Questionnaires were sent to members involved in growing, selling, or using perennials for commercial trade. This provides a margin of error of less than one percent. A map of the U.S. showing each of these regions is presented in Figure 1. Sales by firm specialization was determined by categorizing firms by their primary source of revenue. This survey identified only 155 firms specializing in garden center sales.
Similar issues exist for landscape firms.
Changes in sales between 1991 and 1992 were determined for eight different categories of products, Table 3. A majority of firms reported increased sales for perennials, annuals, herbs, grasses, ferns, and landscape services. Regional differences can be seen by examining the highlighted values in Table 3. The Northeast region was found to have the highest percentage of firms reporting increased sales for perennials. The Central region had the most firms reporting an increase in the sale of annuals, herbs, and hard goods.