Winners of The Greatest Outdoor Living Gold Awards made the journey to Cologne courtesy of spoga+gafa to receive their awards during a reception for UK exhibitors and visitors held by Gardenex and the HTA on the Gardenex stand in Hall 9.

The Gold Awards presented were:

The Greatest BBQ Sales Team - Whitehall Lacock

The Greatest Garden Decoration and Lighting Sales Team - Perrywood

The Greatest Inspiration for New Gardeners Team, Love The Plot You’ve Got Award – Barton Grange

The Greatest Garden Living Supplier – Norfolk Leisure (pictured below)

The Greatest Garden Living Retail Team, Scotland – Gouldings

The Greatest Garden Living Retail Team, London and the South East – Chessington

A list of all The Greatest Outdoor Living Retailing Award winners will be published in GTN’s October issue.

Currently the garden centre only opens from 10am to 4.30 and the restaurant is leased out. Quinton Edwards state that if trading hours were increased and the restaurant brought back in house, the garden centre would have capacity to significantly increase turnover and profitability.

The garden centre benefits from a newly installed modern biomass boiler system, which is OFGEM approved, and this will benefit from RHI payments over the next 20 years and bring considerable cost savings to the business.

There is also additional adjacent land available to purchase if required.

sales@quintons.co.uk

Writtle College has bred a beautiful new variety of hardy Osteospermum and called it Little Writtle.

The plant, with distinctive deep pink flowers, is now available to buy on major plant mail order website Suttons Seeds.

Horticulture students at Writtle College have bred and propagated the new plant in a five-year breeding trial. The parent plants, O. jucundum and O. Lady Leitrim, are self-sterile so they were grown close to each other so cross-pollination occurred and seeds were set. The result is a plant with a compact nature, which is less invasive than other varieties.

John Cullum (pictured), Lecturer in Horticulture at Writtle College, has led the breeding trial and named the new variety Little Writtle.

He said: “Breeding a new plant that is commercially viable is a great achievement for the College and for me personally. It is wonderful that it will raise the profile of the College and the area through its name Little Writtle. We have been selling the plant at Open Days and received excellent feedback as it has such a distinctive, deep pink, solid colour.

“Several garden centres and nurseries are not keen to stock hardy Osteospermums as they can grow into large clumps of plants, unsuitable for a small garden. A number of the older varieties also do not flower for very long and some gardeners dislike them for this reason. Little Writtle is a dwarf form, which means it is less invasive, and it produces an abundance of deep pink flowers throughout the season, so can bring colour to a garden from May to October.”

• To buy Little Writtle, visit: http://www.suttons.co.uk/Gardening/Perennial+Plants/All+Perennial+Plants/Osteospermum+Plant+-+Little+Writtle_244561.htm
• To find out more about Horticulture courses at Writtle College, visit: www.writtle.ac.uk

Pictured above: Writtle lecturer John Cullum presenting Alan Titchmarsh with Little Writtle plants.

The Scoville scale has been the standard measure of chili heat for over a hundred years, but a rating of 750,000 or 1million+ SHU doesn’t mean much to the average gardener, other than its likely to blow your socks off!

Looking to simplify things and give customers a better informed choice, Thompson & Morgan has rated all pepper varieties in its range on a simple 0-10 scale, from Cool & Sweet right up to Explosive!

The UK is fast becoming a nation of hot heads when it comes to greenhouse and windowsill growing. Driven by changing taste buds and a desire for more exotic cuisine, Thompson & Morgan has noticed a steady rise in the number of gardeners trying their hand at growing chilies and peppers in the last 10 years.

Easy to grow and providing a bountiful supply of fruits for fresh use, freezing and drying, they are becoming a common site in UK kitchens and greenhouses. Chilies are the perfect companion plants for growing alongside greenhouse tomatoes, thriving under the same conditions and feeding regime.

And for those without the luxury of a greenhouse there are many varieties that remain compact for indoor growing while still producing hundreds of fruits per plant, making them a very worthwhile addition to a sunny windowsill. Many varieties can also be grown outside in a sunny spot to great success.

T&M Horticultural Director Paul Hansord said: "For some growers it’s all about the kudos of growing the hottest varieties they can get their hands on – often far too hot to eat! But many gardeners are looking for a better culinary experience to suit their tastes – not many people really want to add the world’s hottest chilli varieties to their dishes. Our Pepper Meter allows customers to make a quick informed decision on the varieties to grow to suit their tastes, helping them get it right from the word go."

Display cards explaining the new Pepper Meter will hang alongside the Thompson & Morgan chili offering at garden centres in 2016, and vibrant redesigned packets will each clearly show the variety's heat rating for quick and easy selection. 

A growing number of companies are choosing to exhibit for the first time as they see AQUA as the perfect opportunity to showcase their products to retailers and overseas distributors.

