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!

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. 

We have a Thanksgiving tradition at Garden Media. Each Thanksgiving, we stop, think, and share our gratitude with each other and our clients.  

So before Black Friday madness kicks off, we'd like to spend a few minutes reflecting and being thankful for what we have.

From friends and family to the little things, discover what the Garden Media team is thankful for this year.

As the end of the year approaches, many brands have already begun preparing their social media strategies for the new year. 

Social media continues to evolve and if your brand doesn't follow the trends and changes, your efforts may fall flat. 

Thankfully, there are a few social media trends coming to light that brands should consider as they prepare for the new year. 

Read on to learn about 7 social media trends that can help boost engagement. 

Purple Reign is the next deep dive of Nature’s Rx for Mental Wellness, the theme for the 2018 Garden Trends Report.

If you missed the other deep dives, here are Breathing Rooms, Social Network, Climate Controlled, Make a Splash and Imperfect Gardening.

Look around you, purple is the color of 2018. In fashion, in the home and… in the garden.

Ultra Violet was named Pantone’s color of 2018 as well because it communicates originality, ingenuity and visionary thinking that points us toward the future.

But what does that mean for your garden or your health? 

Imperfect Gardening is the next deep dive of Nature’s Rx for Mental Wellness, the theme for the 2018 Garden Trends Report.

If you missed the other deep dives, here are Breathing Rooms, Social Network, Climate Controlled and Make a Splash. 

Nowadays people are overstimulated and overworked. There seems to always be something going on, but sometimes it is best to take a step back and enjoy the imperfections. Especially in the garden.

More people need to practice the ancient Japanese Wabi-Sabi. Wabi-Sabi appreciates imperfections in life and the ability to age gracefully.

When applied to the garden, the practice is relaxing and enjoyable.

Make a Splash is the next segment of Nature’s Rx for Mental Wellness, the theme for the 2018 Garden Trends Report, we are diving deeper into.

If you missed the other deep dives, here are Breathing Rooms, Social Network and Climate Controlled. 

There’s tremendous support for water as a decorative feature and environmental tactic. Preparing the garden to embrace storms and excess rainfall will not only help save water but also help to control storm water runoff.

The growing trend of filtering water with plants helps with healthy water management, while still keeping beauty in the garden.

So, where do we begin?

As we continue to dive into Nature’s Rx for Mental Wellness, the theme for the 2018 Garden Trends Report, we start to look more to how we can create spaces that help ease our minds.

Imagine walking through a forest and you’ll see that almost every bit of soil is covered with interlocking plants. Trees are covered with moss; the ground is covered with leaves, debris, grasses and moss.

Everything is working in perfect harmony.

Why do we think our garden should be any different?

Read more to learn about one of our 2018 Garden Trends: Social Network

The most important step in creating content is figuring out what your audience wants to read. 

Audiences come to trusted brands for their information. In fact, 65% of daily internet users read blogs. It could be YOUR blog if you make it easy for them to find it.

And yes, while blogs can assist you with the effective promotion of a service or product, they do more to build your businesses credibility, trust and authority. 

However, if you're still about the ROI:

• 63% of people turn to blogs to influences their purchase decisions.
• 60% of U.S. online consumers say they've made a purchase as a direct result of reading a blogger's recommendation.

Continue reading how to build content your readers want.

Nature’s Rx for Mental Wellness, the theme for the 2018 Garden Trends Report, is all about taking a break from being connected 24/7 and getting back in the real world.

The World Health Organization predicts anxiety will be the #1 health issue, outranking obesity by 2020.

That’s right around the corner. If we don’t try to stop that now, we are going to be in major trouble.

Thankfully, there is more talk of wellness in the world more than ever.

Celebrities and Royals are talking about their mental wellness goals, which is helping demystify mental health.

The bottom line is: Happy mind = Happy body.