Here's 10 Reasons to be Cheerful from the team at GTN after weeks of doom and despondency:

1. Last weeks garden centre trading was above the average for the first week of April over the past 7 years.  Sales are heading back on track!
2. We’ve had bad March’s before and that usually leads to a Mad May with big sales peaks around the May Bank holiday weekends.
3. There will be a spike of gardening activity in the next two weeks as late spring plants and trees come into flower and grass grows at rapid rates.
4. Customers still have money to spend – during the cold spell they have not been spending on the high street either.  As the new destination Blue Diamond Garden Centre shows, if they get out and go to a garden centre they will spend money.
5. Having not re-stocked during March or April, after the spikes coming later this month and with the first May Bank Holiday garden centres will be needing to fill gaps on shelves and add potentially Bestselling new product lines to ensure they have the best chance to get their turnovers back up to parity with last year by the Summer.
6. Mid May should be the time when the industries cash flows get back to normal, so orders for Autumn gardening, Autumn Wild Bird Care and Christmas Gifts will come on stream then.

7. Even the Met Office is now saying the weather will improve over the coming weeks: “There will also be drier periods with some sunshine.” Is their forecast for mid-April.  “By next weekend generally fine and dry conditions are most likely to be in place with above-average temperatures.”

8. Without a doubt more plants will be bought to be grown in containers this summer, more children will be encouraged to enjoy plants and gardens and there will be an explosion of gardening on TV around Chelsea and the flower shows.

9.  Analysis of EPOS data supplied by garden centres to GTN every week for GTN Bestsellers shows that generally when Easter is in April it provides a good sales benefit and when it is in March it only provides a benefit if the weather is exceptionally good. In other words we should not be looking at a poor Easter in 2018 as a sign of a poor year, just that Easter was at the wrong time and as always happens in the UK, gardening sales get going when plants start growing and that will just be a bit later this year and not at Easter as many would have been wishing for.
10.  The same amount of plants will grow - fast - when it all gets going and that will create new opportunities for sales.  The bold will make the most of that by ensuring their marketing gives them a loud voice during May while those who sit back and do nothing will miss out - just like they did if they were banking on Easter 2018!

Garden Pride has been trading for nearly 30 years and 2017 saw the relaunch of the business at GLEE where the reins were passed over to the second generation! The business has made some huge steps into brand recognition, product development and manufacturing since then.

Luke Finnegan from Garden Pride has said:
“The success of our standard raw steel obelisks has lead us into expanding our raw steel range significantly. We now offer a larger range of plant supports, including interlinking bows and the unique peony cages in many sizes… Alongside our ever-growing raw steel obelisk range.

"This range is going from strength to strength with new shapes, sizes and designs being developed every week! However, we have not forgotten our roots and we are also working on developing the plastic coated range of obelisks and plant supports as well.

"We have also introduced many new pre lined ranges including the Hens Mesh range and the Gothic planter range! Having complete ranges such as this allows garden centres to stock our whole range whilst still having a variety and for customers to be able to continue a theme throughout their gardens."

Garden Pride is a family run business which prides itself on their customer service, attention to detail, loyalty and consistently high-quality products. Manufacturing in the UK allows them to ensure they produce first class products at competitive prices every time.

Order early to secure a May bank holiday delivery!

Sales Office: 01903 761222
Luke Finnegan (Sales Manager): 07764 225870

A major fire that broke out on Friday night has destroyed Strikes Stokesley Garden Centre.  

North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service reported that on Friday 6th April at 21:18; " Strikes Garden Centre, Stokesley. Incident ongoing at a large garden centre. Whole building involved in fire with large amount of fire damage. Three pumps are still in attendance. Fire fighting still in operation with more details to follow."

BBC News and local newspapers have since reported that at least 40 firefighters battled the blaze at its peak, with three crews still on scene on Saturday morning.  North Yorkshire Fire Service said there had been "major damage" to the centre and the roof had collapsed.

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/strikes-fire-what-know-far-14502731

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-43680659

A post on Strikes Facebook page stated that the fire had destroyed most of the building.  "Sadly we need to share the news that our garden centre is closed until further notice due to a fire that has destroyed most of the centre. We will keep you updated through this page and our website. Our centre at Northallerton will be able to assist with any gardening needs in the meantime."

Klondyke Strikes CEO, David Yardley, told GTN Xtra this morning: "We are heartbroken and can't believe this has happened to us again, seven years after the fire at Wilmslow.

"We are devastated by this event and especially as the centre was looking so good and ready for the season albeit a late one. It is so sad for all the staff who have put so much effort in to get the centre ready this year and we really feel for them , many of whom have been there for so long and treat it like a second home.

"The most important thing is there were no injuries and it was only property that was damaged, our thanks go to the fire service and their efforts to contain the fire and minimize the loss.

"We don't know the cause of the fire yet and are working with our insurance brokers and loss assessors/adjusters to get the centre trading again as soon as possible.

After the fire at Wilmslow it took until October 2012 to rebuild and fully open the garden centre.  David said that given their experience of that fire they hope to get some temporary trading up and running very soon at Stokesley and he added "I advise all garden centre owners to review their cover to ensure business interruption is fully covered.  You hope the worst never happens but it is really important to make sure you have the right levels of cover so that business recovery can happen without it effecting the rest of the business."

It’s dark, it’s cold, it’s full of stock and deliveries are heading out daily from the “new” old Gardman Warehouses in Kings Lynn.

It may be a long way from the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when they put the Ark of the Covenant away in that warehouse as Pete Utting, CEO of Gardman, described their new 70,000 pallet space warehouse at Daventry which burned to the ground last month, but the calm workman like atmosphere in three of the re-established old Gardman warehouses should fill garden centre retailers with confidence that as soon as the products are back in stock, deliveries will be back up to the standard set and expected by Gardman prior to the Daventry move.

