In This Issue
The acquisition trail leads to...Scotland?
New Brochure...New Look Meadow View Stone
Oh dear – April was as bad as 2013 – official!
Cultivation Street to treble readership as Domoney switches to Sunday Mirror
Briers drives its North American expansion plans
Royal seal of approval for graduate entrepreneur who invented SeedCell
Thieves steal 8ft stag hedge from Notcutts garden centre
Briers' Gluvies photobooth boost for Greenfingers
Garden centre's green belt row to end up in court
#WorldNakedGardeningDay gets all fresh@burcot garden centre
Wyevale Garden Centres win gold for Malvern show garden
Hanging basket habits revealed by Thompson & Morgan
Squire's donate '80-year favourites' to Farnham park
Peter Williamson Travel Award for Pershore student
Horticultural/Plantarea Manager (Gloucester)
Horticultural/Plantarea Manager (Staffordshire)
Horticultural/Plantarea Manager (Wiltshire)
Horticultural/Plantarea Manager (Kent)
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Briers' gloves have the golden touch
Grafted plants are stars of Veg-2-Gro sales
Farmyard manure is a bestseller
Bents hand over £26k to cystic fibrosis charity
Juliana Oasis captures the imagination
BHETA recruits three more garden market suppliers
Lantra announces new trustee appointments
Landscape Trailblazer Apprenticeship Standards
Stunning iris and peony collections from Hawkesmill
Inside the May issue of Garden Trade News
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
All the latest news from the world of garden centre catering
Matthew Algie returns to the Caffè Culture Show at Olympia
Best ever Natural & Organic Products Europe
Situations Vacant
Horticultural/Plantarea Manager (Gloucester)
Salary: £24,000 - £28,000
Read more»
Horticultural/Plantarea Manager (Staffordshire)
Salary: £16,000 - £20,000
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Horticultural/Plantarea Manager (Wiltshire)
Salary: £19,000 - £22,000
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Horticultural/Plantarea Manager (Kent)
Salary: £16,000 - £19,000
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Email neil.pope@tgcmc.co.uk, or trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call the GTN News team on 01733 775700
Oh dear – April was as bad as 2013 – official!


April was as bad as 2013 in the end and that is official! The GTN Bestsellers All Product Index for April came in at 15% down on April 2015 and just on a par with April 2013, which was previously one of the worst Aprils for a long time.

Unsurprisingly plant sales were hit last week, down 4.4% according to the EPoS data supplied by garden centres for GTN Bestsellers every week.

The frosts didn’t deter those customers brave enough to venture out from buying Pelargoniums, Fuchsias and Petunias in increased volumes.

The three most popular plants grouped by genus saw week on week sales increases of 47%, 25%and 47% respectively.

The biggest week-on-week jump by plant genus grouping came from Verbenas. Sales grew by 150% to make them the 9th most popular UK Garden Plant as we move into May.

With plant areas fully stocked and looking good, how do you plant to make up for the lost sales in April?  Are you just relying on the weather or have you got your social media activity up to full throttle to make sure customers come and buy from you?

GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year...
  • Garden Products - static 0%
  • Veg-2-Gro - down 46%
  • Growing Media - down 24%
  • All Items Index - down 17%

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