Garden Products:  After a promising start, that horrible March weather put paid to the season getting going for Easter. Great promotions of pick-up items such as garden lighting helped save the day so that when the weather improved sales could really get going.

At the half-year, Top 50 volumes are up 10.5% on last year but still 4.6% down on 2011. New Product of the Year so far has to be Slug Gone from Vitax – in the Top 50 regularly since the middle of March.

Prospects for the second half: As gardens are growing well there are still plenty of potential garden product sales out there. Multiple facings and sitings of bestselling lines will maximise volumes and keep tills ringing.

Veg-2-Gro: The top performer of the three GTN Bestsellers charts. Whoever said Grow Your Own was dying? Up 10.8% on last year and only 1.5% behind 2011. Veg plants have been the stars, showing vigorous growth, particularly those supplied by Suttons (grafted veg), Gardeners Kitchen and Quantil.

Prospects for next year: Grow Your Own will keep growing, so our advice is to get it as close to the front of the centre as possible and link with your catering and farm shop.

Growing Media: Sales have struggled all year – they’re still down 3.3% on last year and 19.7% down on 2011. If customers miss out on buying growing media in March, they just carry on gardening without it. Or have they been buying from other outlets such as DIY stores or supermarkets?

Prospects for the second half: Provided the weather is good, there should be enough activity for sales to match last year but that's unlikely to make up for the deficit in the first half.

All Products:  This is where the diversity of garden centres comes into its own. Even when the weather was bad, coffee shops, gifts and farm shops continued to trade well. Keep up the good work, garden product and plant retailing needs your help!

Prospects for the second half: Christmas will be a blinder as garden centres take an even more professional approach to event and attraction staging.

Clematis ‘Beautiful Bride’ from New Leaf Plants, with its stunning large white flowers, has been voted the Best New Plant by visitors to the HTA National Plant Show, which took place at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, this week.

It also won the judged New Plant Awards, which was announced on the opening morning of the show.

A free flowering variety, Clematis ‘Beautiful Bride’ produces an amazing display of large pure white flowers and really provides a wow factor. This combined with its fantastic name means that the plant is sure to have wide appeal.

The plant was bred by Szczepan Marczynski and introduced to the UK market by specialist clematis and climbing plant nursery, New Leaf Plants, based in Evesham.

Full Visitor Vote results, sponsored by Floramedia:

Best in Show –  Clematis ‘Beautiful Bride’ – New Leaf Plants

Best Annual – Petunia ‘Sweetunia Johnny Flame’ – Young Plants

Best Breeder Innovation – Pear ‘Benita Rafzas’ – Frank P Matthews

Best Hardy Nursery Stock – Physocarpus ‘Amber Jubilee’ – John Woods Nurseries

Best Herbaceous Perennial – Penstemon ‘Riding Hood Blue’ – Fairweather’s Nursery

Best Houseplant – Phalaenopsis ‘Wildcat’ – Javado UK

This year’s New Plant Awards awards, sponsored by the RHS, attracted over 90 entries across five categories - annual, breeder innovation, hardy nursery stock, herbaceous perennial and houseplants - and the judges awarded 12 gold, 8 silver and 3 bronze.

The winners were

Annual

Gold and Best in category

Verbena hybrida ‘Lanai Twister Pink’ – Syngenta FloriPro Services

Gold

Mecardonia hybrid ‘Magic Carpet Yellow’ – Earley Ornamentals Limited

Pelargonium hybrid ‘Calliope Rose Splash’ – Syngenta FloriPro Services

Verbena ‘Wicked Purple’ – Young Plants Limited

Silver

Petunia hybrid ‘Mini Blast Rose’ – Earley Ornamentals Ltd

Bronze

Petunia ‘Sweetunia Johnny Flame’ – Young Plants Limited

Breeder Innovation

Gold and Best in category

Pear (Pyrus) ‘Benita Rafzas’ - Frank P Matthews Ltd

Silver

Aspilla ‘Brasilia Gold’ – Channel Island Plants (UK) Ltd

Diascia hybrid ‘Aurora’ Apricot – Ball Colegrave Ltd

Hardy Nursery Stock

Gold, Best in category and Best in Show

Clematis Beautiful Bride – New Leaf Plants

Gold

Hebe ‘Blue Ice’- Lowaters Nursery

Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Love’ ™ (H19-17) – Javado UK

