Scotts Miracle-Gro UK MD Martin Breddy said this week the company had made a long-term commitment to its newly-acquired Solus brands and urged retailers to ”give us a little time”.

He said that, like others, Scotts had short-term financial pressures but had made a long-term commitment to innovation, advertising and brands to help consumers enjoy gardening. “We are here to to create sustainable value in horticulture,” he said.

He told an audience at the All-Party Parliamentary Gardening & Horticulture Group at the House of Commons that, following a10-day sourcing trip to China and Hong Kong, it was clear to him there were are great opportunities to innovate the Solus categories populated by price competition and me-too products.

He dismissed accusations by a “well known retailer” that he had been been out there “buying a lot of that cheap rubbish. That is absolutely not what we are going to do,” he said. “We are going to buy products that add value and provide a better experience for a new generation of gardeners.

“So all I ask, especially from our retail partners, is for a little bit of time; trust us to add value and not just cut price, and to create demand with great products and through advertising.”

Barton Grange plan to build a £6m leisure development at their Brock garden centre site near Preston.

Folllowing outline approval by Wyre Council this week, a full planning application is expected to be made in December.

The so-called ‘Flower Bowl’ project will offer premium entertainment and dining facilities, including only the second curling rink in England, and will generate at least 80 new jobs.

Luxury ten pin bowling, a premium cinema and indoor and outdoor crazy golf courses are also proposed, along with a diner-style restaurant, a fish and chip restaurant and an ice cream and coffee shop. The plan envisages a kayak hire point for use on the Lancaster Canal.

The single storey building will have a grass roof, which, say the company, might eventually have sheep grazing on it.

Barton Grange MD Guy Topping (left with Princess Anne at the Brock site opening in 2008) says the Flower Bowl will be a major new development that will bring much-needed entertainment and leisure facilities to the area.

“The emphasis is on quality, premium facilities throughout. Our main target audience is the more mature market although there will of course be many opportunities for families with young children to come along and get involved.

 “We are particularly excited about bringing curling facilities to the north of England. Our curling rink will be used by club curlers, social curlers and, we hope, local schools. Our intention is to develop a Centre of Excellence and maybe even discover and train some future Olympians!”

Subject to planning permission, work could begin in late 2015 with a spring 2017 opening in mind.

Plans went on display in the garden centre’s Riverside Café this week. Customers can leave their views on feedback forms.

Solar powered lighting has experienced a boom in popularity over the past few years, and it’s not difficult to see why. The energy source is free, with no need for external wires and power outlets.  It is easy to install, immune to power cuts, and environmentally friendly.  With the trend for outdoor living on the increase in the UK, families are realising the importance of keeping gardens well lit so they can enjoy their outdoor spaces well into the evening. 

One of the UK’s leading importers and distributors of value for money goods, Kingfisher (Bonnington Plastics Ltd) are leading the way in the garden, leisure and homeware industries, and garden lighting forms an important sector of their core ranges.

According to Sales Director, Sergio Tartaglia, despite “variations in trade pattern” over the past 3 years, Kingfisher reported record sales in the period October 2013 – July 2014, with sales up 65% on the same period of the previous year.

A major factor of Kingfisher’s continued growth is spotting rising trends and continuous research into what consumers want.   After much research and months of development, the Kingfisher family have spotted the demand for novelty garden lighting, and is soon to launch a brand new range of solar lights. 

Known as the World Icons range, this exclusive collection of registered designs is spearheaded by seven British symbolic icons.  Included in the designs are a traditional British telephone box, a red post box, clock tower, double decker bus, British taxi, and an impressive lighthouse.  Unique to Kingfisher you won’t find these designs anywhere else, and the development team is already working on similar designs featuring symbols from all over the World. 

