Gardens have an audience.

That changes things.

A refrigerator disappears into a kitchen.

A mattress disappears into a bedroom.

A garden, especially a front garden, sits outside in public.

Neighbours see it.

Visitors see it.

People walking dogs see it.

Potential homebuyers see it.

The courier sees it.

The person driving slowly through the neighbourhood deciding whether they might like to live there sees it.

Which means the plants people buy are doing more than beautifying private property.

Sometimes they are communicating.

Your Front Garden Is Saying Something

Researchers who study residential landscapes have used an interesting phrase.

They describe gardens as social symbols.

Our yards can communicate information about:

taste

identity

values

care

status

belonging

even what kind of neighbour we appear to be

That may sound overly psychological until you think about how quickly we form opinions about houses.

Beautifully maintained front entrance.

Fresh containers.

Trimmed lawn.

Healthy shrubs.

Flowers.

We infer something.

Now imagine:

overgrown lawn

broken planters

dead shrubs

weeds overtaking the walkway

We infer something else.

We do not actually know the people living inside either house.

But we are constructing stories about them from the landscape outside.

Research into residential landscaping has specifically found that yards can function as social symbols conveying identity, values and status within communities.

The plant, therefore, is not always merely decoration.

It can become communication.

The Front and Back Garden Are Not the Same Product

This is where the research becomes particularly intriguing.

Studies have found that social pressures can influence front-yard landscaping differently from backyard landscaping.

Why?

Visibility.

The front garden is private property with a public face.

Researchers describe front yards as stronger social situations because other people can observe them and because expectations about appropriate appearance are clearer.

The backyard is more private.

You can experiment.

Let things get a little wild.

Grow vegetables in strange containers.

Build a questionable trellis.

Nobody needs to know.

The front garden is on stage.

And consumers behave differently when they know they have an audience.

The Neighbours Can Literally Change What You Like

Joan Nassauer and colleagues conducted a fascinating experiment involving 494 homeowners in southeast Michigan.

Participants were shown different front-yard designs ranging from conventional turf-dominated landscapes to more ecologically innovative native landscapes.

But the researchers changed something else.

They changed the neighbours.

Some participants saw nearby houses with conventional yards.

Others saw neighbours with innovative ecological landscapes.

The effect was dramatic.

The surrounding neighbourhood changed people’s preferences for what they wanted in their own front yards. In fact, the ranking of the most conventional and most ecologically beneficial designs reversed depending on what nearby neighbours appeared to be doing.

That is extraordinary.

The same yard.

The same homeowner.

Different neighbours.

Different preference.

Consumer taste, apparently, does not always live entirely inside the consumer.

Sometimes it lives next door.

We Buy Within a Social Landscape

Retailers tend to think of consumer preference as an individual characteristic.

Doug likes hydrangeas.

Shelly likes roses.

Someone else likes grasses.

But preference is partly contextual.

The house.

The street.

The neighbourhood.

The architecture.

Local conventions.

What appears cared for.

What appears fashionable.

What appears expensive.

What appears appropriate.

In one study involving homeowners across the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, 88 percent of homeowners interviewed mentioned a social norm surrounding lawn maintenance. Weed-free, mowed lawns were among the most frequently identified expectations.

That does not mean everybody consciously worries about their neighbours.

It means expectations become embedded in the environment.

We learn what a “good” front yard looks like partly by repeatedly seeing examples of one.

This Is Consumer Signalling

Economists and consumer researchers have long understood that people sometimes purchase products partly because those products communicate something.

Cars.

Clothing.

Watches.

Homes.

Restaurants.

Brands.

The obvious examples involve wealth or status.

But signalling can be much quieter.

A reusable shopping bag can signal environmental values.

An electric vehicle might signal technology adoption.

A beautifully maintained garden can signal:

I care about my property.

I belong here.

I take pride in my home.

I have taste.

I invest in this place.

This is not necessarily vanity.

Humans are social creatures.

We interpret one another continually.

The front garden simply happens to be an unusually large communication surface.

The Economics of Curb Appeal Are Very Real

Real estate professionals understand this instinctively.

The National Association of REALTORS’ outdoor-remodelling research found that 97 percent of REALTORS believed curb appeal was important in attracting a buyer, while 98 percent believed curb appeal mattered to potential buyers.

In the same research, an overall landscape upgrade costing an estimated US$9,000 was estimated to recover the full US$9,000 at resale. Landscape maintenance was estimated to recover slightly more than its project cost.

We should be cautious about transferring U.S. real-estate estimates directly into Canadian property economics.

