gmg 2011 garden trends report updated release september 10, 2010

Garden Media Group’s2011 Mega Trends to Garden Trends

Suzi McCoy

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© 2010 Garden Media Group

What Global Consumer Trends

Are Shaping Buying Habits

AND INFLUENCING GARDENING & OUTDOOR

LIVING2

Great Expectations

•Global Trends•L&G Outlook•2011 Garden Trends

•Emerging Trends

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Global Consumer Trends

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StatusphereFunction-allConnectivityLiving LocalDown-SizingStaycationGreen Life-Style

STATUSPHERE

• The need for recognition is at the heart of every consumer trend

• The ultimate (hidden) in subconscious but ever-present force

• Consumers are no longer solely obsessed with the biggest or most expensive

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5 Ways to Get a Status Fix

1. Traditional luxury lust: Bigger, Better, Harder

2. Generosity: Giving is the New taking

3. Green Credentials & Unconsumption

4. In the Know & Skills5. Connectivity

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Status -Traditional: Down-Sizing

• Median sq footage of new homes down 9% from 2,300 sq. ft. in 2006 to 2,100 sq. ft. in 2009 (NAHB)

• Large porches, decks, trees and flower beds– new bonus room.

• Current homeowners staying put and investing in outdoor living spaces.

Status: Generosity Generation

“People coming into independent garden centers are benefiting from live events for a good cause - year-round.”

Paige Worthy

American Nursery & Landscape Association

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Plant for a reason.

Women love to give to a cause to “do” what they love – run, walk or garden

Status: Function-All:• Simple, small and/or

cheap• Easier to use for

inexperienced consumers

• Energy efficient or not using any traditional energies at all

• Easy to repair• Waste-reducing• Robust and good for

rugged conditions• Good design• Self-sustaining 9

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Younger couples embracing domesticity

SHE sews, knits, gardens - and even raises chickens

HE cooks and grows tomatoes

Veggie gardening up 19%

Seed sales up 30-50%

Canning jars up 15% With LOHAS – Up 45%

Looking for value, price & performance

Status: Function-All

Status: Function-AllAmerican

ExceptionalismHeritage chic“Can-do” American

spirit powered by a new sense of self-sufficiency

Responsibility, meaningful relationships and connectivity is #1

Shifting prioritiesBalancing practicality

with comfort and fulfillment.

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Status: Brand America• Follows heritage chic

trend • Increased global appetite

for "brand America" • Ads emphasize the

hardworking, can-do spirit, industrial fortitude, and pick-ourselves-up-by-our-own-bootstraps message

• European designers partnering with old American brands

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Status: Brand America• Levi’s in the lime

light at the Paris spring/summer 2010 men's runway shows

• Converse low-top sneakers are on all the chic feet in France

• Americans prefer American cars for the 1st time in 13 years.

• Made in America is back.

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Connection ExplosionFacebook: 400 million active Facebook users 50% log on every dayAverage user has 150 “friends”Source: Facebook.com

Twitter: 108 million registered Twitter usersNew users signing at 300,000 per day180 million unique visitors come to the site every

month600 million search queries per day37% use phone to tweet17% “Matures” —63 to 75 — use Twitter regularly Source: Twitter.com

YouTube: Exceeds 2 Billion views per day(Double the prime-time audience of all 3 major U.S.

broadcast networks combined!)Average visitor spends 15 minutes a day on YouTubeSource: Youtube statistics

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Connectivity:Sharing is Power!

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Social Media allows you to:

Provide personalized products, services, and solution information instantly to thousands of potential customers

Offer venues for sharing gardening experiences

Offer incentives like “groupon”

Connectivity: Mommies Rule!

Moms sharing products and experiences are changing the marketing landscape .

They are spending time online searching for promotions and sharing opinions and blogging.

