2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Water use and landscape plants are closely linked. Prior research showed that outdoor residential water use is often determined by social norms, size of landscape, garden type and importance, and aesthetic affordance. Other studies suggest that attitudes and behavior towards potable water supplies have changed in other countries due to greater social awareness and increasingly widespread exposure to drought conditions. We conducted an online national survey with 1,543 subjects to assess their perceptions of water use as they relate to landscape plants. Survey questions were adapted from prior consumer surveys and included measures of water conservation knowledge and involvement or interest. Using SPSS principal component factor analysis with a Promax rotation, we identified four factors related to water conservation attitudes: Knowledge, Involvement, Importance, and Impact. Respondents were then clustered using their scores on these four factors using a K-means cluster procedure resulting in two clusters: Actively Interested and Inactively Disinterested in water conservation. We compared the demographic characteristics (age, gender, adult household size and children household size, ethnicity, education level, income, and plant spending in 2016) of the clusters using ANOVA. Results showed differences between the groups, except for gender (p =0 .151). The Actively Interested cluster was younger, with more adults and children in the household, was less Caucasian, had a higher level of education and income, and spent more on plants in 2016. The Inactively Disinterested segment was older, had fewer adults and children in the household, was primarily Caucasian, had less education and income, and spent less on plants in 2016. Both segments had a similar percentage of females (50% and 60%, respectively). Our findings were consistent with past research regarding gender, household size (number of adults and children in the household), and education levels for water conserving persons. Yet, our findings were not consistent regarding the ethnicity, age, income, and spending levels of water conserving persons. We see greater consistency with more recent study findings. Thus, we see that more recent work may point to changing water conservation attitudes which may help horticultural marketers because Actively Interested water conservers appear to be spending more on landscape plants than the other segment. The current attitudes and demographic characteristics of consumer are critical inputs to wholesale and retail firms striving to reach potential plant consumers, especially in times of drought.