It is with great sadness that the Austin family announces the passing of David C. H. Austin Snr OBE VMH, rosarian and founder of David Austin Roses Ltd. David Snr died peacefully at his home in Shropshire on Tuesday 18^thDecember, surrounded by his family. He was 92.

For over 75 years David's dedication to roses brought fragrance and beauty to gardens all over the world. A perfectionist at heart, he bred more than 200 English roses during his extraordinary career, unwaveringly in pursuit of an ever more beautiful rose.

From a farming background, David developed a keen interest in Old Roses in his early twenties. David felt that although the Old Roses were charming and often had magnificent fragrances, they were lacking in the colour diversity and ability to repeat flower common to the more modern Hybrid Teas.

This realisation sowed the seeds for the collection of English Roses that we all enjoy today as he set about creating an entirely new rose which combined the beauty and fragrance of Old Roses with the benefits of modern roses. His first English Rose was Constance Spry launched in 1961.

Amongst the expansive collection, notable varieties include Gertrude Jekyll – twice voted the nation's favourite rose – and more recently, Olivia Rose Austin.

David was rewarded for his outstanding contribution to horticulture, receiving gold standard accolades at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and an OBE for services to horticulture in 2007.

David Austin Jnr, son and Managing Director of the company for the last 25 years said: "My father – or Mr A as he was affectionately known within the wider Austin family – was a remarkable man. His love for the art of rose breeding was truly inspiring; he loved nothing more than seeing the pleasure that his roses gave to others.

His presence will be sorely missed within the global family company that he created. But the passion he instilled will continue and we will hold true to my father's vision when he founded the company almost 60 years ago."

The Austin family invites anyone who wishes to share their memories and condolences to send these to rememberingmra@davidaustinroses.com

Baytree Nurseries Ltd. are in the process of buying Dents Garden Centre in Hilgay, just south of Downham Market in Norfolk.

Located on the A10, the site comprises a garden centre, farm shop and 200 cover restaurant. 

Nigel Wallis, son-in-law of Reinhard Biehler who started Baytree Nurseries, told GTN Xtra: "We are all very excited to be welcoming the team at Dents into the Baytree family. 

"As a family we all made the decision to invest and build on the success of Reinhard and Vonny building Baytree into the wonderful business it is today."

The acquisition is expected to go through in January.

Storm Deirdre may have had devastating effects on high street retail footfall but it didn't stop garden centres selling as much as the snow of last year. 

Top line volume sales analysis from GTN Bestsellers shows that volume sales for last week were up by 12% on the same week last year and on a par with the week after Easter earlier this year.

That means the GTN Bestsellers All Products Sales index will close the year on minus 2.6% vs 2017, an amazing turnaround from the position mid April of being 16% down, even after Easter.

See more GTN Bestsellers analysis in this weekends GTN Xtra, or subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Top 50 Charts subscribe here.

With 39 centres out of 145 sold as we approach Christmas, Wyevale Garden Centres appear to be streamlining their staffing levels as they prepare what's left of the UK's biggest Garden Centre group for trading in 2019.

Over the past week GTN Xtra has received information that as a result of a review process that started in the summer, some staff at Podington and World's End Wyevale Garden Centres have been informed that the process could lead to their roles becoming redundant.

As a result a number of independent garden centres have been approached by the effected staff about any possible vacancies.

A spokesperson for Wyevale Garden Centres told us: "As part of the reshaping of our business, we are proposing to refine leadership structures in our Garden Centres and introduce more flexible ways of workings for all colleagues, to enable us to fulfil our high expectations of customer service at all times. We are currently in a consultation process and dialogue with our colleagues, in which we have listened to and fully considered their views and ideas about the best way to achieve our goals as one team. All reasonable measures are being taken to mitigate any job losses resulting from changes and we are supporting all colleagues throughout the transition."

Corby & Fellas are delighted to announce that, yet another prestigious garden centre - The Old Railway Line Garden Centre in Brecon, Powys - has installed WinRetail, the powerful, comprehensive and fully integrated Retail Management EPoS, E-commerce and Retail Management System.

The Old Railway Line Garden Centre, which just been voted the GCA’s best ‘Garden Centre in Wales and the West’ for the 7^th consecutive year, had some very specific requirements when it came to selecting a new system. So, they sought the advice of several large and experienced garden centres before deciding who would be the ‘best fit’. Having received many positive reports regarding Corby + Fellas, they decided to short‑list WinRetail.

Alan McCammon, C+F’s Managing Director, who dealt with The Old Railway Line’s brief, explained that: “As well as the ‘standard’ EPOS System requirements, they needed a fully integrated, real-time e-commerce system, with links to Amazon. Furthermore, they were particularly focussed on being able to analyse customer behaviour; a requirement that our CRM/Retail Intelligence module was able to handle by enabling retailers who operate any form of membership, reward or loyalty scheme to track their customer’s purchasing patterns at a very detailed level. It also has the capability to segment by demographic, manage offers, promotions and campaigns, and communicate to members via MailJet."

Old Railway Line General manager, Huw Lewis, commented: “The time had come to invest in a new EPOS system in order for us to drive various aspects of our business forward for the future. After a great deal of research and several demonstrations we felt that the system from Corby and Fellas was the right choice for our business. Overall, we were very impressed with the system especially the CRM system which will allow us to target our marketing and integrates many systems we previously used into one single operation. We felt that Corby and Fellas were a very forward-thinking company and had the technical knowledge and skills to continually develop a system that will grow with us.”

