A rosy outlook

There may be uncertainty regarding the economy, but consumers are planning to keep gardening this year, especially generations Y and Z. According to Axiom’s Gardening Insights Survey, homeowners in several age groups and experience levels are looking forward to spending more time and money gardening. Specifically, more than 80% of those surveyed said they plan to spend the same or more money in 2023 than they did last year and 88% expect to spend the same or more time gardening this year as they did in 2022.

The research, conducted by Axiom, a Minneapolis-based marketing firm serving the horticulture, landscaping and construction industries, found that men report they’re spending more money than women, with nearly 87% of males saying they’ll spend the same or more in 2023.

Many of those gardeners the industry gained during the pandemic said they will spend more time in the dirt this year.

“We see that as encouraging news,” says Kathleen Hennessy, chief marketing officer at Axiom. “This could be a sign that the industry is on track to keep many of the millions of new gardeners who entered the market during COVID. Based on positive feedback from first-time gardeners, those who are newer to gardening, Gen Y, and Gen Z respondents, it appears that pandemic gardeners are hooked, and their interest, time and spending will continue to grow.” 

Some 35% of respondents dialed back their time in the garden during 2022 because they worked on home improvement, maintenance and repair projects. And for those who didn’t spend as much in 2022, funds were used for things like groceries, home improvement projects, fuel and travel.

To learn about new plants, respondents looked first to podcasts and webinars (74%), then to Google (48%), followed by local garden centers (48%), social media (45%) and television (34%). Regarding social media channels, YouTube was No. 1 (39%), Facebook was second (21%) and Pinterest came in at 12%. However, 15% said “other,” including “don’t use social media,” “Google” and “friends/family.”

Of those surveyed, 53% were female and 47% were male.

For the entire Axiom 2023 Gardening Survey, download the report here: axiomcom.com/2023-gardening-survey.

84% of males plan to spend the same amount or more on gardening this year, while 76% of females said they’d spend the same amount or more. Are you marketing to the male consumer?

When Axiom asked the generations how much they plan to spend, 48% of Gen Z and Gen Y said they’d spend more, compared to 34% of Gen X and 29% of boomers.

79% of first-time gardeners reported they’ll spend the same amount or more on aers), 84% said they’d spend more or the same.

For those who said they spent less on gardening in 2022, blame it on groceries, home improvement projects and car/fuel costs (the top three reasons).

The younger generations will spend more time in their gardens this year. Gen Z (ages 19-25 in this survey) will spend more time gardening (60%), followed by 54% of Gen Y (ages 26-40), 41% of Gen X (ages 41-57) and 20% of boomers. But don’t omit boomers from your marketing plan, since 64% said they plan to spend the same amount of time gardening.

There wasn’t a big discrepancy in the amount of time spent gardening based on experience until you got to decades of experience category. 49% of first-time gardeners plant to spend more time, 53% of those who’ve gardened for two to four years said they’ll spend more time, 42% of those who’ve gardened for five to nine years will spend more time, 41% of gardeners with 10-19 years’ experience will spend more time, and 25% of those who’ve gardened 20+ years will spend more time.