Mommy blogs: I Go BOGO, She Saved, Moms Need to Know, etc collectively reach 2.3 million page views

Of women with children at home• 60.3% use Facebook• 42.4% use MySpace• 16.5% use Twitter

Purchase Decisions: 93.6% regularly or occasionally

seek advice97.2% give advice

16Retail Advertising and Marketing Association

Living Local

• Local is now the backyard

• Local is now an attitude• Hyper-cocooning•  Push back against

companies that make too much money and don't support their communities

•  Local, transparent sourcing

• Craving for community, authenticity and information

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Green Life-Style

• Being ‘green’ is defined by personal actions & identified by a lifestyle:

• Prefer all-natural products

• Eating natural & organic food

• Low-carbon footprint

Burst Media 2010 Report

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Green Life-StyleSustainable Marketplace

Sustainability is here to stay.

Companies are taking greater responsibility for their actions in the marketplace and internalizing changes without regulation.

Transparency of companies for policies & actions. -Natural Marketing Institute-2010

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Glendora, California Sam's Club Solar Panels The Glendora Sam's Club is part of Walmart's commitment to accelerate and broaden its sustainability efforts through solar power.

Green Life-Style: Conservation

Shift from eco-elitism to conservation is growing!

Educate consumers on how gardening is the ultimate “green” activity.

Plants & products that support their environmental values will continue to grow strong.

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The invention of necessity, CowPots now brokers Carbon

Credits“Consumers are making changes in their day-to-day lives to lighten their footprint on the environment.”

2010 Natural Marketing Institute LOHAS Research

Green Life-StyleEveryone now agrees,

global warming or not, we all need to work together to rejuvenate, regenerate and restore Mother Earth.

The market for organic products is exploding

More people are choosing organic solutions

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Green Lifestyle

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8 of 10 in all age segments are incorporating “green” behaviors into their daily life

Including seniors 65+

Burst Media 2010

Green Living

Homeowners want organic garden products – on the shelves

Products must be high quality

&Good for the earth.

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Green Living

ReduceReuseRecycleRestore the Earth Return to

Caretakers

Shift from ‘Me’ . . . . . . to

‘We’

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“It’s a healthy consciousness that is bringing us back to the earth to be restored.”

Bill DoeckelBall Innovations

Green LivingConsumers are willing

to pay more for a variety of “green” products & gadgets.

Burst Media 2010

Green” Tech Gadgets

Solar lighting gaining in popularity

Animal & Plant Cams

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“Green” Gadgets go High Tech

The demand for technology gadgets and devices has reached fever pitch – and the buzz surrounding these smart phones, tablet computers, netbooks and e-readers is growing exponentially by the day.-Burst Media June 2010 Survey

Opportunity: Take Advantage of Mobile Advertising

Leverage mobile advertising to target specific consumers with location-based messaging

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Consumers want to telegraph their “green” credentials: hybrid cars and canvas shopping bags

ECO-ICONIC landscapes, living roofs & vertical green walls

Eco-lifestyle satisfies consumers’ need for eco-status

Opportunity: Help consumers “show-off” their eco-credentials and tell their eco-stories

Eco-Iconic

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State of the Industry

“ Cautious Optimism”

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Industry Status Report• 2009 floricultural sales

down 7% from 2008 revised levels (15 states surveyed)

• 11 of 15 states report declines from 2008 levels

• Sales of $3.83 billion reported across the 15 states in 2009- down from revised $4.11 billion in 2008

• Producers dropped 13% in the 15 major production states to 6,457 growers

Source: USDA

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Gardens Come of Age• 50% of homeowners

have gardens in their backyard

• 26% have front yard gardens

• 43% who have a garden planned to use retailers for spring garden planning

• 37% gain knowledge from neighbors

• 34% use books and magazine for spring garden planning

Source: 2010 GWA Spring Survey

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Garden Centers• 54% of homeowners go to

garden centers or local retail stores to purchase their spring garden plants

• 37% purchase plants at mass merchandisers or Big Box Stores

• 46% select a store or source for purchasing plant materials based on quality;

