United States
Some of the items that can be found in US garden centers (US spelling), often called nurseries, include annual and perennial flowers, trees & shrubs, roses, container gardens, hanging baskets, houseplants, water gardening, seeds and bulbs, potting mixes, soil amendments and mulch, fertilizers and chemicals, pottery, garden tools and supplies, fountains and garden decor, much like their UK counterparts.
Many US garden centers have other departments including wild bird feeding, floral, gift, outdoor furniture and barbecue grills, home decor, landscape design, landscaping services and pet supplies. Most garden centers have a large Christmas department during the holiday season. Some garden centres have added a cafe or coffee bar, but not like the restaurants found in some European garden centres.
Both of the largest home improvement stores in the US--Lowe's and The Home Depot-- refer to their gardening departments as garden centers.
Greenhouses are commonly part of a US garden center. Greenhouses protect the plants from late cold snaps, allow stores to keep houseplants in prime condition, and keep the customers dry on rainy days.
Garden centers employ horticulturists who can diagnose problems and make recommendations to gardeners. This is almost always provided as a free service in the store and some of the bigger garden centers have classes that are open to the public.
Most garden centers are independently owned. There are some regional chains, but there is no national US garden center chain, unlike in the UK where there are several.
Many garden centers belong to a buying cooperative. The largest is Master Nursery Garden Centers with just under 800 members followed by Home and Garden Showplace (part of the larger cooperative the True Value Company) with 260 members, Northwest Nursery Buyers Association with 46 members and finally, ECGC with 14 very large garden center members.
The trade associations of independent garden centers in the US is the Garden Centers of America and the American Nursery & Landscape Association.
Read more about this topic: Garden Centre
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