GTN Xtra called in last week to see how the business recovery operation was progressing.  “We shipped out 1,500 pallets in four days,” Operations Director Paul Young explained.  “We now have 1,200 lines ready for picking with more arriving next week.”

We were particularly pleased to know that there are seven containers of bamboo canes arriving during this week, which should be a great relief to all gardeners across the country for when they need to get their plants supported.

By the end of next week Gardman at Kings Lynn will have received 200 containers from China, trailers of products from the UK and Europe and some lines that have been air freighted in to leapfrog the shipping times since the fire on March 12^th 2018.

The “new” old warehouse is being staffed by 100% Gardman employees who have come back to work for the company.  XPO logistics are providing the delivery services.

Paul Young told GTN Xtra: “I’m hugely appreciative of the loyalty and ownership of the Gardman team.  We are already able to provide a basic service and provide it very well.  Huge thanks go to all of the Kings Lynn team who have made it happen.”

“This is by far the fastest business recovery I have been involved in,” added Paul, “the whole team immediately switched their focus onto getting deliveries back into operation and keeping projects such as the new Wild Bird Care launch, planned for August 1^st, on track.”

During our morning spent with the Kings Lynn team it was good to see well picked, well packed and full pallets labelled up ready to be delivered into many garden centres.   It would appear that Gardman are very much back in business and providing a level of service more akin to before the Daventry move.  If you receive a delivery from Gardman this week please let us know your teams reaction to it; trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Feedback from Gouldings Garden Centre in Scotland:

"We placed our 1st order post Gardman’s fire last Monday (2nd April) with our agent. The order arrived before lunchtime on Thursday 5th April (our usual delivery day before the new warehouse was Thursday/Friday).

"All the stock we ordered was present and correct. But best off all Gardman have returned to using the original paperwork. It is so much clearer and easier to follow than the paperwork we were receiving form the new warehouse.

"It was a breath of fresh air to see pallets arriving from Gardman, in their absence the last few weeks it has been a bit of a challenge to try and “fill the gaps”. It’s not until Gardman are not available that we realised how much we rely on their products and the great service we receive. Keep up the good work Gardman!"

Gordon Shute, Shop Manager, J L Goulding & Son

Having to close on Easter Sunday, right at the end of month didn’t help sales at all, which meant that the GTN Bestsellers All Product Sales index for the month was lower than 2013, 35% down on March 2017 and 32% down on the average for March between 2011 and 2017.

We now have 10 weeks to make up sales before the summer lull that usually starts in mid June. 

Parity with last year for April, which included Easter, and then plus 15% during May and June, would put sales at 1% up year on year at the end of June.  Time to dust off all those summer promotional plans!

GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year (week 13)

• Garden Products - down 52%
• Growing Media - down 52%
• Veg-2-Gro - down 62%
• Wild Bird Care - down 42%
• All Plants Index - down 40%
• All Items Index - down 35%

To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Fryer's Garden Centre in Knutsford has been awarded a prestigious gong for the second year running rising up from a shortlist of 20 to win.

The Manchester Road centre won the Blue Diamond Best Garden Centre for the year of 2017 beating 19 others.

Bijal Mistry, store manager, said: "I am delighted with this award. I have a tight-knit team of loyal and hardworking staff, many of whom have worked at Fryer's for a number of years.

"We also have a loyal customer base who visit Fryer's not only for the roses, for which we are renowned, but also because they know they can buy high-quality plants and products and receive excellent customer service.

"This is a fantastic achievement for all concerned."

Fryer's Garden centre on Manchester Road is part of the Blue Diamond group.

Blue Diamond would like to thank all of the sponsors and contributors of the awards of whom there are too many to mention, but include Tom Chambers, Woodlodge, Decopak and Foodbuy. Thank you to everyone involved.

Other awards from the evening and their winners were:

 *   Stock Management - Trelawney - Jonathan Juleff & Adam Cornford
 *   Home - Trentham - Amanda Tudor
 *   Xmas - Le Friquet - Matt Gouveia
 *   Visual Merchandiser - Grosvenor - Louise Gandy
 *   Fashion - Springfields - Ricarda Preston
 *   Wild Animal - Trelawney- Christine Worth
 *   Garden Sundries, Seeds & Bulb - 3 Shires - Andrew Lloyd
 *   Garden Features & Containers - 3 Shires - Andrew Lloyd
 *   Furniture & Outdoor Leisure - Trelawney - Dennis Risdon
 *   Seasonal Plants - 3 Shires - Sue Feaver
 *   Hardy Plants - Fryer's - Peter Shirley
 *   Indoor Plants - Grosvenor - Denise Varga
 *   Pastry Chef - Redfield's - Andy Brown
 *   Head Chef - Newbridge - John Waldron
 *   Restaurant of the Year - Newbridge
 *   GC of the Year - Fryers

It’s that time of year to apply organic matter such as Bathgate Horticulture’s Blended Farm Manure, to help improve the condition of the soil in your beds and borders.

This blended manure is rich in natural humus and provides a valuable source of organic nutrients and beneficial bacteria that stimulates the microbial activity in the soil.

Bathgate’s Blended Farm Manure further helps improve the soil structure by retaining nutrients/moisture in light sandy soils or it increases drainage in heavier clay-based soils.

Alongside the benefits to the growing environment the blended Farm Manure is low in odour, light weight, easy to apply and available in 50 litre bags, for delivery from a single pallet to a full load across the UK.

The extensive Bathgate Horticulture product range, comprises of carefully formulated growing media and associated products for both professional and retail horticulturists that are manufactured to market leading standards. All Bathgate retail products are attractively packaged in conveniently sized, recyclable bags.

