In response to a recent survey conducted in Georgia of 168 landscape architectural firms, which found that landscape architects specified more than 42% of all plant material supplied by the nursery industry in that state, growers are advised to improve cooperation with landscape architects to expand their market. The best ways to do this, according to the results of the survey, would be to keep landscape architects abreast of plant availability (varieties, quantity, quality, etc.) and recommend proper use of plants for best performance in the landscape.

While landscape architects have generally not been a target market for nursery growers, the study illuminates for the industry for the first time that landscape architects are directly involved in specifying plants and selecting producers. Approximately 61% of all respondents in the Georgia study indicated they determine/recommend the nursery where landscape contractors obtain plants with large firms being the most active in the selection process of a production nursery. This demonstrates that landscape architects are an important customer source for growers and a niche that needs to be filled.