State of the Industry: Midwest

Independent garden centers in this region reported an early, hot summer as their biggest challenge, although they had an interesting spring, too. Spring arrived early in March, but then came to a grinding halt in early May when retailers experienced snow in some areas. More Midwestern retailers reported that they offered landscape installation/design and maintenance services than any other region. The hottest trends reported were fairy gardening and container gardening. Retailers indicated that bread-and-butter items like annuals sold well in 2016.