But the behavioural point is difficult to miss.

People notice landscapes.

And they assign value to what they see.

A flowering shrub is therefore capable of influencing more than the enjoyment of the person who bought it.

It contributes to the perceived presentation of an asset worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

That changes the economic frame considerably.

Perhaps We Undersell the Front Door

Walk through a garden centre and consider how plants are commonly described.

Height.

Spread.

Zone.

Colour.

Bloom period.

Exposure.

Useful information.

Now consider what the consumer might actually be thinking:

My entrance looks terrible.

That is not really a plant problem.

It is a presentation problem.

The customer may want:

something impressive on either side of the door

a burst of colour visible from the street

something that makes the house look more finished

a better first impression

a little more pride when they pull into the driveway

These are socially visible outcomes.

And they may deserve their own retail language.

“Curb Appeal” Is a Consumer Job

This gives us a useful merchandising category.

Not:

Flowering Shrubs.

But perhaps occasionally:

Instant Curb Appeal

Now the plants are organized around a consumer purpose.

A hydrangea.

A rose.

A compact evergreen.

A flowering perennial.

A decorative container.

Taxonomically unrelated.

Commercially connected.

Again, I am not suggesting garden centres tear apart their traditional departments.

The horticultural experts should probably stop me long before I reorganize an entire nursery.

But marketing can overlay those departments with consumer occasions and motives.

And “make my home look better from the street” is a very real one.

People Buy the View From the Road

Consider two planting locations.

A hidden corner beside the shed.

The front entrance.

Do consumers value them identically?

Probably not.

The second is encountered more frequently by:

the homeowner

visitors

neighbours

passersby

It contributes to the public identity of the home.

That increased visibility can increase the perceived value of improvement.

In simple terms:

A $60 shrub where nobody sees it may feel different from a $60 shrub that transforms the front of the house.

Same shrub.

Different economic role.

There Is a Reason We Photograph the Front of the House

Look at residential real-estate listings.

What photograph typically appears first?

The exterior.

Front elevation.

Landscaping.

Driveway.

Entrance.

Why?

Because people begin judging the home before entering it.

The landscape contributes to the opening argument.

This makes horticulture part of something larger than gardening.

It participates in home presentation.

That means garden centres potentially compete for dollars not merely within horticulture, but within the enormous consumer category of home improvement.

Paint.

Lighting.

Front doors.

Outdoor furniture.

Hardscaping.

Decor.

Landscaping.

They are all competing for the same thought:

I want my home to look better.

Plants have a powerful advantage.

They can change that perception surprisingly quickly.

Canada Gives Us a Large Audience

This matters in a country where gardening is already deeply embedded in household behaviour.

Statistics Canada reports that 59 percent of Canadian households grew fruit, herbs, vegetables or flowers for personal use in 2023. Among those households, 76 percent grew them in a yard.

If we broaden the lens to households with lawns or gardens, excluding apartment dwellers, Statistics Canada reported that 96 percent had a lawn or garden in 2023.

That is not a niche.

That is an enormous physical canvas sitting outside Canadian homes.

The Most Visible Garden May Receive the Most Investment

Canadian households spent an average of $452 on garden supplies and services in 2023, according to Statistics Canada. Older households spent substantially more, with respondents aged 65 and over averaging $545.

Again, averages tell us little about individual purchase motivation.

But they remind us that gardening competes for meaningful discretionary spending.

If consumers perceive parts of the garden as more socially visible, it is reasonable to expect those locations may command different priorities.

Retailers already see versions of this.

Front-door containers.

Hanging baskets at the entrance.

Flowering shrubs beside the driveway.

Statement plants.

Specimen trees.

These purchases are not always about filling square footage.

They are about creating a focal point.

Status Does Not Necessarily Mean Expensive

The word “status” can make this discussion sound more elitist than it needs to be.

Status signalling does not mean everyone wants the most expensive plant on the bench.

It can mean:

my yard looks cared for

my house looks welcoming

my garden fits the neighbourhood

my property reflects my personality

I participate in the community

The signal might be a $20 hanging basket.

It might be a meticulously maintained lawn.

It might be a pollinator garden.

It might be a spectacular rose.

Different communities reward different signals.

That is precisely what makes the subject interesting.

One Neighbourhood’s Beautiful Is Another’s Mess

Research into native and ecological landscaping demonstrates this wonderfully.

Some homeowners strongly value naturalistic gardens.

Others prefer neatness, visible maintenance and conventional order.