Physocarpus ‘Amber Jubilee’ – John Woods Nurseries

Picea pungens ‘Blue Diamond’ – Kilworth Conifers

Silver

Hebe ‘Garden Beauty Pink’ (Lowpapi) – Lowaters Nursery

Lavatera ‘Ruby Star’ – West End Nuseries

Bronze

Sambucus nigra Blue Sheen – Hillier Nurseries

Herbaceous Perennial

Gold and Best in Category

Penstemon ‘Riding Hood Blue’- Fairweather’s Nursery

Silver

Leucantheum superbum ‘Real Glory’ – Eagle Plants Ltd

Tradescantia ‘Swallowtail’ – New Forest Plants

Bronze

Digitalis ‘Illumination Chelsea Gold’- Farplants Sales Ltd

Houseplant

Gold and Best in Category

Begonia elatior ‘Glory Lemon’ – Beekenkamp Plants

Silver

Phalaenopsis ‘Phantom’ – Javado UK

The New Plant Award judges were HTA President Caroline Owen from Scotsdales Garden Centre, Gardener and TV broadcaster Christine Walkden, well known plant breeder Peter Catt from Liss Forest Nurseries, RHS Trials Manager Mark Heath and Head of Horticulture at the Garden Centre Group Tim Clapp. HTA Operations Manager Martin Simmons chaired the judging panel.

The award for Best Plant Display at the HTA National Plant Show went to Parker’s Nurseries for their innovative display of plants and takeaway ideas for garden retailers.

"Parker’s Nurseries have really gone the extra mile and paid great attention to detail on their stand," said judge Kevin Waters.

"With three distinct areas the stand provides plenty of ideas that can easily be replicated by garden centres.

“The bar area, used to promote their garden cocktail range, is great fun and gives the stand a ‘Mojito feel’ – helping to appeal to a younger audience. This really helps to convey that gardening can be fun rather than hard work.

"Their display of wall mounted plants with painted back boards is so simple yet extremely effective. This alone is something that garden centres could do tomorrow to make an area look fantastic.

“The display of trolleys showing coloured pots, from their Bee Inspired collection, in clear trays is extremely innovative. The colour matching of the flooring to the pots on the trolleys really brings the stand together and is well thought through.

"With attractive edging on the shelves plants could easily be sold direct from the trolleys. So many ideas for garden retailers to take away and implement with relatively little effort or expense.”

Commendations were also presented to John Woods Nurseries, Lovania Nurseries and Pentland Plants.

The Horticultural Trades Association will be running its Autumn PR campaign ‘Plan it, Plant it this Autumn’ again this year...

The campaign was launched at the National Plant Show with the aim of encouraging gardeners to continue gardening throughout the Autumn and tap into the younger consumers’ growing interest in the pastime.

The campaign aims to create awareness that the garden is not dormant during the winter and will encompass a wide range of autumn gardening activities including lawn care, planting, autumn bedding, trees, fruits and wild bird care.

Research commissioned by the HTA revealed that over two fifths (41%) of gardeners mistakenly believe that fruit trees and berries should be planted in spring, whilst 45% believed that spring bulbs should also be planted at this time, when in fact Autumn is the key time to do both.

Autumn is also an important time for lawn care with gardeners looking to prepare their lawns to make it through the difficult winter months and ensure that it is looking its best come the Spring.  With the days getting shorter and the nights getting colder, Autumn is also the ideal time to start feeding the birds in your garden, if you are not already doing so.

Last year’s campaign was a runaway success with garden centres across the country taking part by downloading ‘Plan it, Plant it’ POS and logos to use in their own marketing initiatives. The campaign generated over 150 articles across both trade and consumer media and the hashtag   #planitplant was used many times across Twitter.

A dedicated web page will be available to support the campaign, which will include a garden centre events listing and the logo will be available for garden centres to use for their own marketing. This can be found at www.the-hta.org.uk/autumn

In order for the campaign to have the most impact, the HTA would like to hear about your plans for Autumn activities so that it can include them in stories and also explore opportunities for joint initiatives. So whether you are a garden retailer, grower or supplier smail your stories to media.office@the-hta.org.uk

Entries to the GIMA Awards for products and marketing which closed at the end of last week are up on 2012 levels.