For more information contact:

E: sales@bathgatesilica.co.uk

T: 01270 762828

https://www.bathgatesilica.co.uk/horticulture

Notcutts, the family-owned garden centre business, has hosted an annual conference and awards dinner to recognise team and business achievements over the past 12 months.

The conference, which was held at the Five Lakes Crowne Plaza Resort in Maldon, Essex, brought together colleagues representing all 18 garden centres as well as the central support teams. The event also offered interactive learning sessions for colleagues.

The event was sponsored by leading names, including Hozelock, Bidfood, Briers, Mr Fothergills, Kettler, Gardman, Stanley Bragg, Scotts, LeisureGrow, Pelican, Porters, Gleeds, Esprit and McBains Cooper.

After the conference, an awards dinner was held with categories including ‘Best Garden Centre Performance’, ‘Best Visual Merchandising’ and ‘Best Restaurant Performance’. ‘Frontline Hero’ awards were also presented to one outstanding team member from each of Notcutts’ 18 centres. Frontline Heroes are those people who, in the eyes of their closest colleagues, consistently go the extra mile to help both customers and colleagues alike.

Nick Burrows, Chief Executive, at Notcutts said: “The annual conference gives us a wonderful opportunity to bring together colleagues from around the country to celebrate the fantastic work that is being done. It is great to have our sponsors and suppliers here with us, and it also gives us a chance to thank our colleagues for their hard work and commitment throughout the year.”

Notcutts is currently investing in its future by implementing a five-year plan to update and reposition its garden centres within their respective markets. This year will see the redevelopment and refurbishment of several centres including Notcutts Woodford Park in Stockport and Notcutts Rivendell in Widnes where work has already begun.

For more information about Notcutts, please visit www.notcutts.co.uk.

Pictured top: Notcutts Rivendell and Notcutts Dukeries collect the joint award for ‘Best Garden Centre Performance’ award at Notcutts’ March Conference. (Far left) Notcutts chairman Nicky Dulieu and (far right) CEO Nick Burrows.

Pictured below: The Notcutts ‘Best Category Performance’ award is presented to the Pet and Wild Bird team at Notcutts’ March Conference. (Far left) Notcutts chairman Nicky Dulieu and (far right) CEO Nick Burrows.

E P Barrus Ltd has added WD-40, one of the best-known brands of multi-use penetrating oil spray and lubricants, to its wide-ranging gardening portfolio.

The familiar signature blue and yellow cans are instantly recognisable, but the company also produce a line of professional grade speciality products formulated to perform specific, more demanding tasks. Barrus has selected the WD-40 Specialist® Lawn and Garden products to distribute through their authorised garden centres.

WD-40 Specialist® Lawn and Garden is designed to maintain and protect gardening tools and equipment all year round. This prolongs the life of gardening appliances ensuring you get the best performance out of your tools and equipment.

There are four products in the range including a Heavy Duty Grease, General Use Lubricant, Water Protective Silicone and a Foaming Cleaner.

The Heavy Duty Grease is a thicker grease providing long lasting lubrication, Ideal for metal on metal connections. The General Use Lubricant contains PTFE to provide excellent lubrication and protection on moving parts. The Water Protective Silicone is a protective silicone created to lubricate and protect against the elements. The Foaming Cleaner is a powerful foaming formula that cleans sap, soil and dirt deposits.

The WD-40® Multi-Use Product with a Smart Straw fixed delivery system is also available. This Original formula still helps solve maintenance problems for DIY, trade and industrial users alike.

“WD-40 is a perfect complement to our existing market-leading gardening brands and provides our distribution network with an additional revenue stream,” commented Tim Hart, Director of Sales and Marketing at Barrus. “WD-40 is a brand that people know and trust and one that guarantees quality and reliability.”

This specialist Lawn and Garden range is available in a hanging display rack with supporting point of sale to catch the eye in any retail environment.

The addition of the WD-40 range adds to the extensive range of leading gardening and household brands including WOLF-Garten, Wilkinson Sword, Town & Country, Toolflex and Energizer, all available from E P Barrus.

Six students studying horticulture have been awarded £8,500 worth of scholarships by the David Colegrave Foundation (DCF). 

As part of the DCF Scholarship Season, four students have received Student Scholarships with two students receiving the Floranova Scholarship and Markham-Colegrave Scholarship respectively.

Student Scholarships of £1,000 have been awarded to:

Gavin Trinder from Monmouthshire is currently studying for his Level 2 in Horticulture at NPTC, alongside his work as a nursery manager. He will use his bursary to further develop his knowledge through his college studies.

Gavin comments “I’m so grateful to have been awarded the student scholarship. I have worked in a Garden Centre Nursery for 7 years and I’m so happy that I can now further my knowledge and education within this industry and have a career in horticulture.”

Jake Jackson from Warwickshire is studying for a BSc in Landscape Architecture at Reaseheath College, after already completing a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Horticulture. With his bursary he is looking to purchase new equipment for his course and increase his knowledge by experimenting with new crops and seeds.

Jake comments, "As a student studying for a degree at Reaseheath College, I was thrilled to find out I had been awarded a scholarship. I study, work and also enjoy horticulture in my spare time and the scholarship will help me achieve many things in all these aspects, I am very grateful to the David Colegrave Foundation."

Vida Svahnstrom, a Swedish/US student is studying for a BSc in Evolutionary Biology at the University of St Andrews. Her studies involve working on the border between horticulture and scientific research and she will use her bursary to help fund her upcoming internship at the Logan Botanic Garden in the summer of 2018.

Vida comments, “I am so grateful and excited to be awarded a David Colegrave Foundation Student Scholarship. The foundation’s support opens up a myriad of opportunities for me which would otherwise be inaccessible; I am more encouraged than ever before to pursue my passion of exploring the interface between horticulture and plant sciences.”