A 2024 study examining willingness to add pollinator-beneficial plants found that willingness was related not only to ecological factors, but also to existing social norms, yard appearance preferences and group identity. The authors explicitly connected their findings to the “ecology of prestige,” the idea that landscapes can visually signal status and identity.

This is important for plant marketers.

“Environmentally beneficial” does not automatically mean “consumer desirable.”

The plant still enters an aesthetic and social system.

If the ecological garden looks uncared for according to local norms, the environmental benefit may lose the argument.

Environmental Retailing Needs Beauty

This gives retailers promoting native plants, pollinator plants and biodiversity an important lesson.

Do not sell environmental virtue alone.

Sell:

beautiful environmental virtue.

Visible flowers.

Structure.

Colour.

Intentional planting.

Clear edges.

Evidence of care.

Research on front gardens has found that people often prioritize neatness and tidiness, even while responding positively to environmental benefits such as biodiversity and reduced flood risk.

The consumer should not have to choose between:

good-looking

and

good-for-nature.

The strongest horticultural products can offer both.

This Is Where Design Becomes Behavioural Science

Imagine two pollinator gardens.

One appears:

dense

undefined

weedy

accidental

The other uses:

clear borders

visible flowering

repetition

intentional structure

Perhaps both provide similar ecological benefits.

But one communicates:

neglect.

The other communicates:

design.

That signal can affect adoption.

In consumer behaviour, meaning matters.

People do not buy only physical properties.

They buy what those properties signify.

The edge around the garden can therefore influence what the entire garden means.

A fascinating thought.

A strip of tidy edging can potentially make ecological complexity socially acceptable.

The Garden Centre Can Normalize New Aesthetics

This gives garden centres a larger cultural role.

Retailers do not merely respond to consumer taste.

They help create it.

Display native plants beautifully.

Create coherent examples.

Show finished residential applications.

Use customer gardens.

Demonstrate that an environmentally useful landscape can also look intentional, attractive and valuable.

Over time, the visual norm can shift.

This has happened throughout retail history.

Consumers learn aesthetics partly from commercial presentation.

Horticulture is no different.

Housing Architecture Matters Too

There is another underused retail opportunity.

Different homes invite different horticultural treatments.

Modern townhouse.

Traditional detached home.

Condominium patio.

Prairie bungalow.

Victorian house.

New suburban development.

Yet plants are usually merchandised independently of architectural context.

Imagine marketing that says:

Plants for Modern Entrances

Classic Front-Garden Roses

Small-Space Curb Appeal

Townhouse Colour

Container Gardens for Condos

Now horticulture is being connected with the visual identity of the home.

Not simply with the garden.

That could make plant selection easier for consumers who think more confidently about decorating than gardening.

We May Be Competing With HomeSense

This is where my non-horticultural background probably shows.

I do not instinctively think of a hydrangea as competing only with another hydrangea.

From a consumer-spending perspective, that may be far too narrow.

The customer with $150 available to improve the front entrance might choose:

plants

a new outdoor light

a welcome mat

a decorative planter

paint

house numbers

a wreath

a small bench

The garden centre competes against every alternative capable of producing:

My entrance looks better.

That is the real competitive set.

Once you see it that way, horticulture becomes much larger.

But so does the competition.

Plants Have One Extraordinary Advantage

They change.

The outdoor light looks roughly the same six months later.

The decorative planter looks roughly the same.

A plant can become more valuable visually as it grows.

It develops.

Flowers.

Fills space.

Changes seasonally.

Attracts life.

That makes horticulture unusual within home improvement.

The product can continue improving the experience after installation.

Of course, the opposite can happen too.

Plants require care.

That is the trade-off.

But the dynamic nature of the product is part of its appeal.

There Is Pride in Growing the Result Yourself

A professionally installed landscape sends one signal.

A garden the homeowner created themselves can send another.

There is an element of authorship.

I did this.

I grew this.

I chose this.

That can intensify attachment.

Consumer researchers studying gardening repeatedly find strong intrinsic motivations involving enjoyment, meaning and engagement in the activity itself.

In other words, the finished garden is not the only source of value.

There is pride in having made it.

The landscape becomes partly a reflection of competence and identity.

Which means when the neighbour says:

“Your garden looks fantastic,”

the compliment is not merely about the plant.

It is about the gardener.

Compliments May Be a Powerful Reinforcer

Think about what happens after a successful front-garden project.

Someone comments.

“Those flowers look amazing.”

“What is that plant?”

“Your front yard looks great.”

There is a small social reward.

The gardener receives positive feedback for the purchase and the work.

That can reinforce behaviour.

Buy.

Plant.

Receive pleasure.