It has been a tough 12 months for suppliers with trading levels under severe pressure as retailers struggle to get customers to part with their cash. However, the ever resourceful suppliers continue to invest in innovation to bring new and exciting products to market. As a result GIMA Award entries are up on last year by over 9% as suppliers seek to gain additional recognition of their efforts.

GIMA Awards Director Neil Gow said: “We are seeing increased entry levels in every category which is great. I am particularly pleased to see the number of plant nurseries recognising the value of our Awards and we have more plant entries than ever before.  Another category where we are seeing a good increase in entry numbers is in the pet and aquatic products category”

Staging Day for the judging is Monday 1^st July with the expert panel of indpenedent judges working their way through the entries on Tuesday 2nd July:

• Andy Smith - Waitrose
• Tristan Sissons - The Garden Centre Group
• Simon Moore - Wilkinsons
• Conna Powles - Haskins Garden Centres
• Mike Wyatt - Garden Trade News
• Tim Rumbold - Amateur Gardening
• Peter Burks - GCA
• Jo Wood - QVC
• Gareth Edwards - Burston Garden Centre
• Phillippa Nickson - Brigg Garden Centre

There are still places available at the Awards Dinner and Presentation Evening which takes place on the 18^th July at The Queens Hotel, Leeds.

You will find full details on the GIMA website: http://www.gima.org.uk/awards_2013.asp?Page_ID=28

Through its 'Ready Steady Dig' initiative, Bents Garden & Home is trying hard to  attract young people at primary school age in the hope of encouraging a life-long love of gardening.

Recent research from the Horticultural Trade Association suggests that gardening is attracting fewer and fewer younger followers, raising the question as to who will be our gardeners of the future.

“In the late nineties and early noughties there was the ‘Groundforce effect’. The popular BBC programme definitely had a positive effect on gardening, demonstrating what people could achieve and encouraging more young people to take it up as a hobby," said Matthew Bent, Managing Director at Bents.

“These people are still gardening, but the HTA raises the question as to what is being done to encourage today’s younger generation to get involved.  At Bents we are aiming even younger, trying to introduce primary school children to the joys of gardening in the hope they will continue to enjoy it as they grow up and become the gardeners of tomorrow.”

Bents’ Ready Steady Dig scheme is aimed at children in years 1-7 of primary school and includes a guided tour around Weeping Ash Garden, located just next to the centre, where children learn about the different types of plants found in the garden.  The tour is followed by fun, hands on activities with planting workshops designed to get little hands dirty.

Says Matthew:  “The tour and workshops are a great way to introduce children to the joys of gardening and we hope they leave with ideas for their own gardens and enjoy enhancing their environment as they grow up. “

With gardening set to become a feature on the new school curriculum Bents is hoping its Ready Steady Dig programme, as well as other child friendly features including Inspiring Children to Do Workshops, outdoor adventure play area and Wild Wings Birds of Prey Centre, will encourage more and more children to enjoy the great outdoors and become enthused by possibilities that gardening can bring.

Groups of up to 30 children can be accommodated on the Ready Steady Dig workshops and bookings can be made by calling 01942 266 300.

• Scotts Levington John Innes No 3 (25 litres) at No 43.
• Westland Multi Purpose with John Innes (10 litres) at No 48.

Floramedia, one of the UK’s leading horticultural design and print companies has developed a new concept for retailers called ‘Live Life in your Garden’.

The marketing idea is focused on encouraging customers to make the most of their garden space and to buy from lots of different lines in the garden centre.

Phil Mabon (above), Creative Manager at Floramedia, said: “We wanted to help retailers and get more people spending through all the different departments. People do often view their garden as an additional room that has many uses.

“We want to encourage people to spend more time in their gardens and use them for many different things, with a play on conventional room uses such as a living room, party room, reading room and dining room.

“By pushing Live Life in your Garden retailers can drive product sales from the planteria, lifestyle and activity areas. We wanted to help create linked sales by providing a consistent platform to merchandise a broad range of products together.

“Live Life in your Garden will appeal to all ages. We all use our gardens no matter what age we are but we may use them in different ways. It is a call to everyone to get into their garden and enjoy it in whatever way they like.”

At the HTA National Plant Show, Floramedia unveiled its new shed exhibition stand, which also links to the Live Life in your Garden idea.

