Where Does Your Garden Grow?

"Anything that looks great outdoors will look great indoors."

By Bessie Nestoras -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 11/1/2000

Visit any suburb in the United States and you'll notice one thing: neighbors trying to outdo each other in the garden. Whether it's the sweeping front lawn or the backyard patch, Americans are passionately tending their gardens. An American Nursery and Landscaping Association report states that 70 million households in America garden and that those gardeners spend about $30 billion a year on gardening products.

While many folks hire professional gardeners to maintain their properties, it is becoming much more common for homeowners (especially Baby Boomers) to do their own gardening, thanks in part to do-it-yourself gurus such as Martha Stewart. And with the popularity of home improvement shows on television and the plethora of how-to magazines on the newsstands, it is fairly simple to learn at least the basics of gardening.

Outdoors/Indoors

But any trip to a gift and home decor trade show will tell you that the garden isn't just for the outdoors. People are bringing their gardens (or at least their garden accessories) indoors.

"The garden is not limited to outdoor space," says Leanne Baxter, national product manager at CBK Ltd., in Union City, Tennessee, "[Even] the small apartment dweller is creating a garden atmosphere within the confines of the apartment. Anything that looks great outdoors will look equally good indoors."

"I would focus on wall pieces, like wall planters and wall fountains for smaller gardens and apartments. That's one way to achieve the garden feel indoors," explains Carrie Spencer, marketing director at Pacific Rim, Seattle.

Using large planters as table bases is an example Baxter cites for bringing the outdoors in. Another example is the birdhouses from Home Bazaar in Brooklyn, New York, pictured on this month's cover and at left. While they make delightful backyard homes for purple martins, house wrens, and other feathered friends, they are equally comfortable serving as unique indoor decorative follies.

But turnabout is fair play. What works inside can often work outside. Baxter says, "Linens and textiles help to create the idea of a personal retreat in the garden. Finials used on a table or desk will also look great on a garden wall, patio table, or as a centerpiece in a rock garden."

Double Duty

To get your customers thinking creatively, offer them suggestions in your displays. "Highlight what you can do best with your product," says Sharon LaRowe, director of sales and marketing at Carruth Studio in Waterville, Ohio. "We have a birdbath that doubles as a planter, and a rain gauge that can be used outdoors in the spring and summer and brought indoors to be used as a candleholder in the winter. We also market our stones as bookends," she says. "Again, this is a piece that you can place outside or bring indoors for display." LaRowe has also noticed more and more people tucking little treasures, such as frog statues, in their gardens.

Garden items that are functional as well as decorative are very popular with consumers right now. "One of our biggest sellers is a girl sitting on a bench that is actually a birdfeeder," says Pacific Rim's Spencer.

Popular Trends

Spencer also notes an increasing Asian influence in the garden. "Asian has been strong in the home and we're seeing it move to the garden."

Another motif that CBK's Baxter sees gaining popularity is architectural detail. "If you walk around New York City and look up at the buildings you see all those details," she says. It is renditions of those details that are being used on planters, pedestals, fountains, and other pieces. "The architectural detail is heavily embossed and the finishes are multi-layered, multi-textured, creating not only a visual sensation, but a delight to touch as well," Baxter adds.

Break the Rules

Baxter also notes that it's important not to limit your imagination. Just because an item is labeled as a garden accessory or a home accent, it doesn't mean that that is the only place for it.

"Appeal to the senses," explains Spencer. "Have fountains turned on in a prominent part of the display and play CDs of outdoor sounds. Create the feeling of being outdoors. For instance, in the spring, hang butterflies from the ceiling or attach them to topiaries."

LaRowe also recommends that you "Give [customers] a visual, so that you've already done the work for them."

Adds Baxter: "Since the trend is to bring the garden in, the door is open for a whole new customer never really considered before."

The garden accessories business is one business that is blooming.