Receive compliment.

Repeat.

Retailers typically measure the first transaction.

They rarely see the social reward that may help create the next one.

But it is part of the behavioural ecosystem surrounding gardening.

The Front Garden Can Become an Identity Project

This explains why people continue changing gardens that were already perfectly functional.

Nothing was broken.

The shrub was alive.

The entrance had plants.

Yet the customer replaces things.

Adds things.

Changes colour.

Rebuilds a border.

Why?

Because consumer preferences evolve.

Identity evolves.

The home is continuously edited.

We do the same with interiors.

A perfectly functional living room gets redecorated.

Not because it ceased functioning.

Because the owner wants it to communicate something different.

Gardens are capable of the same behaviour.

That makes horticulture partly a fashion business.

Fashion Is Not a Dirty Word

Horticultural expertise rightly emphasizes suitability and performance.

But from a retail perspective, aesthetics change.

Colours trend.

Landscape styles change.

Naturalistic planting rises.

Formal planting returns.

Grasses become fashionable.

Hydrangeas become ubiquitous.

Edibles move onto patios.

Pollinator gardening becomes culturally desirable.

Consumers respond to new visual languages.

That does not diminish horticulture.

It expands it.

People can care deeply about plant performance and still care whether their garden feels current.

Garden Retailers Should Watch Streets, Not Just Stores

Here is a slightly unconventional exercise.

Drive through the neighbourhoods surrounding a garden centre.

What are people actually planting?

What housing styles dominate?

Are lots getting smaller?

Are front gardens formal?

Naturalistic?

Minimal?

Are homeowners using containers?

Are lawns shrinking?

Which shrubs appear repeatedly?

Where are privacy problems emerging?

What does new construction look like?

Retail intelligence does not live only inside POS reports.

The surrounding neighbourhood is a consumer-research laboratory.

It shows what people are publicly choosing to communicate.

Five Questions Worth Asking

For garden-centre managers and plant marketers:

• What social or aesthetic message does this product help the homeowner create?
• Are we marketing front-garden plants differently from products intended for less visible spaces?
• Could we connect more products with curb appeal, home presentation or architectural style?
• Are ecological and native programs presented in ways that visibly communicate care and intentionality?
• What do the neighbourhoods surrounding our stores tell us about local taste?

Then perhaps the most interesting question:

If the customer’s neighbours are going to see this plant for the next ten years, does that change what it is worth to them today?

I suspect sometimes it does.

The Garden Has an Audience

I entered horticulture knowing vastly less about plants than the people I work with.

That remains true.

But perhaps being slightly outside the discipline occasionally makes different things visible.

A horticulturist looks at the front garden and sees plants.

A retailer may see presentation.

A behavioural scientist sees identity, conformity and signalling.

A homeowner may simply see:

my house.

All of those perspectives can be true at once.

And that may be the larger lesson.

When somebody buys a plant for the front garden, the transaction is not necessarily private.

The plant enters a social environment.

It contributes to how the home looks.

How the property feels.

How the gardener feels about the property.

And occasionally, how everybody else sees it too.

We call it curb appeal.

Psychologists might call parts of it signalling.

Economists might describe some of it as value creation.

The homeowner probably calls it something simpler:

I want the front of the house to look better.

That is a very human desire.

And it is a very large retail opportunity.

Sources

What Will the Neighbors Think? Cultural Norms and Ecological Design

Joan Iverson Nassauer, Zhifang Wang and Erik Dayrell, 2009.

Residents’ Yard Choices and Rationales in a Desert City: Social Priorities, Ecological Impacts, and Decision Tradeoffs

Kelli L. Larson, David Casagrande, Sharon L. Harlan and Scott T. Yabiku, 2009.

Lawn Enforcement: How Municipal Policies and Neighborhood Norms Influence Homeowner Residential Landscape Management

Residential landscape researchers, 2016.

Adding Native Plants to Home Landscapes: The Roles of Attitudes, Social Norms, and Situational Strength

Environmental psychology researchers, 2020.

Encouraging Planting in Urban Front Gardens: A Focus Group Study

Rosie H. Frost and Niamh Murtagh, 2023.

Determinants of Willingness to Add Pollinator Beneficial Plants to Residential Yards Differ by Plant Type

Amélie Y. Davis and Jessica Stoyko, 2024.

The Backyard Harvest

Statistics Canada, 2025.

Gardening and Lawn Care: To Nurture or Neutralize

Statistics Canada, 2026.

Remodeling Impact Report: Outdoor Features

National Association of REALTORS and National Association of Landscape Professionals, 2023.