He becomes the third director to leave following the acquisition of the seven G&L garden centres by The Garden Centre Group, the others being MD Neville Prest and operations director Carol Paris.

There are fears that his departure won't be the last as TGCG review the management structure and staffing at G&L. It has been reported that 75 garden centre staff are currently going through a consultation process for 45 jobs – some of which will be part time – although TGCG said it wouldn't comment on HR matters. 

A total of 18 people will lose their jobs when Garden King-owned Bradley Nurseries, near Stafford, closes its doors at the end of March.

The garden centre, in Oak Lane, Bradley, and its accompanying restaurant, is due to shut its doors for the final time on March 30 after admitting defeat in the face of competition from supermarkets, the effects of the weather, the recession and the centre’s isolated location.

The business owners, Garden King, which will continue to run its two other centres in Leicestershire, decided there was no future for the Bradley operation.

“It has been losing money, basically,” said joint manager, Darren Sanders, who has been at Bradley for two and a half years. His fellow manager, Dave Winfield, has been working at the site for nearly 20 years.

Garden King is the centre’s third owner in recent years.

Ten members of staff at the garden centre, and a further eight at the Olive Grove restaurant – a franchise which operates out of leased premises on the site – will be made redundant when the business closes.

“The centre needs investment of £1 million,” said Mr Sanders. “And even then, there would be no guarantee of success.

“We’ve had bad weather for two years, people have less money to spend, and Bradley is too far out out of the way for most people. We just haven’t been able to pull in the customers. It’s been losing money for a long time.

“We’ve also faced competition from the big supermarkets who have taken a lot of the bread and butter business from us over the years.”

Mr Sanders said a number of options for the site were being considered.

Garden King Newhall, Planters Garden Centre and Planters at Bretby are unaffected by this closure.

The hotly contended competition to win an on-site appearance by ITV gardener David Domoney during Garden Re-Leaf weekend, has been won by Millbrook Garden Centre’s Gravesend branch.  

In support of Garden Re-Leaf Day (Friday,  March 14), David offered a day of free, 30-minute expert talks on Sunday, March 16, to the garden centre that had the best ideas for optimising his visit.

Millbrook’s concept aimed to link David’s presence with its award winning on-site wildlife area and a project to inspire local children in gardening – all whilst raising money for Garden Re-Leaf Day. 

David will deliver talks about creating a sensory, stimulating garden which encourages wildlife, as well as doing ‘walking talks’ around Millbrook Gravesend’s revamped wildlife area and bird hide. The Millbrook team also plans a competition asking local schoolchildren to suggest ideas, plants and features that they would like to see in a garden for sick children.

Matthew Upton, Manager at Millbrook Garden Centre’s Gravesend branch, confirmed: “We were thrilled to win the visit from David!  The competition has been the springboard to lots of ideas for attracting customers and boosting our Garden Re-Leaf Day fund-raising, as well as engaging with local young people.  We will also be able to showcase our newly revamped wildlife area here, which includes a wildflower meadow, bird hide and even an insect hotel.  We’re looking forward to the day.”

TV gardener David Domoney said: “I’m delighted to be joining forces with Millbrook Garden Centre to raise money for Garden Re-Leaf Day.  I was particularly impressed by the idea to involve local schoolchildren in the charity fundraising.  I can’t wait to see their ideas for garden plants and features.  The focus on attracting wildlife is also important, because gardening is about so much more than just plants.”

David’s visit to Millbrook will be a ticketed event, with proceeds going towards Garden Re-Leaf Day’s nominated charity for 2014, the Greenfingers ‘Rosy Cheeks’ appeal.  Greenfingers is the nationwide charity dedicated to building gardens in children’s hospices around the UK, with its Rosy Cheeks Appeal aiming to raise £750,000 over two years to fund the creation of at least ten more, unique children’s hospice gardens.  

Expert ITV gardener David co-presents ITV’s prime time gardening show, Love Your Garden, and is one of the most decorated garden designers in the UK having won 27 Royal Horticultural Society medals.  He is an active supporter of Garden Re-Leaf Day, and is launching his second Cultivation Street campaign – a national, joint community gardens initiative with the HTA – during Garden Re-Leaf weekend. 