The Floramedia shed is four metres in length by two metres in height and is made out of Re-board, which is a patented paper based board with a unique engineered fluted core. Re-board is lightweight but strong. The company has created a shed with the board and has printed wooden panels on to it and also cut out windows.

Phil added: “We are always pushing new innovative ideas and materials and the shed is something we have developed for retailers.  

“As it is life size it will give customers a real wow when they visit a garden centre and it is an eye catching object that people will want to look at closely and get inside.

“Retailers could use the shed as an interior display feature for many varied gardening products from plants and compost through to tools within a branded display that is synonymous with gardening. If you would like to talk to us about our shed or Live Life in your Garden, please call us on 01206 771040.”

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.

Recent windy weather has forced gardeners to support their flower and veg plants, leading to increased sales in Gardman Bamboo Canes, the highest climber with a move of 20 places to No 19, and Gardman Jute Twine, a re-entry at No 43.

Other notable performances include Woodlodge Pot Feet Large, the highest re-entry at No 28, and Westland Nutri Rose Food, the only new entry at No 46.

Creative Products Garden Sharp, Gardman Solar Coach Light Lantern, Westland Resolva, and Kaemingk LED Solar Garden Light were re-entries.

Scotts Levington Tomorite (1-litre) remains the bestselling garden product.

See the full GTN Garden Products Bestsellers Chart here.  Subscribers Only

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £120.00 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.

A drunk driver has been fined for crashing her car into Aylsham Garden Centre in Norfolk and causing thousands of pounds' worth of damage.

Norwich Magistrates' Court imposed the £550 fine on Lorna Hudson, 66, after she lost control of her car last month while over the legal drink-drive limit.

The accident is estimated to have cost Aylsham Garden Centre some £50,000, with stock damaged and phone lines cut. A staff member's car was also written off. No one was injured. 

Hudson, who admitted the charge of drink-driving, was also banned from driving for 18 months and will have to pay £140 costs. 

After the crash, the garden centre staff worked hard to get the business open again within days. 

Over a fifth of Brits agree that wasps are the garden insect they love to hate, according to a new poll.

The survey by GardeningExpress.co.uk asked people to pick out from a list of ten, the garden creature they hate the most.

Wasps topped the poll with 21% of the vote with respondents saying they looked sinister, could sting and had no real purpose apart from annoying people.

Slimy slugs took second place with 18% saying they were completely pointless, destroyed too many plants and the trails of slime turned their stomach.

Taking third place in the poll of Britain’s most hated garden bug was Daddy Long Legs with 15% agreeing on this one, closely followed by moths taking 14% of the vote.

Coming in at fifth were ants with 11% with respondents saying nests are a big nuisance and that the insects get everywhere.

Spiders came next with 10% of the vote closely followed by snails collecting 7%.

Taking joint eighth place were worms and bumble bees with just 2% saying they disliked these.

Propping up the bottom of the poll were ladybirds with just 1% cent of the vote.

One respondent said: “I’ve never seen the point of slugs. All they do is leave a disgusting trail of slime around my garden and eat my plants. My flowers have been nibbled to pieces – if it wasn’t for slug pellets my garden would be destroyed.”

Another said: “My children despise wasps. They can be happily playing in the garden and all of a sudden one will scream wasp and they’ll coming running in at a hundred miles an hour. They’re very menacing to look at, and of course they can sting. Nasty creatures!”

A third added: “How can anyone hate a ladybird? I love them. They’re so sweet with their red shells and black spots, are great garden pest catchers and when they crawl up your arm it really tickles. I adore them.”

A spokesman for GardeningExpress.co.uk said: “Most garden bugs have a purpose – eating other nasties, creating nutrients for plants to eat and of course pollinating plants and flowers. Without them our gardens would be very dull.

“However we feel about bugs, whether we love them or loathe them, it’s essential we protect those native to the UK and encourage them into our gardens.

“This can be done very simply – you could have a small section of your garden planted with the things they love and if you keep that patch out of the way, the bugs shouldn’t cause you too much bother.”

Top ten in full

• Wasps                                                  21%
• Slugs                                                    18%
• Daddy long legs                                15% 
• Moths                                                   13%
• Ants                                                       11%
• Spiders                                                 10%
• Snails                                                     7%
• Worms                                                    2%
• Bumble bees                                         2%
• Ladybirds                                               1%

The HTA has revealed a new collection of plants that will feature in the 2014 Plant of the Month calendar.

