The Scope of Home Depot's Garden Business Is Shocking

Home Depot sells massive quantities of paint, lumber, and tools. But one category outpaces them all: its garden business. The flowers, shrubs, soil, grills, and patio furniture sold by the retailer is a roughly $20 billion business. As Ben Cohen writes for the Wall Street Journal, "it's so big that Home Depot makes more money from its garden divisions than Hermes does from all of its luxury goods." Cohen pulls back the veil on the lengths the company goes to in order to sustain that business, which include stops at Paris Fashion Week and tours of European gardens to scout color and flower trends. The biggest part of it is making sure it sells plants that will thrive; homeowners who flop at gardening don't buy more plants. It manages that in a methodical way.

Home Depot considers 800 genetic enhancements and tests half as many in plantings at 25 trial gardens peppered in (sometimes secret) locations throughout the country. By summer's end, roughly four dozen plants are chosen for production, and they make their debut at Home Depot's annual "spring trials." That's a two-day, invitation-only event "where breeders flaunt their latest offerings and Home Depot's suppliers get their first glimpse of new plants that the retailer spent years helping to develop." Among this year's new contenders: Amore petunias with heart-shaped patterns, a ficus that doesn't lose its leaves so easily, impatiens bred to do well in sunlight, and a basil plant whose supersize leaves are great for making pesto. (Read the full story.) (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)