Garden Re-Leaf Day’s founder and Hillview Garden Centre CEO Boyd Douglas-Davies added: “We are delighted that David is donating his time free of charge in aid of Garden Re-Leaf, and we wish him and the Millbrook team an enjoyable and successful day.” 

He continued: “There is still time for other garden retailers to participate in Garden Re-Leaf Day, by registering on www.gardenreleaf.co.uk and either taking advantage of our nationwide Celebrity Gardening Quiz, ‘Loose Change’ and supplier promotions available, or running special, local events of your own. It’s not only a fun, fund-raising day, but also an opportunity to generate extra, early-season footfall, so don’t miss out!”

Get involved

• Visit www.gardenreleaf.co.uk and follow @GardenReLeaf on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates
• To run the popular Garden Re-Leaf Day ‘Celebrity Gardening Quiz’ at your site, order an organiser’s pack (£100) from 0118 930 8918 or email 

Value retail group QD Commercial Holdings has further expanded its Cherry Lane Garden Centre portfolio with the acquisition of Early Dawn Nurseries near Lowestoft in Suffolk, its 10^th centre.

Founded in the 1960s, Early Dawn has a staff of 12, all of whom will be employed by the new owners. The centre will continue to trade as Early Dawn, re-launching at Easter upon following major redevelopment, including a new family restaurant.

QD Commercial Holdings CEO Nick Rubins said Early Dawn was “a fabulous looking site with an established customer base." The current offer would be expanded to make it easier for customers to shop the full range of Cherry Lane products, he said.

"Early Dawn has a great reputation for on site, own-grown plants and we look forward to expanding this with continued success over the coming seasons.”

Ruibins said QD’s strategy was to develop its garden centre business organically and through acquisition. We always welcome approaches from successful businesses looking to exit the market," he added.

Cherry Lane Garden Centres also trade at Long Melford and Pulham Market in Suffolk, Bradmore in Nottinghamshire, Fritton in Norfolk, Towcester in Northamptonshire, Beverley in Yorkshire, Braintree in Essex, Tickhill in South Yorkshire and Cromford in Derbyshire.

QD operate a chain of High Street value stores.

As garden centres ready themselves for the season the questions on everyones lips are “How will the season go?”  “What will the weather be like for the next few weeks?”

Sunshine after the rains will surely get customers more active this week – provided their not in a flood area of course, and this weeks GTN Bestsellers charts indicate that keener gardeners are getting on with seed sowing and veg plot preperation despite the weather..

The Met Office weather forecast for March says “unsettled conditions persisting for much of this period but not to the same severity as we have seen recently.” 

And it goes on to predict: “Temperatures are likely to be close to the seasonal average with colder periods possible between weather systems. This will maintain the risk of some frosty and icy nights, and also some hill snow, especially in the north.”

Now that sounds like a normal March to us and gives hope that gardeners will be able to get out on their plots in numbers this year.  We can certainly do without the dips of in-activity that are illustrated in graphic above.

With Garden Re-Leaf Day on March 14 providing a national and local media stimulus to the start of the season we’re sure the green line on the chart above will once again be riding high above the levels for 2012 and 2013.

GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year:

• Garden Products – down 24%
• Veg 2 Gro – down 33%
• Growing Media – down 28%
• All items index – down 18%

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £145.00 per year click here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business.  Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

Worcestershire-based Forest Garden has employed 100 new workers to meet peak production demand of replacement fence panels and garden sheds as a result of the high winds and gales this winter.

Based on Hartlebury Trading Estate, just outside Kidderminster, the new workers have largely joined as part of Forest’s in-house production and manufacturing teams. With production levels reaching in excess of four times the norm, the increase in staff numbers will help Forest to ensure rapid delivery of its products to garden centres and retailers across the country as consumers look to replace fencing and sheds that have been damaged in the recent storms.

This growth also comes shortly after Forest announced the acquisition of M&M Timber, another Worcestershire based garden timber manufacturer. Acquired in late 2013, the combination of the two businesses means that together the larger group will be able to explore wider market opportunities, thanks to their complementary product ranges and resources.

Talking about the expansion, Guy Grainger, Group Chief Executive of Forest Garden, and John Gomersall, Sales & Marketing Director, issued this statement...

“We’re extremely pleased to be able to report the significant expansion of our team here at Forest. 

