Metrolina Greenhouses
Metrolina Greenhouses is an industry-leading wholesale greenhouse producer of ornamental plants and services. Established in 1972, today Metrolina Greenhouses includes two locations in Huntersville, North Carolina and York, South Carolina. It spans over 1,000 acres, including more than 200 acres of greenhouses and 200 acres of outdoor growing space, and its Huntersville, North Carolina headquarters is the largest single-site heated wholesale greenhouse operation in the U.S. A family owned company, Metrolina Greenhouses employs up to 1,200 people annually, including 800 full-time and 400 seasonal employees. The highly automated operation grows 70 million plants per year, serving more than 1,400 retail outlets in 19 states. Metrolina also fulfills online orders for its retail customers, shipping plants directly to consumers throughout the U.S. Metrolina Greenhouses strives to provide a world-class employee experience and excellent customer service through continued innovation and sustainable practices.
Events
Metrolina Greenhouses Trial Gardens Industry Open House
Metrolina Greenhouses will hold its annual Trial Gardens Open House, which is open to all members of the horticulture industry, on Thursday, June 6,
from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Home Garden Panel Consumer Day
The Home Garden Panel is the consumer research arm of Metrolina Greenhouses. An invite-only consumer open house will be held on Friday, June 7, where Home Garden Panel members will engage with more than 500 consumers in the 3-acre trial garden.
Industry Open House
Metrolina Greenhouses will hold its annual Trial Gardens Open House for members of the floriculture industry on Thursday, June 6, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
This year, Metrolina Greenhouses’ Trial Gardens will evaluate more than 2,000 plant items, including:
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1,900+ annuals
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400+ perennials
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300+ second-year perennials
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150 hanging baskets
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100+ planters
Metrolina will also conduct a first-year trial of delosperma for its perennial genera focus in 2024.
Metrolina Greenhouses has held plant trials for more than 40 years. The operation built its 3-acre consumer trial garden in 2010, to provide a testing ground for more than 2,000 plant varieties each year. This ensures that Metrolina selects only the best-quality plants that consumers can grow easily and successfully.
Today, Metrolina’s expert research and development team evaluates more than 15,000 plant varieties in both public and private trials each year. The team’s work provides critical analysis of varieties that will grow best in the Southeast region.
For more information on Metrolina Greenhouses' Trial Gardens, contact Kayla Gibson, Research and Development Manager, kgibson@metrolinagreenhouses.com.
Attendees should RSVP with the register button below and sign up through Metrolina Greenhouses or click here.
Metrolina Trial Garden Gallery
Home Garden Panel
Gardening consumers are our ultimate customer and Metrolina Greenhouses is committed to understanding perceptions and buying behaviors. By gathering insights, our Home Garden Panel conducts research that informs Metrolina and our partners about purchasing habits and item preferences. This knowledge guides product development to meet gardeners’ needs while promoting their continued success and satisfaction.
Because gardeners are our ultimate customer, Metrolina Greenhouses' consumer research arm, the Home Garden Panel, has made it a mission to understand consumers' needs and buying behaviors. The Home Garden Panel is a hybrid of the research & development and marketing departments, in which it studies consumer gardening habits by conducting market research through consumer surveys, focus groups and interviews every year.
By gathering qualitative and quantitative data, HGP informs Metrolina Greenhouses about consumer purchasing habits, decision drivers and item preferences for veteran gardeners and new and aspiring “diggers and home decorators.” This knowledge allows Metrolina, its retailer partners and its HGP members to develop products that will meet gardeners’ ever-changing needs, while providing an avenue for our HGP members to gauge consumer perception and purchase intent prior to launching new products.
The more than 500 consumers attending the Trial Gardens open house on June 7 will receive flags to mark their favorite plants. The flags will be counted and the plants that are marked will be considered for inclusion in our production program in 2025. We provide that qualitative data to our HGP members and retail partners and conduct consumer surveys to back it up with quantitative data.
Additionally, the consumer open house will include several consumer focus groups in partnership and behalf of our HGP members to test and trial new products and concepts that are in development. This provides real-world, first-hand feedback from home gardeners of every experience level.
Learn more about Home Garden Panel membership by emailing Laura Drotleff, ldrotleff@metrolinagreenhouses.com.
Contact
Address
Metrolina Greenhouses
16400 Huntersville-Concord Rd
Huntersville, NC 28078
Contact
Trial Garden Questions
Industry Open House
June 6th
8:00 am - 4:00 pm