• 32% look for trained and educated staff

Source: 2010 GWA Spring Survey

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Landscaping/Garden Elements

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Consumers are asking for: • Low maintenance

landscapes• Native Plants• Drought tolerant plants• Fountains• Ponds/rain gardens• Arbors• Ornamental water

features

Source: American Society of Landscape Architects survey -2010

GMG 2011 Trends

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© 2010 Garden Media Group

2011 GMG Gardening Trends

8. Urban Farming7. Growing Up6. Indoor Gardening5. Succulents4. Sustainable

Containers3. Edible

Ornamentals

3.Eco-Scaping34

#1 Gardening Trend

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“Gardening with a Purpose”

Gardening with a Purpose

“Gardens continue to reflect awareness of how our landscapes enhance and improve

the environment around us.”

Patricia St. JohnPresident

Association of Professional Landscape

Designers

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Gardening with a Purpose:

“ There’s a new vision throughout America more in sympathy with our backyard environments.

“Most importantly, consumers are focusing on what they can do that has a positive impact for the earth- right in their own backyard.”

Doug JimersonExecutive Director of the

Better Homes and Gardens 37

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Gardening with a Purpose

Consumers are feeling they have more of a role as

• naturalist, • conservationists • and stewards of

the earth• Educate people

to help them fulfill their “new purpose”

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Gardening with a Purpose

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• Go “beyond sustainable”• Boost the Environment. • LOHAS consumers pushing for greater accountability and stewardship & greener products and a behavioral commitment by companies.

LOHAS Market Nears $300 Billion

Natural Marketing Institute2010 LOHAS Research

Gardening with a Purpose

“Holistic living is now mainstream with the emphasis on renew, recycle and repurpose.”

Doug JimersonExecutive Director Better Homes and

Gardens

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Eco-Scaping

4141

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• 1st national rating system for sustainable landscapes

• Star rating scale measures several criteria

• Points are given for landscaping with native plants to reduce maintenance, irrigation and use of pesticides

Eco-Scaping:Sustainable Landscapes

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Eco-Scaping:Sustainable Landscapes

Project Living Proof - sustainable residential gardens

Smart, ecologically sustainable landscaping practices for the 21st century

Natives, veggies, rain barrels, low-maintenance lawns, permeable paving & recycled materials

Marty Rossfor the Kansas City Star

September 5, 2010

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Eco-Scaping: Natives

• Relatively unknown topic only a few years ago

• Today a majority of the gardening public say they want to know more about natives

• 54% are highly interested in native plants

GWA Late June 2009

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• Consumers want to telegraph their “green” credentials: hybrid cars and canvas shopping bags

• ECO-ICONIC landscapes, living roofs & green walls

• Eco-lifestyle satisfies consumers’ need for eco-status

• Help consumers “show-off” their eco-credentials and tell their eco-stories

Eco-Scaping: Natives

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Eco Scaping: Lawn-Sizing

“We’re under the spell of a collective lawn coma inherited from our ancestors.  It’s time to wake up, and plant a seed.

Everyone is trending towards less turf, even on bigger estates. We are waking from our ‘lawn coma’.”

Margie Grace, APLD2009 International

Landscape Designer of the Year

Eco-Scaping: Lawn Reform

• 21 million acres of the USA are covered with non-native grasses

• Municipalities and water utilities offering "cash-for-grass" incentives to replace lawns with low-water-use gardens.

• Practice Organic Lawn Care

• Use Low-Maintenance Turfgrasses

• Reduce or Replace Lawns with any mixture of trees, shrubs, and perennials and edibles

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Eco-Scaping: Perennials

Annual sales down 20%

Consumers demand easy care, drought resistant perennial

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Hakonechloa macra FUBUKI ‘Briform’ from Briggs

Nursery.

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Eco-Scaping: Water• Conserving natural

resources and reusing water is gaining wide acceptance.