The beginning of 2014 has brought with it some incredibly challenging weather, and as a result we have had to ramp up our production levels to meet demand for product across the board. 

"The introduction of 100 new workers will allow us to continue to meet this demand, whilst also demonstrating our commitment to our business and employment in the local area.”

The seed sowing season is well underway with many related items appearing in the GTN Bestsellers Garden Products Top 50 chart this week.

Gardman products have had a particularly good week with their Compact 4 Tier Growhouse being the highest re-entry. The same company have also seen their Insect Mesh Tunnel Cloche (pictured above) rocket into the chart for the first time. The Polythene Cover Tunnel Cloche is another re-entry.

Now that the high winds have died down and the weather has settled somewhat, gardeners are taking advantage of the respite to repair storm damage to their trees and greenhouses.

Gardman, who have 20 entries in the Top 50 this week, have witnessed good sales of Greenhouse Clips (pack of 25), Heavy Duty Tree Ties (50cm), and Pressure Treated Softwood Round Tree Stakes (1.8m x 40mm). Gardman also have the highest chart climber in their Bottle Candle Lantern, hopefully not all purchased due to pwer cuts.

The highest new entry this week belongs to Sinclair New Horizon Poultry Manure (7kg), coming straight into the Top 10.

Fito Drip Feeder For Orchids returns to the No 1 spot while last week’s chart topper, Gardman Ladies Work Glove Set (Twin pack), slips four places.

See the full GTN Garden Products Bestsellers Chart here.

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £145.00 per year click here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business.  Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

With seven months to go until the doors open on Glee 2014 (September 14-16, NEC Birmingham) the show’s organisers – i2i Events – are urging interested parties to confirm their place at the exhibition, as floorspace is filling up fast. 

Following an unprecedented response to the changes that are set to take place at the 2014 show, more than 75% of the overall floorspace has already been booked up by a host of big name brands, business start-ups, and niche suppliers from the garden retail market in the UK and abroad. 

Joining those brands that have already confirmed their attendance at Glee 2014 will be Adobe, Albany Shed Company, Anglo Eastern Trading, Apta, BeeMat, Bord na Mona, Briers, Cuprinol (Akzo Nobel), DLF Trifolium, Elho, G7 Computers, Gardman, Globus, Greanbase, Haddonstone, Haws Watering Cans, Javado, La Hacienda, Melcourt Industries, Norfolk Leisure Lifestyle, Nutscene, Petface, Premier Decorations, Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, Spear & Jackson, Swallow (GB) Ltd, Taylors Bulbs, The Great British Card Company, VegTrug and Whitefurze. 

 i2i’s Matthew Mein, event manager at Glee commented on in the show’s great shape.  He said: “It’s fantastic to be able to report that Glee is three-quarters full with seven months still to go until the doors opens. This level of industry commitment has clearly demonstrated the industry’s ongoing engagement with Glee and what the show can deliver in terms of profit potential, business building and networking opportunities.  I’ve no doubt that this will stand us in good stead for delivering one of the market’s strongest events in several years.

 “Not only are exhibitors flocking to book their presence at Glee, but they are also doing so with renewed enthusiasm for how they showcase their 2015 ranges.  Many exhibitors have already expanded their exhibition space, whilst others have been working closely with the team to develop an entirely new proposition regarding their stand design, and how they’ll promote their products at the show.  I for one am excited to see these plans come to fruition later this year – it really is set to be an exciting display!”

 Matthew added:  “We’ll also shortly be able to announce some of the exciting, added value content that we’ve put in place to ensure that every second spent at Glee will be hardworking and inspiring for both manufacturers and retailers.  Our plans stretch the length and breadth of the show, ensuring that all sectors covered by Glee can benefit from an unrivalled educational programme, plus a wealth of additional features such as our new product awards and also wider networking opportunities. We’ve no doubt that this new content will complement exhibitor activities to help create the strongest possible buying and selling opportunities for the garden retail market.”

Glee - organised by i2i Events Group - is the UK’s leading garden trade buying event, and the only one to bring the whole industry together under one roof.  Built on the themes of ‘Discover, Network, Grow’, Glee 2014 will be the 40th successful year for the show.  In 2014 Glee enters a new era as it moves to a new location within the NEC’s Halls 17 – 20; creating a host of fresh indoor and outdoor exhibiting, feature and visitor opportunities that meet the buying and selling needs of the modern garden retail industry. 

