Garden center

Garden center in Almondsbury , England

A garden center is a specialist shop specializing in the sale of ornamental plants and garden accessories. The most comprehensive range possible is offered, whereby, in contrast to flower shops, the sale of cut flowers plays no or at least a subordinate role. In contrast to so-called retail stores, the greenhouse areas are only used for the presentation of goods and not for the production of plants.

Many garden centers also offer their customers services in the field of floristry , garden consultancy or garden design . As a result, specializations in the three areas of cultivation, sales and service have been a development that has been observed for years. In response to this, the gardener profession (specializing in ornamental plant cultivation and tree nursery) was expanded to include sales and advice as a so-called sales gardener in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria . In Austria there is the profession of garden center salesman , which is a specialization within the retail salesman training.

toom garden center in Schorndorf

Another development is the differentiation in company size : In addition to owner-operated, mostly smaller garden centers and garden center chains, there are increasingly large-scale garden centers that are often affiliated with a hardware store . The smaller retail outlets with their own production or tree nurseries, which have already been mentioned above, also form a special niche . In contrast to the larger centers and chains with their wide range of ornamental plants and seasonal take-away items, you can often find a special range (e.g. fruit trees, avenue trees, solitary shrubs or perennials ) or a wider range of better garden plants (e.g. large conifers) , Bonsai and topiary ). In addition, the smaller businesses often offer technically more valuable advice as well as extended services (e.g. garden planning, delivery and planting services).

See also

• horticulture
• garden
• gardener

Web links

Commons : garden center  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Verband Deutscher Garten-Center eV VDG , represents owner-managed garden centers
• International Garden Center Association , based in Milton, Ontario, Canada
• International Garden Center Congress 2002 on the subject of cooperation (focus on the Netherlands)
• Trade journal "Grüner Markt"