How garden centers can leverage plants in floral design

Floral design remains a stalwart — though shrinking — department in the garden center retail landscape, according to our 2024 State of the Industry Report.

But garden centers may have an edge on traditional floral shops when it comes to the trend of blending flowers and plants in unique arrangements.  

In her talk on the American Institute of Floral Designers stage at TPIE on Wednesday, Jan. 22, Floriology Institute Education Manager Angelyn Tipton offered insight into how retailers can leverage the plants-plus-flowers trend.

Tipton's background offers a unique perspective. She grew up in a family that owned a nursery, which added a floral shop before becoming a full-fledged garden center. We caught up with Tipton on the TPIE show floor to ask what garden centers should know about combining plants and flowers to boost sales.

Garden Center: What do you think garden centers can do to find both new and long-lasting trends? 

Angelyn Tipton: Know the demographics of who you're selling to and what's in your town. A great way to do this is looking at your social media — because you can find insights to who people are by looking at your followers. You can also better understand your customer. Are they Gen X or Gen Z? Are they men? Are they women? Then, you can home in on trending plants in those demographics. If I'm selling to Gen X, their home has been established for quite a while, and so they're looking for a more classic updated container versus something that Gen Z might look at.  

GC: In your talk, you mentioned looking at furniture stores to find trends. Why would a garden center be interested in looking at what's happening on the floor of a furniture store? 

AT: Well, when we think about sending something to a home, sometimes our containers could be $300 to $400. It's important to know what's in people's homes. You're not changing your furniture every year or every two or three years. It's there for seven to 10 years, sometimes longer. By going through a furniture store, you can see the sofas and seats at the dining table that are going to be there for a while. And being able to have that in mind, you can create containers that will help you build a sale. 

GC: Let’s talk about the plants and flowers trend. What is the value proposition of using plants and flowers together in arrangements? Why is that something that garden centers should consider if they're not already doing that? 

AT: It's a great way to give a little pop of color to a plant. When we think about plants, it’s pretty much always they're green. So, this is a great way to just bring in a pop of color, even if it's just white. In one container, I did a pop of white feverfew that brought cohesiveness to it and complemented the plants that were in there as well. 

GC: You had mentioned you want to have plants that you can use in a lot of different ways. Tell me a little bit more about that. 

AT: So to me, I think about selecting plants that you can do multiple things with. An orchid plant is a great example for my home in Jacksonville, Florida. I bring them in the house and finish them, and I take them out to my orange tree, and they graft themselves to the tree. How can I take that same concept and invest in 20 plants that can go in the home or outside in landscaping? Can they be an art piece in the center of a complex table and then taken back to somebody's office, mounted on the wall and misted and cared for that way?

TPIE is Jan. 22-24, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Follow Garden Center on Instagram @gardencentermag for more updates from the show.