• 13 million households participated in water gardening

• Offer water saving products – timed sprinklers, soaker hoses, rain barrels, rain water tanks, water-efficient nozzles

• For tips & strategies, visit:

anla.org/waterwisewww.epa.gov/watersense

Eco-Scaping: Biodiversity

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United Nations Declares 2010 ‘International Year of

Biodiversity’

A celebration of life on earth and the value of biodiversity for our lives.

Strive for a more sustainable use of natural resources • Preserve and increase natural habitats• Reduce climate change

Eco-Scaping: Biodiversity

"Biodiversity will be big this year and a lot of people will be tying in with that, including the RHS, which will have its own stand dedicated to it.”

Alex BaulkwillShow Manager, RHS Chelsea Flower Show

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Eco-Scaping: Rooftop Gardens

Rooftop gardens reduce energy consumption (heat and cooling) and use of natural resources while providing attractive green spaces.

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Edible Gardens

"Instead of mowing your lawn, you should eat it."

Eric Schlosser FAST FOOD NATION

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Edible Gardens Are In.

• Lawns are out • Replacing with

gardens • Manicured

lawns are serving no purpose

• Want gardens to be productive, not just grass

Edible Ornamentals“We are integrating more edibles in our gardens: more herbs, more vegetables and more fruit trees

both in areas dedicated to food production

& in the garden planted among the ornamentals.”

Patricia St. John

PresidentAssociation of Professional

Landscape Designers

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It’s time to reclaim our land for our greater good. 

Take that food-producing garden from the back 40 and put it wherever we want. 

Reunite the ornamental with the edible—roses beside tomatoes, corn anchored by geraniums, azaleas under grapevines. 

Margie Grace, APLD2009 International

Landscape Designer of the Year

Edible Gardens

Edible Ornamentals

Up 19% in participation

• 41 million+ (38%) grew a vegetable garden in 2009

• 19.5 million+ (18%) grew an herb garden

• 16.5 million (15%) grew fruits during the same period

• 7.7 million+ (7%) new edible gardeners

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Veggie Gardens are American Staples

• 2/3’s of those who have a garden plan to grow their own vegetables this year

• 3/4’s grow their own vegetables for better quality, taste and nutrition

• Almost half think it will be cheaper than buying from a store

• More than half have a plot 20’x20’ or larger

Source: GWA 2010 Survey58

Herbs and Veggies are hot!

Consumers adding a vegetable garden or herb garden increased 12% since last year.GWA 2010 Report

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Edibles: Smaller Ornamental Fruit

“We’re seeing rising consumer interest in edibles: small fruit bearing shrubs like berries and smaller trees.”

Doug Jimerson Executive Director of the

Better Homes and GardensContent Core for Garden

and Outdoor Living

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Edibles: Smaller Plants

6-Packs are Back

Vegetables bred for containers--smaller size, less vining, still lots of production.

Diane BlazekAll American Selections

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Rise of Edible Container Gardening

About half of all food gardening households grow food in containers

NGA 2009

Pot up herbs!“ Herbs need to be

in stock! Herbs in containers are perfect for smaller-scaled gardens.”

Sarah Martinez, Managing Editor

Garden Center Magazine

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Sustainable Containers

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Sustainable Containers

“Forever containers” with shrubs and perennials

One note containers with just one evergreen

Small space gardens – often only in a container.

Foliage gives boom without the bloom – all year.

Mini GardenCampania Medallion Planter

Sustainable Containers

Annuals sales down 20%

Lower-maintenanceDrought and disease

resistant No need to use

pesticides and chemicals.

