Free live online briefing
The 2027 Independent Garden Center Growth Briefing
Three threats already changing the market and five growth engines to build before spring
Event details
Tuesday, September 29th
1:00 to 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Live online with Rebecca McCusker
Replay available to registrants through October 29
Customers are taking longer to decide. Decades of reputation are reaching fewer new people on their own. Marketing activity is piling up across social, email, websites, events, and advertising without one person owning the complete customer path.
Meanwhile, the 2026 National Gardening Survey reports that roughly 4.5 million households left gardening in 2025 even as total spending reached a record $79 billion. A market can grow in dollars while losing participants. Independent garden centers need to understand that difference before planning another spring around hope, weather, and scattered promotion.
Join Rebecca McCusker for a practical 60-minute briefing built for established garden centers, greenhouses, growers, and retail nurseries.
*Market figures cited from the 2026 National Gardening Survey published by Garden Research, a division of the National Gardening Association.
Reserve your seat
Registration is free. You will receive the Growth Readiness Scorecard immediately, plus the live link and replay access.
MM will use your information to deliver the briefing and related horticulture market analysis. We do not sell or share application or subscriber data. You may unsubscribe at any time.
What we will cover
Customers are hesitating longer
Financial pressure is part of the story. Confidence is the other part. We will show how to reduce the risk customers feel around plant purchases without teaching them to wait for the next discount.
Reputation needs a modern distribution system
A respected local name remains valuable, but new residents and younger customers do not automatically inherit the story. We will map the channels that now carry awareness before someone walks through the door.
Marketing needs one operating system
A website, newsletter, event calendar, ad account, and social feed can all be active while the customer journey remains broken. We will show how one goal, one accountable owner, and one measurement rhythm connect the work.
The Five Growth Engines
You will assess five parts of the business:
1. Local awareness and brand visibility
2. Search visibility and website conversion
3. Email and customer retention
4. Events and strategic partnerships
5. High-value customer pipelines such as landscaping, wholesale, and commercial work
You will leave with one 90-day priority for the engine that needs attention first.
Who Should Attend
This briefing is for owners, successors, general managers, and marketing leaders inside established independent garden centers, greenhouses, growers, and retail nurseries.
It will be especially useful if:
Your business has a strong reputation but new customer growth feels slower
Sales have softened and the team keeps reaching for another sale
Your marketing is active but fragmented
You depend too heavily on spring or the weather
Retail, landscaping, wholesale, and commercial customers rarely move between departments
You need a 2027 plan that the whole team can follow
What You Will Receive
The live 60-minute briefing
The 2027 Independent Garden Center Growth Readiness Scorecard
Replay access through October 29
A practical framework for choosing the next 90-day marketing priority
About Rebecca McCusker
Rebecca McCusker is the founder and chief strategist of McCusker's Marketing for Garden Centers. MM works as a horticulture market intelligence and growth department for established garden centers, greenhouses, growers, and nurseries. Rebecca and her team connect strategy, brand, search, email, websites, content, social, campaigns, and original photo and video under one commercial plan.
Working across independent horticulture businesses gives MM a view of the patterns emerging between markets: customer hesitation, local awareness, events, seasonality, search behavior, creative performance, and the commercial cost of disconnected marketing.
Build the customer system before spring decides the year
Bring your current numbers, your questions, and an honest view of what is working. You will leave knowing which growth engine deserves your attention first.