William Saunders from Warwickshire is studying for a FDSC in Horticulture at Nottingham Trent University. His particular interest is in commercial horticulture, hydroponics and new growing techniques and his bursary will go towards his summer placement in the US through The Ohio Program.

William comments, “I am both thrilled and grateful to be offered the Student Scholarship from the David Colegrave Foundation. The scholarship will not only help me financially with my studies, but it will also help me gain more work experience within the industry. I would like to thank the David Colegrave Foundation for their support.”

In addition, James Crawford from Writtle College was awarded a $4,500 bursary from the Markham-Colegrave Scholarship and Emma McFarline from CAFRE awarded a £1,500 bursary from the Floranova Scholarship.

Jeff Colegrave, DCF Trustee, says, “As is the case every year applications for this year’s scholarships came in from students studying in colleges across the country. It is really encouraging to see the variety of horticultural interest that our successful candidates have and I wish them all the best for their future endeavours.”

The next Scholarship Season runs from Sep 2018 to Jan 2019.

More information on scholarships visit www.davidcolegravefoundation.org.uk

Customers and colleagues have once again shown enormous generosity in helping Bents Garden & Home raise an incredible amount for its 2017 Charity of the Year. 

A total of £22,100 has been presented to Alzheimer’s Society, who will use the donation to help people living in the Warrington and surrounding areas.

Penny Hamer from Alzheimer’s Society visited Bents to accept the donation and was joined by Zachary Clements and a team from St Rocco’s Hospice, the Centre’s 2018 Charity of the Year; a cause which was chosen by Bents’ customers in a vote held earlier in the year.

Says Matthew Bent, Managing Director at Bents Garden & Home:  “We are absolutely delighted to have raised so much for the Alzheimer’s Society and believe our money will be used to help people living with the condition in our local community.

“A big thank you to all our customers and colleagues who have helped throughout the year to make the campaign such a success.  We are now looking forward to working with St Rocco’s Hospice and are keen to do just as well in 2018.” 

Warrington based St Rocco’s Hospice was one of three charities nominated by Bents’ colleagues and after a period of in store voting was chosen by customers as the Centre’s 2018 dedicated cause, with all money raised throughout the year helping the facility which provides high quality care for adults living with a terminal or life limiting illness.

Bents’ relationship with Alzheimer’s Society does not end with the fundraising.  It will continue to work with the charity to become a dementia friendly destination, working with the team to provide tips and training for its colleagues and guidance as to how they can help people with dementia whilst at the Centre. 

The GIMA Awards are set to return on July 12 at Celtic Manor with another glittering night of celebrations. Entry to this year’s awards is now open – with suppliers being urged to not miss out on their chance to win one of the industry’s highest accolades.

Recognising excellence and innovation across new products, marketing support and export achievements, the GIMA Awards have grown into the largest industry gathering, welcoming both retailers and suppliers from the UK garden retail sector.

This year the event will be no different, with 15 worthy winners set to be rewarded. It has also been confirmed that Glee – the leading annual trade garden and outdoor leisure exhibition – will be the headline sponsors of the 2018 GIMA Awards.

Previous winners have including Smart Garden Products, Hozelock, Westland Horticulture, Briers, Elho, Gardman, Forest Garden, Hawkesmill Nurseries and Hutton Garden Products to name but a few. Each has benefitted from the wealth of exposure that comes from being named a GIMA Award winner, including gaining access to a panel of influential industry judges, recognition in front of hundreds of industry peers, and coverage within both key trade and consumer media.

Vicky Nuttall, GIMA Director said: “The GIMA Awards are very much the pinnacle of the annual event calendar and we expect the 2018 awards to continue this trend. Each year the calibre of entries continues to increase, and we are confident that those products, services and marketing support put forward for consideration in 2018 will set the benchmark even higher. Best of luck to all those that enter, and I look forward to welcoming you at the awards ceremony later this year.”

Those brands wanting to enter the 2018 GIMA Awards can do so by visiting http://gima.org.uk/gima-awards/. The closing date for entries is Friday 25th May. The same web page can also be used to book your place at the 2018 awards ceremony.

Pictured: Westland Horticulture winning the 2017 Sword of Excellence with SafeLawn.

The first definitive demonstration of climate change upsetting the vital interdependent relationships between species has been revealed, thanks to a study led by the University of Sussex.

Research led by Prof Michael Hutchings at the University of Sussex tracks how rising temperatures since the mid-17th century have wrecked a relationship, which relies on precision timing to succeed, between a rare orchid species and the Buffish Mining-bee which pollinates it.

Prof Hutchings, Emeritus Professor in Ecology, said the climate is changing so rapidly that the early spider orchid cannot respond effectively, leaving this species, and probably many other plants with highly specialized pollination mechanisms, facing the threat of severe decline and possible extinction.

Prof Hutchings said: "It is likely that many other species dependencies are also suffering from climate-induced changes to their life cycles. This study is, we believe, the best documentation we have as yet of such an effect and confirms with hard data the long-held concerns of ecologists. While this is especially bad news for the early spider orchid, the devastating impact of climate change is in all likelihood harming the delicate interdependent relationships of many species.”

The early spider orchid achieves pollination by emitting a scent that imitates that of a female Buffish Mining-bee. The smell fools male bees into attempting to mate (pseudocopulation) with the flower. In doing so, the male bee dislodges pollen masses from the flower.  These pollen masses are then transported to different flowers when the bee next attempts pseudocopulation.

Pollination depends not only on male bees emerging before female bees and before flowering, but also, crucially, on the orchid flowering before female bees emerge.

However, rising temperatures have led to male bee flight, female bee flight and flowering all occurring earlier in the calendar year, but the timings of the three events are not changing at the same rate. This is causing an increasing frequency of years in which the sequence of events needed for successful pollination (male bee emergence before orchid flowering before female bee emergence) does not occur.

