Retrospective collective

As we come to the end of 2023, we’re looking back at notable products and ideas from garden centers and more that we’ve featured throughout the year in our Spotted! department. From IGC pets and “Dinorrariums” to butterfly container gardening and stargazing in the garden, here’s what inspired us this year at Garden Center magazine. — Emily Mills, associate editor

January

Pets and plants for all seasons

Whether it’s customers’ dogs just passing through or a cat that’s a full-time employee (AND social media star), patrons and employees can’t get enough of their furry friends. No matter what time of year it is, business pets remind customers that IGCs are an experience that not only include retail plant therapy but also a chance to interact with adorable cats and dogs.

February

Top picks from TPIE

The Garden Center Group awarded 14 companies for 15 products in the Cool Product Awards at TPIE in Florida.

March

Engage with orchids

Gardens can be an oasis in any month, calming stressed minds and giving visitors the chance to marvel at nature’s wonders. The Cleveland Botanical Gardens transformed into an orchid paradise for its annual Orchids Forever show.

April

Enthralling events

The Wicked Plant Shop, located in Kingsport, Tennessee, is a small boutique IGC that hosts a ton of annual events. Customers can chose from Ladies Night Out (with a themed plant craft) to a wide array of kids’ events, including veggie pot make-and-takes, themed dinosaur gardens, terrariums and even an annual Easter egg hunt. Each event gives the staff a chance for one-on-one coaching with the guests, helping them in their gardening hobby.

May

Highlights from the highway

Plant breeders put on their most creative displays at this year’s California Spring Trials, offering up fun ideas for plant merchandising. By highlighting varieties’ best qualities, creating selfie opportunities and promoting planting ideas, each company showed off unique marketing concepts that will draw customers in.

June

Bringing life to gardens

Wingard’s Market is a small family-owned garden center in Lexington, South Carolina, where second-generation owners Wally and Delores Steinhauser didn’t stop at plants. They’ve added a gift shop, produce market, greenhouse and most recently a nature center headed up by their son, Zach. By incorporating educational aspects, Wingard’s new Backyard Nature Center will see folks come to learn and understand how to garden for local wildlife and attract the animals they want to see in their backyards.

July

The stars and plants connection

Four Arrows Garden, located in Vail, Arizona, hosted a Stargazing Party in the garden for Reach for the Stars, a local nonprofit whose mission is to improve mental health for children in the community through astronomy, STEM and volunteer opportunities. The Four Arrows owners felt the stories the nonprofit shared about the positive impacts of widening perspectives, finding peace and sparking creativity through astronomy were very similar to the positive experiences outside in the garden.

August

Bloomin’ for Butterflies

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Seasons Garden Center in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, turned a back garage into The Studio at Seasons Garden Center, an educational classroom that offers 35 to 40 classes on gardening, floral design, fine arts and healthy living. During this year’s Pollinator Week, the IGC hosted the Bloomin’ for Butterflies container gardening workshop.

September

Memories from Minneapolis

This year’s Garden Center Conference & Expo featured tours at three Minneapolis-area garden centers: Tonkadale, Bachman’s and Tangletown Gardens.

October

Fall color blocking

Looking for inspiration to display your fall merchandise? Try color blocking. Joe Baer, the cofounder, CEO and creative director of ZenGenius, a Columbus, Ohio-based visual merchandising creative agency, defines color blocking as “looking at the colors that you have to work with in your inventory and assortment, and grouping them together in a way that creates interesting patches of color or an interesting pattern of color.” Baer notes that your inventory and assortment will determine whether color blocking is the right solution.

November

Queen City questing

During the last week of September, The Garden Center Group’s members assembled at the annual Fall Event, with a regional garden center tour in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area. The six-stop, 83-mile round-trip tour wound through the outskirts of Ohio’s Queen City and featured a wide range of IGCs: Burger Farm and Garden Center, Benken Garden Center & Florist, Natorp’s Nursery Outlet, Berns Garden Center & Landscaping and White Oak Gardens, plus the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.

1. Ontario-based Parkway Garden Centre is home to manager, resident and social media star Flora the cat.

2. TikTok influencers Mr. Gardeners welcome their pets into the garden all season long. Mona basks with the blooms in the spring.

3. TPIE Cool Product Award Winner Hendriks Greenhouses is known for its tropicals, but its creative team has produced a number of plant sleeves, wraps and tags to speak to the customer. The messages focus on happiness, including “This plant will boost your mood” and “Little Green Plant” (borrowing from the classic “Little Black Dress”).

4. Moss ball planters hung from the ceiling throughout the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, bringing beautiful blooms to eye level for closer inspection. The multi-level displays added interest and allowed the gardens to pack more plants into a small space.

5. The gardens encouraged attendees to bring their cameras and even set up selfie stations throughout the grounds. Check out #orchidsforever on social media to see how attendees interacted online.6. There were plenty of smiles as giddy patrons assembled their Jurassic-themed terrariums with help from The Wicked Plant Shop staff. The popular event is a big draw for boys, which helps get them interested in plants and gardening at a young age.

7. Employees at The Wicked Plant Shop get involved in the DIY, too. During the holidays, the IGC offers pre-made succulent Christmas trees ready for customers looking to gift the perfect arrangement.

8. PanAmerican Seed had some fun at CAST with creating a selfie opportunity by turning its Asparagus FuzzyFern Frizz into a mascot. The sign, complete with the #IMetFrizz hashtag, encouraged visitors to interact with the “plant with personality.”

9. Benary inspired gift purchases at CAST with a shopping cart that included gift bags with thank-you notes. Perfect for holiday presents, host gifts and more, the potted plants were displayed in a way that inspired last-minute purchases.

10. Many visitors to Wingard’s Market live on Lake Murray in the Midlands of South Carolina. Drawing inspiration from larger outdoor department stores, the Wingard’s team likes to educate folks about the backyard wildlife they could have below the surface, like turtles, fish and amphibians, by incorporating a native fish tank in the nature center.

11. Wingard’s Market owners Wally and Delores Steinhauser, along with their son Zach Steinhauser, sought to grow their family business by incorporating the educational Backyard Nature Center into their backyard birds and wildlife department.

12. Four Arrows Garden found kinship with an astronomy nonprofit and hosted a star-gazing event in honor of Earth Day.

13. While gardening and astronomy are two very different areas, the Four Arrows owners feel they both help widen perspectives and bring a sense of joy and fulfillment that only hands-on experiences can do.

14. The two-hour Bloomin’ for Butterflies workshop was $145. Each participant received a 10% off coupon for Seasons Garden Center.

15. The Bloomin’ for Butterflies program cost included a large whiskey barrel planter, all the plants, a visit to Seasons Garden Center’s educational garden, handouts on planting pollinator-friendly gardens and a list of native pollinator plants arranged by bloom time.

16. Each Minneapolis-area Bachman’s location features its “Potting Bench,” with pre-planted grab-and-go designs or the option for custom designs from staff.

17. Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar, California, utilized color blocking for a fall display of merchandise.

18. White Oak Gardens is the story of a successful expansion. After more than 20 years of modest yet successful nursery operations, White Oak made a $1.3 million investment in 2017. The result is a state-of-the-art, high-tech retail greenhouse that offers a sleek and comfortable shopping experience across 12,000 square feet.