Demand for Perennials Is on the Rise
April 11, 2023 Tom Watson, Director of Marketing for The Perennial Farm in Glen Arm, MD, says the perennial market is on an upward trajectory. Sales are up and demand is strong for retail and landscape installation. There has been a steady rise in perennial interest and sales over the last few years.
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The main challenge with sales, however, is Mother Nature. When there’s an especially wet spring, such as 2022, landscapers must delay their work and customers are less likely to come to garden centers during wet weather. Since Watson cannot control the weather, he is focusing on various gardening programs to increase customer interest and promote offerings from The Perennial Farm.
Crops from The Perennial Farm are divided into various gardening solutions categories on the web store. The Perennial Farm created its solutions gardening program five years ago, and it has become quite popular among its garden center and landscape customers. Categories include plants that are deer-resistant, drought-tolerant, moisture-tolerant, natives, and pollinator plants.
“We developed our solutions gardening program for the end consumer, the homeowner,” Watson says. “It helps our garden center customers by providing solutions for their customers. We offer a lot of marketing to make those sales. It works for landscapers, too.”
The Perennial Farm has been successful in offering one-way wooden racks to its customers. These racks can be shipped anywhere in the country, whereas metal racks have limited shipping locations. There is an added cost to keep the wooden rack, but they are sturdy and worthwhile. Watson offers one more tip to boost perennial sales — fast delivery.
“We deliver up and down the East coast,” he says. “We focus a lot on when the customer wants something, not when it’s convenient for us to get it there.”
Trends in Perennials
Zoltan Kovacs, Regional Product Manager for Perennials at Dümmen Orange, says the perennials market has drastically changed over the last 10 years.
“New breeding programs and varieties emerged very quickly with better performance, colors, and broader offerings on the retail bench,” he says. “Perennials gained a large portion of retail space and have grown 3% to 5% every year because of the better presentation and offerings to consumers. Perennial plants have become a mainstream retail item instead of a very limited niche market.”
Kovacs names three significant trends in perennials: great value and convenience, container gardening, and specialty features. Plant longevity is the main driver for value, and it offers convenience for the consumer by planting just once. Kovacs says new consumers entering the market enjoy container gardening, and it works well for baby boomers as these current gardeners age and downsize from larger living spaces. Plants with specialty features, such as fragrant plants and pollinator-friendly varieties, attract consumers.
“You are planting a garden with a purpose and this is what the consumer wants,” Kovacs says. In addition to these specialty features, he says that color sells in the perennials market.
Chuck Pavlich, Director of New Product Development with Terra Nova Nurseries, says consumers are looking for easy-care perennials.
“Terra Nova is still seeing a strong interest in easy care, interesting perennials that exhibit value,” Pavlich says. “We’re also seeing higher interest in the multipurpose, indoor-outdoor market. In a post-COVID market, homeowners are going out more and aren’t as attentive to their gardens as before.”
Bright colors are always popular, he says, but multi-toned flowers or flowers that shift in color as they mature are trending now. Plant shapes are still mounding and even, but breakaway parts of the market are rediscovering taller, more upright perennials.
Darren Barshaw, Product Representative for Darwin Perennials, says perennials are gaining traction in the market.
“Natives and nativars are in huge demand, along with pollinator-friendly perennials, choices that are resistant to deer and rabbits, and perennials with drought tolerance,” he says. “Perennials for fresh cut flowers are gaining in popularity.”
Viva Magenta is the Pantone Color of the Year, Barshaw says, so it will be especially popular due to the extra exposure in the media. Bold flowers overall are trending. To complement the bold colors, white or silver flowers or foliage pop in the landscape and containers.
He says plants with interesting foliage, such as ferns, heuchera, and ornamental grasses, give a garden texture. There is an increased demand for taller perennials as most of the breeding has been steered toward compact size. Height adds interest to the garden.
How to Meet Consumer Demand
Thirty years ago, when Terra Nova Nurseries was founded, Pavlich says customers were impressed with anything that was different from average plants found at a garden center. However, times have changed.
“Today’s consumer is more discriminating and better educated with access to the internet,” he says. “In recent years, supply chain issues have thrown a monkey wrench into the works, and although some of those issues are easing, it is still harder to do business today than before.”
Terra Nova Nurseries’ breeding program focuses on introducing varieties with demonstrative value for everyone in the consumer market chain. For wholesale growers, the plants should finish fast and have bred-in value. For the retailer, the plants will look great on the shelf and have holding power. For home gardeners, the plants are easy to care for but have a high impact, offering lasting value and pride of place.
“What works well for consumers of horticultural products is what works well in the fashion industry,” Pavlich says. “Novelty, imagination, and value are three key elements.”
Kovacs of Dümmen Orange says the company is dedicated to making the perennial world brighter and better.
“We are adjusting our breeding programs on a yearly basis to meet consumer demand by offering unique attributes like more pollinator friendly varieties, better heat and humidity tolerance varieties, extremely long flowering selections, as well as super hardy selections, which will satisfy all market needs,” he says.
Barshaw of Darwin Perennials says perennials add much-needed color and structure to any garden.
“I also see the trend where more traditional annual growers are now growing or wanting to grow or are being asked to add perennials to their programs. Retailers and professional landscapers like to have a one-stop shop,” he says. “Plus, as logistics costs continue to rise, I see retailers and landscapers buying more regionally to offset the high cost of freight.”
Barshaw says Darwin Perennials offers more than 170 varieties of first-year flowering perennials that reduce crop time, meaning quicker turns and more profit.
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