The team at The Old Railway Line will be taking advantage of WinRetail’s Accounting Interface to Sage 50 Professional, which is one of the many such interfaces that WinRetail offers. They are also keenly anticipating some of the system’s exciting new features, such as:

• A customer facing APP for smartphones and tablets that enables retailers to keep in touch with their customers; with the ability to disseminate news regarding events, special offers, promotions, etc. The APP also allows customers to accurately and securely sign-up for membership of loyalty/rewards schemes via their chosen platform
• An Integrated Events and Bookings module, which operates in in real-time and is available both online and in-store using an EPoS terminal.
• Restaurant Table Service APP with integrated card payments facility
• A tablet based version of the EPOS module, which can be linked to a wireless Chip & PIN terminal and printer. Ideal for handling furniture sales, for mobile order taking, etc.
• Farm Shop scales interface (Bizerba), which handles any combination of promotions for weighed and measured items.
• Home Delivery Scheduling system that allows the delivery of customer orders to be allocated by date, time and vehicle type, using a delivery postcode, product weight and product dimensions.

For more information email sales@corbyfellas.com or visit www.corbyfellas.com

After an amazing 2018 for Primeur Ltd, the team has formed a partnership with five independent agents to help meet the demand for their award-winning products.

Sales Director, Jenny Douthwaite has said: ‘After a hectic year we felt it was the right time to give extra support to our sales team to enable us to get our products out to the market quicker. We’ve already had a positive start to our relationship and we hope this gives us great potential to service many more customers next year."

Chris Gaines, Paul Radcliffe, Carl Earnshaw, Matt Henshaw and Rob Tracy are already showing both our garden and mat ranges to their extensive customer base and are having great success. 

Primeur are pleased to be working with such a dedicated team and hope that their products will be seen by more customers. 

The Primeur Sales team are busy working on the launch of their new ‘Mighty Mats’ doormat range which will also be available through the agents.  Stock will be available in early 2019 and the team are already looking at ways to expand the range with innovative new products.

If you would like any more information about the products available from Primeur, please don’t hesitate to contact the team on 01274 518800 or sales@primeur.ltd.uk

No snow made for a joyous time in garden centres last week.  Christmas sales reached a new high and with footfall significantly up compared to last year when we had our first dump of snow, all of the GTN Bestsellers sales indexes for the week were up with the exception of Wild Bird Care.

With two full weekends still to go before Christmas Day the met office is predicting: “Heading into the Christmas week the most likely scenario is for a continuation of the changeable theme, with some further spells of wind and rain, but interspersed by some brighter but showery weather.”

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

Plant sales rallied as garden centre footfalls reached peak levels pre-Christmas to deliver sales up 13% on the same week last year.  Poinsettia sales soared to reach No 1 but didn’t quite hit the peaks of last year.  Perhaps this year’s peak Poinsettia sales will come over the next two weeks.

Highlights were:

• Christmas Cacti, Schlumbergera, increased sales by 7% to move up to No 7 in our chart.
• Galanthus in the green made their first winter showing in the Top 50, four weeks later than last year, re-entering at No 25.

All Plants volume sales change: Week on week UP 11.4%.  Year to date UP 7.6% on 2017

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

The HTA will be returning to RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2019 with a Discovery Zone exhibit titled ‘Helping Children Grow’, promoting National Children’s Gardening Week (25 May–2 Jun).

The exhibit, supported by National Garden Gift Vouchers, will bring to life simple projects that can be used to engage children in gardening whilst fostering their social, emotional and educational development.

Working with National Children’s Gardening Week ambassador, Chris Collins, the exhibit will include examples of fun and inspiring projects such as edible planters, a pizza wheel, runner bean tipis and a wildlife hotel. They are designed to encourage children, parents and grandparents to have a go – either at home, at school or by going along to their local garden centre to take part in an activity.

Research findings will demonstrate the real educational and social benefits associated with involving children in nature, gardening and growing.

Alongside the plants required for the projects, HTA members will have an opportunity to feature five new plants – a maximum of three of which will put forward for the RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year Award.

Updates about how to get involved will be available online here  in the New Year.

National Children’s Gardening Week supports the Greenfingers charity.

‘Charity begins at home’, or so the saying goes.  But for those people who find themselves without a home charity is even more important, and with this in mind colleagues at Bents Garden & Home have been busy creating and collecting Christmas gift boxes for the homeless.

A request went out to colleagues to donate a Christmas Gift Box containing usable items which could be easily stored, used or eaten, and over 70 boxes have now been delivered to the Homeless Support Project in Leigh.

According to the Homeless Support Project, there are currently 20 people living on the streets in Leigh, all of whom will be visited by volunteers from the charity and will benefit from one of the gift boxes.  The remaining boxes will be kept by the Project and donated to hostels and made available to those people who do not have a fixed residence.

Says Kim Orson, HR Adviser at Bents Garden & Home: “Most of us take our lives and what we have for granted.  We are the lucky ones but there are people out there who won’t be able to go home for Christmas.  They will be outside, hungry, cold and alone and it is those people who we hope - in a small way - to help with these Christmas Gift Boxes.”

The idea was inspired by the reverse advent calendar initiative, but instead of donating an item a day, the gifts were brought together in a wrapped box ready to be given out on Christmas Day.

Says Kim: “Everyone deserves a gift at Christmas and the response to this campaign from our colleagues has been incredible.  We were delighted to be able to deliver so many gift boxes and hope they will make a few people smile over the festive period.”

A new Horticultural Research Scholarship has been launched by the David Colegrave Foundation (DCF) to support applied research in the horticulture industry.

Applications are invited from students of horticulture, including undergraduates, postgraduates and those studying for doctoral degrees, who are keen to pursue a research career. The successful applicant will receive £2,500 to fund their study.