Show organiser Annie Foord said: "It's great to see so many newcomers booking stand space at this year's AQUA.

 “I’m also happy to report that the UK’s major exhibitors are again heading for Telford, and many companies have increased their stand space this year.

“Another pleasing aspect is the fact we will be welcoming more overseas companies as well. They obviously regard AQUA as their major platform to showcase products to UK buyers.

“It’s a really exciting time for AQUA and I can promise visitors it will be the biggest ever AQUA show.”

With all the stand space being snapped up months before the event, a record number of 82 companies will be exhibiting their products and services at Telford International Centre on October 14-15.

The new exhibitors include: All Pond Solutions, Aquatlantis, Bimex BV, Hamac, Koral Sea, Lovibond, Multifox, Nauticalia, New Techno, Nordic Reef, Norwood Aquarium, Noux, PondXpert, Sharnbrook Shrimps, and Simply Aquaria.

Norwood Aquarium Ltd is a newcomer to AQUA, and general manager Rob Street said: “We have been supporting the bricks-and-mortar aquatic trade for 50 years, and we have recently made significant investments in our infrastructure. We believe AQUA 2015 is an ideal opportunity to demonstrate these changes and show retailers why we believe we can offer them the best service in the trade.”

Philip Nicholl, sales director of Hamac Trading Company, commented: “Several of our customers have recommended the AQUA show and we are excited about exhibiting this year.”

All Pond Solutions Ltd supply aquatic products to hundreds of stores across the UK and Ireland and they’re looking forward to their first AQUA show. “It promises to be a great event,” said All Pond Solutions general manager Charlie Kenton-O’Neill. “It’s the ideal stage to launch our new product ranges.”

Aidan Wallace, of Nauticalia, said: “We’re new to the show and we’re really looking forward to it.”

One of the most popular features at AQUA is the New Product Showcase, and this year it has been given greater prominence with a new and bigger home.

Nearly 100 new products were showcased in 2013 when AQUA was last staged, and a higher number is expected this year. All the items will be entered into the New Product Awards, which will be judged by team of independent retailers on the opening morning of the show.

In recognition of the growing importance of the New Product Showcase and Awards, there will 10 different categories compared to five in 2013.

The categories that now make up the Showcase and Awards are:

• POS/Merchandising Idea
• Reptile Product
• Pond Construction/Decoration
• Pond Pump
• Pond Filter
• Pond Food, Care and Accessories
• Aquaria and Furniture
• Aquarium Equipment
• Aquarium Food, Care and Accessories
• Aquarium Decoration

As well as getting to see all the new products to be launched on to the market, visitors will be well looked-after during their stay. There are more catering facilities and everyone will receive free tea and coffee, and a free deli bag lunch. Retailers and buyers will also be invited to join exhibitors at an AQUA dinner on the first evening of the exhibition. The dinner, which will also be free, has been moved to a larger room to accommodate nearly 700 people.

Visitors can also benefit from free parking next to the exhibition hall, and will be able to take full advantage of a new events village called Southwater Square, recently opened close to the centre with a new hotel, restaurants, and one of the UK’s largest town-centre parks.

Following the success of the Love the Plot You’ve Got Spring Masterclasses and Roadshow that took place throughout the summer the Gardening Industry Marketing Board (GIMB), in conjunction with Horticultural trades association (HTA), is setting up regional masterclasses to see the campaign continue. 

Facilitated by Ian Boardman of IBBIS (UK) Limited, a series of one-day regional masterclasses are available to help garden centre teams inspire their customers to love their plots during the Autumn and Christmas selling seasons.

Dates and venues (all 9.30am to 4.30pm) are:

• Tue 22 Sep – South East – Coolings
• Wed 23 Sep  – Northern Home Counties – Ayletts
• Thu 24 Sep – East Anglia – Baytree Nurseries
• Thu 1 Oct – Scotland – Glendoick
• Tue 6 Oct – Midlands – St Peters GC, Worcester

The masterclasses are designed for those selling plants and related items in the Autumn and Christmas season including marketing managers and visual merchandisers. They are guaranteed to be fun, participative and motivational.

By the end of the Masterclass, garden centres will be more aware of:

•          How the LTPYG campaign has gone so far

•          Seasonal ideas to maximise sales opportunities indoors and outdoors

•          Autumn and Christmas display ideas to sell more plants

•          Making the most of National Conifer Week and Plant of the Month

•          Maximising linked sales

Classes cost £95 per person plus vat and are payable in full in advance. Refreshments and workbooks will be provided.

