Plant Development Services, Inc. partners with garden influencer Linda Vater

Plant Development Services, Inc. (PDSI) is partnering with garden influencer ad content creator Linda Vater to reach new audiences.

The collaboration will highlight PDSI’s flagship brands, including Southern Living Plant Collection and Encore Azalea, through videos, new digital planting guides, newsletters, web articles and more.

As people increasingly turn to social media rather than TV for entertainment, the partnership underscores PDSI’s leadership in and commitment to embracing and furthering the evolving landscape of high-quality online garden education and inspiration.

Vater, author of "The Elegant and Edible Garden," is embarking on a high-visibility landscape renovation. After more than 30 years living and gardening in a Tudor-style residence featured in several top publications, Vater has moved to “Cottage on the Hill,” a historic cottage in Oklahoma City. This new location is being transformed with plants from Southern Living Plant Collection and Encore Azalea.

“With the launch of her highly anticipated new book, "The Garden Journal: A 5-Year Record of Your Home Garden," speaking engagements nationwide and a significant online presence, Linda Vater is the perfect partner for PDSI during this exciting year of transformation,” says PDSI Director of Marketing Corrina Murray.

Using plant lists, design guidance, tips and techniques, Vater will showcase the PDSI plants at the heart of the project across her social channels (120K followers on Instagram). Planned content includes gardening guides, commercials, landscape product photos and featured appearances in more than 100 videos on Vater's YouTube channel (164K subscribers and 42M+ views).

The partnership will also leverage Vater’s boxwood design expertise to highlight PDSI’s new Better Boxwood brand as it hits the consumer market in spring 2024.

"As each season passes, the reliability of both plants and people in the garden world grows in importance to me,” Vater says. “After years of collaboration with Southern Living Plant Collection, I have absolute confidence in the plants’ performance, even in challenging environments like Oklahoma, and in the unwavering dedication of their team."

© PDSI/Linda Vater | plantdevelopment.com/lindavater.com

As more gardeners seek to grow their skills online, PDSI’s marketing strategies center on meeting the digital shift. A 2022 survey by Simple Spring found that four in 10 gardeners use online videos as their primary source of garden knowledge.

This trend is amplified as gardening interest rises among younger generations. These digitally-savvy audiences tend to eschew traditional online marketing, with fewer than one in 5 making purchases from banner ads, according to the Marigold 2023 Consumer Trends Index. Instead, they seek brands that they feel a sense of relationship with, and they make key purchasing decisions based on the online outlets and creators they know and trust.

“This partnership will help us foster stronger connections with gardeners of all levels by providing them with free inspiration and learning resources while shining a spotlight on trusted, high-performance plants,” Murray says.

Click here for more information on the partnership.