Gardening with a Y

Kelly D. Norris www.kellydnorris.com

• A Philosophy for Doing Business

• The Culture in Horticulture

• Who are Gen Ys and What Do They Want?

The Road Ahead

People

PlantsPassion

Horticulture

We can’t just sell stuff.

We need to sell experience.(essentiality)

Horticulture!

Think chic!

"One definition of branding in fashion is how quickly a seasoned viewer is able to identify a look. (…)

Ultimately, the power of a designer is to be able to register a vision and to project that for the consumer.”

Suzy Menkes, New York Times (2010)

Roughly speaking, Generation Y is defined as -

20001977

1235

< Birth Date >

< Current Age >

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Bir

ths

(in

th

ou

san

ds)

Birth Year

Baby Boomers Gen YGen X

This new generation (Y) lacks interest in gardening and outdoor life!

They’re selfish!

They’re too busy playing video games and staring at their smartphones!

They lack work ethic!

“So who are these Gen Ys and what do they want?”

26-30yo (Gen Xs 30-40)

Learn from trial and error (81.5%)

Read blogs and websites (78.7%)

Read books (72.5%)

Learn from mentors (71.1%)

Love local, but do shop online

Most don’t belong to gardening organizations (81%)

Industry decline—8 years

Nurturing is ‘out’; decorating/projects is ‘in’

From 2005-2010, a 12.5% drop in the number of households gardening.

THIS IS NOT RECESSION-BASED!

3%

Demands instant gratification

Impatient if delayed… but highly adaptable.

Addicted to information

Attracted to large social movements

Wired Understand investments

Globally minded, locally adapted.

Quickly bored

Mobile

Likes mentors

multi-tasking

empowered

Innovations and business creation are fundamental to long-term economic growth.

Kevin Kimle

Iowa State Univ. economist

What are we doing to be innovative?

Cercis canadensis‘Whitewater’ PPAF

Cercis canadensis

The Rising Sun™

Convallaria majalis'Vic Pawlowski’s

Gold’

Agave desmettiana ‘Joe Hoak’

Eucomis‘Kilimanjaro’

Eucomis vandermerwei ‘Octopus’

Griffinia liboniana

Kelly D. Norris, Horticulture Manager

www.dmbotanicalgarden.com

www.kellydnorris.com