DCF Chairman Jeff Colegrave says the new scholarship is a unique opportunity to explore a fascinating area of horticulture. “It provides a wonderful platform for research into the field of horticulture be that genetics, genomics and breeding, biotechnology, biochemistry, physiology, cellular and molecular biology, evolution, or environmental biology of horticultural plants,” he said.

Scholarship Season runs until 31 January 2019. Applicants need to complete an application form, which they can do online. They will be asked to describe their area of research interest and which research jobs would be of most interest to them.

More information on DCF and its scholarships can be found here. 

Dobbies has apologised to a three-year-old boy who was turned away from a Santa's grotto at its Gailey centre in Staffordshire because he wasn't on Father Christmas's list.

Oliver Terry and his father, Daniel, had been hoping to pass on his letter to Santa – but after queuing for half-an-hour they were turned away because they hadn't pre-booked their visit online. Mr Terrry said requests for Oliver to hand over his letter without receiving a gift, or to book a different session, fell on deaf ears.

Dobbies has offered to lay on a special tea with Santa for Oliver by way of an apology.

 “Oliver got upset and emotional when he was told he couldn't see Father Christmas and he was holding his letter to Santa. Seeing that broke my heart and left me disgusted,” Mr Terry told the Stoke Sentinel. “I initially went online to find out about the grotto and didn’t see anything about booking in advance and at the garden centre no-one checked we had booked until we had waited in the queue and got to the front.

“I accept that we should have booked online and that was our mistake. But this should have been made clearer.”

Oliver made up for his disappointment when he was taken to Fletcher’s Garden Centre in Eccleshall, where he met Santa, had a train ride and received a selection box.

The Dobbies Gailey grotto attracts more than 1,500 children every Christmas.

Dobbies Garden World general manager Michelle Stretton said: “We’re so sorry to hear that one of our customers has had such a disappointing experience with us at the weekend. I would welcome the customer contacting me directly so we can make it up to the little boy and his father - we’d gladly arrange a special tea with Santa to make sure the little boy has a lovely Christmas experience.

“We work tirelessly to try to make sure every single child and their families have a truly magical experience when visiting Santa. Our grotto was, unfortunately, fully booked over the weekend. We make it clear in all of our customer communications and on our website that advance booking is recommended and have now ensured it is on all grotto pages. In saying that, our staff did whatever they could to squeeze in walk-ins over the weekend, or we’d normally always try to book customers in for a slot on an alternative date, as we want to try to give every child a fantastic Santa experience.

Mr Terry said: “It’s a lovely gesture from the staff and it’s good that they’ve made it clearer online that you need to pre-book so other children won’t be disappointed like Oliver.”

Johnsons Garden Centre Sales, which supplies plants to independent garden centres, has put ambitious plans in place for 2019 following a year of strong growth.

Part of the Johnsons of Whixley Group based in North Yorkshire, the division achieved a 10% increase in sales in 2018 despite an unpredictable year of weather.

They sold 599,111 plants to 226 customers – 30 of them new or returning clients – to help achieve more than £2.1 million in sales.

The 2019 catalogue features its largest ever range.

The sales team, led by Mark Reynard (pictured) and Paul Lamb, have set their sights set on a similar turnover next year, when more technological investment is also promised.

 “The weather was a real challenge this year,” said Mark. “With a longer summer and very unpredictable weather changes, we had a bit of a battle on our hands.

“But that’s been a real highlight for me this year as we managed to overcome any of the obstacles thrown at us and by the end of June, we were in fact ahead of budget. Turning things around in such a short space of time has been a big highlight for 2018.

“There’s been other successes too from achieving new contracts, retaining our fantastic customer base and being invited to various garden shows across the UK.

“Further investment into systems is a 2019 priority and these will be installed next year to improve efficiency and the sales order processes between Johnsons and its customer base.”

Johnsons of Whixley is one of the largest commercial nursery businesses in Europe.

Sunshine Garden Centre in London has been crowned National Winner of the Taylors Autumn 2108 Bulbland competition.

Taylors received lots of entries from a wide range of garden retailers, again showcasing the high-quality visual merchandising skills which are abundant within their customer base.

The judges said of the winning entry: “Their colour blocking of the pre-packs was very well merchandised with excellent category signage and superb display disciplines.  In addition, the bulb area was full of inspiring touches such as decorative floral lampshades and a very neat display of the added value products.  They had made use of quotes from Wordsworth and this topped off a bright, and inspiring bulb display that produced excellent sales this autumn.”

National Runner-Up and Silver Medal  went to Belton Garden Centre, Grantham, Lincolnshire. The judges commented: “Their linked sales and their use of silks to illustrate block planting of daffodils was excellent.  There was a good use of extra signage and there was an informative feature of bulbs in pots and planted examples. Belton had used a tractor to create an effective backdrop to the bulk daffodils and had also made use of excellent additional info boards and FAQ’s thus keeping their customers informed.”

Squires @ Milford won bronze, after receiving the following comments: “They had used very attractive and eye-catching POS with the “Autumn, Nature’s Time to Plant” message. They had feature themed displays and had made excellent use of props and silk flowers.”

The following centres were awarded Highly Commended:

Arthur Newman’s Garden Centre – Aberystwyth, Ceredigion

Meadowcroft Garden Centre – Wickford, Essex

Perrywood Garden Centre and Nurseries Ltd – Tiptree, Colchester, Essex

Scotsdales Garden Centre – Cambridge

Windyridge Nursery & Garden Centre – Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, Ireland

Woodcote Green Nurseries – Wallington, Surrey

Bradford Council has passed Tong Garden Centre's £4 million plans for a new two-storey building, a new plant canopy, a bespoke soft play and event space and the development of the lakeside area with log cabins for educational and horticultural use. 

