Consumer
spending on flowers and plants at the retail level reached $20.91
billion in 2008, compared to $20.56 billion in 2007, an increase of 1.7
percent, according to updated statistics from the U.S. Department of
Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. In 2007, consumption grew at
about the same rate (1.5 percent), a slowdown from the previous two
years, in which the growth rates exceeded 5 percent. 

Monthly sales dipped in the last quarter of 2008 below levels seen
in 2007, as the recession deepened and unemployment soared The strength
in the second and third quarters of last year evaporated in October.


Per person, spending on floral products reached $68.76 in 2008, up
from $68.18 (revised) in 2007, an almost 1 percent increase. The growth
rate of floral spending has slowed from the 4 percent increases seen in
2005 and 2006.

The Commerce Department updates these figures monthly.