Four seasons of color

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Sustainable Containers

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Gardeners creating mini-bouquet containers mixing perennials, vegetables, bulbs, grasses and vines with small shrubs and fewer annuals

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Succulents

"Succulent Container Gardens" Debra Lee Baldwin

Succulents: Drought Tolerant

• Demand is growing for succulents

• Easy, provide exotic shapes and color

• Look attractive in containers, vertical, or in landscape

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Outside In

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Outside In

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Extend nature’s influence by bringing the outdoors in

Indoor houseplants are increasing in popularity

O2 for You – ‘Houseplants with a Purpose’ campaign educates consumers on benefits of indoor plants www.o2foryou.org

Red Sister Cordyline Costa Farms

Peace Lily Costa Farms

Outside In

• Plants producing oxygen • Plants remove 87% of VOCs - carbon

dioxide • Plants purifying the air of indoor toxins• Plants beautify a space

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Outside In

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NASA scientists recommend at least one indoor plant for every 100 sq. ft of living space

Orchids are increasing in popularity

Live plants for the holidays instead of artificial

Phalaenopsiss Orchid – Costa Farms

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Outside In: O2 for You: Plants with a

PurposeGrass rootsPublic service

campaign Educates about the

health benefits of indoor plants

Opportunity: Shout the green message.

www.O2forYou.org

Growing Up!

Growing Up

“ Climbing plants are a largely untapped resource for today's gardeners.

They can be used to provide privacy, screen eye-sores, and draw the eye upward to create the illusion of space.”

Dr. Allan ArmitageHorticulturist

76Susan Cohan, APLD

Going Vertical in Portland

• $133 million renovation, • “Vegetated fins” that grow

more than 200 feet high • Changes with the seasons

and nurtures plants that yield energy savings

• Using 60 - 65 % less energy than comparable buildings

• Saving $280,000 annually in energy costs.

• The use of rainwater and low-flow plumbing fixtures will reduce potable water consumption by 68 percent.

• And energy for lighting will be halved. 77

Vertical Gardening: Living Art

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Vertical Container Gardens

Containers go vertical with perennials, vines and veggies.

“Small space gardening and container vertical gardening that’s easy and low maintenance is in demand.”

Paige WorthyAmerican Nursery &

Landscape Association

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Urban Farming

About half of all food gardening households grow food in containers

NGA 2009

Urban Farming

• “Food Deserts” are blighted inner cities without access to fresh produce

• Urban farming brings food into the community as micro-farms on just a few square meters or acres of land.

Source: Community FoodSecurity Coalition

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Urban Farming

Cities are transforming small backyards & private and public alleys into lush green gardens that are kid-friendly and are social meeting places.

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Urban Farming

Urban Agriculture is “the growing, processing and distribution of food and other products through intensive plant cultivation and animal husbandry in and around cities” Source: Community

Food Security Coalition

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Vertical FarmingAccess to year-round fresh

fruits and vegetables

Organically Grown: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers

More food using less land : 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more

New employment opportunities

Eliminates agricultural runoff

Reduces many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface

Source: The VerticalFarm Project

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Strengthening Communities through

Gardening

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“Garden Centers are offering square foot gardens for sale as an easy alternative to the massive, in ground garden concept.”

Jennifer Polanz, Editor Todays Garden Center

Magazine

Explosion of Community Gardens

• 1 million households grow food in a community garden (3 percent )

• Companionship • Offers opportunity for fresh

produce for those with small spaces

Source: NGA Survey

“Some Garden Centers are also offering community gardens on their grounds as a way for new gardeners to learn about varieties, pest control and management and share experiences. They also have the tools gardeners need right there.”

Jennifer Polanz, EditorTodays Garden Center Magazine

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Communities: Swapping & Sharing

• CSA’s increasing and full

• Community Garden waiting lists lengthening

• Plant swaps on the rise

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Buy Local/Buy Fresh: Rise of Farmers Markets• Farmers Markets are

springing up throughout large cities, suburbs and small towns

• "Buy Local" campaigns increased holiday sales 3%, compared to 1.0% without Buy Local initiative.

• 80% said public awareness of the value of choosing locally owned businesses had increased in the last year

NMI Survey 2010

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Vaccinium ‘Pink Lemonade’- Briggs Nursery

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Color! Color! Color!

