US Lawn & Garden Consumables Report

Report Overview

Sustainable & Organic Products Enter the Mainstream

Sustainability and organic product continue to see uptake by consumers in the lawn and garden market. However, interest is most intense among younger, urban, and family-oriented consumers, indicating where demand growth is likely to concentrate in the years ahead.

Key Themes Covered in this Report:

• Gen Z and younger millennials are taking up gardening based on a desire for sustainable living, cost savings, and general well-being.

• The MAHA movement’s concerns about industrial agriculture and the nutritional quality of food commonly sold in grocery stores will encourage more home food production.

• Lawn and landscaping firms benefiting from Do-It-For-Me attitudes about lawn and garden care, especially involving chemical applications, which consumers are less likely to be confident about selecting and using themselves.

Featuring 91 Tables & 62 Figures!

Demand for packaged lawn and garden consumables is forecast to rise 3.2% annually to $13.6 billion in 2029. In addition to volume gains, market value growth will be supported by consumer and professional shifts toward premium, convenient, and sustainable options.

Value-Driven Motivations Are Shaping the Market

A new wave of millennial and Gen Z gardeners is reshaping the market, motivated by sustainability, wellness, and cost savings. The MAHA (“Make America Healthy Again”) movement has further encouraged home food production, boosting interest in seeds, fertilizers, and soil products. Longtime gardeners and homeowners continue to invest in their outdoor spaces to maintain property value, even if the work is done by professionals.

While concerns about chemical safety and environmental impact are curbing some fertilizer and pesticide use, opportunities exist in innovations that generate safer, more efficient formulations that maintain effectiveness with lower volumes. Rising costs of living are also leading some households to cut back or stretch out product use. Still, companies can benefit from developments in formulations that deliver more value per pound while maintaining product effectiveness.

While fertilizers and pesticides remain the largest categories, growth will increasingly come from specialty and sustainable products:

• Opportunities in the pesticides segment will be aided by rising needs to address invasive and resistant pests and plants. Easy-to-use and highly effective products – especially those targeting challenging pests and plants – will see the best gains.
• Growing media will benefit from container and food gardening, which is boosting gains in soil amendments. While amendments will continue to face competition from pre-mixed packaged soils that already include amendments, these challenges are increasingly being addressed by suppliers through education, bundling, and improved packaging and labeling.
• Interest in homegrown produce and specialty varieties will support seeds.
• Mulch demand will rise with landscaping activity and preference for colored, recycled, or rubber options that enhance soil health and appearance.

Across the board, consumers are trading up to products that deliver convenience, performance, and sustainability.

The “Do-It-For-Me” Comeback

Following a pandemic-era surge in DIY gardening, the pendulum has been swinging back toward professional lawn and landscaping services. Going forward, demand growth skews toward professionals (53%), and the service firm segment of professionals will generate the fastest gains through 2029. Homeowners are increasingly outsourcing chemical applications and technical maintenance, favoring convenience and expertise. DIY activity remains resilient among dedicated gardeners, younger consumers, and wellness enthusiasts. However, more casual hobbyists are stepping back and outsourcing some or all of their lawn and garden activities.

US Lawn and Garden Consumables Report Details

Leading Companies Driving Trends in the Lawn and Garden Consumables

Packaged vs. Bulk Sales

Some lawn and garden consumables are sold in both bulk and packaged formats. Bulk products are purchased mostly by commercial end users, but consumers who have large properties or extensive projects may also purchase in bulk.

Packaged products account for on average about 70% of lawn and garden consumables, although this can vary by year due to changes in the types of buildings being constructed and their location (and landscaping required), weather, and consumer spending trends.

Packaged products face the most competition from bulk purchases in soil, mulch, and fertilizer and mostly in the commercial market:

• Packaged consumables will continue to gain market share for a number of reasons, including increasing interest in value-added products – both of which are generally sold packaged, a wider variety of packaged goods becoming available at big box stores, and a shift toward urban living and small residential lot sizes.
• Bulk suppliers will continue to benefit from lower unit prices, the convenience of delivery for heavy products, and closer local relationships.

Generally, users who purchase packaged soil and mulch tend to engage in smaller-scale lawn and landscaping projects and often emphasize the ease of handling packaged products over having to deal with less expensive bulk soil and mulch, which can be both messy and unwieldy when delivered to a home’s driveway or lawn. There is also growing concern about the quality of bulk mulch and soil, which can be contaminated with weed seeds if processed incorrectly or contain unacceptable amounts of gravel or other problematic materials.

Professional users are more likely to turn to bulk lawn and garden products, primarily for the cost-saving benefits but also to the tendency for professionals to be hired for larger projects. Additionally, professional users are less likely to be reliant on products such as pre-mixed soil blends, and often instead prefer to use their own expertise to select the products they need.

US Lawn & Garden Consumables Report Scope

This report covers the US market for lawn and garden consumables, which include packaged consumable products used in the maintenance of turf, gardens, borders, and other outside areas. Service revenues, bulk items, agricultural products, products used in forestry management, household insecticides, equipment, live goods such as saplings, seedlings and mature plants, and manufactured hard goods such as bricks and pavers are excluded from the scope of this study.

Products include:

• fertilizers
  • solid (or dry) – including granules, powders, spikes
  • liquids
• pesticides
  • herbicides (selective or nonselective; pre-emergent or post-emergent)
  • insecticides
  • fungicides
  • rodenticides
  • animal and insect repellents
• growing media
  • packaged soil (potting soil, garden soil, topsoil, planting mix, soilless potting mixes)
  • soil amendments (compost, peat, perlite, vermiculite, and others, such as bark, charcoal, humus, limestone, manure, sand, and sphagnum peat moss)
• seeds (grass and turf, ornamentals, other seeds)
• mulch and other ground covers
  • wood mulch and chips (conventional and colored)
  • rubber mulch
  • other mulch and ground coverings, including crushed gravel and rock, shredded plastic, cocoa beans, and straw
• other lawn and garden consumables, such as growth regulators, pH controls, stump removers, and biostimulants

Markets include:

• residential
• golf courses
• government and institutional
• commercial and industrial
• commercial nurseries and garden centers, and other markets such as sod farms, cemeteries, and turf areas in privately owned sports venues

Distribution channels include:

• home centers
• mass merchandisers
• garden centers
• mail order/internet
• hardware and feed stores

End users include:

• consumer/DIY
• professional/DIFM
  • lawn and landscaping service firms
  • landscaping and maintenance employees at golf courses and commercial, government, and institutional locations
  • nurseries and sod farms