Further details about Glee 2014, including a wealth of additional brands confirming their attendance, will be announced soon. For exhibiting information, call 0207 728 4623, and to find out the latest show news log onto www.gleebirmingham.com

Fleuroselect, the international organisation for the ornamental plants industry, have announced four new Gold Medal awards that will be available to the wholesale trade this year for retail sales in 2015.

The Fleuroselect Gold Medal is awarded to new varieties that have been tested by Fleuroselect's expert and independent judges at trial grounds across Europe and proven to clearly supersede existing varieties in terms of breeding innovation and beauty. They would normally be expected to become best sellers after release.

Begonia ‘California Sunlight’ (Selecta Klemm) is a semi-upright, bushy plant offering summer long garden performance all. Large orange flowers cascade down from dark foliage. This cutting-raised variety will stand out in pots, hanging baskets and containers.  It is both drought and rain tolerant and thrives in full sun and shade.

Impatiens hawkerii ‘Florific® Sweet Orange’ (Syngenta Flowers) is the first bicolour in seed-raised New Guinea Impatiens. Thanks to its excellent branching habit, it is a showy, full plant with huge flowers presenting above the foliage – a shade-lover for hanging baskets and window boxes, edges and flower borders.

Lavandula stoechas ‘Bandera Purple’ (Kieft Seed) represents the new generation of lavendula stoechas. The first commercially compact Lavandula stoechas raised from seed, it offers an abundance of spikes carrying dark purple flowers with purple flags on plants that do not exceed 20 cm. A half-hardy annual for pots, containers or bedding.

Palmako Log Cabins, one of Europe’s largest producers of garden log cabins, has recently decided to hold stock of their extensive range of garden buildings in the UK. 

The move has been made in response to growing demand for their products and helps facilitate the desire to be able to offer a 7-10 delivery service on all their most popular designs. 

Tonis Roll, the UK sales manager, commented when asked on this new development “We are keen to expand our operations in the United Kingdom and feel this move to stockholding will help our distributers to offer their customer’s a faster and more professional service. Our cabins can be ordered from stock and delivered direct to the end customer  on very short lead times.“

Palmako are holding an open day on March 13 near Birmingham to introduce their new products and service  for 2014. They are keen to attract new distributers and welcome any potential trade customer’s to attend.

For details and to book your space call Mark Bailey 0131 660 2633.    

Hollywood star Jude Law and Dr Who actor David Tennant have joined the growing list of household-name celebrities to support Garden Re-Leaf Day’s popular Gardening Quiz, by recording a round of questions.  The brain-teasing audio quiz is available as a customer event opportunity to any garden centre taking part in the annual fund-raising day in March.

The two stars join Skyfall’s ‘Miss Moneypenny’, actress Naomie Harris – currently on cinema screens as Winnie Mandela in Long Walk to Freedom – in presenting a section of the questions.  EastEnders cast members Danny Dyer (new Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter) and Patsy Palmer (fiery market trader Bianca Butcher) have also lent their familiar voices to the quiz, in addition to a round recorded by impressionist Alistair McGowan – in the vocal style of celebrities John Humphrys, David Mitchell, Matt Baker, Dara Ó Briain and Stephen Fry.

David Tennant, Naomie Harris and Alistair McGowan have agreed to support Garden Re-Leaf Day’s popular Gardening Quiz.

The quiz – which includes both general knowledge and gardening rounds – can be ordered by all retailers, suppliers and other organisations participating in Garden Re-Leaf Day; with funds raised going towards its chosen charity, Greenfingers. The production of the quiz and accompanying CDs are being provided by Garden Radio, as part of its support for Garden Re-Leaf Day.

The quiz is also a ready-made opportunity to boost customer footfall, as Garden Re-Leaf Day’s founder and Hillview Garden Centre CEO Boyd Douglas-Davies explains: “We’re enormously grateful that so many mainstream stars have supported this year’s Garden Re-Leaf Day quiz – it will be more popular than ever!  It’s a simple way for retailers both to take part in Garden Re-Leaf, and attract scores of customers in-store at the start of the spring gardening season.  You can make the event even more effective by running other sales promotions, refreshments and fund-raisers alongside. The organiser’s pack costs just £100 and is available by calling 01993 871456 or emailing pat@gca.org.uk”

Garden centres and suppliers across the UK are expected to take part in the third annual Garden Re-Leaf Day, held on Friday 14 March 2014 and across the weekend. Participants – who can run any number of nationally-coordinated or local fund-raising initiatives – are being urged to register their involvement as soon as possible by emailing the organising team at info@gardenreleaf.co.uk with an overview of your planned activities.  Your location and events will then be added to the Garden Re-Leaf Day website: www.gardenreleaf.co.uk.

