Weekend Reading 9/13/24

Welcome to Garden Center magazine's Weekend Reading, a weekly round-up of consumer garden media stories meant to help IGCs focus marketing efforts, spark inspiration and start conversations with consumers.

This week: Earth-friendly gardening, the latest gardening trend (that probably doesn't work), tight retail space availability and a holiday shopping forecast.

This Portland festival celebrates Earth-friendly gardening, Oregon Live/The Oregonian

Are your customers interested in regenerative gardening, a.k.a eco gardening? Ecological gardening includes using native plants and not using any chemicals to create habitats for pollinators, birds and small mammals, with a goal of leaving the site healthier than it was before, Oregon Live/The Oregonian reports.

Expert gardener debunks bizarre new gardening trend: 'It's almost certainly not effective in any material way', The Cool Down

In an effort to help you help your customers confirm or debunk the latest gardening trends, we have this piece from The Cool Down about "electroculture," which the site says is "the act of taking wooden dowels, wrapping them in copper wire, and sticking them into the dirt near your garden. The supposed effects include advanced growing, better yield, fewer pests, and longer bloom times." But "despite the claims that this method aids gardens, scientific research and proven results are lacking," The Cool Down reports.

Retail space availability has reached its lowest point in decades, Modern Retail

In retail news, retail construction completions are at their lowest level in more than 10 years, per research from CBRE, Modern Retail reports.

Deloitte, Salesforce predict slowdown in holiday sales growth, Retail Brew

Looking ahead to the holiday season: With fewer days for holiday shopping and a macroeconomic headwind, experts are predicting less sales growth this holiday season, Retail Brew reports.

Enjoy your reading, have a great weekend and we'll see you next week!