Visits to www.thompson-morgan.com exceeded 6.5million between Jan-June 2015 with April proving the best ever month for the mail order giant, as 1.64 million users logged on to get their gardens dressed for the season ahead.

It has been a strong spring in general for garden retailers, but periods of bad weather did dampen sales for some and keep gardeners indoors.

While garden centre managers announced “the weather was not with them” for the key May bank holiday sales windows*, Thompson & Morgan E-commerce Manager Clare Dixey reported good levels of traffic and strong sales across both extended weekends.

She said: “As with all areas of retail, gardeners are increasingly realising the convenience of online ordering and the extra value to be had. The data shows our main platform proves weather proof in a bad season – people are going online to stock their gardens ready for summer rather than face the cold and rain at the garden centre in a slow spring.”

Not only does in house analysis of Google data show increasing numbers of gardeners moving online, a breakdown of web search data by the Thompson & Morgan E-commerce team reveals gardeners are also becoming more savvy with their online shopping, and increasingly know what they are looking for when they log on.

Comparing search term data supplied by Experian’ Hitwise for the 12 week period to 30 May 2015 against the same period in 2014, unique search terms relating to the seed and plant industry have more than trebled from 11,269 to 36,253, with noticeable shifts in the most popular search terms used by the gardening public.

Generic terms such as ‘plants’, ‘garden plants’ and ‘plants for sale’ have fallen in the rankings in favour of more specialist terms such as ‘plug plants’, ‘hanging basket plants’ and specific plant names.

‘Bedding plants’ now takes the top slot, but some of the biggest climbers include searches for ‘perennial plants’ and ‘evergreen shrubs’, showing a quick increase in interest for online hardy nursery stock. Thompson & Morgan had already identified this as an emerging trend with online shoppers, and in February this year launched a range of more than 500 varieties of mature trees, shrubs and perennials in large pot sizes to much success.

Other key trends are being identified. ‘Wisteria’ has now overtaken ‘clematis’ as the most sought after climber online, yet the term ‘climbing plants’ has also risen to no.12, hinting at a desire for more unusual climbers to dress walls, trellis and fencing. Thompson & Morgan sales of new climbing Fuchsia ‘Pink Fizz’, and the unusual Dregya ‘Wattakaka’ confirm this.

2015 looks to be the year of the potato. ‘Planting potatoes’ was the no.3 search term for the industry this spring – a massive jump up from 16 in 2014. ‘How to grow potatoes’ jumped from 21 to 13, while ‘growing potatoes’ entered the list at no.14 – previously not recorded in the top 100 search terms for 2014.

Beans seem to be another veg patch favourite this season. This spring ‘runner beans’ sat at no.15 in the search term listings having not made it in to the top 100 in 2014. Similarly, when it comes to fruit, strawberries are high on the grow-your own agenda in 2015. Unlisted in 2014, this summertime treat is now sitting confidently at no.19 and sales of Thompson & Morgan varieties support this.

In the flower garden, dahlias seem to be making a resurgence. In 2014 these old time favourites sat sluggishly at no.36. This year they have jumped to no.18 in the list of most popular search terms.

One of the biggest winners in the search rankings is good old fashioned seed. The search ‘seeds’ remains at no.5 (same as 2014), despite battling against an extra 25,000 search terms relating to the seed and plant industry and an increasing online offering of mature and young plant material.

Clare added: “Despite seeing a strengthening demand for our expanding plant range it’s great to see gardeners remaining true to our core product and one we remain passionate about – nothing beats the simple pleasure of raising a plant from seed to maturity, it’s a timeless enjoyment that will remain at the heart of gardening no matter the platform on which gardeners choose to buy them.”