For every 1 °C rise in spring temperature, the peak flying dates of male and female bees occur 9.2 and 15.6 days earlier in the year but the orchids’ peak flowering advances by just 6.4 days.

The study shows that, since the mid-seventeenth century, as recorded spring temperatures have gradually risen, the interval between male and female bees emerging from hibernation has decreased significantly.  Most critically, however, higher spring temperatures now make female bees likely to achieve peak flying more than a week before peak orchid flowering date. Whereas peak flying date of female bees preceded peak orchid flowering in only 40% of the years between 1659 and 1710, this figure has risen to 80% in the years from 1961 to 2014.

As female bees now take flight before the orchid flowers in almost every year, male bees will mate by preference with females rather than pseudocopulate with the orchid, simply because female bees are available as a better alternative when the orchid is flowering.  Orchid pollination is therefore much less likely nowadays than when spring temperatures were lower, and it may fail completely in almost all years.

Worryingly, the research, carried out with the University of East Anglia and the University of Kent and published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, also shows that while the mean spring temperature in the UK has risen by about 1 °C in the 356-year period studied, the rate of warming, and its impact on bee flying and orchid flowering dates, is accelerating.

Climate change, alongside loss of habitat, unsuitable grazing regimes, the orchid’s already-inefficient pollination mechanism and its short life-span, has seen its range in the UK decline by at least 60% since 1930.

But Prof Hutchings warns that unless the orchid undergoes rapid selection for earlier flowering following warm springs, it is likely that continued climate change will result in it always flowering after the emergence of female bees. He warns that a programme of hand pollination may be the only means to ensure the early spider-orchid remains a presence in the UK.

He added: “Further studies are urgently required, on a wider range of species and in various ecological communities, to assess the potential for climate warming to cause disruption of vital life historical events where different species are dependent on each other.  As well as posing problems for plants that depend on pollinators being available on particular dates, climate change could threaten many other ecological interdependencies, including birds depending on caterpillars being available as food immediately after hatching and insects needing specific nectar sources.”

Professor Anthony Davy, Professor Emeritus at the University of East Anglia's School of Biological Sciences, said: “The vast number of historical records associated with specimens in the vaults of museums and herbaria is still a hugely under-exploited resource for studies of the effects of climate change.”

Hundreds of local school children visited Squire’s Garden Centres at the end of March to take part in a “Grow Your Own Chips” session.

This initiative began because Squire’s believe it’s so important that children learn where their food comes from, so they invited local schools to come along for fun and interactive potato planting sessions.

Each child was given a brightly coloured pot, compost, and three chitted potatoes, which they were shown how to plant and look after. The children enjoyed drinks and biscuits after their hard work, and got to take their pot of potatoes home.

They’ll be bringing their pots back to Squire’s in June to see who has grown the heaviest potatoes, and to see if any of them have grown more than gardening expert Charlie Dimmock, who did this very activity at Squire’s in Woking in March.

Then each school will get their potatoes turned into chips in Squire’s Café Bar (and get to eat them of course!), and the winning child will also get a special goody bag.

WOLF-Garten has partnered with the National Garden Scheme (NGS) as headline sponsor of its 2018 photography competition.

The competition was first launched last spring as part of the NGS’s 90th anniversary celebrations and for its second year was seeking a sponsor to elevate the competition to a wider audience. The new sponsorship deal will see amateur photographers winning an array of gardening tools from the leading manufacturer.

There are six categories to enter – Town Gardens; Design Details; Beautiful Garden Views; Garden Wildlife; People in Gardens; and Fantastic Flowers. The photo must be taken by an amateur photographer and from within a garden opening for the National Garden Scheme between 15^th March and 28^th August 2018.

Each category winner will receive £100 worth of WOLF-Garten tools, and the overall competition winner will win a 72volt lithium-ion prize bundle, worth almost £1,000 which includes a lawnmower, leaf blower, hedge trimmer and grass trimmer.

Discussing the new partnership, Chief Executive of the NGS, George Plumptre, commented: “We are delighted to have WOLF-Garten on board for this year’s competition. The competition’s inaugural year went fantastically well so we’re really excited to see what 2018 will bring! We had some brilliant entries last year and I’m sure the new incentive of prizes from WOLF-Garten will certainly draw in lots of new budding garden photographers.”

Mark Hewett, Divisional Sales Manager of WOLF-Garten, said: “The NGS is such a prestigious organisation that does some fantastic work. We are excited to be partnering with the organisation to support its photography competition and can’t wait to see the entries.”

The WOLF-Garten gardening tool collection offers the total solution from lawn care, soil and cultivation, tree and shrub care through to general garden maintenance, so winners will have plenty to choose from. From large ride on lawn tractors to the innovative multi-change® system, which offers 60 different tool heads with a selection of 15 handles for hundreds of combinations, WOLF-Garten has the right tool for the job.

The NGS was founded in 1859 and has grown to be the most significant charitable funder of nursing and caring charities in the country, donating over £50 million so far, through money raised via its open gardens programme. Currently, more than 3,700 gardens nationwide open their gates for the NGS each year.

The competition will close on 28th August 2018 and is free to enter. To enter visit www.ngs.org.uk/photo.

For further information about WOLF-Garten and to see the prizes available visit www.wolfgarten-tools.co.uk.

The team at Tong Garden Centre has announced that Leeds based children's cancer charity, Candlelighters, will be its Charity of the Year for 2018.

Tong aims to raise £10,000 for the charity that supports Yorkshire families facing children's cancer through a series of fund-raising events and collection boxes at the tills.