MD Mark Farnsworth said he was delighted to be able to continue with the work that started three years ago to turn Tong into one of the UK’s top destination garden centres.

“We have had such positive feedback from our customers about our progress so far that we have taken these plans to the council well ahead of our original plan,” he said.

Contractors have been appointed and work will start in January, with completion of the plant canopy scheduled for March and the oft play and event space to be open by the summer.

Farnsworth added: “Whilst we are, and always will be, a garden centre led by gardening products, we will now be so much more than a garden centre. The soft play and events space will be a great addition to our facilities.”

Since Farnsworth and his business partner, Tom Megginson, acquired Tong Garden Centre in 2015, they have invested more than £2 million in improvements. The business now provides employment for 160 people, with more than 200 expected by the time the work has finished in June.

Haskins Garden Centre in Crawley has announced its continued support of Alzheimer’s Society until 2020. Haskins in Snowhill has been fundraising and raising awareness for the charity since January 2017 and now the popular garden centre has revealed its continued support over the coming years.

The garden centre has so far raised nearly £4,000 for the charity, with hopes of nearing the £10,000 mark by 2020.

Dave Lilly, general manager at Haskins Garden Centre in Snowhill, said: “Alzheimer’s Society is a great charity which is close to the hearts of many of our customers and also our staff. Many have been affected at some point by the challenges this debilitating disease has had on their friends and family.

“We are also working hard with the Society to become one of the first dementia-friendly garden centres in the area with our staff properly trained and capable of supporting any of our customers or family who have been diagnosed with dementia who come into shop with us. I’m looking forward to continuing our support well into the 2020’s and highlight this when we relaunch our newly developed centre.”

The centre is due to be redeveloped, with a temporary centre on the same site during 2019. The rebuild has had input from Alzheimer’s Society’s Crawley Forward Thinkers – a group of people living with dementia – to make the new centre more dementia-friendly, in terms of customer service and continued staff training.

There are more than 1,100 people living with dementia in Crawley, and more than 1,200 in the Tandridge area, and creating a dementia-friendly garden centre will help reduce stigma and make people feel confident, understood and supported to be a valuable part of society.

Members of the Crawley Forward Thinking Group, a group of people living well with dementia, visited Haskins Garden Centre in Snowhill during the summer to meet with the staff.

Grahame said: “Visiting Snowhill was a positive experience for people affected by dementia, and having such lovely staff at Snowhill made such a massive difference to this. A few changes with the signage to help people find their way around and Snowhill isn’t far off at all.”

Jess Hillicks, Alzheimer’s Society community fundraiser for Surrey and West Sussex, said: “We’re thrilled the Snowhill centre has chosen to support Alzheimer’s Society until 2020, with both fundraising and raising awareness of dementia. So far the centre has run fundraising quiz nights and bucket collections, as well as accommodating our Dementia Community Roadshow.

“It’s also great news that the centre is working with our Crawley Forward Thinkers to support ongoing training. Many people with dementia are not able to take part in activities they enjoyed before they developed the condition, they want to engage with society but need support.

“It is possible to make small changes that will make their day to day lives much better and being able to stay part of a community for longer, rather than moving into a care home, which will also save society money. We’re looking forward to working with the centre for the years to come.”

To find out more about the support and services available locally, contact Alzheimer’s Society’s Sussex Helpline on 01403 213017.

With environmental issues at the forefront of many consumer spending decisions, corporate responsibility is high on the agenda for Premier Decorations Ltd; and the company is delighted to announce its award of FSC® Chain of Custody certification.

This certification demonstrates a continued chain of custody from forest to consumer, ensuring that the wood used has been produced from well managed forests and/or recycled materials.

Shazad Kaleem, quality assurance manager for Premier Decorations, explains: “There is widespread concern for the sustainability of the world’s forests and when consumers see the FSC® logo on a product, they can buy with confidence that they are helping to ensure our forests are alive for generations to come. Premier’s accreditation means that our customers can request that the FSC® branding be included on their products.

“Whilst this doesn’t mean that all of the products we currently sell will become FSC® certified; we are now able to source and offer it for those customers who require their products to be FSC® certified.”

For more information about adding FSC® branding to your products, contact the Premier Decorations team on 020 8624 5555 or email: sales@premierdec.com

  The Daily Mail had some online festive fun at the expense of Bents Garden & Home, in a report by Jan Moir sending up its “wagtastic Christmas decorations”.

“In Bents Garden & Home Centre, just outside Warrington, nothing says Christmas more than a themed 10ft fake fir tree, covered in polystyrene animals and a thousand baubles, hosed down with glitter and ostrich feathers,” the report gushed.

It said Megan Davison, fiancee of Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, has already shown off her Bents tree on Instagram (pictured); a marvel of sparkly fauna including polar bears, penguins, hedgehogs, butterflies and horses.

“It’s hard to work out what her festive theme is, but Polar Roadkill must be a contender,” jibed the writer.

The report claimed “chief Wag Coleen Rooney” buys her tree and trimmings at Bents every year: in 2016 she apparently went for an owl theme, with a tree “covered with dozens of Bents snowy owls who looked startled to find themselves perched en masse in the Rooney sitting room”.

The Mail’s correspondent was clearly overwhelmed by Bents’ award-winning displays but did admit that “while some might say Bents is a place where good taste comes to die — a torrid snowscape of stuffed reindeers, pre-lit plastic icicles and frosted unicorns — others adore roasting their eyeballs on this festive fiesta of sparkle and preposterous bling, marvelling at the excess”.

Bents, the report notes, is in a prime position to capture “the Wag trade…The footballers’ enclaves of Alderley Edge and Wilmslow lie to the south, groaning with McMansions which are crying out for blingtastic festive décor”.

