Visitor Registration for HTA NPS 2015 is still open.

To book your free place, please complete the online form found here.
The shows opening times are:
Tuesday 9.30 till 17.00 and Wednesday 09.30 till 16.00

 If you buy or sell plants, you need to be there! 

'A great show with lots to see and many people to speak to – we just needed more time! We loved the New Plant Area and found some great new plants which we'll be looking to buy soon. We'll be back next year and staying at the show longer.' Dylan Cairns, Cowells Garden Centre

The Greatest Plant Retailing Awards Categories

• The Greatest Linked Sales Team of the Year
• The Greatest Pot and Plant Sales Team – Top of the Pots - sponsored by Elho
• The Greatest Plant Advice Team, including planteria signage and information
• The Greatest Plant Supplier of the Year
• The Greatest Plant Sales Team of the Year, sponsored by The HTA

This summer The Greatest Awards are ON TOUR creating more opportunities to reward the excellence of garden centre teams across more areas of garden centre businesses.

After the love and passion of The Greatest Catering Awards at The HTA Catering Conference, it's the turn of excellent plants teams to be in the spotlight for The Greatest Plant Retailing Awards which will be presented at 3:30pm on Tuesday 23rd June at The HTA National Plant Show.

The HTA National Plant Show, sponsored by Hortipak, at Stoneleigh Park on 23 and 24 June 2015. With over 100 companies exhibiting, is a great opportunity to view the best from UK growers.

Other key events happening through the event include:

New Plant Awards

At the heart of the show is the New Plant Area, host to the New Plant Awards, which showcase the very best in new plant introductions from UK plant suppliers. Sponsored by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), the winners will be announced on the morning of Tuesday 23 June, and the Visitor Vote, sponsored by Floramedia, will close at 3pm on Wednesday 24 June, with the winner announced at 3.30pm.

Best Plant Display Award

Whilst the focus at the HTA National Plant Show may be on the plants themselves, it also provides a fantastic platform for exhibitors to demonstrate innovative displays that ultimately lead to increased plant sales. The Best Plant Display Awards, sponsored by Flowering Plants Ltd, highlights those displays that capture the imagination, provide clear information and attract attention. The winners of the Best Plant Display Award will be announced on the morning of Wednesday 24 June.

Talking Plants - Show Seminars

The National Plant Show seminars, sponsored by Barclaycard, provide an extra focus to the show. Focussing on plants, this year’s seminars speakers include Chris Collins, Kevin Waters and Tom Hart-Dyke.

Tuesday 23 June 2015

• 10.00 – 10.30 Chris Collins - Love the Plot You’ve Got 
  • ‘Love the Plot You’ve Got’ is a mission, an industry wide mission to get all those people who have yet  to  discover the true  value of their outdoor  space . Former Blue Peter gardener and horticulturist Chris Collins explains more.

• 15.00 – 15.30 Kevin Waters - How to increase sales through responding to trends?
  • The ability and willingness to change with the times has always been the success of the garden centre trade. Kevin Waters looks at why it is more important than ever that we respond to the trends and present our plant offer in a meaningful, inspiring way which is capable of kick-starting our customers into action

• 15.30 The Greatest Plant Retailing Awards
  • The Greatest Linked Sales Team of the Year
  • The Greatest Pot and Plant Sales Team – Top of the Pots - sponsored by Elho
  • The Greatest Plant Advice Team, including planteria signage and information
  • The Greatest Plant Supplier of the Year
  • The Greatest Plant Sales Team of the Year, sponsored by The HTA

Wednesday 24 June 2015

• 10-10.30 Tom Hart Dyke - Exploring the World of Plants
  • Modern day plant hunter Tom Hart Dyke presents an eclectic plant filled mix including:  What sparked his interest in the wonderful world of plants; his time in captivity at the hands of Colombian Guerrillas; botanical stories from the developing World Garden and to top it off – further plant hunting tales to the far flung corners of our green globe. 

• 13.00 Breakthrough Breast Cancer Rose Launch 
  • TV broadcaster Nicki Chapman will launch the ‘Breakthrough Rose’ from Nursery Fresh which will be raising funds for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

• 15:30 New Plant Award - Visitor Vote Awards presentation 

Market Place

The HTA National Plant Show will once again host a dedicated area for the British Plant Fair Marketplace, sponsored by Container Centralen. This will give visitors the opportunity to view shelf samples from many of the growers exhibiting at the show, and place a central order for any combination of shelves with a total minimum order of just two trolleys.

