Reflections on Spring

Although spring doesn’t officially end for a few more weeks, Memorial Day weekend symbolizes the beginning of summer for most of America. The first days of June mean that the kids are out of school, summer vacations are just around the corner, and temperatures are consistently warm. For those of us in the green industry, this transition from May to June is similarly significant, but for very different reasons. Spring swallows us up in March and spits us back out in June, and the weeks in between are mostly a blur as we do all we can to get through each day of these critical, make-or-break weeks of our sales season. While our work for the year is far from over, we have one more spring season in our rearview mirror. And so, after all the preparation and anticipation that went into planning for spring, how did it go, what were our takeaways, and what can we do differently next year to be more successful?

For me, this spring was, first and foremost, a sobering reminder of the unavoidable role that Mother Nature plays in our industry. The weather affects every aspect of business for us, from impacting the overwintering success of plants in the nursery or landscape, to influencing foot traffic at the stores, to dictating when contractors can get onto jobsites. Just two years after the USDA revised the U.S. Hardiness Zone Maps, we experienced one of the harshest winters in recent memory. The lack of snowfall, coupled with multiple days and nights of frigid temperatures, truly tested our overwintering structures and practices here at the nursery.

Not only that, but these conditions also tested the hardiness of many of our old and newer varieties of plants. Although the pain of losing some now known to be marginal crops is still fresh in our minds, the unique circumstances of the past winter did allow for some stark side-by-side displays of plant hardiness. For example, many of our older, tried-and-true varieties of Hosta and Dianthus survived and thrived, while newer varieties in the same polyhouse suffered near total losses. The visual impact of this is difficult to argue with. In the end, we were presented with a costly but valuable opportunity to re-evaluate our strategies going forward. A major priority as part of this process will be assessing which varieties we feel comfortable overwintering for next spring.

Aside from the cold, the wind has also played a major factor in our experience this year. Anyone who has spent time outside this spring has to wonder if increased wind speeds are part of a long-term trend. In addition to making life unpleasant for us, our employees, and anyone hoping to work in their garden, the wind has created  major challenges when it comes to keeping plants watered.

Having said all this, my biggest takeaway from this spring was that, despite all these challenges, we and many of our customers still reported record sales. Even with an uncertain economy, a cold spring, and sometimes unfavorable weather conditions, we could walk into a garden center on Monday morning to find the parking lot packed and people shopping for plants. The most recent trend report from Garden Media Group, titled “Garden Pulse: Spring 2025 Analysis”, found that customer sentiment is strong and gardening is still thriving despite the threat of tariffs and unpredictable weather. (You can find the full report by visiting Garden Media Group’s website: https://gardenmediagroup.com/client-news/gardening-booming-despite-economic-uncertainty/.)

There is no question that this spring posed challenges for us. But, it’s because we survived these challenges that we should feel more resilient, stronger, and optimistic for the future. I don’t think we should ever take our success for granted, or fall under an illusion that our industry is bulletproof. Independent garden centers have been adept at finding new ways to adapt to changing customer trends, and they provide a great example of ways we can continue to stay relevant now and in the future. We may have some rainy days and periods of uncertainty and doubt, but if we focus on the big picture and embrace the good days, we’ll see that plants will always be in demand.