Find your zen with water features

Imagine the sounds of soothing water trickling down, birds chirping in a nearby tree … an oasis of serenity amongst the hustle and bustle of everyday life. People are longing to create such an oasis at their own homes, and your IGC could be the very thing to help them achieve it.

Sunnyside Nursery is located in Marysville, Washington. With water features as a part of their inventory for over 10 years, Sunnyside Nursery is seeing an increased interest in creating a home oasis using fountains.

“We’ve seen the interest in water features increase, especially in the last year or two,” says Nicole Phillips, director of marketing. “That category for us is up 20% from last year, which is still a big jump from the previous year. We keep listening to demands and things are getting bigger, more volume. It started as a simple thing for outdoor spaces, and now, it’s really niche. A lot of people are looking for them.”

Larger fountains have gained popularity with Sunnyside Nursery’s customers. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are home more — working remotely or with hybrid schedules, and they care about investing in their private spaces. Sunnyside Nursery is selling more large fountains because people are willing to invest in them.

“We are seeing an older demographic range buy these fountains,” Phillips says. “They’re not necessarily new homeowners. They’re more established people who are probably in their forever home, or they are people who have retired and have more disposable income. They’ve established their gardens or outdoor spaces, so a fountain is the next step to take it to the next level.”

Fountains that have three to four tiers and spill from one bowl to another are selling well. These types of fountains are usually concrete, weighing around 600 pounds, and feel more permanent in someone’s landscape.

Lighting is important for water features. People want them to look stunning both at night and during the day, so Sunnyside Nursery looks for fountain designs that have built in lights. Besides lights, they look for fountains that incorporate a variety of enhanced features such as metal finishes and copper edges. These small details make a difference to a customer who is looking for something other than concrete.

Sunnyside Nursery sets up a fountain of each design around the garden center. They order about 25 different styles and provide several displays with plants surrounding the water feature so customers can envision what it would look like in their own space.

“Customers want to see how the fountains operate,” Phillips says. “We leave the rest packed up because it’s a lot of work for garden centers to set up, then tear down and take it to a customer’s house and set it up there. It’s a lot of labor. … The rest are ready to get loaded in a vehicle and delivered to the customer for installment. It makes things more efficient on our end.”

After a customer picks out their fountain, Sunnyside Nursery assists with delivery and installation. They make sure the water is flowing properly and will assist if things go wrong.

“We try and make it a continued relationship with our customers instead of just, ‘here’s your fountain. We’ll never talk again,’ Phillips says with a laugh.

For IGCs looking to sell water features, Phillips recommends starting by finding a great vendor. “Our vendors' websites are now easier for us to point customers to, so we don’t have to do all the work,” she says. “We can tell our customers to go check out the website, and they can see a video of the fountains operating in the day and night.” This removes some of the burden off the garden center as a retailer.

Phillips also notes the importance of having a small range of inventory to satisfy all the different customers’ needs. Having several styles and multiple quantities of each style is helpful in terms of labor and efficiency.

Sunnyside Nursery also allows their customers the option to pre-order items. They can use the vendor website to view catalogs and pick out their water feature. Then Sunnyside Nursery can order it.

“Being open to the pre-order or special-order situation is really beneficial to everybody,” Phillips explains. “Customers feel like they’re winning because they get a 20% discount. We have to do less labor, and the vendors really help support that in terms of resources and materials.”

Sunnyside Nursery also offers bubblers, a smaller water feature in which water bubbles up from the center and spills into a bowl. Bubblers are perfect for customers who don’t have large yards. They can be used inside houses, apartments and placed on patios.

“The sound of running water is really what’s attractive to people, whether they’re indoors or outdoors, so we do have some indoor fountains,” Phillips says. “We see both categories move, but the outdoor ones get a lot more traction than the indoors.”

Adding a water feature to a home, garden or patio could be the very thing that a customer needs to create a serene space at their home and improve their mental health.

“It’s usually about increasing the ambiance, creating this oasis in your outdoor space, and the sound is really pleasing and peaceful,” Phillips says. I think that’s usually what draws people, the constant motion and sound in their garden. … Water features go hand-in-hand with the gardening industry, being outside and feeling those natural elements, whether it’s sticking your hand in the dirt or listening to moving water. I think it really does a lot for us internally and mentally. It’s a personal sanctuary to reset and have all your senses activated.”