“Where are the perennials?” a shopper will ask. In answer, you point to the sign that is in front of that customer, a mere 6 feet away. It reads, in large, capital letters, “PERENNIALS.” We’ve all been there. And truth be told, in other stores it’s likely that we’ve been the ones who haven’t noticed signage. Yet for every person who doesn’t see our labeling, there are dozens of others who do. With some thought and planning, we can be creative and instructive with signs in order to help ourselves and our customers. Signs can inform, entertain and sell.

Shopping in our customers’ shoes

When evaluating your existing signage or determining what is needed, walk into your store with “new eyes.” Try and put aside your knowledge of where things are and come in through the main entrance as if you are unaware of the location of plants and products. Notice if the signage is current for what people are looking for. In early spring, for example, customers might be shopping for shrubs, while in the late spring the majority are looking for vegetables and annuals. I remember entering a nursery in April and seeing a large sign that said “Mums.” It was an attractive, eye-catching sign, but it was hung over a group of junipers. I’m sure that this signage was appropriate the previous September when the chrysanthemums were in this area, but no one had thought to change it since.

Walking in the customers’ shoes can be an interesting exercise for all of your employees. Ask your staff to pick a random plant or product out of a hat, and then walk into your IGC as if they were a new customer who was looking for that item. Have them either report back about their experience individually, or do it in a group meeting that includes brainstorming about improvements. One employee might draw the slip saying they were shopping for “a tree to plant to honor my mom who just passed,” while others might draw slips that say “tomato plants,” “a birdbath” or “a groundcover for shade.” Ask each employee for suggestions for signage that might have helped for those times when there’s no staff nearby to assist.

Unpacking plant terms

Those of us in the plant business use terms and jargon that much of the public isn’t familiar with. Existing signage should be evaluated with that in mind. For example, if a customer is looking for a tree, is there signage that indicates where you’ll find them? Perhaps there is a sign that says “Nursery,” but people with little plant knowledge might assume this is the place where babies are cared for. Might it be better to have the “Perennials” sign paired with a subtitle that reads “plants that return each year” or “these usually live through the winter?” Should your sign that directs people toward the “Greenhouse” say “Houseplants” instead?

Making signage fun

Once the spring rush starts to slow down, consider having fun with some of your signage. Customers remember when they are surprised in a delightful way, or when an ordinary shopping trip gives them an opportunity to laugh. These days, such surprises are often captured on smartphone cameras and passed on through social media, making your customer a marketer on your behalf. So give them something that’s delightful and unanticipated to share.

One idea for unexpected signage is to label a few random plants with personality traits commonly thought of for people. So, for example, a group of plants that grow large and well might be signed as “Over-Achievers” while those with purple leaves and flashy flowers would be labeled as “Drama Queens.” A plant with brilliant foliage might bear an “Extrovert” sign, while something that is slow to grow or spread could be called “Bashful.”

Another thought is to compare a plant to a well-known celebrity. I frequently call our native oaks “the Rodney Dangerfield of trees” because they get no respect. Which plant would you call the Miley Cyrus of perennials or the Michael Jordan of shrubs? Perhaps the plants that are known for their reliability might be compared with Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington or Betty White. Or maybe you can match a plant with one of the Muppets. A thin conifer could be the Kermit of plants because “It’s not easy being green,” and a shrub with large, bright pink flowers can be displayed nearby and labeled as Miss Piggy.

Thank you, Burma-Shave

Those who were children in the 1950s and early ‘60s might remember the joy of reading Burma-Shave signs along two-lane highways. These were a series of five or six signs spaced a good distance apart that created a funny poem and ended with the name of the shaving cream. An example is: Shaving brushes/You’ll soon see ‘em/On the shelf/ In some museum/Burma-Shave.

Should you have an employee who’s good at rhyming, create your own versions of these and periodically switch them out. These can be especially useful in large garden centers where people might have to walk some distance to shop for the plants they want. Just as Burma-Shave made long car trips more fun, your spaced signage can make a long walk enjoyable. Three suggestions to get you started:

• For shade and flowers/birds and bees/you can’t go wrong/by planting trees/Your Garden Center.

• She didn’t water/ the plants got fried/they don’t survive/when roots are dried/Your Garden Center.

