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