There is a mention, too, of Bents bespoke Christmas at Home service, offering a decorating team to install and fully dress the tree of your dreams, with prices ranging from £1,500 to £3,500 and beyond, depending on bauble density.

How the other half live, eh?

The HTA’s ‘Gardening is good for you’ campaign will set out to help the industry to press home the many benefits of gardens and gardening to health and wellbeing.

Month by month, it will also feature topical gardening activities and ‘Plants of the Moment’ to guide customers throughout the year.

Gardens have been been to relieve stress, improving wellbeing and creativity.

The campaign encourages retailers to show customers how to create their own personal sanctuary outside their own back door, grow healthy food, welcome in wildlife and spend time with family and friends.

“Gardening could be described as the Natural Health Service, as doctors recognise the numerous benefits gardening brings without the need for costly therapies and drugs, with their unwelcome side effects,” the association says.  For instance, growing organic home-grown crops like herbs in even the smallest of spaces can provides at least some of the ‘5 a day’ we are told we should aim for.

By choosing the right plants, consumers can design gardens that encourage birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife to drop in for food, water and shelter, or even take up residence.

PLANTS OF THE MOMENT: YEAR-ROUND COLOUR & INTEREST

By creating a garden that looks great all-year-round, gardens will have not only a beautiful outlook but will create more incentives to venture outside throughout the year.

The best plants to give a garden structure include:

• Choisya eg ‘Sundance’ AGM, ‘Aztec Pearl’ AGM
• Hebe ‘Red Edge’ AGM
• Skimmia x confusa ‘Kew Green’ AGM
• Skimmia japonica ‘Fragrans’ AGM
• Photinia eg ‘Red Robin’ AGM
• Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diabolo’  AGM (pictured)
• Japanese spotted laurel - Aucuba japonica ‘Crotonifolia’ AGM
• Osmanthus x burkwoodii AGM
• Elaeagnus x submacrophylla ‘Limelight’
• Euonymus, Pieris, etc
•  

For further information click here

IPM Essen, the increasingly popular German plant show, says 17 countries will exhibit in national groups at the 2019 event next month.

The organisers say visitors like the format because they can obtain information about country-specific products from several companies in a quickly and efficiently.

Belgium, the event’s main partner country, will be represented in three areas. China’s group will comprise seven companies showing accessories like weed mats, frosty protection covers made, LED lamps, bamboo canes and pots.

Seven exhibitors in the Costa Rica group will show exotic ornamental plants and in-vitro plants in a special laboratory.

Denmark will bring around 50 exhibitors showing house and garden plants and new plant concepts under the auspices of Floradania Marketing, including a display of plants and flowers that improve the indoor climate.

The French group will exhibit across two areas, one covering flowering pot plants, seeds, bulbs and vegetables and the other equipped by producers of garden roses, trees and bushes. High-value camellias with small blossoms and new pittosporum varieties will be the focus of attention there.

The British group of 12 companies, brought together by the Commercial Horticultural Association, will exhibit technical solutions and on two separate area.

Information on some of the other national groups can be found on the website.

Candlelight Products Ltd will be revealing its extended own-brand candle collection at Spring Fair 2019 (NEC, Birmingham 3-7 Feb).

The collection comprises more than 150 new product lines and 11 ranges, including Feelings, Destinations, Bohemian, Inspired, Wellbeing, Lips and Kisses, packaged and presented to enable independent gift retailers to expand their sales.

These candles and reed diffusers are complemented by an range of home giftware, including trinket dishes, with a stoneware hexagonal dish in the range in white with gold effect, plus a gold and pink heart-shaped version, both ideal as gifts. The range also includes a jewellery stand with marble base, hanging mirrors and photo frames, plus a 20cm hanging glass plaque with the slogan ‘Do good & be kind’.

Candlelight’s designers have taken inspiration for the own brand range from many different aspects of modern life, including the trend to bring the outdoors indoors, as well as the desire to re-live the sights and smells of foreign travel, which is captured in exotic and tropical fragrances.

Candlelight’s UK warehouse includes a 150,000 sq. ft distribution centre and more than 10,000 sq.ft of showroom in South Yorkshire, where products can be viewed, by appointment. 

Photo 1 shows the new Inspired range; Photo 2 shows the new Destinations range from Candlelight.

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Former Dobbies CEO James Barnes has been appointed as chairman of the HTA

He will join the HTA board in January and work in conjunction with the president, the Board, the senior executive director and management team supporting the HTA's strategic direction.

During his tenure at Dobbies from 1989 to 2013, turnover grew from £4m to more than £150m. He led a management buyout in 1994, a flotation in 1997 and the sale of the business to Tesco in 2007. After six years with Tesco Group, he left Dobbies in July 2013, since when he has held a number of posts including chairman of Dunedin Smaller Companies Investment Trust Plc. He is currently a non-executive director of a number of small companies in the food and leisure sector, and also chairs a charitable trust charged with sustaining one of Scotland's premier castles.

HTA president Adam Taylor said Barnes’ wealth of experience and knowledge of the garden industry and business experience would the association continued to be in the strongest position to represent and assist its members.

Barnes said: “”I have always admired what the HTA has achieved for the industry and how it has grown in stature over the years. I am very much looking forward to taking on this new role and helping to foster the association's continued development.”

Attendees to next year’s (January 20 until 23, 2019) Garden Centre Association (GCA) annual conference will be able to hear from former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen.

Kevin will be a guest speaker at the conference, which takes place at Luton Hoo Hotel, Luton, on Tuesday, January 22. Places can be booked via www.gca.org.uk.

Iain Wylie, Chief Executive of the GCA, explained: “The afternoon of our conference on January 22 has a bit of a sporting flavour as we hear from top keynote speakers, including Kevin Pieterson.

