What inspired you and industry consultant Laurie Scullin to come up with the Grassroots Marketing Initiative?
A. Laurie and I believe the horticulture industry needs to have a national program to promote the benefits of plants to the public. Many experts maintain that the rate of growth enjoyed by the industry over the past decades is over. Annual sales in several horticulture segments during the past few years are flat and can even be interpreted as shrinking. Baby boomers are aging and as a group are less likely to maintain the level of annual purchases for their garden as in the past. The population segments following are not demonstrating the same level of activity, interest or capability in gardening. A little more than half the U.S. population participates in some gardening activity every year, and for 75 percent of those participants, it is only to mow the lawn. As marketers it is a compelling idea that the opportunity to grow the consumption for plants lies not in competing for business from those who are already engaged, but by promoting to those who don’t think about plants. Together
