Consumer spending in the lawn and garden sector reached an all-time high in 2025, rising by 13.5% to $79 billion, according to Garden Research’s 2026 National Gardening Report, which should be good news for the industry.
Certain categories in the report hit larger all-time highs than the overall sector, including lawn care, which grew by 26%.
Increased spending, however, wasn’t enough to prevent one major lawn and garden wholesale and retail supplier from heading to bankruptcy court.
Debtor seeks a sale or liquidation
Lawn and garden wholesale and retail supplier BFG Supply Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection seeking a going-concern sale of some or all of its assets, a liquidation of the company, or a combination of a sale and liquidation, according to court documents.
The Indianapolis-based debtor filed its petition after facing a series of interrelated operational and financial challenges in its fiscal years 2024 through 2026, including declining revenue, tightening vendor credit resulting from deteriorating liquidity, working capital constraints, and macroeconomic pressures in the horticultural industry.
The debtor’s operational improvement efforts were not sufficient to solve its liquidity issues without implementing a comprehensive restructuring, according to a bankruptcy declaration by BFG’s Chief Restructuring Officer Adam Zalev.
BFG Supply files for bankruptcy protection
BFG Supply and 16 affiliates filed their petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Aug. 18, 2026, listing $100 million to $500 million in assets and liabilities.
The debtor’s largest unsecured creditors include The Scotts Company, owed over $2.9 million; Roxul USA, owed over $2.8 million; Hawthorne Hydroponics, owed over $2.5 million; Syngenta Crop Protect, owed over $2.1 million; and ICL/Specialty Fertilizers, owed over $1.5 million.
BFG Supply, which was founded in 1972, is a diversified distributor of wholesale lawn and garden products, greenhouse supplies, nursery products, controlled-environment agriculture products, greenhouse structures, and horticulture equipment.
The debtor distributes growing media, fertilizers and crop protection products, greenhouse equipment, environmental control products, containers, planters, irrigation supplies, and numerous additional horticulture products necessary to support commercial growing operations.
BFG Supply’s customers include independent garden centers, regional greenhouse operators, commercial nursery businesses, hydroponic retailers, commercial cultivators, greenhouse contractors, and other horticultural supply chain professionals.
The company operates 19 facilities in 12 states, with one facility in Canada. The company employed about 700 workers at its peak but has reduced its work force to about 461 employees because of its deteriorating financial condition, court papers said.
Operates Greenhouse Megastore platform
The lawn and garden product supplier also operates an e-commerce retail platform, Greenhouse Megastore, providing commercial quality horticultural products for individuals, small businesses, and institutions.
RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino explained to TheStreet’s Daniel Kline how BFG Supply is having financial problems, despite the overall lawn and garden industry being generally healthy.
BFG getting squeezed by growers
“Look, people see gardening spending up and wonder how a company like BFG Supply ends up heading toward Chapter 11. But this isn’t about whether people are buying plants— it’s about where they’re buying them and how BFG got caught in the middle,” he wrote.
“Right now, everyday consumers are being cost-conscious and driving straight to big-box stores like Home Depot and Walmart for their lawn and garden stuff. Those big boxes have massive leverage, so they squeeze the commercial growers on price. When those growers get squeezed, they squeeze BFG,” he added.
TheStreet’s Daniel Kline contributed to this article.
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