Sergio says “Solar lighting is becoming one of our strongest ranges, offering a wide variety of decorative and novelty designs at much lower prices than our competitors.  This new range offers customers something exciting and brand new and I am proud Kingfisher are the first in the UK to offer this unique solar World Icon range”

This new quirky selection of solar lights will allow consumers to bring a tiny piece of Britain to their garden, and complements the existing Kingfisher collection of outdoor lighting, which, as well as a charming array of novelty lighting, also includes Victorian style lamps and functional security lights.

Customers old and new are invited to come along to the Nottingham Showroom to sample not only these new products, but over 2500 product lines.  Special offers and promotions will be offered to all visitors, as well as event only special deals.  Appointments can be made by emailing ruth@bonningtonplastics.com, or by visiting the Bonnington Plastics Website at www.bonningtonplastics.com.

Download your copy of the Kingfisher Pre-Season Outdoor Spectacular 2014/2015 catalogue and the order form from these links:

Kingfisher Pre-Season Outdoor Spectacular 2014/2015

Kingfisher Pre-Season Order Form

Contact your local representative or Head Office on 0115 985 4119 for further details.

October sales volumes, as reported by the GTN Bestsellers All Items Epos data, were 7.7% down on October 2013, but still 1.5% up on the average for October over the previous five years.

Growing Media sales bucked the overall trend, up 29% on last year, which most likely mirrors the increases in plant sales as gardeners have been able to remain active outside throughout the month.

Christmas sales have grown through the month as displays have been completed, but now we need some drops in temperature to get people in the mood for Christmas, and the sale of winter fuels, wild bird care etc...

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

• Garden Products – up 3%
• Xmas Products  – down 12%
• Growing Media – up 59%
• All items index – down 5%

LOFA surveyed a representative sample of visitors to SOLEX 2014 and, as a result, have decided that the 2015 exhibition will change to become a true mid-week show, running from Tuesday 7^th July to Thursday 9^th July.

Commenting on this change, Paul Bevington, LOFA Chairman said: “We realise that for many businesses Monday is an important post-weekend day, and so, with the help of the NEC, we have responded positively and immediately by moving the show by one day. SOLEX 2015 will be bigger and better than ever with exciting plans to ensure every visitor gets the most value from the show.”

Event organiser Phil Gibbs (pictured) confirmed that 59 of the top UK outdoor suppliers are already committed to exhibit at SOLEX 2015 which will take place in Hall 5 of the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham on Tuesday 7 July, Wednesday 8^th and Thursday 9 July 2015. 

There were many ghostly happenings at garden centres last week for Halloween. And, according to GTN Bestsellers data, sales of related garden lighting and decorative lines reflected higher than usual activity with half-term also kicking the sale of winter garden ornaments into action too. 

Three Apta Halloween products became new chart entries as did a trio of Vivid Arts winter garden ornaments.

• Apta Halloween Ghost was the highest new entry at No 5.
• Vivid Arts Playful Penguin increased sales by 900% to enter the chart at No 31.
• Smart Solar Ceramic Bird Wind Chime lights had the highest week-on-week sales increase to debut at No 7.

The introduction of the new Glove and Secateurs Sets from Town & Country brings together its luxuriously soft, premium leather and suede gloves with a pair of quality, comfort grip secateurs to provide retailers with a winning combination and a guaranteed all-year-round seller with high gift purchase potential.

The gloves are made from ultra-soft leather and suede in two-tone colours – gold and black (large) or raspberry and white (medium) – with a luxuriously soft fleece lining for extra comfort.  Cushioned, comfort grip handles, makes these secateurs extremely easy to use and perfect for light duty pruning.  

Offering the retailer very attractive margins, each deal comprising 72 units – 48 ladies’ and 24 men’s, with each set containing one pair of comfort grip secateurs and one pair of premium leather and suede gloves.  They are delivered with a free high visibility point of sale display unit.

Award-winning Stewarts have presented long service awards to 51 staff members who collectively have worked with the company for over 870 years in total.

The dinner took place at the Captain’s Club in Christchurch with a meal and a presentation to those who had worked over 10, 20 and 30 years.

Martin Stewart commented: “Our family business was established in 1742 and we are now in our eighth generation.  