Staff at Tong voted unanimously to support Candlelighters and a charity committee has been established to organise events to reach the total pledged. The committee is led by marketing assistant, Pete Casci, who said: "Our team of 143 staff all know someone whose lives have been affected by childhood cancers, so we're passionate about helping Candlelighters to fight children's cancer in our local community.

"We're planning a whole host of fun initiatives for staff and customers to get involved with, and we're launching our campaign with the Maserati Tour De Yorkshire Ride led by our Managing Director, Mark Farnsworth. We'll be sharing all our events and initiatives on our facebook page and inviting everyone to join in."

Brian Curran, Corporate Fundraiser for Candlelighters is delighted with Tong's support: "Tong's support is invaluable. Last year, we embarked on a special project to renovate a property for use by families whose children are being treated at Leeds Children's Hospital for cancer.  We need to raise £600,000 to realise our dream of transforming it into a quiet and calm place where families can be near their children as they battle against childhood cancer."

Candlelighters supports families facing children's cancer in Yorkshire. The charity gets involved in many different projects to help ordinary families who are facing extraordinary circumstances and provides support on the wards, at its family support centre and in the community.

Tong Garden Centre occupies a 14 acre site in Tong village. It is one of Yorkshire's biggest garden centres with 110,000 square feet of retail space and parking for up to 1,000 cars.

Photograph caption: Tong team members with Brian Curran, centre Brian Curran with Tong Garden Centre staff.

At last weeks Herbaceous Committee Meeting, held during the RHS Orchid Show and Plant Fair, four of the Kerley families Primula Belarina Series were awarded the RHS First Class Certificates. The culitvars receiving this award are Primula Belarina ‘Buttercup’, P. B. ‘Nectarine’ (above), P. B ‘Snow’ and P. B. Valentine’.

The specimens put before the committee were also given an RHS Cultural Commendation for being so well grown. Two Cultivars in the Belarina Series have already sold over a million plants and these awards will help increase sales both at home and abroad. There are pictures of these cultivars on the Kerley web site that can be used for POS material.

GTN Xtra understands that certain people within the RHS are keen to reinvigorate the RHS Awards for plants including First Class Certificates, Awards of Merit and Cultural Commendations for plants put before members of RHS Committees. It is central to these committees aims to promote and bring to the attention of gardeners good garden subjects.

Jonathan Halford, the Chairman of Gardman, Forest Garden and TM Lewin, is running the London Marathon in just over 2 weeks time (22nd April) to raise money for CLIC Sargent. When cancer strikes young lives CLIC Sargent helps families limit the damage that cancer causes beyond their health.

He is aiming to raise £3,000 for this very worthwhile cause and would therefore be very grateful for fellow GTN Xtra readers to visit his Fundraising Page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jonathan-halford2 and make a donation as appropriate.

Jonathan told GTN Xtra "I have run the London marathon before and whilst I did manage to complete the 26.2 miles, I got passed by someone dressed as Orinoco coming down the final stretch on Birdcage Walk. My ambition this year is to finish and hopefully stay ahead of Uncle Bulgaria!"

An office manager at Abergavenny Garden Centre has been jailed for 15 months after admitting fraud at the family-run centre in Llanfoist. Cardiff Crown Court heard 37-year-old Zena Price conned her employers out of £32,021.92 over a three-year period.

Ian McDonald, director of the garden centre, said Price betrayed his trust and her offending had a direct impact on the small family-run business.

In a victim impact statement read out in court , he said: “I feel personally devastated as I had full confidence and trust in her.”

Nuhu Gobir, prosecuting, said she was employed in April 2014 as an office manager, responsible for day-to-day transactions. She was the “financial mind” of the company responsible for payroll, payments to suppliers, and setting up electronic financial systems.

Prosecutors said Price set up false payees, created fake invoices, and paid herself double wages.

Mr Gobir told the court she set up payee accounts with almost duplicate names of suppliers and transferred funds from the garden centre’s account into her own personal account.

Her fraud was discovered when she was off work due to illness in September 2017 and Mr McDonald took over the financial running of the company.

There was an investigation and Price was interviewed by the police a month later.

She told officers she started taking money because she was £2,000 in debt from catalogue shopping but then carried on when she thought she could get away with it.

Price, from Penylan Road in Pontypool , admitted fraud.

Owen Williams, defending, told the court she had no previous convictions and described her as a “caring mother”.

He added: “She is truly ashamed for what she has done.”

Mr Williams said his client has been affected by depression and back problems and asked for any jail term to be suspended instead of immediate.

But Judge Thomas Crowther QC said the offending was too serious and Price was jailed for 15 months.

He told her: “You had been given a high degree of trust and you breached that trust, taking from the man who gave you that job in the first place.

“It takes a certain sort of selfishness to do that.”

A cold Easter weekend is not what the doctor ordered for garden product sales. The volume for the GTN Top 50 was down 52% on the same week last year.

Lawn care did show some signs of what could come in a rush when the weather does improve with Scotts Evergreen lines and Westland Turf and Lawn dressing all increasing.

Highlights this week were:

• Westland Lawn & Turf Dressing, 25 litres, was the highest re-entry at No 18.
• Scotts Levington Tomorite, 1 litre plus 30% free, was the highest climber on the back of big tomato plant sales.
• Kingfisher Clear Bauble Tea Light Holder was the highest new entry at No 29.

To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

With most gardens still too wet for gardening, sales of growing media continued at February levels rather than the normal for the end of March. 

It will now take growing media Top 50 sales to average 12% up on last year for April, May and June, to make up the current level of shortfall.

 
With the right weather and some great promotions that could still be on the cards. The next few weeks will be an all important indicator.