“Kevin will be giving an inspirational speech about personal motivation and determination to succeed, which we hope our garden centre members will be able to benefit from and take away everything they’ve learned and put it to use in their personal and working lives.”

Kevin made his debut for England in 2005 and, in an international career spanning more than a decade, he played 104 test matches, scoring 8,181 runs at an average of 47.28. After his 158 at the Oval in 2005, an innings which helped England secure an Ashes victory for the first time since 1987, the England team received MBE’s from her Majesty the Queen.

Iain added: “Kevin has been described as the ‘greatest batsman to ever wear an England shirt,’ and we think our attendees will thoroughly enjoy hearing from him.

“However, cricket is only one part of Kevin’s life. As a fearless, selfless and single-minded individual, Kevin has demonstrated a fierce determination to overcome adversity and fight to help others, be it underprivileged children or threatened rhinos in Africa and India.

“One of Kevin’s big focuses is to dedicate his time and energy into things that matter most to him, conservation and community work, which he will also be talking about during the conference.”

Kevin set up an initiative called SORAI (Save Our Rhinos in Africa and India) in a bid to help save rhinos from extinction. He has created a product range of cricket and general merchandise to support the fund raising and awareness for ongoing preservation and protection of rhinos and the ongoing education, awareness and public support of the issue globally.

The GCA represents nearly 200 garden centres nationwide. Through sharing information and its inspection programme, the organisation helps members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability.

The GCA’s 2019 conference will be held at Luton Hoo Hotel, Luton on the Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire border from January 20 until 23 and places can be booked via www.gca.org.uk.

Garden products that cross into and fit the Christmas theme provided a welcome  boost to sales as footfall benefited from no snow last weekend. 

Decorative Robins continue to sell in high volumes along with garden lights. 

A surge in sales of crates occurred in the GTN Bestsellers EPOS data, perhaps they are being bought to make hampers as well as for use as planters!

Highlights of the week were:

• Apta’s Bethersford Grey Crate 25cm was the highest re-entry at No 16, one of four Bethersford crate lines in the Top 50.
• Fountasia’s Robin Pot Stick and Smart Garden’s Rocky Robin are the latest Robin garden decorations to enter the GTN Bestsellers chart.
• Fito Drip Feeder for Poinsettia & Christmas Cactus 32ml only reached No 11 this week when last year they were at No 1.  Are you making the most of this key seasonal linked sale?

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

The first week of December 2018 set a new all-time record for the sales volumes of the GTN Bestsellers Top 50 Christmas products. 

Another record week, including this coming weekend, would see Christmas match last year after a slow start and with another full week after that this could be a great year for festive selling through with less to pack away or put into New Year sales.

Personalised products dominate the sales volumes with the six personalised lines in the Top 10 accounting for 36% of the total Top 50 volume.

Highlights were:

• Davies Products Pink Bead 8cm Bauble is the highest new entry of the week, in at No 14.
• Koopman Led Over Door String Lights 240 Warm White Multifunction are also a new entry at No 18.
• Belfine Reindeer Chocolate Lollys are the week’s highest chart climber, up 34 places to No 15.

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

A final year on year increase in growing media sales sees the sector get ready to close the year at almost parity on 2017.  Who would have thought that possible when in the middle of April sales were sitting at 18% down? 

It just goes to show that gardening activity has been very strong in the last eight months of the year and as we run into Christmas keener gardeners are still taking advantage of any good weather and getting out on their plot.

Highlights were:

• Westland Multi Purpose Compost, 70 litres, was the highest chart climber last week, up 37 places to No 8.
• Evergreen Garden Care Levington Multipurpose + John Innes, 56 litres, jumped one position to No 1.
• Strulch Organic Straw Mulch, 100 litres, re-entered at No 28.

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

Wild Bird Care sales increased in line with overall sales and footfall last week but fell short of last year’s levels which were mainly driven by the snow encouraging gardeners to think about wild bird care.

• Westland Peckish Natural Balance Energy Balls 50 +20% Free climbed 8 places.
• Gardman’s Co-Co Fat Feeder was the highest re-entry at No 16.

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

In response to an increasing demand for colour-themed planters, Ball Colegrave have launched three new Speedplanters for the 2019 season.

Ivy Leaf Geranium Precision Mixed, Begonia Illumination® Mixed and Begonia Nonstop® Mixed extend the existing colour themed Speedplanter programme to 14 combinations.

When the bedding season is in full swing and nursery space is at a premium, Speedplanters provide grower-retailers with a solution to replenish gaps in production and create fast-turn premium colour planters in just two to three weeks.

A 30cm wide net pot pre-planted with a range of popular colour themes is placed on top of a patio container or basket simply filled with compost. Just add water and within just a few weeks the net pot has rooted through for a colourful retail-ready planter.

Planters are pre-charged with controlled release fertiliser and supplied as a trolley of 70. Availability: weeks 15-24.

BALI presented Greenfingers, one of its 2018 charity partners, with a donation of £2,741 at its annual awards attended by more than 1,000 in London.

Each year BALI selects a different charity to benefit from its members’ generosity on awards night. The £5,483 raised was split between Greenfingers and the BALI Chalk Fund.

Linda Petrons, director of fundraising and communications at Greenfingers Charity, said: “Being selected as BALI’s 2018 beneficiary charity was a great honour, and we are beyond grateful to all those that dug deep and helped to raise such an incredible amount of money. Rest assured, the funds raised will make a huge difference and will enable us to build gardens that provide a quiet retreat, a place of remembrance or simply a place to stop and rest.”

Tildenet marketing manager James Leyland, has been promoted to head of marketing as part of the drive to develop marketing across the whole Tildenet Group.

