New and Novice Gardener Survey

Ellen C. Wells

Axiom Marketing released its latest gardening survey in February, this one dealing with new and novice (< four years of experience) gardeners. The simple version is that this gardening group will continue to garden in 2025, but fewer will increase their spending and their time in the garden.

“New and novice gardeners seem to be planning on moderating their garden pursuits in 2025,” said Axiom’s CEO Mike Reiber. “Despite high satisfaction and feelings of success, most plan to spend the same amount of money and time in 2025. Fewer will increase their garden purchases and their time spent in the garden compared to 2024.”

Some of the key findings of the survey include:

54.6% plan to spend the same amount in 2025 as they did in 2024; however, respondents planning to spend more in 2025 fell by 13.5 percentage points compared to last year’s results, down to 34.8%. Only 10.6% said they’d spend less money.
47.1% will spend the same amount of time in 2025 as they did in 2024; however, 42.3% of respondents said they planned to spend more time in 2025, a drop of 13.5 percentage points compared to 2024.
38.3% will plant the same amount as they did last year; however, respondents planning to plant more and expand their gardens in 2025 fell by 19 percentage points to 50.7%. Only 7.9% said they would plant less.
Despite willingness to drive up to 10 miles to find the colors of flowers or vegetable plant varieties they want, 38.3% are unwilling to pay more—that’s an increase of 12.8 percentage points compared to the 2024 study results.
Specific variety of plant (32.6%) and national brand (14.5%) are the top two most important factors in plant purchase decisions. Price (12.3%) is cited as the third most important factor.
Organically and locally grown plants are likely less important in 2025. Importance of organic fell 18.8 percentage points to 49.8%, while locally grown fell 15.5 percentage points to 55.1%.
Buying seeds to grow garden plants decreased 22 percentage points from 48.3% last year to 26.3% this year. Meanwhile, planting seeds to save money fell 9.4 percentage points to 27.4% of respondents .

“New and novice gardeners seem to be more price-sensitive based on price being the third most important plant purchase attribute,” Mike said of the study. “Perceived price differences may explain why organically and locally grown plants are less important in 2025.”

Who are these new and novice gardeners, anyway? This study interviewed 300 new gardeners who’ve been gardening four years or less, own a home and purchased a garden plant in 2024. Three-quarters consider themselves casual gardeners, and the same percentage live in urban or suburban locales.

To me, the study seems to say that folks are sticking with the status quo. Keeping your head down and plugging along is an appealing place to be in times of economic and geopolitical uncertainty. However, gardening can be an oasis in such times, too. How can you weave storylines together to communicate the importance of gardens and plants as calming refuges in your customers’ lives? GP

Read the full survey HERE.