As in its first two years, Garden Re-Leaf Day’s nominated charity in 2014 is Greenfingers; the nationwide charity dedicated to building gardens in children’s hospices around the UK. Since 2012 Garden Re-Leaf Day participants have raised more than £116,000 for the cause; enabling several life-enhancing hospice gardens to be created.

Great British Bake Off winner Jo Wheatley highlighted cannoli, lobster tails, mini cupcakes and hybrid pastries as the next big things in catering for 2014. Speaking at the sell-out HTA Catering Conference in Coventry, Wheatley spoke about how she keeps up with the latest foodie trends on social media.

The conference, sponsored by Vision Commercial Kitchens, attracted 250 people involved in garden centre catering and provided a great forum for lively debate and discussion. With garden centre catering now providing 15-20% of the turnover in many garden retail businesses it is an extremely important aspect of the modern day garden centre that has grown significantly over the last 5 years.

Lauren Cocks from the Oasis Café at Coletta and Tyson and Elly Yates from the Colonial Cafe at the Plantation Garden Company both provided candid accounts of how they have developed their operations including the lessons learned and the challenges along the way. Further inspiration was provided by Sue Allen from the Millbrook Garden Company who used images from the International Garden Centre Association tour of Australia to take a look at how Australian garden centres are ‘on top rather than down under’ when it comes to catering.

Workshops sessions on Sourcing Locally, Coping with Peaks in Demand, Recruiting the Right Staff and Improving Service Speeds provided great top tips and takeaway ideas to put into practice.

Using examples from his previous roles at M&S Jason Danciger, Food and Beverage Director at The Garden Centre Group showed how by creating theatre people can be enticed to buy. People don’t shop to go shopping anymore – they can do that online. They go for the experience. He spoke of creating real wow factors such as ‘Alice in wonderland’ style cake table to really capture the imagination and get people talking.

This point was also picked up by Alan Roper, Managing Director of the Blue Diamond Group, who in the development of their Redfield site have provided a food theatre with an open plan kitchen. Customers can see all the food being prepared and this helps them to develop trust which in turn helps to upgrade and spend more.

The panel debate on Waitress Service versus Self Service provided interesting discussion and in conclusion there was no right or wrong you just need to know your customers. Waitress service helps create atmosphere and more of an experience. Different approaches are required for different customers and so this means you need to provide several offerings to suit. As Neil Grant from Ferndale Garden Centre said, ‘Everyone is an expert in eating so you need to keep your customers happy’.

Continuing the theme of creating theatre Jemma Swallow from The Tea Box in Richmond provided an insight into how tea and the many different high end quality loose leaf tea varieties can provide added interest. Not only do they provide a health benefit but they can also be used as a cooking ingredient in ice-cream, cakes, soups and salad. With worldwide sales of tea having grown rapidly over the last ten years Jemma spoke of the huge potential for tea in the UK and how it is not just for winter.

Concluding the conference Jo Wheatley shared her experience of winning the Great British Bake Off in 2011 along with the ongoing development of her cookery school. She spoke about the development of hybrid pastries such as the Townie (Tart/Brownie), Cragel (Croissant/Bagel) and Crookie (Croissant/Cookie) and the importance of trying something new and keeping up with foodie trends.

Key takeaway points

• Getting the menu mix is critical
• Don’t sit back and expect growth
• Always deliver on passion, quality and service
• Be clear where you want to drive costs down and don’t compromise on quality
• Dare to be different
• Trial new menus with staff first – if they like it so will your customers
• Create theatre and interest
• Keep it honest and simple, fresh and seasonal
• Be famous for something – keep customers coming back
• Look for inspiration from outside the industry
• It is never easy if you deliver something special
• And remember people can’t buy coffee and cake on the internet!