His role will encompass overall strategic management and delivery of all areas of online and offline marketing and the development of the growing team focussing on branding, category management, and business development. 

 “Working for a business that regularly demonstrates a positive and pro-active attitude towards growth has enabled the marketing department to deliver fantastic results and to also begin working towards ambitious and exciting future projects,” James said. “Being given the opportunity to spearhead Tildenet’s marketing presence in our core sectors was an opportunity too good to turn down, as was working with and expanding our dedicated and talented team of individuals.”

MD Andrew Downey said James had introduced significant changes in the structure of the marketing function since he joined in May. “He has developed exciting strategic plans to ensure that marketing is focussed on business development and the promotion of all of the Tildenet brands."

Wyevale Nurseries has put together a selection of new plants to follow predicted trends for the retail sector next year.

The nursery says bold colours look set to be key for 2019, so it’s new plants for retailers in 2019 include the colourful Agapanthus ‘Fireworks’, Cordyline ‘Electric Pink’ and Penstemon ‘Purple Perfection’.

Production manager Kyle Ross said the plants showcase some of the boldest and brightest on the nursery. “These are just a handful of our new crops for 2019, as we have a large range available right from the start of the year through to early autumn.

“Ones we think will be particularly popular are Agapanthus ‘Firework’ and the Ever Series, Cordyline Electric Series, Raspberry ‘Yummy’, Geum ‘Pink Petticoats’ and Penstemon ‘Purple Perfection’.” (see Gallery below)

The Wyevale Nurseries plant range is admired across the industry.

One of the UK’s leading non-food wholesalers has announced that the new customer rewards programme it introduced earlier this year is already proving to be a great success. Since it was launched by Stax Trade Centres in March, the innovative Stax Perx programme has already gained over 6,500 users who are now enjoying cash savings on both business and personal products and services from a wide variety of the UK’s top brands and high-street stores.

“We’re dedicated to serving the independent retail and trade sectors, and we created Stax Perx rewards to give back to our customers by supporting them outside of their day-to-day businesses” explains Stax joint managing director, David Hibbert. “We knew that the programme would be welcomed when we launched it, but it’s proved to be incredibly popular with our customers and has far exceeded our expectations,”

Membership of the Stax Perx rewards programme is open to new and existing customers who have shopped with Stax in the previous three months. It allows them to enjoy a wide selection of money-saving offers and discounts on high-street shopping, business travel, health and fitness, food and drink, motoring and many other areas.

“We have lots of top brands participating in the programme, such as Hotels.com, Evans Cycles, PureGym, ESPA, National Tyres and Autocare, UK Power, Virgin Wines and The Watch Shop. There are also discounts on family days out at attractions such as Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and various London tourist attractions, so there really is something for everybody to enjoy,” adds David.

New ‘Stax Perx’ are added every month in a variety of categories, allowing Stax Perx members to save considerable amounts of money over time. Customers wanting to find out more about the programme should visit www.staxtradecentres.co.uk/staxperx

Stax is the UK's largest non-food wholesaler and provides genuine trade-only wholesale support for a wide range of independent retailers and tradespeople across the country. It supplies many different market segments, including gardening, hardware, building, decorating, electrical, plumbing, homeware, bathrooms and kitchens.

Picture caption: Stax Trade Centres has announced that the new Stax Perx customer rewards programme it introduced in March 2018 is already proving to be a great success, having already gained over 6,500 users.

The new Flopro Professional Range which was launched at Glee 2018 has received wide acclaim within the garden industry.

Launched as a high-end product to meet consumer demand for a top quality, stylish metal range, the new products have exceeded all expectations.

The 6-layer Flopro Professional Hoses are ultra-flexible made with Tricot reinforced ATS™ mesh to provide the ultimate in hose performance for a life time of hassle-free watering. They are UV and algae resistant with an operating pressure of up to 36 bar within the temperature range -20° to +60°C. The hoses carry a reassuring Life Time Guarantee and are anti-twist, anti-kink and crush proof.

The ready to use Professional Hose and Cart system has a durable Tricot reinforced hose on a metal wheeled cart for ultimate performance. The system includes a 30cm hose, a selection of dual fit outside connectors and a 1.5m Cart to Tap connector Set.

The rust resistant aluminium and steel frame with comfort grip handle and the wide wheel base allows for enhanced manoeuvrability and stability.

The Professional Hose Reel can be wall mounted or freestanding, has an easy to wind handle designed to ensure the hose does not kink or twist when winding.

The high quality stainless steel and aluminium construction is also rust resistant and comes with a 5-year guarantee. Sleek metal and soft touch rubber Spray Guns are very comfortable to use and the water flow is fully adjustable with one hand.

The Professional Jet Spray Gun has 3 spray patterns – jet, mist and cone, the Multi Spray Gun has 8 spray patterns and both have a silver chrome male adaptor for enhanced durability.

The Tripod Sprinkler is a must for the larger garden providing substantial watering at adjustable heights for watering lawns, beds, borders and tall plants and shrubs. Legs are adjustable for desired height and provide area coverage of up to 23m diameter.

The sprinklers, connectors and nozzle have been designed for extended life and are manufactured from metal for improved durability. Guns and sprinklers are anti leak and have universal fittings to be compatible with other brands.

The full range is available for immediate delivery including merchandising material, via your Crest Garden sales contact
www.flopro-uk.com

To kickstart its 70th anniversary in 2019, Campingaz has confirmed a new partnership with Flogas Britain Ltd.

Effective from January 1st 2019, all Campingaz cylinders will be filled and maintained at its state-of-the-art Campingaz facility in Lyon, France, and then distributed by leading LPG supplier Flogas throughout Great Britain.