Breakthrough Rose Launch

This year’s show is delighted to be the host of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Rose Launch. Pop Idol judge and RHS Chelsea Flower Show host, Nicki Chapman, will launch the rose and talk about why this project is important to the garden industry and consumers. Peter Hull from Nursery Fresh will then give a brief overview of how they got involved with Breakthrough and talk about the rose and how it will raise money for the charity. The launch will be taking place in the seminar area on Wednesday 24 June at 1pm. The Breakthrough Breast Cancer Rose will be used to decorate the seminar area throughout the day. Visit Nursery Fresh on stand 110-111, and Breakthrough Breast Cancer on stand 17.

David Colegrave Foundation Orchid

The David Colegrave Foundation (DCF), the charity for people studying horticulture, is launching a new fundraising collection of Phalaenopsis Orchid at this year’s HTA National Plant Show. The charity worked with Garden Centre Fresh, which originally approached DCF with the initiative, as well as two young growers who have a passion for orchids to select the collection. The collection, which offers a distinctive fusion of summer colours and striking markings, will be sold into retailers this summer. Every orchid purchased will help to fund the DCF’s scholarships for students studying horticulture at colleges across the UK. Visit DCF on stand 168.

Visitors to The HTA National Plant Show can register online at www.nationalplantshow.co.uk – just click on the visitor tab. Alternatively garden centre and nursery staff staff can register at the show itself.

The Greatest Outdoor Living Categories

• The Greatest BBQ Sales Team of the Year
• The Greatest Garden Decoration and Lighting Sales Team of the Year
• The Greatest Inspiration for New Gardeners Team – Love The Plot You've Got Award
• The Greatest Outdoor Leisure Sales Team of the Year

Halfway through June and volume sales continue to run up on last year – 13% up to date according to EPoS data supplied by garden centres for GTN Bestsellers. Last week’s sales even surpassed volumes in the same week of 2013 when we had the previous record June sales after that really dismal April and May of that year.

Increases in plant sales are a major contribution to that volume increase. While judging for The Greatest Plant Retailing Awards, which will be announced and presented at the HTA National Plant Show on Tuesday next week, plant teams are revelling in high sales with so much still looking good – the general consensus is that the season is still two weeks behind and the hope is that sales will continue through well into July.

Continued high sales levels for the last two weeks of June should push year to date volumes back up to level with last year at the halfway point for 2015.

With SOLEX just around the corner, more good weather will be welcome to sell through more barbecues and garden furniture. Most centres are reporting good sales so far this year, but a sell-out as thoughts start to turn to Christmas preparation would be ideal!

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

• Garden Products – up 2%
• Veg-2-Gro Products – up 83%
• Growing Media – up 20%
• All items index – up 13%

The GTN Bestsellers Garden Products Top 50 chart is still being dominated by lighting lines although plant food for both outdoor and indoor use is showing up prominently in this week’s sales data.

Star performers this week include:

• Gardman Solar Mini Ice Orb has moved to top spot.
• The highest climber is another Gardman lighting line – Black Nickel Solar Ice Orb has jumped 21 places to No 25.
• Smart Solar Portland Solar Lantern (pictured) is the highest new entry, moving straight to No 2.
• The highest re-entry is Growth Technology Orchid Myst (100 ml) at No 22.
• The popular Scotts Levington Tomorite (1 litre) is highly placed at No 3.

Introduced in 2014 to help bring plants back to the centre of Glee, the Green Heart brought together some of the biggest and most respected UK growers to showcase 2015 plant ranges. Incredibly well received the area has undergone some exciting changes ahead of the 2015 show.

Originally designed as a showcase of UK growers, the Green Heart has been expanded to now incorporate international growers. Over 60 growers are expected to use the area to launch 2016 ranges and latest varieties, as well as participate in a new programme of activity, designed to encourage further engagement with plants from all sectors of the garden retail industry.

Led by The Garden Works’ independent garden centre consultant, Kevin Waters, the Green Heart will benefit from an interactive and live element in 2015. 

Throughout the show Kevin will lead a number of guided tours around the Green Heart to demonstrate how cross merchandising can highlight a continual year-round association with the plant offer. In total 12 exciting promotional displays will be created to showcase how plants can take centre stage every month of the year, each developed with three key criteria in mind – inspire action by giving ideas; making buying easy; and ensure subsequent success for the customer.

Utilising plants from Green Heart exhibitors, plus products from the wider show, these promotional displays undoubtedly inspire garden retailers and help them to think of new ways to link departments and sales across the store.

Talking about his new role at Glee, Kevin Waters said: “I am very pleased to be part of the ongoing development of Glee’s Green Heart, and really hope that people will take advantage of the opportunity to get up close and personal with plants at the show. 

“The objective of the promotions we’ll be creating is to highlight the importance of plants, not only to our garden centres but also to the lives of our customers. We’ll be creating displays which appeal to all the senses and make gardening accessible to all, pulling material from all sectors of our centres including the gift area and even the restaurant. The aim is to show that plants are not restricted to ‘that cold bit outside where non-planty-types don’t venture!’” 

