Hozelock’s top-selling Flexi-Spray hose-end attachment took the Sword of Excellence for best new product in the 2013 GIMA Awards, announced on Thursday.

It was the product’s second accolade of the summer, having already been voted best new product at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May.

The Sword is presented annually after a ‘play-off’ between category winners at the GIMA judging. Flexi-Spray topped the growing and planting equipment category.

Vitax’s wool-based Slug Gone deterrent – another garden centre top summer seller – came out winner in the garden care category, but lost out to Hozelock in a close play-off vote for the top honour.

The prestigious Supplier of the Year Award, chosen by members of the Garden Centre Association, went to Taylors Bulbs, while Gardman took the Gardenex Export Award for their work with Truffaut France, parent company of the Garden & Leisure Group.

There was a double win for Solus Garden & Leisure, with their solar-powered Animalities range taking the outdoor leisure features award and the Flower Stick Bird Feeder topping the pet care, aquatics and wild bird category.

The garden tools, machinery and implements award went to distributors E.P.Barrus for Wilkinson Sword’s Razor Cut Comfort Pruners range, while Kelkay’s Perfect Paving patio kits was the landscaping winner.

Magnetic houseplant pots imported by Javado won the seeds, plants and bulbs category and Burgon & Ball’s Kneelo knee pads took the garden retail related award.

In the marketing categories, there were wins for Suttons (best POS, for grafted plants), Westland (best consumer packaging, for the Aftercut Even-Flo lawn feed spreader) and STV (best marketing communication, for their new-look website).


Steve le Sage of Taylors Bulbs receives the GCA's Supplier of the Year award from Gyles Brandreth and GCA chairman Peter Burks

• Garden Products – up 27%
• Veg-2-Gro – down 12%
• Growing Media – up 57%
• All items index – up 25%

The Hozelock Aquastorm 15 Sprinkler is the highest re-entry as it returns to the Top 50 at No 13, while the Hozelock Standard Waterstop is the highest new entry at No 33. Another new entry for the company is the Threaded Tap and Hose End Connector at No 41.

Creative Products Watering Spikes have also perfomed well, moving up 15 places to No 7. It isn’t this week’s highest climber though. That honour goes to Vitax Nippon Puffer, which jumps 24 places to No 15.

And another pest control product – Bayer Provado Ultimate Bug Killer, Ready to Use – has moved up to No 2 behind Scotts Levington Tomorite, which retains top spot for the eighth week in a row.

The weeds have also been active, and Neudorff Organic Fast Acting Weedkiller is a new entry at No 36. There are also a number of lighting lines in the chart, including Gardman Solar Mosaic Round Jar Lantern, a re-entry at No 48.

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More than 50 jobs could be heading to Dunblane if garden centre plans that include proposals for new affordable and retirement housing get the go ahead.

The Kippendavie Group Trust (KGT) and Stockbridge Nursery have submitted an application for planning permission in principle to Stirling Council for a mixed use development on land to the east of Dunblane.

The application is in two main parts – the first called Sheriffmuir Park Centre to be located to the east of Queen Victoria School.

It is to comprise a group of new timber and stone barns to form a garden centre, heritage park trail centre, four office and craft workshops and car parking.

Sheriffmuir Park Housing will feature 165 residential units at Kippendavie Mains behind Kellie Wynd, including affordable housing, housing for retirees and plots for self-build and community building sites.

KGT’s Roderick MacLeod said the plans were a step on from what had previously been considered.

“The planning application responds positively to the main points raised at our successful pre-application consultation in May, specifically in relation to education, drainage and traffic,” he said.

“It also expands on the interest shown in the affordable and self-build housing elements, together with the potential delivery of retirement properties.

“The application is being progressed at this stage as a result of delays to the Stirling Local Development Plan.

“We plan to bring forward the proposed housing allocation at Kippendavie Mains at an earlier stage, in order to meet Stirling Council’s housing targets in an area where we believe there is a strong market requirement.

“Our plans are therefore realistic and immediately deliverable.”

The proposals will also allow the existing Stockbridge Nursery to expand to new premises.

They say expansion will create more than 50 jobs and apprenticeship opportunities.

