had to grow their way through the spaces between the clumps.)  But, will that excitement lead to a lasting interest in gardening? Will having a  garden become a trend or a fleeting phase?  How serious are we about turning our backs on celebrity dirt and shoveling some real dirt?
Either way, for me, it will be more interesting to watch this evolve than it will be for me to read yet again about stains on Monica’s dress or Drew’s weight loss.