Green elephants garden sculptures photo by epSos.de
Gardening was a very fast growing recreational activity until the year 2005 where the trend reversed gradually. Plants and garden related products were being sold at a very declining rate. With the economic recession in 2008, this downward trend in gardening became faster. Many of the major companies in the gardening industry began claiming bankruptcy and the demand for roses dropped considerably.
Gardening is a career that always caters to ongoing trends. Therefore, in this industry, if the trends are not acknowledged, careers, businesses, customers and students are all are all at stake. Ten years ago, those interested in gardening would pay thumping amounts to sit through a lecture on what’s hot and what’s not in plants and garden trends. Those audiences included baby boomers and seniors who were looking at gardening as an inspiration to their lives. These bunches of seniors are now not in the equation and the baby boomers are weakening as retirement approaches.
With the changes in generations, the declining interest in gardening worsened. The younger ‘X’ and ‘Y’ generations are not showing as much interest in the field and as a result plants and gardening products sales has dropped. Majority of the baby boomers of the previous generation had a mother, father or grandmother who either had a keen interest in gardening or made a living out of growing crops. This is how the connection was made and that generation found interest in gardening. The newer generation however, moved out of the house before their parents could implant in them an interest in gardening and hence that close connection is not there.
Moving on, real estate became a high form of investment and as home sizes increased, the size of properties decreased. As a result, many families had to get home on mortgage which required both parents to work , which in turn led to lesser time for leisure. Consequently, the current generation looks for homes that have gardens that are easy and less time consuming to maintain. In addition, the trends in housing are moving towards lesser garden areas with decks replacing porches and large gardens being replaced by large garages to park two-three vehicles. Large landscapes with labour intensive plants, high-maintenance gardens, ponds, streams, rose bushes and too many cultivar choices are features in a home landscape that are gradually going out of date.
The gardening industry is finding it difficult to adapt to these changes and to find new ways of generating the desire for garden plants. Experts believe that using the edible plants approach is what will create this demand in the younger generation. This new audience is less interested in the beauty of plants and are keener on having plants in connection with regionalism, safe food, water availability, limited space, vertical gardening, pesticide toxicity, easy care plants, locally grown native plants, and foliage colour and texture. Those businesses in the gardening industry have to cater to these new trends if they want to continue being successful.
About the author
Julia Reid is a specialist of blogging. She is a best content writer. She very interesting for reading books. Presently she is researching about solar panel cleaning and mobile applications.