Color! Color! Color!Colors of passion and

simplicity with a tribute to ancient times roars into Spring 2011

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Color!Do more with less

Maximize contrasts to color and tones

Neutrals with a Primary color for “pop”

Colors

• Gold, Bronze or high shine metallics

• Grey-blue/Aqua-green /Teal

• Deep Purplish

• Rich reds to Rust & brick

• Rich orange and berry hues paired with spicy browns and bronze metallic 91

“I think we'll see much brighter colours with dark, moody

backdrops."

Andrew DuffDirector

Inchbald School of Garden Design

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Rhododendron 'Rabatz‘Briggs Nursery

Color

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Purple! Purple!! Purple!!!

‘Baptisia australis’False Blue Indigo

2010 Perennial Plant of the Year

Purple! Purple! Purple!

Rhododendron ‘Florence Parks’

Rhododendron

‘Polar nacht’

Color

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Sun Parasol Pretty Crimson

New Blue Native

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ColorCampania Patmos Planter & Campania Windsor Planter

Weathered Copper

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Color: “Steampunk” Influence

• Blend of Victorian textures and accessories meets high-tech Sci-Fi

• Architectural, industrial design blending with Victorian plant preferences (ferns) & accessories

• Neutrals/ blondes/browns/gold with shiny metallic pop of bronzes and color

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Ode to Steam Punk

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Steam Punk New Hibiscus: Costa Farms

Emerging Trends

• Biophilia• New Urbanism• Slow

Gardening• In Real Life

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Emerging Trend: Biophilia

Biophilia -- An instinctive bond between humans and other living systems, especially with nature.

June 1, 2004, Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard University entomologist, coined the term "biophilia", referring to humans' "love of living things" - our innate affinity with nature.

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Emerging Trend: Biophilia

Wilson put forward the idea that humans evolved as creatures deeply enmeshed with the intricacies of nature

He says we still have this affinity with nature ingrained in our genotype.

He called it ‘biophilia’ – “the innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes."

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Emerging Trend: Biophilia

People look to nature for restoration: physically & emotionally

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Emerging Trend: New Urbanism

Living an urban lifestyle in sustainable, convenient and enjoyable places while providing solutions to peak oil and climate change

Increased availability for living/working/recreational opportunities

Adds up to a high quality of life well worth living, and creates places that enrich, uplift, and inspire the human spirit.

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Renewable        Electric        Walkable

Emerging Trend: New Urbanism Parklets

• Replicate the European tradition of outdoor plazas for sunning and socializing

• Parklets repurpose two to three parking stalls along a block as a space for people to relax, drink a cup of coffee, and enjoy the city around them.

• Loitering is encouraged!

• Pedestrian spaces, trees and flowering shrubs, flowered paths, eating areas.

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Emerging Trend: Slow Gardening

Started with the Slow Food movement from the 90s

People taking more time to enjoy life, enjoy cooking with fresh ingredients and herbs

Burst of new hobby country farms and urban edible gardens

Grow it. Can it. Eat it.

Emerging Trend: IRL In Real Life

'All that networking and faux-networking didn't do a thing for us,'" said Richard Laermer, a trend watcher and author of "2011: Trendspotting for the Next Decade."

 Next trend: Put down the mouse and pick up the phone.

Get back to life.

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Tribal Bonding• Like minded 20-30 year

olds are joining together to plant specific herbs, exotic spices, small fruits and haute couture veggies that enhance their cooking

• They share their edibles with the tribe

• It’s the modern pot-luck dinner.

• Connecting over food they grow and eat.

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Gardens feed the soul

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GardensBring Us

Joy111

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or view all Trend Reports, go to:GardenMediaGroup.com

& Please remember to give GMG credit.

Susan@gardenmediagroup.com610-444-3040

112© 2010 Garden Media Group