It’s that wonderful time of the year when there is an abundance of garden seeds on display in supermarket floral departments. And how convenient and amazing it is for your shoppers to make their seed selection in your department, take this dry-looking little thing home, and once they plant it in the ground it knows exactly what to do — grow!  

By selling flower and vegetable garden seeds in your floral or produce department you are supporting the current consumer gardening trend and the process called “seed to table.” Many health-conscious eaters want to know where their food comes from and there is no better or easier way to know the path of your fresh foods than to grow them yourself.

Today’s gardeners enjoy all the expanded organic seed varieties available, not only in vegetables and herbs but in edible flowers. Edible flowers are a fun way to enjoy the beauty of flowers and to be able to eat them along with your freshly harvested organic salad.

Heirloom vegetables are another current hot trend. These are open-pollinated varieties of some of the best old-time favorites that keep producing well. An added bonus of an heirloom is that if you grow it to maturity, the seed can be saved and used for years to come, growing the exact same variety repeatedly. This provides the ultimate control of the seed-to-table process.       

Another gardening trend that is beginning to skyrocket is growing vegetables vertically. This offers gardeners the ability to use vining crops in a whole new way — growing up a wall, a fence, or trellising — and it also helps to keep the vegetable crop clean and dry.

A big consumer concern today is genetically modified seeds. I have personally only seen non-GMO garden seeds being offered, so providing good signage on your seed display stating ”NO GMO” should answer any customers’ questions about the topic.

Some new flower varieties that are gaining in popularity this year have brighter colors and longer bloom life, and wildflower seeds are another favorite with shoppers. Wildflower seeds are usually packed as a theme garden. This gives the gardener a mixture of color and bloom time with just one broadcast planting. Perennial flowers are big in wildflower mixtures too, and by adding some annual flowers to the mix you’ll get quicker color and faster plant patch.

With all of the above factors — along with the high margin and no-intro cost for garden seed displays — if you don’t have one already, you really need a garden seed display in your floral department now.

Steve Nichols is the owner at Sunshine Sales Inc. in Anoka, MN. He can be contacted at [email protected].