Highlights this week were:

• Westland J. Arthur Bowers Multipurpose Compost, 50 litres, moved up six places to No 1 spot.
• Scotts Levington Essential Top Soil was the highest chart climber, moving up 24 places to No 8.
• Kelkay RHS Horticultural Alpine Grit Handy Bag was a new entry at No 50.

To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

The early Easter only provided a boost for tomato plant sales as overall plants were volumes down 40% on the last week of March 2017. 

Even if you take into account the lost sales time for Easter Sunday closing that still represents a drop of around 25% in real terms.

Highlights:

• Tomato plants increased sales by over 50% to move up to the No 2 Bestselling plant.
• Young bedding geranium (pelargoniums) plants moved up two places to No 4.

All Plants volume sales change: Week on week UP 10.6%.  Year to date DOWN 22.1% on 2017.

To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

The effects of the Gardman fire are seen in the GTN Wild Bird Care Bestsellers chart this week. Total Top 50 sales were down 42% on the same week last year despite weather that would normally drive upward bird care sales. 

And there are more new entries and climbers from Westland Peckish, Tom Chambers, Johnston & Jeff, Chapelwood and Jacobi Jayne as alternative suppliers fill the gaps on shelves.

Here are some highlights:

• Westland Peckish Natural Balance 1.7kg is the highest new entry at No 13.
• Johnston & Jeff Select Wild Bird Food 1kg is a new entry at No 39.
• Westland Peckish Sunflower Hearts 1kg climb 31 places to No 4 in the GTN chart.

To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Tomatoes and herbs dominate the GTN Veg-2-Gro chart this week. Sales grew by 21% but were still 62% down on the last week of March 2017.

Highlights this week were:

• Quantil Tomato Gardeners Delight 8cm moved 14 places up the chart.
• Farplants Parsley Moss Curled is the bestelling herb plant, up from No 10 to No 5.
• Thompson & Morgan Beetroot Boltardy is the bestselling veg seed line.

To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

After a very successful 2017 – doubling turnover and vastly expanding – Charles Taylor has announced the appointment of Richard Knights who will look after the North West and Cumbria area.

Richard has a vast knowledge of the garden centre industry and with his expertise the company is hoping to continue its growth in these areas.

Charles Taylor recently launched its new brochure with approximately 50 new products on view, All products are manufactured in the UK with a unique design.

Thompson & Morgan has announced a new partnership with Mr Men Little Miss for autumn this year. The new range of seeds and other gardening products for children will allow you to bring out your inner Mr. Happy, or Little Miss Sunshine.

Joseph Cordy, Head of B2B Sales at Thompson & Morgan said: "We are hugely excited about this partnership with one of the best known and loved children’s brands in the world and have no doubt that the iconic Mr Men and Little Miss characters will inspire a new generation of budding young gardeners to get growing from seed."

Sabrina Segalov, Licensing Manager, Mr Men Little Miss, said: "It is great to be working with one of the UK’s largest seed and plant companies on this colourful and fun range of Mr Men Little Miss seeds.

"We are delighted that the range officially launches at Hampton Court Flower Show this year with a limited-edition selection being sold at the Mr Men themed garden which is a huge part of Children with Cancer UK’s 30th anniversary celebration."

The Mr Men Little Miss range will be available from Thompson & Morgan from September 2018.

Now the fine weather has finally arrived, Seiont Nurseries are busier than ever. Their range of plugs and liners are being shipped to every corner of the UK.

Heucheras are looking good and the nursery still have 20,000 P9 available now.

Mid-Late Summer Sales

New Season Perennial plugs are also looking great! Sunsparkler Sedums, Jewel Of the Desert Delosperma and Star Series Sempervivum are perfect for immediate potting for a fast finish. Deciduous shrubs are coming into life, ideal for potting now for mid-late summer sales.

Availability Lists
Seiont have a great selection of many other liners and plugs available now. For the new, full availability listings you can also download a copy here:

https://www.seiontnurseries.com/wholesale-nurseries/availability-lists/

Shrubs & Perennials in plugs

There is now a bigger selection of Shrubs and Perennials in plugs with Seiont offering free delivery for just a single trolley of 28 trays.

For further information, please don't hesitate to contact Seiont at their sales office on 01286 676418.

www.seiontnurseries.com

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has announced that its preferred partner for licensed seed and seed gifting products, Mr Fothergill's Seeds Ltd, has now brought its AGM vegetable and flower seed ranges – which are joint-branded with the RHS – into over 500 garden centres.

This is a major advance on last year’s figures. In addition some of the seed ranges are now being stocked in grocery multiples and DIY outlets.

But that’s not all. As part of its continuing support for the RHS as a brand, a charity and an educational institution, Mr Fothergill’s has helped a number of RHS gardens – by donating seed for a community allotment programme and vegetable garden at RHS Rosemoor, for a kitchen garden and student plots at RHS Harlow Carr, and for a vegetable garden and student plots at RHS Wisley. It has also provided bumper seed bundles for Level 4 awards at the RHS School Gardening Awards, a rewards scheme that provides achievable goals to help schools turn their gardens into a valuable learning resource.

These are important developments for the RHS partnership with Mr Fothergill’s, highlighting the company’s role not only as a supplier of quality merchandise under the RHS brand but also as a supporter of the RHS mission to enrich everyone’s lives through plants.

For the second year running, the RHS/Mr Fothergill’s AGM vegetable and flower seed ranges can be seen on stands at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show and the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. Each cultivar in the new collections has earned the prestigious RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) — a ‘seal of approval’ for gardeners that the plant performs reliably in the garden.

The AGM range launched in May 2017 and was at retail from August 2017. The market for the range, as for all Mr Fothergill’s products, is gardeners of all ages, from the amateur to the enthusiast.

David Carey, Joint Managing Director, Mr Fothergill’s, said: “The popularity of these seed ranges, like the seeds themselves, is enjoying excellent growth. We are delighted to show our continuing support for the RHS both as a licensee and as a supporter of its educational role and of its aim to make the UK a greener, healthier, happier and more beautiful place.”