Book your places by emailing Ian Boardman at i.boardman@ibbis.co.uk

The Greatest Garden Centre Team Awards Categories

• The Greatest Garden Care Retail Team of the Year
• The Greatest Garden Centre Customer Service Team of the Year
• The Greatest Garden Centre Training Team or Initiative of the Year, sponsored by MorePeople
• The Greatest Garden Centre Merchandising Team of the Year
• The Greatest Gardening Supplier of the Year
• The Greatest Garden Centre of the Year (Public Vote), sponsored by National Garden Gift Vouchers

As usual The Greatest Awards team of experts will be out and about meeting nominated teams, gathering information and taking photos of their work so that the Gold, Silver and Bronze Greatest Awards winners can be chosen.

Plus your team have the chance to become The Greatest Garden Centre Team of 2015 by involving your customers in the public voting later this summer.  The Greatest Garden Centre Teams, small, medium and large will be the teams that have the best relationships with their customers and generate the most votes (taking size of centre into account) and in the event of a tie, the centre with the most complimentary comments form their customers.  To take part in the public vote please e-mail trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call The Greatest Awards on 01733 775700 to request an in store voting pack.

As this issue of GTN Xtra goes to press the expert judges are meeting to decide the winners of The Greatest Outdoor Living Retail Team Awards in advance of The National Plant Show.  Make sure your Garden Care and Garden Centre teams are nominated for visits later in August and September.

The Greatest Awards would like to thank sponsors, Elho, National Garden Gift Vouchers, MorePeople and The HTA plus the event organisers at The HTA Catering Conference, National Plant Show, GIMA Awards spoga+gafa and HTA Futures for agreeing to be presentation venues for The Greatest Awards ON TOUR 2015. 

Sponsorship opportunities are available for product and service suppliers seeking to gain the highest possible exposure between now and November this year.  Please contact mandy.atkin@tgcmc.co.uk for details.

Click here to read Issue 1 of the Glee Daily News 2015:  http://gleedailynews.newsweaver.com/Gleeedailynews/xd2n5gqg7ka

Click here to read Issue 2 of the Glee Daily News 2015  http://gleedailynews.newsweaver.com/Gleeedailynews/egyyc133e99

There will be more preview issues of The Glee Daily News this year, plus three "Live" from the show issues, and an Omnibus issue after Glee.

REMEMBER TO COLLECT YOUR FREE GLEE SHOW CATALOGUE AT THE ENTRANCES WHEN YOU VISIT GLEE

Polhill Garden Centre

Gifts and Homeware Team Leader

London Road, Badgers Mount, Sevenoaks, Kent,TN14 7BD

An excellent opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and self motivated, hands-on Team Leader to take on the responsibility of the daily management of the Gift and Homeware Department.

The products include gift items, cookware, home interiors and furniture, children’s toys, cards and books.

The successful candidate will possess outstanding retail knowledge in a similar environment, display attention to detail and flair for display and possess a real passion for providing outstanding customer service.

The main duties include:

• Assisting customers
• Ddaily ordering
• Merchandising
• Ddisplays
• Maintaining high levels of shop floor and customer service standards
• Managing a small friendly team
• Some heavy lifting involved

Hours: 4 weekdays and alternate weekends

Assistant Manager, Studley Garden Centre

This is a great time to join Studley Garden Centre, part of the Hillview Garden Centres group, as we're about to embark on an investment programme that is aimed to double the store's turnover.

We're looking for a strong individual, ideally with a garden centre background. You'll be shop floor based but required to assist with some of the site administration, budgets etc so need to be computer literate.
Most importantly you'll be a great retailer and team leader.

Send CV and covering letter to Paul Williams, GC Manager Studley Garden Centre, paul.w@studleygardencentre.co.uk

• Analyse tender documentation and prepare costs for the client  
• Adhering to tight deadlines  
• Understand client requirements and discuss cost estimates with the ability to offer alternatives for the benefit of both client and employer  
• Assisting the Commercial Sales Manager with duties  
• Identifying and introducing potential new clients  
• Assist the Sales Team with Technical Enquiries.

• Overseeing the implementation of contracts to strict deadlines and budgets
• Assisting in development and bidding for new works
• Liaison with clients
• Implementation and management of health & safety and quality procedures
• Supervision of Teams
• Maintaining contract files

• Picea abies 'Acrocona'
• Larix decidua 'Puli'
• Thuja plicata 'Atrovirens'
• Taxus baccata 'Icicle'

• Acer ‘Osakazuki’
• Colchicum speciosum
• Erica ‘Springwood White’

Gardman products are this week’s top performers...and as the days get shorter, its all about lighting once again.

Star performers:

• Gardman’s Traditional Candle Lantern makes a dramatic entry at No.1.
• Gardman’s Solar Black Nickel Glass Marker Light is the highest climber, up 26 places to No 11 - just beating the 25-places uplift by Woodlodge’s 4in Spang Pot.
• Highest new entry this week: Gardman’s Ice Cube Solar Lights.
• The continuing popularity of orchids is clear to see. That perennial chart topper, the Fito Orchid drip feeder, is still hanging around at No 3, while Growth Technology’s Orchid Myst has another sales surge to climb 24 places to No 10. 