Running alongside the conference this year was an exhibition area which allowed delegates to meet with a range of key catering suppliers including Ice Cream World, Mars, Bon Bons, Catering Design Group, Carford Group, Cawston Press, Country Choice and Patchwork Pate.

Rhubarb has come to the fore in Veg-2-Gro sales volumes this week, re-entering the chart with bang as it goes straight to top spot. It mirrors what happened in the same week last year when Allensmore Rhubarb Timperly Early also topped the chart.

Overall the Top 50 veg sales are down year on year. We predict this will change next week when the full range of young veg plants come into stock.  KinderGarden Tomato Gardeners Delight (4 cell plugs) is an early Top 50 re-entry this week.

Gardeners are certainly preparing for the veg growing season and are buying seeds.

Beetroot Boltardy seeds from Thompson & Morgan and Suttons are highly placed in the Veg-2-Gro chart, while T&M’s Pea Jumbo and Runner Bean Tenderstar are both new entries.

T&M also have the highest climber in Basil Outdoor (above), jumping 29 places.

Taylors Seed Potatoes Sarpo Axona have re-entered the chart after good sales.

See the full GTN Veg 2 Gro Bestsellers Chart here.

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £145.00 per year click here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business.  Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

Bosmere Products Ltd has announced the expansion of their marketing team with the appointment of Pippa Bowker as Marketing Coordinator. In this new role Pippa will be actively involved in NPD, promotions, exhibitions and the development of social media. 

Pippa has a business background in events management in a variety of sectors, she also has a wealth of experience of current trends and consumer demands having worked directly with clients in the public sector. In addition to this she has hands on experience as an Assistant Manager of a Safari camp in Botswana which she did as part of her placement during studies at Bournemouth University. 

Commenting on her appointment Pippa said: “The garden industry is going through a period of considerable change and I am really looking forward to the opportunities within Bosmere, it will allow me to utilise and put into practice the skills I have gained since I graduated.” 

Bosmere’s Sales & Marketing Director, Steve Millington, said: “Over the past 18 months we have re-structured our Sales and Marketing operation to ensure that we are able to respond to the increasing demands within the market place. This new appointment strengthens our ability to meet the opportunities and challenges in this fast moving industry as we continue to grow the business.” 

Growing Media sales volumes have been boosted this week with gardeners buying their compost for the seed sowing season. The highest climber in the Bestsellers chart is Arthur Bowers John Innes Seed (10 litres), moving up 33, just behind Westland John Innes Seed (30 litres).

Westland Gro-Sure Vegetable Compost (50 litres) is the highest Top 50 re-entry this week.

Some of the best sales volume increases recorded this week are the following:

• Vital Earth RSPB Multipurpose Compost (50 litres) is the highest new entry.
• Scotts Miracle-Gro Azalea, Camelia & Rhododendron Compost (50 litres) is also a new entry.
• Scotts Levington Original Gro-bag returns after 100% increase in sales.
• Westland Bed and Border Chipped Bark (70 litres).

See the full GTN Growing Media Bestsellers Chart here.

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £145.00 per year click here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business.  Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

Garden centres with restaurants and cafés looking to improve their customer service and sales should be embracing new technology, according to industry experts.

The implementation and better use of EPoS (Electronic Point of Sale) systems can benefit garden centres tremendously when it comes to customer flow say EPoS experts, Easitill, which supplies three systems to the industry.

Managing Director Rob Gardner explained: “These days it’s quite uncommon to visit a garden centre that doesn’t have its own restaurant or café but a lot of garden centres aren’t making the most of technology within them, which can help themselves and their customers.

“There are three systems that cafés and restaurants can benefit hugely from. The standard checkout service, which allows customers to serve themselves and queue up to pay at the end, the table allocation service, which is table number driven and the waitress centred table service.

“By linking them directly into the kitchens where orders are printed out, service is much quicker, thus improving customer feedback and the number of diners that can be served.”

All of Easitill’s software is created in-house specifically for garden centres and nurseries and it allows them to improve their efficiency, reduce errors, increase security and turnover and retention.

Rob added: “Restaurant EPoS systems are extremely user-friendly and include touch screen technology. We can install a real-time set up that sends accurate product data to and from tills and master/back office as and when it happens. It can record accurate sales data using simple screen layouts, programmable touch screen keys and multiple button sets/layers.

