+ + + Continued reluctance to buy flowers and ornamental plants

According to estimates by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft mbH (AMI) based on the first three quarters of 2025, the market for flowers and ornamental plants shrank to a level of €8.5 billion (at retail prices) in 2025. This means that per capita spending fell by more than €2 to around €102 last year. That is about €6 less than in 2019 before the pandemic and the subsequent uncertainty among customers.

“We still see potential for our products,” emphasizes ZVG President Eva Kähler Theuerkauf. The decisive factor will be when consumer confidence returns. Even garden plants (bedding and balcony plants, perennials, herbs, shrubs, and flower bulbs) fell short of their previous year's results by more than one percent, mainly due to weather conditions, resulting in a market volume of €4.1 billion (at retail prices). This meant that per capita spending in 2025 fell below €50, as end customers spent less money on plants in all sub-segments, with the exception of flower bulbs, than they had a year earlier. Flowerbed and balcony plants, the largest segment within garden plants, recorded a market volume of around €1.7 billion (at retail prices), down approximately one percent on the previous year. This is just under 7% below the level in 2019, the year before the pandemic.

The market for indoor plants also shrank in 2025, according to AMI estimates. The total market volume amounted to €1.4 billion, which corresponds to a decline of 4.5% compared to 2024. Both green and flowering indoor plants remained below their previous year's level. The decline in flowering houseplants was slightly more pronounced at around 5% than in green houseplants at less than 4%. This means that, mathematically, every resident of Germany spent around €11 on flowering houseplants in 2025 and less than €6 on green houseplants.

For cut flowers alone, which remain the largest market segment, per capita spending fell by more than €1 to less than €36 compared to the previous year. As a result, cut flowers did not quite reach the €3 billion market volume (at retail prices).

Overall, the situation at the end-consumer level did not improve in 2025: in addition to the already familiar issues surrounding customer uncertainty, there were also concerns about jobs due to the weakening economic situation. Although inflation slowed down in the course of 2025, this did not noticeably ease the burden on customers. The lack of wage increases, coupled with continuing high energy costs and the tense situation on the housing market, also preoccupied customers. Although political measures are being prepared for 2026 to stimulate the economy and ease the burden on customers, the positive effects are likely to be a long time coming.