Themes already confirmed to feature in Kevin’s Green Heart displays and interactive content will include Summer Thrillers, Spillers and Fillers, HTA Plant of the Month, and Fragrance in the Garden. 

i2i’s Matthew Mein, Glee event director said: “We’re so pleased to be able to confirm Kevin’s involvement with the Green Heart. His passion, knowledge and experience of the garden centre market is second to none and without doubt his enthusiasm for building a bright future for garden retailers will shine through in his content.  I am excited to see what he has on offer!”

The Green Heart will once again be housed within the glass-roofed Atrium area directly outside the entrances to Glee’s new home with NEC halls 17 – 20 and incorporating Glee’s registration desks.  Considered to be the biggest greenhouse within the UK, it is within this space that growers and nurseries can create displays of everything from herbs and bedding plants, to trees, shrubs, alpines and even houseplants.  Each will also be given an identical ‘plot’ – which will feature benches and signage, kindly provided by Woodlodge.

Key names already confirmed for the Green Heart in 2015 include Darby Nursery, Whartons Nurseries, Morley Nurseries, New Leaf Plants, Channel Island Plants, Chamberlain Nurseries, Chapel Cottage Plants, Javado, Addenda, Northumberland Nurseries, Anglo Aquatic, Tamata, Gedney Bulb Company, Kilworth Conifers, Topbuxus and Laurica.

 To keep up-to-date on all the latest news log onto www.gleebirmingham.com.  For details on exhibiting at Glee, call 0203 033 2160. 

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 Plant Retailing Team Awards in advance of The National Plant Show.  Make sure your Outdoor Leisure, Garden Care and Garden Centre teams are nominated for visits later in July and August.

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 and HTA Futures for agreeing to be presentation venues for The Greatest Awards ON TOUR 2015.  The date and venue for The Greatest Outdoor Leisure Awards will be announced in a future issue of GTN Xtra. 

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.

Plant Area Manager | Destination Garden Centre | Large Group (ref:BP7450)

Location: Staffordshire
Salary: £20,000 to £25,000
Job Type: Full-Time
Duration: Permanent

Plant Area Manager

The Business

My client is a large garden centre group with stores based throughout the United Kingdom. The business has a reputation for quality and destination garden centres. This is a business which invests in its people and provides the opportunity to further a career in garden retail.

The Role

The role is part of the centres senior leadership team alongside the restaurant manager and deputy manager. It could suit a candidate who is currently a manager at a small centre and looking to step up or a candidate in a larger centre looking to join a group for progression. 
Day to day the role will involve the leadership and motivation of your team to provide the highest standard of customer service, plant care and merchandising.

The Person

I am looking for a superb plantsman with a real knack for retail.
Horticulture experience could be gained from practical experience or from an academic qualification but candidates will be expected to lead a horticulture focussed team with good knowledge. Retail experience must be good and you must have demonstrable management ability in a retail environment. This could have been developed in a role outside of horticulture but must be recent.

Please submit your CV in the first instance, or to discuss further contact Brad Peck at MorePeople on 01780 480530

Horticulture Manager | Essex | Established Centre (ref:BP7398)

Location: Essex
Salary: £17,000 to £20,000
Job Type: Full-Time
Duration: Permanent

Horticulture Manager 

The Company

This client is a well-established and forward thinking industry name. A large garden centre group that has focussed on improving retail practices and standards to be the best in the industry. They look for the best people from the retail and the horticulture sectors and train them through their in house training programmes to develop strong teams throughout their centres.

The Role

The role is part of the centres senior leadership team alongside the restaurant manager and deputy manager. It could suit a candidate who is currently a manager at a small centre and looking to step up or a candidate in a larger centre looking to join a group for progression. 
Day to day the role will involve the leadership and motivation of your team to provide the highest standard of customer service, plant care and merchandising.

The Person

I am looking for a superb plantsman with a real knack for retail. 
Horticulture experience could be gained from practical experience or from an academic qualification but candidates will be expected to lead a horticulture focussed team with good knowledge. Retail experience must be good and you must have demonstrable management ability in a retail environment. This could have been developed in a role outside of horticulture but must be recent.

Please submit your CV in the first instance, or to discuss further call Brad Peck at MorePeople on 01780 480530

Landscape Project Manager (ref:DS7460)

Location: East of England
Salary: £25,000 to £30,000
Job Type: Full-Time
Duration: Permanent

The Business

Our client is a leading Grounds Maintenance and Soft Landscaping Contractor based in East Anglia who carry out a wide range of commercial and domestic contracts throughout this region.