“They will make the running of the restaurant or café much more efficient and we can arrange installation and staff training too.”

Easitill can also link EPoS systems with its various loyalty card schemes, which encourage customers to keep coming back. With the schemes restaurants and cafés can benefit from increased customer retention and spend.

The Easitill Loyalty schemes can also be used in the rest of the garden centre so that customer’s points are earned not only in the restaurant but between the various parts of the business as a whole.

Easitill, which is a family-run business, has assisted garden centres with their EPoS requirements since 1988.

It helps small to medium-sized garden centres and nurseries with EPoS, website, mobile and mail order solutions to improve the profitability and quality of their business operations.

For further details, please call Easitill on 01604 882030, email support@easitill.co.ukor visit www.easitill-horticultural.co.uk for examples of the systems in use.

AN established garden centre in the Ribble Valley could close and be redeveloped into houses if sales don’t start to pick up, according to the company.

Plans to build 43 properties on the site of Hansons Garden Centre in Barrow have recently been approved by Ribble Valley Borough Council.

The firm, which has been on the site from around 80 years, currently employs eight full and part-time staff but has said that it has ‘no plans’ to close soon.

The Whalley Road business has been run by the Hanson family for the last 11 years and has described the planning application as an ‘insurance policy’ in case sales continue to be poor.

Lindsey Hanson, who is a director at the firm, said: “We have no plans to close the garden centre at the moment and it’s business as usual.

“It’s obviously tough at the moment because people have less money and there is a lot of competition out there.

“We really do not want to shut the business but if sales continue to be poor then it’s something that we are going to have to seriously look at.

“The application is just an insurance policy and we are all hoping that we don’t have to go down that road.

“We want to keep on going and that’s very much what we are focusing on at the moment.”

The HTA stands strongly opposed to a suggested levy on non-native plant imports and stressed that a more holistic approach to the urban and rural landscape and environment would better protect our horticultural heritage and biodiversity.

In evidence provided by Martin Emmett on behalf of the HTA, to the Environment Audit Committee on Wednesday 29th January 2014, Emmett was robust in his opposition, stating the likelihood that this would primarily be seen as a tax on gardening and UK production.

There are more than 75,000 garden plant entries in the Royal Horticultural Society Plant Finder, most of which are non-native. The European trade in horticulture is very competitive already and any such levy would simply reduce the competitiveness of the UK industry.

Whilst the importance of conserving natural habitats is widely recognised, it needs to be balanced with the demands of a growing population. A fully integrated landscape approach would encompass, but not be limited to, interests as diverse as food production, conservation, forestry, housing, gardening, urban greening, land use for renewable energy and tourism.

Such a strategy would improve on the current piecemeal approach which often spawns policies in direct conflict with each other. A more integrated approach could also benefit Government activity such as resource management and environmental policy, including flooding.

From the outset the HTA highlighted the vital importance that international trade plays in the horticultural industry when Government Select Committee members questioned the role of international trade in the introduction of invasive species. Without this trade our gardens and biodiversity would be impoverished.

The HTA also made the point to the committee that invasive pests can be brought in through industries other than horticulture and called for a balance to be struck between facilitating trade and protecting the bio-security and landscapes of the UK.

The HTA also stressed that members take the subject of invasive non-natives very seriously and would play a leading and pro-active role with Defra in the Be Plant Wise campaign, helping to produce materials and distribute those materials to the gardening public through our garden centre members.

The HTA has also worked with the National Trust, Defra and others to draw up bio-security guidelines for nurseries and has also pro-actively warned Defra and Government of potential threats such as Ash Dieback.

“With respect to landscape management, there is a tendency for politicians to respond primarily to the arguments from wildlife conservation organisations from wildlife conservation organisations,” states Emmett.

“And we see this happening in the inquiry into invasive non-native species. The conservationists’ concerns are relevant but so are the concerns of the garden sector which plays such an important role in making our populated environments pleasant to live in.”

The full response can be found here or on the HTA website.

With special offers and promotions guaranteed, take time to wander through the extended range of quality specimen plants before relaxing over a delicious Italian lunch. The Europlants team will all be on hand to help with plant information and pricing, or to discuss forward orders. But, they tell us, what they want most of all is that you to enjoy your day and their famous hospitality.

