March 2000

Prepared for: the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture and Marketing and The Greenhouse Growers Association of Nova Scotia by Atlantic Centre for Agri-Business, Nova Scotia Agricultural College

Executive Summary

This study examines the potential in the Maritime Provinces to develop a fall market for ornamental products, i.e. any plant used for aesthetic or decorative purposes. Using secondary sources, a consumer survey and interviews with a wide cross section of producers and retailers, a profile of the existing industry and its potential for expansion was developed. Key findings include:

• Consumers are interested in increasing the number of plants on their property used for decorative purposes but currently see the fall period as one of preparation for winter;
• Consumers' visits to garden centres, and the range and type of purchases they make, fall dramatically after Labour Day;
• Producers and retailers are divided in their support for a marketing push in the fall season. Some see significant potential for increased sales of decorative products but many question the profitability of the fall market and its potential to cannibalize the spring market; and,
• A profitable fall market will require three things:
  1. a change in the timing of purchase behaviour on the part of consumers;
  2. an increase in the percentage of disposable income consumers are prepared to devote to live plants, and finally,
  3. a co-ordinated effort by both producers and retailers to promote the fall market.

  The report suggests that it is possible to develop a profitable fall ornamentals market and provides a number of short and long term strategies to achieve this goal.