• Feeling down?/Well, it’s a start/to plant flowers/that lift your heart/Your Garden Center

Five stars

A faster and perhaps easier way to draw attention to selected plants and products is to have some five-star signs made. These could be “An Employee Five-Star Pick” or use the name of your garden center’s name, such as “Green Gardens’ Five-Star Pick.” In a world where most things get rated by stars online, our customers notice those reviews and rankings, and studies show that they influence buying habits. Have employees choose plants and products that they know are reliable in your area and sign them with five gold stars.

As the season ramps up, look at your signs and use them to guide, instruct, amuse and sell.

As garden centers dig into the depths of the busiest time of year, we wanted to bring you some statistics on one of the fastest-growing departments — houseplants. In this year’s Houseplant Report, we explore some new areas such as specialty houseplants, educational content and promotional methods. You can read all about it on page 25.

Compared to last year, it seems that IGCs are seeing a higher percentage of their sales coming from the indoor growing boom. Just looking at the high and low ends, those making less than 5% of sales from houseplants dropped 10 percentage points, and those making 50% or more rose by almost as many points.

There are three things that really stood out to me about this year’s Houseplant Report. One was the number of IGCs using Facebook to promote houseplants. More than 90% of IGCs reported that they promote their houseplants on Facebook, but only three-quarters reported using Instagram to showcase their indoor plant options. Given the popularity of houseplants on Instagram, it can be a great channel for showing off what you’ve got in stock. To learn more about some of the most successful houseplant accounts on Instagram, see page 22.

The second is the timing of the strongest houseplant sales. While 40% reported consistent sales year-round, 41% reported that spring is one of their biggest houseplant seasons. With so much to do outdoors, I was surprised to see that so many customers are buying indoor plants in the spring. Maybe they’re picking up plants while they’re at the IGC shopping for other items, or maybe folks want to green up their indoors when they start seeing everything come back to life outside. I personally get so excited about getting back outdoors after Cleveland winters that houseplants have to take a back seat to annuals, vegetables and herbs this time of year.

The last surprise in this year’s report for me was pricing. While IGCs reported seeing an increase in houseplant interest last year and an even bigger boom this year, price increases don’t seem to have seen a big bump. While I’ve definitely seen some high-priced houseplants on the market (some upwards of $400!), most seem to be on the moderate to conservative side. As supply chain issues caused decreased supply and demand remains strong, I was expecting to see more garden centers reporting an increase in prices in 2020.

I hope that this year’s report gives you some insights into one of the biggest trends in gardening. As new trends and customers hit garden centers this spring, I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the industry as a whole.

Kate Spirgen
kspirgen@gie.net

The new wave of houseplant enthusiasts aren’t your typical garden center patrons. Always on the lookout for the new and unusual, these younger shoppers are searching for the latest trending plants to add to their collections. Often, their only growing space is indoors, and for many, it’s their first foray into the growing world.

“Houseplants are increasing pretty quickly and it’s bringing in people who aren’t necessarily our garden clientele,” says Brit Dickinson, regional manager at Riddle Plant Farm in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, where houseplant shoppers tend to be in their 30s and 40s. “They’re more of the home décor people looking to spruce up their houses and not really concerned with the gardening side of things, which is our normal customer base.”

As little as five years ago, flowering plants were the hot-ticket indoor plants at Riddle Plant Farm. But now it’s all about the foliage for the IGC, where houseplants make up 5% to 10% of sales during the spring and summer, and 40% to 50% in the late fall and winter. “We really didn’t sell enough to even have a dedicated section here in the store,” Dickinson says. “It was just kind of end caps and in just five years, we’ve seen it kind of gravitate toward foliage and leafy plants.”

At Forest Lake Greenhouses in Florence, South Carolina, houseplants and accessories account for nearly a quarter of sales. While the IGC has a broad base of customers including all age groups, more and more millennials are coming through the doors in search of houseplants. “That’s what makes me so excited — all of these young people coming in — 20-somethings and early 30s,” says co-owner Lisa King. “That’s the main demographic that’s looking at these houseplants.”

It’s the same demographic at Wingard’s Market in Lexington, South Carolina. “We have the older crowd that buys them too, but the younger crowd buys houseplants disproportionately compared to other plants,” says Co-owner Delores Steinhauser. “That might be all they buy, or they at least buy some in addition to other things.”

To appeal to this younger crowd of houseplant enthusiasts, Steinhauser is using the term ‘indoor plants’ instead of houseplants, which she says can have an “old-fashioned” connotation.