Winter green are creating plenty of activity in the upper reaches of the chart this week, with Sweetheart cabbage plants from Quantil gaining the top spot, while spring cabbage, kale and Chinese broccoli all show good gains in the Top 12.

• It’s been another good week for Thompson & Morgan, who have eight re-entries in the Top 50 - and their Turnip Snowball seeds is the highest new entry.
• Tender veg seeds still make several appearances in the chart, despite the fact that it’s the wrong time of the year for sowing. Chillis, tomatoes and cucamelons (that interesting but not especially delicious novelty endorsed by James Wong in the Suttons range) all figure. So, do gardeners already have one eye on next season - or are these just impulse purchases?

First signs of the start of the spring bulbs planting season are apparent in the GTN Bestsellers Growing Media chart this week, with the re-entry of Taylors bulb fibre at No 26 and of Westland’s Bulb Planting Compost at No 49. But it’s two Westland composts that make the biggest impact.

• Westland’s Multi-Purpose Compost 75L was the highest climber, gaining 20 places to No 9. Scotts Levington John Innes No 2 25L was its closest rival climber, up 19 places to No 22 with sales increases of more than 50% on the week. 
  
• Highest re-entry is Westland Gro-Sure Peat-Free All Purpose Compost with 4-month feed 50L, back in at No 17. 

Organisers of the Garden Press Event 2016 (Thursday 18 February, Barbican Exhibition Hall, London) say space is selling faster than ever this year.

The 10th anniversary Garden Press Event saw a record number of exhibitors and journalists in attendance.

The aim of the event is to connect garden related suppliers and manufacturers with the most influential journalists and media professionals from the national press and the biggest magazine titles plus TV, radio and on-line media. 

 Addressing suppliers and manufacturers, Guy Burtenshaw, Director Media Events said: “This unique event is the best opportunity to showcase your range and to launch new products; face to face contact is worth a thousand press releases.

He added: "The exclusive media audience spans writers, journalists and media professionals from the major garden magazines, as well as national and local press, TV and radio journalists and producers, bloggers and website writers. It is the best chance to meet and impress the media and promote your company and products to them."

GIMA, BHETA, HTA, BALI & HEA members are all eligible for a discount,

Find out more on 01243 860600

The organisers of one of the UK’s top commercial horticultural exhibitions have announced that Container Centralen will be running the mobile trolley exchange service at this year’s South West Growers Show, which takes place on Wednesday 7th October at The Matford Centre in Exeter, Devon.

“The management team running the SWGS have always tried to give their exhibitors and you, our visitors, something extra when attending our show at Exeter” explained David Jackson, Chairman of the Show committee: “Container Centralen ran a similar exchange at the show in 2013 which was really well received so we were thrilled when they agreed to run a similar service at this year’s show”.

For growers in the West Country exchanging damaged trolley bases and shelves can be quite a challenge but the mobile exchange service brings the Container Centralen depot to you, the customer, at the Show. All you need to do is bring along your damaged bases and shelves – shelves are determined as being both side struts – and Container Centralen will exchange them for fully serviceable replacements. CC are also offering customers the opportunity to bring along any good quality black tagged or blank trollies to be introduced back in to the system with a red tag for a special price of just £8.35 per trolley. The offer will be available at the show and for limited time afterwards to ensure that all visitors have the opportunity to make use of this great deal.

Prior booking for this service is essential and CC will be sending an invitation to all customers over the coming weeks. Although this service is currently only available to existing customers representatives from CC will be on hand at the show to discuss your businesses logistical needs and advise you on the services they can offer.

The show, now in its 42nd year, is aimed at growers and plant buyers – ranging from garden centres and retail outlets to local authorities and the landscaping industry - the show brings together key growers and suppliers of specialist horticultural equipment and services and is a great place to see and source all the latest plant introductions and products.

With more than 60 exhibitors already booked, the organisers are encouraging people to contact them as soon as possible to reserve their space.

Costs are as follows:

• £52.50m2 for space only
• £73.50 m2 for shell scheme

David concluded: “The South West Growers Show has established itself as the foremost event in the South West for the commercial horticultural industry. For the visitor, it provides the ideal venue to meet key growers and horticultural suppliers as well as sourcing the latest plant introductions and products; for the exhibitor it offers a unique business-to- business environment which results in more than 90 per cent of attendees purchasing or placing orders.”

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 printed newsletter.

As the year goes on we give sales volume comparisons with 2013 as well as 2014 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 Veg-2-Gro Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Growing Media Bestsellers 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.