"Last year our company won the prestigious ‘Dorset Family Business of the Year’ award. We know that our company could not have grown without all the hard work and support from our people. It is a real pleasure to host this dinner, to show our appreciation, to celebrate together and to have fun and thank everyone for their loyalty.”

Stewarts employs over 220 permanent people at their garden centre at Christchurch and their garden centre, nursery and landscaping department at Broomhill near Wimborne. The Christmas season is fast approaching when more seasonal staff will be employed.

HTA members are being offered a new business mentoring scheme titled ‘Making it Happen’, championed by former garden centre operator Steve Myatt.

Available in 2015, it is designed to complements the established HTA Retail Business Improvement Scheme (RBIS).

Garden retailers will work with an experienced mentor on developing and implementing business plans, setting priorities and keeping improvements on track with monthly benchmarking. The focus will be on results rather than theoretical standards.

The programme includes a business appraisal visit, monthly key performance indicator (KPI)monitoring, reporting, and benchmarking and three group meetings annually.

Former GCA chairman Steve Myatt of Garden Retail Success Ltd, who are running the programme, said: “The response to the Making It Happen programme has shown that businesses appreciate the focus on their own business in terms of detailed analysis and development that assists in growing their business performance. The fact that the programme also works with the business to implement agreed improvements means they actually are done and the business therefore develops.”

Directors Bill Brett and Joy Lamb of Garden Retail Success say the programme is a structured integrated approach to garden retailing and provides mechanisms to support best practice and results tracking.

Bents at Glazebury, Cheshire have converted a giant compost heap of plant and green waste collected over the past 20 years into growing media for use on their nurseries and local allotments.

All plant and green waste from the nurseries and garden centre has been stored on site – but the pile of well-rotted material had got too big.

Bents called in a local farmer who specialises in recycling plant waste to convert the heap into compost, using specialist equipment,  shredding and sieving the waste to prodiuce a high-grade growing medium.

It took more just three days to convert molre than 20 years of garden waste into 1,000 cubic tonnes of quality compost, which will be used throughout the centre, on the nurseries and in Bents’ environmental gardens. It will also be available to allotment holders at Bents’ community allotments across the road.

“Despite all our growth and development we are plant people at heart,” said MD Matthew Bent, “and have always been hugely committed to growing, nurturing and protecting the environment around us. Our Five Green Footprints outline our aims for a healthier and greener future. This latest project is in line with our first footprint, recycling, which outlines our commitment to recycling and composting whilst actively encouraging our customers to do the same through the promotion of compost bins.”

The other four Green Footprints are; Water Efficiency - Bents 3.5 million gallon reservoir was built in 1976 and helps reduce Bents impact on the environment by collecting all rain and run off water throughout the Centre to be re-used on the nurseries and plant area;  Healthy Living; Social Responsibility and Trading Fairly and Responsibly.

The annual Kingfisher Pre-season BIG giveaway has begun! If you have never purchased Kingfisher products before, now is the time to order.

Grow your profits with a complete range of products, covering everything you need in store. New customers will receive 25% off catalogue prices, plus FREE delivery for orders placed over £500.00+VAT.

Either order now for immediate delivery, or secure stock for delivery up to 30th May 2015. This offer is available until 31st January 2015, giving you plenty of opportunity to spread your cash and save even more!

Take a look inside at just a selection of the 2,000 products available.  Download your copy of the catalogue and the order form from these links:

Kingfisher Pre-Season Outdoor Spectacular 2014/2015

Kingfisher Pre-Season Order Form

The HTA are doing great work at the moment bringing the previously disparate parts of our industry together, writes GTN’s managing director, Trevor Pfeiffer. And the results of all the collaborative work were on display at last month’s HTA Garden Futures Conference.

A well-attended conference and dinner the previous evening heard about training initiatives, marketing drives, future trends research analysis, ideas from other retailers – and there wasn’t a banker or economist in sight…  

It was clear that potentially the first industry beneficiaries of all this collaboration should be garden retailers. But where were they? When it came to the main event, many of the retailers who attended the dinner the evening before were not present so only a couple of handfuls of really interested retailers became enlightened to all the activity they can take advantage of to help their businesses in the future.