The garden centre will be at the heart of a further key stage of the proposals, the Sheriffmuir Heritage Trails, comprising an extensive network of new and improved local walking and cycling trails, leading to the Sheriffmuir battlefield and other historic landmarks.

KGT and Stockbridge say plans for this element will be submitted later this year, after additional public consultation and the completion of a design study which is currently out to tender.

The Heritage Trails will be funded in part by the housing element of the proposals with a target date of June next year for having key sections of the trail network in place and the remainder then in place by 2015 to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Sheriffmuir.

Garden Re-leaf Day 2014 – the event designed to kick-start the garden sales season and raise funds for charity – will be Friday 14 March.

Boyd Douglas-Davies, the event’s founder, urged retailers and suppliers at this week’s GIMA Awards to get behind the third Garden Re-Leaf Day to make it the most successful yet.

The event had achieved its main objective to “get people into garden centres and get them gardening”. “The creativity in our industry knows no bounds and Garden Re-Leaf has shown that,” he said. “It has become a valuable vehicle for promoting our industry. It is OUR day and it is up to us to make the activity start in spring.”

It also raised more than £61,000 for the Greenfingers charity this year, bringing the total in its first two years to more than £116,000 – all helping to fund the creation of gardens at UK children’s hospices.

Garden Re-Leaf Day raised £61,379 for the Greenfingers charity in 2013

With temperatures in the 20s and 60 miles ahead of them, Barton Grange Garden Centre MD Guy Topping and Westland northern regional sales manager Simon Mullholland got on their bikes and started pedalling…all the way from Preston across the Pennines to Leeds to attend Thursday night’s GIMA Awards.

Both are keen cyclists, and with enthusiasts in the grip of Tour de France mania, the pair decided to undertake their own Tour du Nord well ahead of next year’s blue riband event, which will start in Leeds.

Around five hours later, they arrived, glowing, at the Yorkshire metropolis's Queen’s Hotel, venue for the GIMA Awards, and refreshed themselves with a couple of welcome ice-cold beers.

Retailers and suppliers attending the GIMA Awards were given a sneak preview of radical proposals by the organisers of Glee to rejuvenate the show in 2014.

I2i Events are to move the event from its traditional base on the Piazza side of the NEC to halls 17 to 20 at the Atrium entrance, as revealed by GTN Xtra last week. The Atrium itself will be offered to Glee’s nursery exhibitors so that visiting buyers enter the show through a plant showcase. “We’re trying to emulate what garden centres do,” event manager Matthew Mein told his audience.

Mein said he anticipated the show would fully populate all the new halls and enable a more flexible and fluid layout than had been possible in halls 4 and 5, which are separated by a stairway. There would be more entrances and a bigger frontage, with catering and facilities grouped conveniently at the back of the halls The show needed a new look and feel that would encourage the garden industry community to engage with it, he added. Lower ceilings and better lighting would enhance the new location

Outdoor space would also be offered for outdoor leisure and machinery exhibitors who need to demonstrate their products and a ‘clearance lines’ day would be considered if there was a demand.

On a provisional stand layout revealed to attendees, landscape was shown as occupying hall 20, with garden care in halls 19 ands 18 and garden leisure, food, home and gift, retail services and catering in hall 17.

Mein confessed that Glee had experienced “a tough time with the weather” but Glee 2013 had 141 new exhibitors with only a handful of existing exhibitors dropping out. Bookings to date were only 11 fewer than 2012 “and we think that’s pretty healthy”.

Allaying exhibitor fears that costs might increase, he said stand pricing would be be based on the exisiting structure; i21’s portfolio director, Dan Thurlow, added: “It is all about value. We are not about to saddle you with extra costs. Challenge us and we will work as hard as we can on your behalf.”



More than 30 GIMA Awards attendees turned out for the Glee briefing in Leeds.

‘The Garden Cafe’ at Craft Nurseries in Essex has won The Tea Room Cake Award at The Cake Awards UK 2013 on July 17^th up against major supermarkets and top UK chefs.

Karen Harries who runs the Coffee Shop on site at Craft Nurseries entered her Apricot and Coconut cake in to the competition earlier this year and discovered it had reached the position of finalists for this award. She was then shocked and delighted to receive the 1^st place Winner’s award at The Park Lane Hotel London on July 17^th.

