Find your seasonal niche

Part of being successful as a grower involves tapping into consumer trends and working with retailers to ensure your availability is in line with what customers really want. While demand for certain niche crops is growing, retailers often have a tough time finding such crops to boost the shoulder seasons. Finding them at the right time is key to maximizing sales. By working together, growers and retailers can both extend their selling seasons.
 

Fallscaping

In all my years in garden center retail, one of the most consistent customer complaints I received was that fall inventory and selection were too limited, even though I was an aggressive fall buyer. Regardless of my best efforts to deliver, the ability to stock in-demand inventory was limited by slender fall plant availabilities. While some special grow bookings could be arranged, many plants were a no-go. Despite fall being prime planting time in many parts of the country, offerings never seemed to match my customer demand.

As an industry, if we’re going to keep telling customers they should plant for and during fall, then we’ve got to back-up that recommendation with sufficient product availability. While landscape demand and retail foot traffic is traditionally slower in the fall than it is in the spring, customers still want options, color and depth of selection.
 

Fall color

I spoke with a few garden center retailers about which fall crops they know they can sell more of, but have a tough time securing. A number of key fall color crops present both opportunities and challenges for them. For example, Iceland poppies, which are grown as a cool-season annual in much of the South are typically tough to come by. When retailers can get them, the availability window may only be open for a blink of an eye. Pre-booking opportunities for Iceland poppies are also limited. Yet customer demand is high.

Dwarf snapdragons are in high-demand for fall containers and landscapes, as many customers have abandoned the taller varieties. However, availability for dwarf varieties tends to be limited and plants aren’t often available early enough to make a seasonal impact for the customer.

Ornamental peppers offer up great fall color, but late-summer availability for fall sales typically falls short of demand. By the time the peppers are available, customers don’t want to waste the money planting them with potential frosts right around the corner.

These are just a few examples where the season-extending opportunities are limited by plant supply. The key to boosting fall sales (or sales anytime of year) is getting the right plant material in-stock early enough to jump-start the season.
 

Native niche

We all know that native plants don’t always put on their best show in a nursery pot. They often look a bit worse for wear, which has traditionally put a damper on their turns at retail (and your growing benches). But demand for locally grown, native plant material is on the rise in a big way. As customers become more sensitive to water and wildlife issues in their gardening area, planting native plants is becoming a bigger priority for them.

As “wildscaping” and a more natural garden look is embraced by more homeowners, there is opportunity to move more natives during off-peak seasons. Because natives better tolerate local conditions, customers are more willing to plant them when weather conditions aren’t ideal. Customers are also becoming more educated about and tolerant of how natives may look in a pot versus how they’ll look once established. All of these factors create the opportunity to sell more natives during off-peak or shoulder seasons.
 

Pollinator plants

As garden center customers become more educated about the specific needs of pollinators, their desire for pollinator plants is also booming. Whether its forage plants for bees, butterflies or birds, there are certain plants customers will snap up no matter what time of year they become available. Pollinators rely on specific plants to provide resources before the warm season ramps up and when blooms and fruits are waning in late-fall. Providing some key niche pollinator plants when — or before — pollinators need them most can boost sales at off-peak times .

One such plant, for which supply never seems to meet demand, is milkweed. While the topical Asclepias curassavica is usually available in limited quantities, availability is typically pretty slim heading into the fall Monarch butterfly migration season. Perennial milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa, is notoriously difficult to procure at retail. While there can be production challenges with A. tuberosa, the intense demand shouldn’t be ignored by growers. Late-summer availability of both tropical and perennial milkweed for fall sales is a great way to extend the late-summer season and jump-start the fall selling season.
 

Container perennials

Over the last few years, retail customers have been embracing the perennial container movement with enthusiasm. While planting perennials in containers might have seemed strange to many home gardeners just a few years ago, these days they’re eager to use any plants that look good with minimal care. They get excited when told they can use perennials to create unique container plantings that can tough out cold fall and winter weather, or summer heat and drought, and still look great.

Garden centers are working to create unique and colorful planter combinations with perennials, both for foliage and blooms. Selling them perennials specifically suited to container plantings during the shoulder seasons is a good way to jump-start or extend the season. Consider making perennial liners available to your retailers early so they can pot up ready-to-go container combinations or so they can sell them directly to early-bird container gardening customers. Additionally, you can pot up and sell the perennial combos as drop-ins for late-winter, late-summer or late-fall container sales.

Selling perennials in such a manner, much like you would annuals, for short-term bloom interest, foliage color and containers can be a great way to fill the gaps during slower shoulder seasons.
 

Post-Christmas options

If you operate in a climate where you can plant outside year-round, then you need to take a look at your winter offerings. Once Christmas has passed, gardeners are pretty tired of pansies and violas. Yet, that’s often all retailers can get their hands on. Dedicated gardeners will visit the garden centers in winter looking for other options. Consider growing alternatives like cheiranthus, calendula, nemesia, assorted pinks, cerinthe and others to scratch the post-Christmas gardening itch.

Cold hardy edible ornamentals like chard, curly-leaf parsley and assorted kales are a welcome winter sight at the garden center. These crops, including lettuces, are quick-turn crops in the greenhouse. Blooming, evergreen Lenten rose (Helleborus spp) will fly off the tables during the post-Christmas season.

Work closely with retailers when fine-tuning your production schedule. You’re sure to find niche opportunities to extend your selling seasons.