Twice a year, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meets to discuss a very full agenda, which shapes what recommendations the Board makes in regards to many rules and materials allowed in the U.S. National Organic Program. They just announced their Fall Meeting, with online comment webinars October 20 and 22, 2026, and the public meeting held virtually October 27-29, 2026. On the agenda are several input materials due to sunset that need re-approval, plus a proposal for residue testing in organic seed use. 

The Board invites both oral and written public comments from interested parties on the agenda topics. Registration for oral comment speaking slots is open through October 1 or until capacity is reached. Written comments may be submitted via Regulations.gov through October 1. You’ll find the agenda in that Fall Meeting link above, along with a discussion document that outlines the details and what facts the board will take into consideration on each of those agenda items.

Garden Media Group just released their 2027 Garden Trends Report, and as has been the case for several years, sustainability and the benefits of plants keep finding ways to be more relevant. Here’s what GMG is predicting:

1. Show Up Culture. Folks are looking for a place/way to put their phones down (92% are either reducing screen time or want to). Garden Media Group notes that the big shift here is toward “soft socializing”—hanging out with low-pressure stakes and keeping those hands busy. Think puzzle or craft nights, beginner skill classes, or flower arranging. This opens up huge opportunities for garden centers to build community and be the place for soft socializing.

2. OutdooRx. What we’ve known all along: gardening is good for the body and soul So is outdoor time. What’s trending is that nature and gardens are being integrated into the plan: for health, environment and community. And plants are quickly becoming part of everyday therapy.

3. Let’s Go Rococo. Apparently minimalism is out, and the overflowing details of Rococo design are trending in all their ornateness.

4. Where the Wild Things Aren’t. This one is super interesting, pointing towards the garden being the solution to providing unstructured outdoor play. “Gardens are the antidote. But only if we stop trying to teach them something.”

5. Drop It Likes It’s Hot. As in hot sauce, which has gained cult status partly by creating scarcity through seasonal and limited collections and member-only type drops. You can do that with plants, too!

6. Proof of Soil. Regenerative organic may be growing, but its consumer converts can’t shop “regenerative” certified inputs at the garden center. Enter the opportunity for things like compost, worm castings, mycorrhizal inoculants, biochar, etc.—except they stress the products (and stories) need to held up to scrutiny.

7. COTY. As in this year’s Color of the Year, which is Ancient Blue.

That’s the teaser of trends. Now head over HERE to download the report and dig into the details.

Two upcoming online sessions to keep you chasing lifelong learning:

GrowerTalks’ next livestream is a Grower Panel: Growing Plants for Retail Success.

When: Wednesday, September 30
Time: 1 p.m. Eastern/Noon Central

Join moderator Jack Bobo from peat and potting mix company Berger for a wide-ranging discussion with Andrew Butler of Green Valley Greenhouses in Ramsey, Minnesota, and Mike Busch of Meyers Farms in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The conversation will explore how today’s substrate choices—including mixes incorporating wood fiber—can strengthen root development, improve moisture management, and enhance overall plant resilience.

They'll share practical insights drawn directly from their own production systems, highlighting what works, what doesn’t, and how these materials behave from propagation all the way through retail. You’ll come away with real-world strategies for growing plants that hold their quality long after they leave the greenhouse.

REGISTER HERE 

Next up is Bee Banquet in the Sky: Trees and Shrubs for Urban Pollinator Conservation

When: October 7
Time: 1 p.m. Eastern/Noon Central

Horticultural Research Institute is hosting this webinar, which will cover the basics as well as current research that identified top native and non-native “bee magnets” in the woody ornamental plant category and how to create nesting habitat through ordinary gardening practices. Your speaker will be Dr., Dan Potter, professor emeritus in the Department of Entomology at the University of Kentucky.

REGISTER HERE 

Want great salary data? Participate! Here’s your chance to chime in (and then reap the benefits from) the GrowerTalks/Green Profit and AmericanHort’s Salary & Benefits Survey, in partnership with Industry Insights, who’ll be crunching the data for us. The survey is open until September 30.

We’re partnering with AmericanHort again on this decades-old survey to help us provide you a high-level and more useful tool. Companies like yours that take the survey can better understand salary and benefit trends, and see how their businesses compare to other survey participants. The survey includes company demographics, staffing, and benefits and salary data on multiple job titles across full-time, part-time and seasonal employees.

You don’t have to be an AmericanHort member to benefit—all survey respondents will get the full report prepared by Industry Insights. And you don’t have to be a certain-size operation—anyone and everyone can participate! Also, if you’ve taken the survey in previous years, some data will automatically be populated for you, saving you time.

Other benefits to taking the survey:

- You’ll gain stronger hiring and retention strategies.
- It’ll help you develop improved planning and better budgeting.
- Access to a personalized company compensation comparison report, which is free for eligible AmericanHort Premium members who complete the survey.

And, of course, key parts of the data will be published in the December issue of GrowerTalks (January for the retail report in Green Profit).

GO HERE to fill out the survey (which is confidentially collected and maintained by Industry Insights’ professional data team and securely stored).

Again, the survey is only open until September 30, so don’t delay!

The cottonwoods are already beginning to turn gold here, and this may be the first start to September in quite some time where we actually feel fall-like. So, when I headed into the mountains for a week off-grid at the beginning of the month, I didn’t even think to make a garden plan in case the temperatures dropped below freezing. And thus, I unwittingly returned home to find all my non-hardy plants completely wiped out by a frost. It was perhaps softened by the fact that this year’s vegetable garden was really struggling to produce in any kind of abundance.

That said, I refuse to complain, as that was my first week of vacation all summer, and count me among the trendsetters who are looking for time unplugged. Instead of garden harvesting, I’ve turned my attention to new perennials in the ground and disbursing a giant jar of native wildflower seeds a friend gifted me. There’s always next year (plus the pile of onions and kale that survived).