[WATCH] Looking Back to Spring Ahead: Where we’ve been & where the industry is headed in 2026

In this replay of the final session of 2025 in Garden Center magazine’s Fertile Ground Live Event Series, Editor Patrick Alan Coleman and Digital Editor Emily Mills review the year’s biggest stories in the independent garden center industry and look ahead to what’s coming in 2026.

You have to know where you’ve been to prepare for where you’re going.

In this replay of the final session of 2025 in Garden Center magazine’s Fertile Ground Live Event Series, Editor Patrick Alan Coleman and Digital Editor Emily Mills review the year’s biggest stories in the independent garden center industry and look ahead to what’s coming in 2026.

They discuss:

• Current and upcoming garden trends
• Tech in garden centers
• New plants and products
• Industry news
• The magazine’s plans for 2026, including returning to print editions and the 2026 Garden Center Conference & Expo

Here are links to the topics discussed in the video:

Economy and industry news:

• Garden Center magazine State of the Industry Report
• Proven Winners becomes single unified company

New plants and products:

• Dahlia Summer Bees, Dümmen Orange
• Dalaya Dahlia Series and Venti Dahlia Series, Selecta One
• Mystic Dahlia Series, PlantHaven International
• Climb-itt Sustainable Climbing Poles, FlexStakes, EcoWire and EcoClips, Proven Winners/leafjoy
  
• Magic Gardener, Mycorrhizal Applications
• Centennial Ruby Hydrangea, Monrovia
• Medinilla magnifica, Living Colors Nursery

Trends:

• Garden centers as third places
  • How Kansas City garden centers are fostering community
  • This California IGC is creating a third-place destination
  • What a third place is and how becoming a third place can make IGCs first place in sales
  • How to turn your IGC into your customers' 'third place'
• National Garden Bureau's 2026 "Year of the" crops
• Pantone 2026 Color of the Year: Cloud Dancer
• Garden Media Group 2026 Color of the Year: Faded Petal
• Perennials' growing popularity
  • Should we start calling natives 'eco-beneficial plants'?
  • Trends: Proven Winners 2025 perennial survey shows strong demand
• Perennial Plant Association's 2026 Perennial Plant of the Year: Andropogon gerardii Blackhawks big bluestem

Favorite stories of the year:

• Should we start calling natives 'eco-beneficial plants'?
• How Mossify is mastering moss at its Canada farm
• Meet Baker's Acres Greenhouse in Ohio
• University of Florida researchers are securing the future of floral fragrance using caladium

News about Garden Center magazine:

• Return to print in 2026
• 30th anniversary in 2026
• Changes to the Top 100 Independent Garden Centers List
• Register for 2026 Garden Center Conference & Expo in Nashville
• Subscribe to the magazine
• Fertile Ground Live Event Series returns in 2026 with quarterly sessions