Entries were based on a strict criteria for quality of ingredients and presentation, recipe innovation and texture, taste and value, judged by Bruce Langlands - Harrod’s Director of Food, Will Torrent - Award Winning Patissier and Chocolatier and Allan Jenkins - Editor of Observer Food Monthly magazine.

Karen has been running The Garden Cafe for 8 years and has built a fine reputation for her fabulous home cooked & quality menu, the relaxed farmhouse kitchen and garden ambience is a relaxing setting amongst the shrubbery of Craft Nurseries, Lawford, Manningtree, Colchester. The family run nurseries has been nurturing plants and customers for 20 years and is well loved in the community, 95% of the plants sold are grown on site, a good old fashioned garden centre run by Andrew and Colin Davey third generation brothers in this family business.

At a time when many garden centres have found this year a challenge Craft Nurseries have now made the news for the second time this year as they already reached the ‘Spotted’ Column of The Sun Newspaper last month for their generous deliveries of free Tomato plants to the neighbourhood and surrounding villages.

If you'd like to sample their award winning cake, Craft Nurseries and The Garden Cafe are at 34 Harwich Road, Lawford, Manningtree, Colchester, CO11 2LS

www.craftnurseries.co.uk

Craft Nurseries Colchester and The Garden Cafe Lawford can also be joined on Facebook.

Garden Radio congratulates the team at Poplars on becoming Best Destination Garden Centre in the North Thames region of the GCA for 2013.

They are so proud of winning this award they already have a new announcement playing on Garden Radio telling their customers about their success, and thanking them for their help and support.

That's just one of the many effective in-store messages playing on Garden Radio at Poplars: Big Chris and his deliveries, their lovely pair of tits, Suzy who is the newest Poplars Priviledge club member and "give it a go" with Rachel.

You can hear all of the current messages recorded and produced by Garden Radio for Poplars playing in the garden centre or if you phone them and ask to be put on hold, or you can listen to them here.

Poplars Garden Radio Promo String 1

Poplars Garden Radio Promo String 2

Poplars Garden Radio Promo String 3

Poplars Garden Radio Promo String 4

Poplars Garden Radio Promo String 5

Poplars Garden Radio Promo String 6

To get the best garden centre music and messaging system there is playing in your garden centre call Trevor Pfeiffer today on 07973 504214 or the Garden Radio office on 01733 775700 or e-mail trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

As Poplars messages on Garden Radio always end:  Poplars for Quality, Choice and Value.

Proudly supported and added to by Garden Radio, the best music and messaging system for garden centres... ever!

Garden Radio also congratulates: Old Railway Line - Best Garden Centre in the West, Armitages Pennine Garden Centre - Best Destination Centre in the North East, Planters Tamworth - Best Garden Centre in the Midlands, who all choose Garden Radio as their in-store music and messaging system.

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.

New for this year, every week we give sales volume comparisons with 2011 as well as 2012 to allow your teams to see variations over a three year period.

Access is by subscription only.  For £120.00 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 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.

Hawkesmill strawberry plants have also proved popular in the hot weather, with Finesse moving up 13 places to No 5 and Florence being the highest re-entry at No 6. Strawberry Roman and Pegasus are also re-entries this week.

The highest climber is Gardeners Kitchen Tomato Sungold, moving up 39 places to No 10, while the highest new entry is Farplants Wasabi Japanese Horseradish at an impressive No 25.

Other new entries are:

• Thompson & Morgan Cabbage (Spring) Advantage F1 Hybrid at No 41.
• Suttons Pak Choi Rubi F1 at No 42.
• Thompson & Morgan Courgette Parthenon F1 Hybrid at No 48.

Scotts Levington Organic Choice Top Soil (25 litres) has shown the fastest percentage growth (143%) to re-enter the Growing Media chart at No 45.

Other notable performances this week are:

• Westland Ericaceous + John Innes (30 litres) is the highest climber – 22 places to No 23.
• Westland Indoor Plant Compost (10 litres) is the highest re-entry at No 42.
• Arthur Bowers Multipurpose Compost with John Innes (35 litres) re-enters at No 47.