News

Apr 30, 2023

Are Ornamental Plants Really Necessary? Our Customers Say Yes

People come from miles away to visit Growers Outlet in Loganville, GA, because

People come from miles away to visit Growers Outlet in Loganville, GA, because they want plants, Photo: Allan Armitage

Necessity is the mother of invention. At least that's what the colonists realized when, as a result of the Boston Tea Party, there was no more tea coming to the colonies. There were few things more important to the English expats than their cuppa, so they had to find a substitute. Lo and behold, from the wild regions of Oswego, NY, they found a reasonable substitute and called it Oswego Tea. We know that plant as Monarda.

Monarda was long known as an herbal plant, used as a balm for stings (thus its common name beebalm), before it was ever established as an ornamental plant. Necessity brought us a beautiful ornamental.

I tell this story to demonstrate that need is often more important than beauty. I also relate this tale to share how times have changed since that infamous party. Today we still need food, drink, and function, but oh my, we really need beauty — and in the case of our trade, we really need gardens.

There is no doubt that function is still important. After all, sales of vegetable seeds, patio vegetables, and home garden veggies continue to be robust, especially among men. A far greater percentage of men who visit my garden ask where my vegetables are, compared to women. As is often said, "If you can't eat it, what is the point?"

The point is, for many reasons, people need beauty in their lives. In fact, U.S. horticulture sales increased nearly 200% in the last 30 years — and that was before COVID-19. Of those sales, less than 5% were retail vegetable sales. I am not preaching on the street corner; the need for ornamental plants we can't eat or smoke has become obvious.

However, those are simply inanimate numbers, and even I could easily dismiss them. After all, who doesn't want a fresh tomato from their garden? So, allow me to share just a few real-life examples of ornamental need that I recently encountered.

1. No frills garden centers: Garden centers have evolved in recent years, becoming far more than plant outlets. They are destinations, offering outdoor lifestyles. Rows of cushy furniture, barbeques, umbrellas, gazebos, and fountains far outnumber the aisles of plants. This wave of outdoor living crashed over simple plant outlets, seemingly relegating the plant as a secondary element. However, this is fantasy. One of the many plant places near me, Growers Outlet in Loganville, GA, is not a showroom with warm lighting and soft music. It is rack after metal rack of plant after plant. There is nothing pretty, except the excellent signage and the excitement of the people shopping there — for plants. They come from miles away because they want plants — so many people that there are traffic police on the weekend.

2. Independent garden center celebrations: Every now and then, I am asked to speak or do a walkabout at a garden center, often as part of a customer appreciation day or other celebration. If the marketing team does a bang-up job, people actually show up to meet me and listen to my stories as I talk about their good plants. Actually, they show up, not for me, but to learn more about the plants they want. People love learning and they love the potential beauty of our plants.

3. Open houses, retail, hordes: Thirty years ago, a few gardeners in Athens, GA, decided to open their gardens for a Garden Tour of Athens. Would anyone show up to walk around a few private gardens? They did! It was sufficiently popular that we did it the next year and have been doing walkabouts in private gardens in this small place for 30 years. This past April, 850 people came to my little garden. They came to learn, admire, meet, and ask about the ornamental plants they see. I don't have much turf remaining, but my cup overflows with confidence for the future.

Turns out you don't have to eat them or smoke them, but ornamental plants are necessary after all.

Allan Armitage was a professor in the Department of Horticulture at the University of Georgia for 30 years. He recently retired and remains an active consultant, author and lecturer. See all author stories here.