Garden Consumers' Behavior and Attitudes Toward Woody Plants and Water Conservation in Two Selected Communities

Abstract

Sustainability is one of the most important topics facing today's Green Industry. Consumers are increasingly savvy, but previous studies have shown some misperceptions concerning new terminology in the agricultural lexicon. With the recent focus on water issues in large portions of the United States, water conservation is a facet of sustainability that is at the forefront. Previous research has shown that consumers of ornamental horticulture products value energy-saving production practices over those that conserve water, but that could change as water becomes more of a concern. The objective of this study was to determine the attitudes and behaviors of different consumer segments (based on previous plant purchases) concerning water conservation and to identify patterns for each segment. An in-person survey was administered to 108 participants in East Lansing, MI, and College Station, TX, in May of 2013. Participants were asked to provide demographic information, details about plant and garden supply purchasing history and attitudes and behavior toward water conservation and woody plant production. Eight segments were identified through cluster analysis based on previous plant purchases. Clusters included ‘avid plant purchasers’, ‘tree purchasers’, ‘intermediate plant purchasers’, ‘culinary plant purchasers’, ‘indoor plant purchasers’, ‘flowering perennial purchasers’, ‘herb plant purchasers’ and ‘non-plant purchasers’. Attitudes toward water conservation and woody plant production were relatively homogenous though general patterns did emerge. ‘Avid plant purchasers’ expressed a high level of interest (4.1/5) in woody plants while ‘non-plant purchasers’ were least interested (1.6/5). Attitudes toward water conservation were statistically similar (P ≤ 0.05) among all segments except for ‘culinary plant purchasers’ who expressed greater knowledge (3.4/5) and ‘non-plant purchasers’ who expressed less (2.3/5) than the overall mean (3.0/5).