PHOTO COURTESY GREEN CITY GROWERS
FOOD
BROOKE N. BATES
Multi-Purpose Plants Support Foodscaping
You expect your phone to do more than make calls. Shouldn’ t plants do more than just look pretty? Across industries, consumers are demanding multipurpose products to make life easier. Even in the garden, younger generations want plants to serve a purpose beyond purely ornamental value.
Several executives, who were interviewed recently for Garden Center Magazine’ s List of Top 100 IGCs, mentioned this need for function, often citing edibles as the main example.“ Plants that perform, look good and do multiple things in the garden, whether it’ s producing food or attracting pollinators, that’ s what consumers are focused on right now,” said Monte Enright, president and chief operating officer of Armstrong Garden Centers and Pike Nurseries, noting that edible plant sales are on the rise. Though growing food is nothing new, modern growers are reinventing edible
Green City Growers maintains Fenway Farms, a 5,000-square foot rooftop farm that provides fresh, organic fruit and vegetables to the Fenway Park EMC Club restaurant in Boston. gardening by redefining where, how and why. To effectively communicate with them, we have to address the shifts that give plants purpose today.
GOODBYE, GARDENERS
Changing how we talk about gardening is key to staying relevant. So, don’ t call it gardening, and don’ t call them gardeners. People growing plants today don’ t identify with that, according to AmericanHort’ s SHIFT research initiative. Brie Arthur certainly doesn’ t. A national speaker and public television personality, this North Carolinian considers it foodscaping— integrating edibles into ornamental landscapes. [ ed. note: Brie’ s book, The Foodscape Revolution: Finding a Better Way to Make Space for Food and Beauty in Your Garden, is due out on March 15 ]. Her goal is sustaining a zero-kilometer diet without upsetting the homeowners association. She hosts parties, such as her tomato tasting that raised $ 2,500 for the local arboretum.
Brie says growers identify with what they get out of gardening.“ They may consider themselves farm-to-table chefs, windowsill herb growers, self-sufficient homesteaders or engineers tinkering with hydroponic pumps. Address these profiles instead of generalizing gardeners.”
“ The key is to know your audience,” says Desiree Heimann, vice president of marketing at Armstrong Garden Centers in California and Pike Nurseries in Georgia.“ The more you know your audience and their feelings about gardening, the more you can relate and inspire them.”
TALK TECHNICAL
Writing about the value of growing food is not just writing about gardening. Garden writers have to get comfortable covering topics more technical than soil fertility. Garden writing could include technology— whether you’ re covering landscape design software, hydroponic growing systems or mobile gardening apps like GrowIt! Writing about edible gardening may also involve genetic modification or food safety, which could overlap health and science topics. Many of the horticulture executives interviewed say their best ideas come from other industries, so writers should also look beyond horticulture for inspiration.
HIP ON HEMP
Medicinal value is an increasingly widespread reason for growing, now that the legal cannabis industry is the fastest growing in the country. GIE Media even acquired Cannabis Business Times last year into its group of horticulture trade publications. As this segment keeps gaining legitimacy, prepare to write about marijuana.
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