Garden Center - Independent garden centers stand out from other stores selling gardening products with their high-quality products and customer service. The market continues to rebound as interest in edible and container gardening, among other trends, grows. Garden Center magazine serves retailers looking for relevant, practical business management information, as well as those looking for inspiration and out-of-the-box thinking to make their store one that customers will return to over and over.

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Dave Mitchell to keynote 2026 Garden Center Conference & Expo

Blending insight, humor and audience engagement, Dave Mitchell delivers practical strategies attendees can immediately apply to strengthen teams, elevate customer experiences and improve leadership outcomes.

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[WATCH] Looking Back to Spring Ahead: Where we’ve been & where the industry is headed in 2026

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Monrovia releases new retail program, Landscape Legends, to mark 100th anniversary

Instagram limits hashtags to five per reel or post

Happy holidays from the GIE Media Horticulture Group!

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Dave Mitchell to keynote 2026 Garden Center Conference & Expo

Steamy sustainability

[WATCH] Looking Back to Spring Ahead: Where we’ve been & where the industry is headed in 2026

Monrovia releases new retail program, Landscape Legends, to mark 100th anniversary

Plants View All

Monrovia releases new retail program, Landscape Legends, to mark 100th anniversary

This anniversary collection includes a curated list of plants that have made history over the last 100 years, chosen for their beauty, performance and popularity with home gardeners and landscape professionals.

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The best-performing plant varieties in trial gardens for 2025

Dates for 78th Santa Barbara International Orchid Show announced

Rows of red poinsettias in a greenhouse. There are more green plants hanging from tracks near the roof.

Q&A with Buddy Lee: Encore Azalea Autumn Kiss

Trends View All

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TurfMutt Foundation release 2026 backyard trends

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society announces top 10 gardening trends of 2026

A large gray two-story house with a black roof and red chimney, with an elaborate garden in the front yard full of shrubs, grasses and plants.

Wild Ones expands free Native Garden Design Program

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Pantone announces its 2026 Color of the Year

[WATCH] Looking Back to Spring Ahead: Where we’ve been & where the industry is headed in 2026

In this replay of the final session of 2025 in Garden Center magazine’s Fertile Ground Live Event Series, Editor Patrick Alan Coleman and Digital Editor Emily Mills review the year’s biggest stories in the independent garden center industry and look ahead to what’s coming in 2026.

Spotted View All

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Burpee releases commemorative seed collection to celebrate America's 250th anniversary

Burpee collaborated with Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the Museum of the American Revolution and the American Horticultural Society on the America’s 250th Anniversary Seed Collections.

A graphic with brown and orange text on a white background reads Sustainabloom by the American Floral Endowment.

Sustainabloom introduces Sustainability Planning Template for Retail Florists

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FloraLife releases Liquid LeafShine spray for foliage plants

A person visible from the nose up holding a pink and white bouquet of flowers and wearing a tan long-sleeved shirt hugs a person wearing an olive green shirt with long blonde hair who's facing away from the camera.

Floral businesses invited to join Society of American Florists' Petal It Forward event in October

Monrovia announces 2025 holiday program

Marketing View All

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[WATCH] Beyond the holidays: Finding success with unique seasonal events

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How garden centers can use their employees as social media influencers

Rows of small green square plant pots with seedlings of vegetables and plant tags at the front showing various vegetables.

How garden centers can capitalize on edible gardening trend

This Florida garden center's busiest days are in the fall, not spring. Find out how they do it

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Find out the 2026 Axiom Gardening Outlook Study results

IGCs should aim to reach millennials (Gen Y) and Gen Z as the target audience in 2026.

Staffing View All

Two people looking at each other and smiling in a garden center surrounded by plants and flowers. The woman on the left is wearing an orange top and blue denim overalls and holding a tablet. The woman on the right is wearing a green top and orange overalls and pushing a silver metal cart with potted flowers.

Ask HR: Should I hire a garden center customer as an employee?

A photo of four smiling men wearing matching light blue polo shirts pose outside of a greenhouse.

How Knobloch's Greenhouse continued the family business after a sudden loss

A teenage boy and teenage girl wearing black aprons stand in a shop surrounded by flowers. They're both reaching for a pink rose.

How to motivate teenage garden center summer employees

Working better together: Q&A with Paige Franks

Seven smiling people pose for a photo in a greenhouse surrounded by potted plants and hanging baskets of plants.

Matsuda’s Nursery finds solution to shortage of workers

Matsuda’s Nursery in California works with PRIDE Industries, which creates employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Store Design View All

A graphic with black, brown, green and gray text on a light green background reads Creating Customer Cravings with Visual Merchandising: Birds Eye Visual Merchandising Garden Center. There are four photos across the top of the graphic showing various plants and flowers at a garden center.

[WATCH] Visual merchandising ideas for independent garden centers

In this replay of Garden Center magazine's Fertile Ground Live Event, learn about color theory, shoppable displays, effective endcaps and add-on sales from Rachel Reynolds of Birds Eye Visual Merchandising.

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Find out the story behind Petitti Garden Centers' newest Ohio location

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Merchandising and display ideas for small independent garden centers

Long Island Reno: Implementing the redesign at Hicks Nurseries

Long Island Reno: The Hicks Nurseries design process

Money Matters View All

The Garden Center Group hosting 'The Financial Basics of Garden Retailing Workshop Series'

A graphic reads Garden Center Fertile Ground Webinar Series: What Is Your End Game? Succession & Exit Planning Best Practices for the Green Industry, September 10, 2024, 2:00 P.M. ET, Chris Cimaglio, PivotPoint Business Solutions & BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group, Register.

Fertile Ground Webinar Series replay: Succession & Exit Planning Best Practices

Two smiling man stand in a retail greenhouse surrounded by plants.

Industry veterans create Garden Center Consultants company

GS1 US Celebrates 50-Year Barcode 'Scanniversary' and Heralds Next-Generation Barcode to Support Modern Commerce

A store with wooden walls and tile floors, with wooden shelves with black piping holding a variety of products. Signs hanging from the ceiling above the shelves read Tea + Coffee, Honey + Spreads and Snacks. Additional signs above a wide doorway leading outside read Fresh Produce and Garden Party.

How to cultivate connections with garden center suppliers

There’s value in building lasting relationships with suppliers and distributors. Discover how strong vendor relationships give independent garden centers a competitive edge.

Long Reads View All

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HILA Class of 2025: Heather Gronek embraces the growth mindset at Plant Development Services, Inc.

A man wearing a black hat, black shirt and khaki pants kneels down and looks at a small piece of moss he's holding in his hand.

How Mossify is mastering moss at its Canada farm

An AI-generated image of a smiling cartoon woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a blue shirt, green overall and yellow sun hat standing in a garden.

Greenhouse AI: How garden centers and plant growers are leveraging chatbots for customer service

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How a big risk became an award-winning North Carolina garden center called Mustard Seed Market

How garden centers can use their employees as social media influencers

Turn your garden center staff into brand advocates. Learn the high-ROI strategy to boost customer trust, authenticity and sales through social media.