To attend, call Pat Lawrence on 01707 649996 or email her on pat@europlants.net

www.europlants.net


The Pistoia Nursery Park developed by Vannucci, from whom Europlants import much of their specimen stock.

The organisers of Garden Re-Leaf Day – the annual season-starting garden retail event in aid of children’s hospice garden charity Greenfingers – have announced a new and simple way to enable garden product and plant suppliers to get involved in time for March 14...

The ‘Loose Change’ scheme involves suppliers placing special, coin-shaped stickers in denominations of 50p or £1 – available from Greenfingers – on products of their choice, either before despatch or after delivery to the retailer. 

The selected products can then be featured in dedicated Garden Re-Leaf Day product displays set up by participating garden centres, with the stickers showing consumers how much money the supplier will donate to the Greenfingers ‘Rosy Cheeks Appeal’ upon purchase of the goods.

The Loose Change initiative aims to ensure no supplier, or retailer, misses out on Garden Re-Leaf Day’s promotional and fund-raising opportunities due to time and budget constraints. 

The idea was devised by former Gardman marketing director Jane Lawler, who is now helping to support the partnership between Greenfingers and Garden Re-Leaf Day. 

Jane (left) explained:  “Loose Change offers a fast and easy way for product suppliers and growers to take part in Garden Re-Leaf Day and be associated with the appeal.  You can buy just a few stickers for a small display in a single centre, or hundreds for distribution across all your participating customers.  

"The consumer pays just the normal in store price – but with the knowledge that 50p or £1 of their purchase is being paid to the Greenfingers Rosy Cheeks Appeal on their behalf by the product supplier.”

The Greenfingers Rosy Cheeks Appeal aims to raise £750,000 over two years to fund the creation of at least ten more, unique children’s hospice gardens.  “By suppliers offering these specially labelled products, Greenfingers will be able to give more families the gift of spending precious time together in the fresh air, away from the hospice bedside, in carefully designed gardens,” added Jane.

The Loose Change initiative follows the announcement of support for the Garden Re-leaf Day quiz from celebrities such as Jude Law, David Tennant, Alistair MacGowan and Patsy Palmer; and a competition for garden centres to win a visit from ITV’s Love Your Garden presenter, David Domoney.

Garden centres across the UK are registering to run special events and activities for Garden Re-Leaf Day, which takes place on Friday 14^th March and across the weekend.

Find out more

• Suppliers looking to take part in the Loose Change promotion should call 01494 674749 or contact info@gardenreleaf.co.uk
• Retailers and suppliers wanting to participate in Garden Re-Leaf Day need to register their details on www.gardenreleaf.co.uk
• Retailers looking to enter the free, ‘Gardening Date with David’ competition should email info@gardenreleaf.co.uk by the closing date of February 7
• Anyone wishing to run the Garden Re-Leaf Day Celebrity Gardening Quiz, can order an organiser’s pack (£100) from 0118 930 8918 or email pat@gca.org.uk

Waitrose and Van Hage confirmed this week that they are exploring with district planners the possibility of building a new Waitrose food store alongside the existing Van Hage store in Great Amwell.

The proposal would provide shoppers with the latest Waitrose offer and also see parts of the Van Hage store redeveloped to provide its customers with an improved shopping experience.

Details are still being worked upon, however the project team hopes to bring forward plans in the near future at a public exhibition where they will seek the views of local people and businesses.

Waitrose Director of Development, Nigel Keen, said:  "It's no secret that we have had a long-standing aspiration to have a new store in the area. Whilst plans are still evolving, we are excited by the potential of putting the Waitrose brand alongside Van Hage. We have a shared ambition to bring more investment into the area, which can deliver significant employment opportunities and ensure a popular destination offers an even better experience and more choice for shoppers."

Van Hage Managing Director, Chris Roberts, said:  “This exciting new project will create a great future for Van Hage, its staff and customers alike. Both organisations have been working together for some time and are now ready to consult with the local community to get their views before submitting a planning application. We are delighted at the prospect of having Waitrose join us at Great Amwell.”

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 and on the GTN website www.gardentradenews.co.uk.

As the year goes on we give sales volume comparisons with 2012 as well as 2013 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 upto date gardening sales analysis that has already helped many UK garden centres increase their sales.  To subscribe call 01733 775700, or subscribe on-line here

or e-mail karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

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.