Instagram-famous plants

Foliage, particularly variegated foliage, is all the rage right now as it trends on Instagram, which is a huge driver of houseplant trends and demands.

“Whatever’s trending on Instagram that year is what people look for,” Dickinson says. “It’s kind of wild how quickly it spreads the desire for plants.”

Monstera and different kinds of hoya are selling well for Riddle Plant Farm, and Dickinson says shoppers can’t get enough of variegated plants. The IGC has a great relationship with a local houseplant club, which also keeps them plugged into demands. “They kind of dictate to us what we need to look for, which is kind of nice,” Dickinson says.

While houseplants have always been a major category for Forest Lake Greenhouse, King has recently seen more and more demand for colorful leaves and different leaf variations, along with new varieties.

She says she noticed the trend starting with fiddle leaf figs. “We had not sold fiddle leaf figs for years — never even had one in the garden center or the greenhouse,” she says. “And then all of a sudden, everybody’s asking about fiddle leaf figs and looking at the magazines — there’s a fiddle leaf fig. And since then it seems like they have moved onto more plants that are featured on Instagram and social media.”

Monstera, in particular, has been trending on Instagram for quite a while (check out #monsteramonday), and the plant is in high demand at the IGC. Once monstera mania has passed, King expects houseplant buyers to move on to the next hot thing on social media.

“Instagram is driving this industry for foliage and our garden centers, no matter what age you are, need to be a part of this so we can help drive that,” King says. “We don’t want them to always control what we’re selling. We need to have some input so that we can tell them what we need to sell.”

But keeping up with ever-changing demands is difficult for garden centers. Dickinson says she has a hard time finding good sources with good availability of the more trendy plants like fiddle leaf figs and monstera.

“I think once everyone gets one of the trendy plants, there’s the next unicorn that everyone is looking for,” she says. “And as it becomes more and more available, people seek the new thing because they typically just buy one or two of whatever popular item is out there.”

Wingard’s Market also has a hard time keeping monstera in stock, along with other popular plants like Chinese money plants, fiddle leaf figs and string of pearls. “Everybody just wants these fiddle leaf figs; it’s crazy,” Steinhauser says.

To increase offerings, Wingard’s Market opened a greenhouse in March of last year. Prior to that, the garden center sold houseplants outside during the spring and summer, and a few fall months. “But we never did a very good job of it,” Steinhauser says. “So our increase in sales of houseplants is directly related to opening this greenhouse.”

In its first year with the greenhouse, Wingard’s Market did $50,000 in houseplant sales — a huge increase from the $3,000 to $5,000 in previous years’ sales.

The 3,000 square-foot greenhouse is filled at least with one-third houseplants during the peak spring and summer months. During the winter, the greenhouse is used to about half houseplants and half other flowering plants like hydrangea.

Wingard’s Market tries to place types of houseplants and accessories, like air plants and spray bottles, together in the store. “Otherwise it’s kind of rows of houseplants,” Steinhauser says. “So we have some focal points especially for commonly asked for types of things. Otherwise folks are just walking up and down the rows looking at all the different plants.”

Picking the right price point

When determining prices, Forest Lake takes into account the wholesale price of the plant, the demand and the size of the pot. The company tries to stick to a 55% to 65% margin, but there are exceptions to that goal. “If I don’t have as many plants, of course I’m going to try to get a little bit more on those particular plants,” King says.

Wingard’s Market tries to price everything, including houseplants, at two and a half times the wholesale cost, including freight. The ultimate goal is to have a 50% or higher margin. And, of course, there are additional markups for plants that come in looking “absolutely stunning,” and those that are in high demand, Steinhauser says. And if a plant isn’t looking as good as it could, there are discounts.

Depending on what time of year it is and what kind of stock the IGC has coming up from their growers in Florida, plants that cost the same to Forest Lake, but arrive looking better than average. “Certain times a year, you can get more for the plant based on what it looks like,” King says. “So we have to try to make a little bit more on a plant that might look a little bit bigger, a little bit better.”

Riddle Plant Farm uses two considerations for pricing, starting with a blanket price based on container size. “And then from that, there are a few that we will increase the price on for some of the rare or more difficult to find plants,” Dickinson says. “But that’s not very many. Most of all, it’s all cost.”