[WATCH] Fertile Ground Spring Survival Guide: Tips, Tricks and Resources from Proven Winners Garden Centers

In this video, Proven Winners garden centers share how to fine-tune your spring assortment, create a shopping experience that drives bigger baskets and repeat visits, and energize your merchandising.

The spring season can be overwhelming, but the right tools and planning can help you set your business and your team up for success.

In this replay of Proven Winners and Garden Center magazine's March 2026 Fertile Ground Live Event, Proven Winners garden centers share how to fine-tune your spring assortment, create a shopping experience that drives bigger baskets and repeat visits, and energize your merchandising.

They also share practical advice on preparing your people and your operation for the busiest weeks of the year.

They dig into:

• The ideal mix of combos, hanging baskets and bedding plants
• What doesn’t sell well in early spring — and why
• How to merchandise for add-on sales
• Where signage and POP make the biggest impact
• How loyalty programs, flash sales and eblasts influence spring buying
• Tips to increase your average market basket
• Smart ways to train and empower seasonal staff
• Pre-opening rituals that boost morale and focus
• When (and how often) to shift team roles to prevent burnout

The session speakers are:

• Suzanne LeClair, the second-generation owner of Black Forest Nursery in Boscawen, New Hampshire. Suzanne grew up surrounded by plants, learning the business from her family’s roadside stand and turning it into a vibrant garden center known for its plant diversity and friendly customer service.
• Jake Scott, general manager of Piedmont Feed & Garden Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He focuses on cultivating a culture of continuous learning — for both his team and the customers they serve — while leveraging thoughtful merchandising, strong supplier partnerships and authentic community engagement to drive growth and relevance in a competitive market.
• Meagan Zerrusen, the owner of Potted Charm, a boutique Proven Winners garden center in central Illinois (Zone 6b). She specializes in container gardening and focuses on simplifying plant selection and care so customers feel confident during the busy spring season.

Make the most of the season with signage, merchandising, training and strategies to keep customers coming back for more and turn spring traffic into sales