Weekend Reading 7/5/24

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: How cooler La Niña will affect your weather, plant selling livestreams, goth gardens going mainstream and gardening competition from Amazon.

La Niña is likely to arrive this summer. Here's what that means for hurricane season, NPR

Make sure you're aware of the weather in your area and how it could be affected by El Niño’s cooler counterpart, La Niña, which is forecast to develop this summer and persist throughout winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

‘Definitely not on my bingo card’: Plants are the latest live shopping trend, Modern Retail

All types of businesses — from The Sill to Lively Root to Amazon — sell plants online. But independent sellers and nurseries are increasingly setting up livestreams to show off plants and offer them up for sale, according to Modern Retail, which talked to sellers who said it's an easy way to get through a lot of plant inventory and reach audiences outside of their immediate market.

Darkly romantic goth gardens are having a moment in the sun — here's how to grow one, NPR

Goth gardens have gone mainstream in this feature from NPR.

This Secret Amazon Hub Is Full of Gardening Essentials to Create a Green Oasis, and Our Top Picks Start at $6, People

We're certainly not here to promote Amazon, but you should be aware that Amazon has a new storefront called "Summer Garden Must-Haves." Be aware that your customers may look here for gardening tools and supplies, and check out your inventory to see what you have that can compete and attract these buyers to you instead.

And one last Amazon note: A kids gardening tool set has been recalled due to a violation of the federal phthalates ban, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. This doesn't affect IGCs, as the sets were only sold on Amazon, but make sure your customers are aware of the recall in case they purchased any.

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