Report Overview
Learn About Home Gardeners’ Characteristics, Attitudes, & Priorities to Better Engage & Retain Gardening Customers
Featuring 55 tables and 4 figures
Consumers have long engaged in gardening for a variety of reasons: as a routine chore, as a source of food, as exercise, or as an enjoyable activity. Decorative gardens and well-tended landscapes have long been associated with homeownership and aesthetically pleasing gardens and attractive landscaping correlate with curb appeal, pride of ownership, and even neighborly competition (keeping up with the Jones’ yard, perhaps). Additionally, food gardens are a source of nutrition when fresh produce may be otherwise expensive or hard to get. They are also often seen as a path to independence and as a means to live sustainably.
The amount of time, energy, and resources that consumers commit to gardening, however, varies over time. For instance, in the years leading up to the pandemic, both the increase in dual-income families and children’s increasingly busy schedules led some households to choose landscaping services to tend to gardening or low-maintenance landscaping options. However, as the pandemic began, many employees who could complete their tasks outside of the office transitioned to work-from-home positions. Post-pandemic peak consumers returned to offices as well as travel and away-from-home hobbies, leading to less time at home.
Still, consumers have reasons to continue to invest in their gardening. In this inflationary period, many looked for low-cost ways to stay busy at home or grow food to potentially reduce the budgetary pain of grocery produce. Others found that they were unable to afford moving to a new or larger home chose to invest in their existing homes to make it as pleasant, attractive, and suiting their needs as possible. At times, this included investing in gardens and improving outdoor spaces in other ways.
Geographic location can influence gardening practices and supply needs across the US. This diverse spectrum of gardening approaches are typically adapted to local environmental conditions, available space, and community resources. For example, in western states, drought and dry climate conditions in many areas has sparked a shift towards water-conscious landscaping. Public policies and incentives now favor hardscaping, artificial turf, and drought-resistant plants over traditional water-intensive gardens. Urban areas present unique challenges, with limited yard space around single-family homes and more widespread use of multifamily housing prompting creative solutions. Urban dwellers often turn to container gardening on balconies, patios, and rooftops, or participate in community gardens. Meanwhile, suburban and rural areas generally offer more space for traditional gardens.
This report includes analysis, data, trends, and customized cross tabs using:
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Proprietary results from the August 2021, February 2022, August 2022, February-March 2023, May 2023, September 2023, November-December 2023, February-March 2024, May 2024, and July-August 2024 editions of The Freedonia Group National Online Consumer Survey.
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Syndicated national consumer survey results from MRI-Simmons Fall 2013-2023 Reports, and MRI-Simmons Spring 2015-2024 Reports.
Owned Land & Property Size
The size of owned land around a home affects the ability of a household to invest in gardens, whether decorative or food gardens.
Most US homes have a lawn, garden, or outdoor space, whether it is an owned space, part of rented land, or a common use space for multifamily dwellings. A higher-than-average percentage of homes in suburban and rural areas has these features, in contrast to urban dwellings. Urbanites and others who live in apartment and condominium complexes are most likely to have common outdoor spaces, lawns, and gardens. Townhome owners sometimes have their own private outdoor spaces, while others only have access to common spaces.
According to the Freedonia Group’s National Online Consumer Survey conducted in September-October 2023, the majority of homeowners (35%) owned less than a quarter acre of land in 2023, with 27% owning between a quarter and half an acre. Most of these lived in urban or suburban areas. Lot sizes of an acre or more of land were highest among those living in rural areas or the outer suburbs.
Similarly, lot sizes of a half-acre or less were most frequent across all four US regions, as increasing urbanization and population density drives the need to maximize available space. Overall, ownership of a half-acre or more was found to be more prevalent in the South and Midwest. In these regions, larger properties are common due to greater prevalence of outer suburban and rural areas where home lots tend to be larger. Similarly, homeowners with more than two acres of land were found most often in the South and Midwest, where a significant amount of land is tied to economies and histories based on farming and agriculture. Land is often less expensive in these regions, as well.
Engaging in Gardening Activity
Flowers and ornamental gardens and vegetables account for the largest share of outdoor gardening participation, in 2024. These types of gardening include plant types that work in a variety of climate zones and soil types, so home gardeners can find something in these categories that work in their yard. Additionally, flowers and decorative plants are widely seen as helpful for a home’s curb appeal, while planting vegetables have the additional benefit of providing food for the household. Herbs are more commonly grown indoors or on balconies so as to be close to where they are used in the kitchen. Fruit plants (not trees) and berries can be more difficult to grow in part because many of them are very attractive to birds, rodents, and other neighborhood wildlife and are often consumed by the animals before they can be harvested by the household. Others, such as vine-grown melons, can require large gardens for a productive harvest.