The 12 plants were unveiled as the calendar was launched by TV presenter and gardener Christine Walkden at the annual HTA National Plant Show. 

The new 2014 calendar will highlight plants which are widely available in garden centres and are looking their best on a month by month basis.

Promoted to both members and gardening media, the Plant of the Month calendar has been nominated and agreed by the HTA Retail Suppliers Group and HTA Retail Management Group to ensure that it meets the needs of growers and retailers.

The full list of plants that feature in the 2014 calendar are:

• January - Helleborus
• February  -  Heathers
• March  -  Pansy/Violas
• April - Rhododendron
• May - Pelargonium
• June - Roses
• July - Salvia
• August  - Hydrangea
• September - Japanese Anemone
• October - Conifers
• November - Trees
• December - Sarcoccoca  

This year, each plant has a celebrity champion who will all give their unique perspective on the plant and why it’s their favourite in the garden.

These include:

• TV presenter and journalist Esther Rantzen CBE
• Musician and singer Katie Melua
• Love your Garden’s Frances Tophill
• TV gardener David Domoney
• Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins
• The One Show’s Christine Walkden
• Urban Birder David Lindo
• TV personality Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE
• Founder of The Edible Bus Stop and former Chanel model Mak Gilchrist
• BBC Gardeners’ World photographer and Garden Media Guild winner Jason Ingram
• Plant Pathologist and BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Pippa Greenwood

HTA Director General, Carol Paris said: “Plant of the Month provides a real focus for retailers and consumers alike. The 2014 calendar brings a new lease of life to the campaign – and encourages retailers and consumers to think about planting at certain times, for example planning and planting spring bulbs in the garden during Autumn. We are also delighted to welcome our celebrity plant champions on board and hope the campaign encourages and inspires the nation’s 20 million gardeners.”

Chris Francis celebrated her retirement  from Millbrook Garden Centre this week with a special presentation after 25 years of service.

Chris, who was a Garden Centre Assistant at Millbrook Garden Centre, started working at the centre on April 1, 1988 and her retirement presentation took place on June 25.

Tammy Woodhouse, Millbrook's Managing Director, said: “We are extremely grateful for the dedication shown during the past 25 years by Chris. We are very sad to see her retire. She was very popular with both staff and customers alike.

“On behalf of all the staff here at Millbrook Garden Centre, I would like to wish Chris all the best for the future.”

Chris was presented with a bouquet of flowers, a bottle of champagne and a photo montage of her time at the garden centre. Staff members also held a collection and presented Chris with Millbrook gift vouchers.

Chris explained: “I have really enjoyed working at the garden centre for the past 25 years and helping the customers who visit.

“There is a great team spirit and I have built up many long-term friendships with my colleagues. It is the people and customers that made it a lovely place to work.”

Students from Somerset College of Arts and Technology in Taunton have been given some free seeds from Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre for their university project.

Monkton Elm has donated a selection of wildflower seeds to Alice Wood and her fellow students for their business module.

Alice explained: “We would like to thank Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre for donating to our project. For our second year university business module, myself and four others from a range of art and design courses have collaborated.

“We have set up a business making handmade crafts as it is something we all enjoy doing. We took our inspiration from wildflowers and created a range of products including key rings, photo frames, headbands, notice boards, bunting and wrapping paper, which we then sold in a pop-up shop.

“As the business is based on wildflowers, we decided to promote the save the bees initiative and this is where the garden centre came in. Every time we sold one of our products, we gave some of the donated wildflower seeds to the customer. This will encourage people to plant wildflowers, which in turn contributes to the save the bees campaign.”

The number of bees in the UK has halved during the past 50 years. Of the 25 remaining native species of bee, a number are already under serious threat.

Norma Moore, General Manager of the award-winning, family-run, independent garden centre, explained: “We were delighted to donate 20 packets of wildflower seeds to Alice and her friends.

“It is a very important cause the students have chosen to support. The honeybee is in real peril, but every gardener can help by planting pollinator friendly plants in their gardens and allotments.

“It is really important to help keep numbers up and we can offer advice on the topic in-store if anybody would like to find out more.”