The Role

They are currently seeking to recruit a Soft Landscaping Projects Manager to oversee commercial landscaping projects throughout the Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire area. 

Reporting to the Landscape Director 

The ideal candidate will currently be employed in a similar role or be seeking to take their next step into a more senior management role.

Responsibilities will include :
Installation of projects to strict deadlines and budgets
Assisting in development and bidding for new works, including estimating
Liaison with clients, main contractors and designers
Implementation and management of health & safety and quality procedures
Supervision of Landscaping Teams
Maintaining contract files

The Person

The successful candidate should hold a relevant horticultural or landscape qualification 
A full driving license is essential.
They should also have significant experience in managing commercial landscaping contacts, estimating and developing business in this sector. 
Be a superb communicator and capable of delivering excellent customer service 

Salary range: £25,000 - £30,000 - dependent on experience and more for an exceptional candidate

Please submit your CV in the first instance or to discuss further contact Dianne Saunders at MorePeople on 07929013910

Contracts Manager | Soft Landscape Construction | South (ref:DS7459)

Location: South East England
Salary: £34,000 to £35,000
Job Type: Full-Time
Duration: Permanent

The Business

Our client is a leading Grounds Maintenance and Soft Landscaping Contractor based in East Anglia who carry out a wide range of commercial contracts throughout the UK.

The Role

They are currently seeking to recruit a Soft Landscaping Contracts Manager to oversee commercial landscaping projects throughout the South East and East Anglia area. 
Reporting to the Regional Manager and Operations Director 
The ideal candidate will currently be employed in a similar role or be seeking to take their next step into a more senior management role.

Responsibilities will include :
Installation of projects to strict deadlines and budgets
Assisting in development and bidding for new works, including estimating
Liaison with clients, main contractors and designers
Implementation and management of health & safety and quality procedures
Supervision of Landscaping Teams
Maintaining contract files

The Person

The successful candidate should hold a relevant horticultural or landscape qualification 
A full driving license is essential.
They should also have significant experience in managing commercial landscaping contacts, estimating and developing business in this sector. 

Salary range: £30,000 - £35,000 - dependent on experience

Please submit your CV in the first instance, or to discuss further contact Dianne Saunders at MorePeople on 07929013910

Young tomato plants are the biggest movers in the sales of young veg plants, according to this week’s GTN Bestsellers Veg-2-Gro chart.

Star performers include:

• Quantil Tomato Totem (8cm) is the highest climber, jumping 45 places to No 2.
• The highest re-entry is Quantil Tomato Tumbling Tom Yellow (8.5cm) at No 9.
• Farplants Heritage Tomato Tigerella is also a re-entry, returning to the Top 50 at No 44.
• This week’s highest new entry is Quantil Courgette Summer Ball (8.5cm) at No 37.

Vital Earth Farm Manure (50 litres) is the star performer in the Growing Media chart, claiming the highest climber accolade and jumping 20 places to No 18.  

Other star growing media performers this week include:

• GroWise Landscape Mini Chip Bark (100 litres) is the highest re-entry at No 24.
• GroWise Multipurpose Compost (20 litres) is another product returning to the Top 50 after doubling its sales from the previous week.
• Arthur Bowers John Innes No 3 (25 litres) is also a re-entry following an impressive sales week.
• Scotts Levington Multipurpose + John Innes (56 litres) retains the top spot for another week.

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 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 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 last week are here

Highlights of the GTN Veg-2-Gro Products Bestsellers chart for last 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.

There are almost two million in people in the UK who are suffering sight loss. Or to put it another way, there are almost two million potential garden centre customers who are suffering sight loss. Are those two million people welcome in your café? asks Garden Centre and Catering Consultant Doug Stewart.

How do we show them that they are important to us?

Costas have laid down the gauntlet with their braille menu…

With 8% of the population following a vegetarian lifestyle, 16% of the population following a gluten free lifestyle and two million people who are suffering sight loss, it is the way we show our support for, and how we cater for, these customers that will set us apart.

Doug can be contacted through his website, www.waringstewartassociates.co.uk

Chris Brown, of Turpin Smale, highlighted bird watching as an area of interest for cafés and restuarants to focus on for attracting customers in his presentation at the HTA Catering Conference.

One of our Gold Award winners in The Greatest Catering awards, The Birdhouse Tea Room at Woodside Plant Centre in Jedburgh, has been making the most of the opportunity for years.

“The Jacobi Jayne window plant feeder hanger is our bestselling line in the shop,” said owner Emma Emmerson.

“That and the window feeder are constant sellers as a result of people enjoying watching the birds feed at the window of the tea shop.”

Now that’s a gold-plated bestsellers tip that could be employed in most garden centre coffee shops.