Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
7
Independent Garden Centres and
Nurseries
What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Introduction
During the 1980s and 1990s independent garden centres were a major tourist
attraction in many countries. They can still attract large tourist crowds in
season. An independent garden centre specializes in retailing garden prod-
ucts rather than growing plants on site, plus, as the name suggests they do
not belong to a national chain retail organization.
Although their popularity in many first world countries as a destination
has waned over recent years, they still have an important role to play in the
garden and food tourism experience.
Many countries have seen the spending in the home garden market de-
cline by as much as 50% over the last decade. There are number of reasons
for this: (i) gardens have become a lot smaller in urban areas; (ii) there is more
time pressure on people's lives and the garden has for many become a lower
priority; and (iii) today's consumer is not as well educated in gardening as
the generations that came before them.
However, in recent years there has been a major shift in home-owners'
attitude towards gardens and gardening. The home garden in years gone
by used to be about beautification and annual shows of flowers. This home
garden beautification was a major income source for garden retailers during
the spring months. Increasing number of consumers today want to establish
their own edible garden and, as a result, more vegetables and fruit trees are
being planted. As a consequence, the edible plant category has grown in
importance in garden centres.
