For companies in the garden industry, finding ways to stand out and engage with your community is critical to success. 

One way to achieve this is by taking part in themed months and hyper-specific holidays in the garden niche. These occasions, such as Garden for Wildlife Month or National Weed Your Garden Day, can help your business connect with your customers near and far on a deeper level and also help you increase brand awareness and sales. 

Remember: Don't just jump on the bandwagon; always purposefully and strategically embrace these opportunities to connect with your audience and leave a lasting impact authentically.

-- Read on to explore the benefits of participating in themed months and hyper-specific holidays and the best ways to recognize them. --

Great Grow Along (GGA), an annual ten-day virtual festival, aims to connect and inspire gardeners with influencers worldwide while educating them on cutting-edge content. The 2023 festival, which ran in March, featured sixty+ educational sessions and virtual garden tours. A record-breaking 56k people logged in to see the speakers and chat with the community.

This event is for gardeners of all experience levels and is free for live streaming during the event. Every day of the festival is packed with expert education, practical advice, and creative inspiration from industry leaders and top influencers.

Now that the event has passed, viewers can subscribe for an on-demand session here.

Catchy names for each day, such as Wildlife Wednesday and Sustainability Sunday, aim to bring attention to the topics covered. Big-named brands like Park® Seed, Sunset® Plant Collection, and Garden For Wildlife™ sponsor the event to keep the content current and free of charge for viewers. 

Whether this was your first year attending or your third, everyone left the event with a wealth of information about various gardening topics. Sessions presented ranged from water-wise plantings to supporting hummingbird species and creating a healthy gardening ecosystem.
 
One of the festival's creators, LaManda Joy, believes the world would be better with more gardeners. "I am thrilled to empower individuals to reach new heights in their gardening journey," says Joy. "This festival allows us to share our expertise and advice and puts education at the forefront, giving new gardeners the confidence and tools they need to succeed."

Read on to learn more about the Great Grow Along and highlights from a few sessions!

You know we love trends here at Garden Media, so as the new gardening season approaches, we thought it would be a great time to take a sneak peek at some of the latest trends in the green industry.

From utilitarian fashion to the latest and greatest lawn ornaments, the gardening world constantly innovates and develops new and exciting ideas.

We have been busy worker bees preparing our 2024 Garden Trends Report and decided we couldn’t WAIT to share. In this blog post, we will explore some of the most unique and unconventional trends emerging in gardening.

Read on to be amazed and inspired by these cutting-edge 2024 gardening trends!

How accurate are the rumors that journalists are leaving Twitter? 

Fake news!

Twitter is no stranger to news cycles, and many are reporting a mass exodus of journalists due to leadership changes within the organization. However, according to Muck Rack's 2023 State of Journalism report, Twitter remains a vital tool for journalists.

---Read on to understand why journalists in the green industry are staying loyal to Twitter and how their relationship with the platform is changing. ---

Meltwater, an online media monitoring company, recently launched a report that shared current trends in social media for 2023. 

The report offered findings from over 1,700 marketing and communications professionals globally. The short: paid and organic social media are expected to increase in 2023. Garden businesses must stay at the top of their game and adapt while also increasing their skillset. 

In the report, social media platforms were ranked by usage and popularity. Facebook is still holding the top ranking, followed by LinkedIn and Instagram. YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok remain relevant while being slightly less popular than the top three. Short-form video is hot right now on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. 

Read on to learn more about how social media has maintained and even gained importance during the current economic development. 

You may be thinking, Pinterest? Since when?

You may be surprised to know that Pinterest is going strong, with 250 million monthly active users. While the platform has historically been popular among Millennials and Gen X, Gen Z is catching on, too.

According to Sprout Social, Gen Z is projected to make up nearly 26 million users within the next three years. Making Pinterest a unique platform that can bridge generational gaps and should not be left out of your social media strategy.

Pinterest offers a unique marketing opportunity for garden industry brands. While the platform allows you to follow friends and see their boards, that’s not what Pinterest is all about. It is an all-in-one platform for shopping, education, inspiration, and more. Most users on Pinterest are actively researching products and preparing for their next project. 

What else makes Pinterest different?

Read on to learn why garden brands should use Pinterest to drive brand awareness and boost product sales.

What if we told you there was a social media platform that has over 430 million active users, billions of visits each month, and is being overlooked by most companies?

The new year has begun and that means trade show season! Unfortunately, with the ever-evolving pandemic, there is still a lot of uncertainty about how the shows will unfold.

The first of the year is always MANTS, the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show, celebrating its 52^nd show in Baltimore. With masks on, thousands of attendees joined the hundreds of exhibitors for three days of shopping, buying, and relationship building in the horticulture industry.

Like always, MANTS did not disappoint and there was no shortage of hot new plant releases and cool new tools and products. No worries if you couldn’t make it, we’ve wrapped up a “To-Go” list of some of the most eye-catching new products from the show.

Pantone’s 2022 Color of the Year, “Very Peri,” a custom periwinkle with hints of violet-red, is popping up on taste makers’ radars around the country. From delicate blossoms to vibrant foliage, you can find periwinkles and purples in a vast array of landscape plants. As trendy pollinator, edible, and cutting gardens are poised to capture gardeners’ attention in spring 2022, the following periwinkle plants offer an inspiring infusion of this year’s “it” color.

A love of gardens and plants have been prevalent throughout history at many major event spaces and attractions. Recently, the love of gardening is breaking into the sports world and has become the center of attention at some major league baseball (MLB) stadiums. With interest in gardening continuing to become more and more popular, even the players and faculty have joined in to help create these gardens. Here are some of our favorite gardens in the MLB.