The Landscape of the Landscape Market

Jennifer Zurko

At the end of June, I was invited to sit in on a special presentation that Dr. Charlie Hall was giving to some Ball executives. (Sometimes, being owned by a breeding company has its perks.)

Many of you know him, but just in case, Dr. Hall is Ellison Chair in International Floriculture for Texas A&M University and AmericanHort’s chief economist. He’s also been recently named as president of America In Bloom. If you’ve never heard him speak or just want to see what he looks like, go to the Knowledge Center on AmericanHort’s website (www.americanhort.org) and watch a few of his videos.

Anyway, his talk centered on the future of our industry. He touched on this past winter and how it affected us, the housing market and consolidation. He also talked about the different demographic groups that you hear about all the time—Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y/Millennials—and he pointed out some things that I had never thought of before.

For instance, when age groups are young, they can’t be lumped together because their tastes and behaviors are different. But as people age, they start to have a lot more in common. Age groups are different today, but they’re more alike in the future, said Charlie.

Also, he pointed out that consolidation as a whole in our industry is slowing down, but there’s been a lot happening in the landscape segment of late (see Brickman buying ValleyCrest) and Charlie says it’s because the Baby Boomers are getting older and leaning toward more of a DIFM approach to gardening, so they’re driving this trend. “The key is they still want a garden,” said Charlie.

And we’ve been talking (beating a dead horse?) about how to market to Millennials for years. Charlie says being authentic and relevant to consumers is what will prevent us from fading into the sunset. “We don’t have to convince people to garden and landscape. We have to convince them that we’re relevant. People will buy what they want,” said Charlie.

Nicole Wisniewski—editor of our Landscape Insider e-newsletter—uses the same quote from Dr. Hall in her story about the state of the landscape market, where she uses data from surveys and research to give us a picture of this important segment.

To go along with our landscape issue, we get some tips from growers who have landscape customers and how they maintain their success. And if you’re a landscape grower and are looking for something new for your landscape contractors, you should try new Bounce Interspecific Impatiens and EnduraScape Verbena. But don’t take it from me; the trials research comes directly from some growers who’ve been trialing the plants.

We also have Part 2 of our California Spring Trials coverage, which includes a lot of new perennials that landscapers may like to include in their designs.

Dr. Hall said that although we’re recovering from the recession at a snail’s pace (high unemployment has been the primary factor), people are still buying what they want, regardless of socioeconomic status. New technology, like smartphones and iPads, were first on the list, but let’s hope that includes a beautifully landscaped garden done by your friendly neighborhood contractor. GT