Campingaz Commercial Director, Andrew Noble commented: “We’re delighted to develop our relationship with Flogas. The extensive network that they offer, coupled with our commitment to great service, ensures that existing Campingaz dealers and stockists continue to receive the level of service they have come to expect but also offers exciting opportunities to expand and explore new business channels together.”

Campingaz, founded in 1949, is based in Lyon, France and is distributed to over 16,000 stockists across 30 European countries.

As Europe’s leading camping and leisure LPG supplier, Campingaz continues its mission to grow Gas and Gas Appliances, making its mobile energy propositions available to consumers anywhere in Europe.

Flogas Managing Director Lee Gannon said: “We’re delighted to be working alongside Campingaz. This partnership provides a natural extension to our growing cylinder business and further broadens our customer proposition in the leisure sector. We see this as just the start of a great commercial relationship – one which we’d like to see grow in the future.”

For more information about Campingaz visit www.campingaz.com/uk or contact infouk@newellco.com

The new owners of Wold View Garden Centre are to rename the Lincolnshire store Horncastle Garden Centre following the announcement of its purchase from Wyevale last Tuesday.

In a statement to GTN Xtra they said:  “The independent family owned and run British Garden Centres are proud to announce the joining of Wold View Garden Centre (formerly Crowders) to the BGC family, making this their 11th centre.  

“The centre will be renamed ‘Horncastle Garden Centre’ and owners Charles, Robert and Phillippa Stubbs, and all of the team are looking forward to working with this new centre in their home county of Lincolnshire.

“This acquisition will ensure the continuing development of the garden centre – intergrating the strategies and policies that have helped to make British Garden Garden Centres a success.”

Last week Wyevale Garden Centres also announced the sale of Wellingborough to Higgins Landscape and Garden Centres Limited (part of Higgins Building Supplies Limited. 

Roger Mclaughlan, Chief Executive of WGC, said: “We are pleased to have agreed the sale of a further two centres. We would like to thank our great colleagues at these centres, who have been central to our turnaround in the past few years, and wish them well for the next stage of their growth and development under new ownership.”

The sales are expected to complete during December.

Anthony Jones, Chief Financial Officer of WGC, said: “Since the launch of the sale process in May we have now sold 37 ‘non-core’ centres and are currently evaluating a wide range of competitive offers from the group buyers, regional operators and local entrepreneurs. We look forward to further positive discussions with all potential buyers.”

Wyevale Garden Centres and Grovewell Garden Centres have confirmed the sale and purchase of Hamstreet Garden Centre in Ashford, Kent.

This takes the number of Grovewell Garden centres up to four alongside Canterbury, Tenterden and Folkestone.  Garden Centre Director, Ed Boult, told GTN Xtra; "Hamstreet is a great site for us to serve the growing population of Ashford. It is a gardening centre that really suits our style of operations. We look forward to the team joining us formally in the New Year and I hope they enjoy working with us."

The freehold site covers 8 acres and includes a small house, large buildings and a small coffee shop.  It was advertised for sale at an offers based on price of £1m.

A spokesperson for WGC said: “We are pleased to have agreed the sale of Hamstreet Garden Centre. We would like to thank our great colleagues at the centre, who have been central to our turnaround in the past few years, and wish them well under the new ownership.”

Following a new leadership team being appointed in January, Dobbies has achieved six consecutive months of year-on-year sales growth.

Graeme Jenkins, who was appointed as CEO earlier this year, said: “Dobbies has delivered a strong trading performance so far this year. This gives us a solid foundation for growing the business, organically and through further acquisitions.

“Our trading performance is a credit to the team who have focused on understanding what Dobbies customers want and in turn re-establishing our range authority. We have also started to invest across the estate to expand our offer and improve our customers’ shopping experience at Dobbies.”

Graeme Jenkins was speaking as the company filed it Annual Report and Financial Statements.

Here are the main points of the report:

• Sales for the 12 months to 25 February 2018 were £148.3m, 1.5% lower year-on-year.
• Range changes implemented during the second half of the year led to lower footfall and conversion, particularly during the Christmas trading period.
• Profit before tax of £5.1m was £3.3m lower year-on-year, principally due to one-off items in the prior year.
• A new leadership team was appointed in January 2018 and a strategic review was undertaken.
• In the current financial year, trading has benefited from this review with six consecutive months of year-on-year sales growth of over 11%.
• Six new garden centres were acquired in October and are trading in line with expectations.

See our photos from Dobbies Peterborough last week and Dobbies Huntingdon where there team are hard at work implementing the change over from Wyevale to Dobbies.

A bid to knock down a former Wyevale Garden Centre – Aldridge in Walsall – and build homes on the site has been blocked by local planners. The garden centre was sold to the the UKS Group in September after it was put on the market for £800,000.

The site in Chester Road, Walsall, was set to be bulldozed and transformed into 11 three, four or five-bedroom homes but an application was refused.

According to the Express & Star, planning bosses said proposals to redevelop the land were unacceptable because some of the homes would be built on surrounding land classed as green belt.

They also opposed the plans because they looked to redevelop the entire site rather than attempt to convert existing buildings, and there are also no bus services available for possible residents.

Concerns were also expressed that the new homes would be overbearing to nearby existing properties and would not be able to guarantee enough privacy for neighbours.

GTN Xtra contacted the UKS Group to see what their next move would be concerning the Aldridge garden centre but no one was available for comment.

A Wyevale Garden Centres spokesperson told us they wouldn't be making a comment on the developments because the garden centre was no longer part of their property.

The full Express & Star report can be viewed here

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 2016 as well as 2017 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 Growing Media Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Christmas Products 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.

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