Cathy Snow, RHS Licensing Manager, said: “Only a matter of months since they became available at retail, these seeds have proved exceptionally popular with the gardening public – and Mr Fothergill’s has supported this fine range with strong backing for our educational work. This is a valuable partnership that is proving beneficial to the RHS in many welcome ways.”

Ken White from Frosts Landscapes has stepped down as Chair of the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL). 

Vice Chair Rod Winrow (above), from Garden House Design, is taking on the role of Chair with David Sewell from the Garden Makers assuming the position of Vice Chair, until the November AGM where they will stand for re-election.

Ken has made the decision to step down from the Chairman’s role as work commitments have prevented him from giving the time and attention that he wished to give to the APL.

Ken comments: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as Chairman and wish the APL Committee and its members continued success”.

APL General Manager, Phil Tremayne, comments: “Ken’s dedication to the APL as a Committee member, and particularly as its Chairman, has been instrumental in the direction that the organisation has taken over the past couple of years. Ken’s business acumen enabled the APL to define a clear 3 year strategy which has started to deliver significant benefits to membership.”

He adds: “The creation of both the Business Development Programme and ‘Ted Talk Style’ seminars were both initiatives that Ken pushed forward.  I would like to personally thank Ken for his commitment to APL and it has been a pleasure working with him”.

The administrators acting on behalf of the ailing Home & Garden Group, which owns nine garden centres in the UK, have told GTN Xtra that they are trying to sell the business as a going concern.

“The first priority is to preserve jobs,” said Josh Voulters, National Communications Manager for Mazars.

Home & Garden Group, which employs a total of 164 staff at its nine centres, went into administration on March 27.

The group owns the following centres:

• Rutland Garden Centre, Oakham
• Leighton Buzzard Garden Centre, Bedfordshire
• Willington Home and Garden
• Ise Garden Centre, Kettering
• Stansted Park Garden Centre, Rowlands Castle
• David's Nurseries, Worcester
• Shopwhyke Garden Centre, Chichester
• Plowmans Garden Centre, Bournemouth
• Floralands Garden Centre, Nottingham

The administration is being handled by Adam Harris in Mazars’ London office and by Patrick Lannagan in Manchester.

Blue Diamond MD, Alan Roper, has told GTN Xtra that their new centre at East Bridgford, Nottingham, which opened last Thursday 22nd March, took £241,107 ex vat in the first seven days, far exceeding initial expectations.   Takings for Good Friday and Easter Saturday totalled £110,000.

"On Good Friday I closed the restaurant from 1.45 to 2.15 as we were pushed beyond sustainable limits to provide continued high quality service. The numbers were overwhelming and we are not advertising!"

"This is my first ever experience of opening a centre with social media, and it's going viral.  We've had over 5,000 sign ups to our Diamond Club and we're looking forward to seeing the 'heat map' next week to understand the size of the area we are pulling customers in from."

"I'm really glad for the team that we have to close on Easter Sunday. That will give the team a welcome break."

Alan also told GTN Xtra that across the Blue Diamond Group, gardening was down £1 million in the first 25 days of March compared to last year.  "Back in 2013 we were also similarly down and we did pull it back then, so provided we have reasonable weather and gardening gets traction during April and May all will be well."

See GTN Xtra's photo tour of the new centre here

Haskins Garden Centre group has opened its Christmas department across all centres, due to high demand from customers.

With centres in Dorset, Hampshire and West Sussex, the popular garden centre group experienced a higher number of visitors to the Christmas department last year than ever before. The group normally launches Christmas in September but has opted to open in April to give shoppers more time to spread the cost of Christmas over a longer period of time.

Dean Ridley, head of retail operations at Haskins, commented: "We normally give our customers three months to shop our Christmas department, but we're finding that more and more people are enjoying visiting early and we get quite a lot of requests to open even earlier. Can you ever really have too much Christmas cheer?"

Lisa Looker, brand director at Haskins, commented: "We have worked hard to ensure this bold move will put us on the map as a must-visit pre-Christmas destination. Christmas is always such a busy time and it can be quite stressful for some people. With just 269 days to go until the big day, we hope that by giving our shoppers more time to get themselves organised for Christmas that any stress can be avoided."

Every week GTN receives and analyses epos data from a number of UK garden centres to produce the GTN Bestsellers charts and weekly bestsellers sales tips.

The full charts which provide useful insight into product sales peaks, new trends and new link sales opportunities are published in the weekly GTN Xtra newsletter.

As the year goes on we give sales volume comparisons with 2015 as well as 2016 to allow your teams to see variations over a three year period.

Access is by subscription only.  For £145.00 per year you and your team can have access to the most up-to-date gardening sales analysis that has already helped many UK garden centres increase their sales.  To subscribe call 01733 775700, e-mail karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or buy on-line using this link.

Highlights of the GTN Garden Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Garden Plants Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Veg-2-Gro Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Growing Media Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Wild Bird Care chart for this week are here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts seriously improve the business of our subscribers.  Invest 15 minutes each week in improving your sales using the GTN Bestsellers charts and your turnover and customer satisfaction will improve too.

Get the GTN Bestsellers charts in full every week in the GTN Bestsellers newsletters for only £145.00.

GTN Bestsellers is the only industry source of weekly garden centre sales information, collating Epos data from centres with an aggregate turnover in excess of £120m.

Use the weekly Garden Products and Growing Media Top 50 sales volumes charts to plan your hotspot and other promotions and ensure you have the right products in stock to satisfy the needs of your customers.

For further information contact karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call 01733 775700.

Buy your subscription today and start receiveing the GTN Bestsellers charts this week.