For many years, retailers have bemoaned the HTA for “not doing anything to help them.” That is not the case now. 

By bringing the industry together, the power of collaboration and co-operation will help all of our businesses grow and retailers need to be at the forefront of that. Opportunities will be lost for years ahead if new customers are attracted to garden centres and nurseries that just don’t cater for their changing needs.

If you didn’t make it to the conference, we hope our highlights give you a flavour and get you accessing the HTA (the-hta.org.uk) to find out more.

For full coverage of the HTA Futures Conference see the November issue of Garden Tade News.

The quest for The Greatest Christmas teams is on.  The expert team of judges are now out and about visiting all of the teams nominated in this years The Greatest Christmas Awards.

You’ll find out who are The Greatest at Christmas this year by joining us at the first awards event of 2015, The Greatest Christmas Awards Christmas Party, sponsored by Premier Decorations, on the night of Sunday January 11^th at The Majestic Hotel, Harrogate.

Our annual awards presentation and Christmas party is an event not to be missed whether you are visiting the Harrogate Christmas and Gift show or just want to have another great Christmas Party with some great garden centre people.

Tickets are now on sale for the party, which includes reception drinks, a 3 course meal with wine, the awards presentation and dancing the night away to a live party band.

Early Bird discounts apply for all tickets purchased before November 23^rd.

Early Bird Ticket prices for The Greatest Christmas Awards Party, sponsored by Premier Decorations.

Please call The Greatest Christmas Awards team on 01733 775700 or e-mail harry.sinclair@tgcmc.co.uk to book your Early Bird tickets today – before November 23rd or buy on-line using these links:

Prices below include VAT

Tickets

1 Ticket £96.00 GBP2 Tickets £192.00 GBP3 Tickets £273.60 GBP4 Tickets £364.80 GBP5 Tickets £432.00 GBP6 Tickets £518.40 GBP7 Tickets £604.80 GBP8 Tickets £691.20 GBP9 Tickets £777.60 GBPTable of 10 £816.00 GBP

An opportunity for an experienced Plantarea Manager to join our business has arisen. You will be responsible for the overall sales and success of the outside plants department. This position requires excellent plant knowledge, along with good plant purchasing skills and the ability to maintain stock to high standards of retailing.

You will be a manager who is confident to lead and inspire a team of staff to achieve high standards. Good horticultural knowledge and excellent management qualities are essential. Excellent package available to the successful candidate. The role involves weekend work.

CV’s can be submitted in the strictest confidence to aileen@brechincastlecentre.co.uk

My client is a large independent garden centre with an award winning pedigree.

This vacancy will be working alongside the centre management team and will have direct responsibility for the product range of this department. I am looking for an ambitious individual who wants to have a sense of ownership over the retail area. 

Retail experience is a must and garden centre retail experience is preferred.

Applicants must have experience of staff management, with a minimum of 1-2 years experience, and be able to lead and inspire a team of up to 13 staff.

They must also have proven buying experience and an ability to successfully negotiate with suppliers.

They must operate with good standards of merchandising and presentation, coupled with an element of creativity. 

Please call 01780 480530 and speak to Gillian Muir or apply with your CV, quoting reference #6609 to info@morepeople.co.uk

The ideal candidate will have 3 years experience at management level, able to manage, motivate and develop a team of staff. 

Excellent cross department experience would be beneficial as there will be multiple areas covered by this role. 

Man management skills along with proven retail skills are key and experience of managing people must be evidenced in your experience. Delivery of training and staff appraisals will be required.

Although not essential, it is desirable that the appointed person will have a good understanding of garden centre retailing, will be a good team leader who is able to prioritise tasks in line with seasonal changes and deliver excellent customer sales and service.

Excellent package available to the successful candidate. The role involves weekend work.

CV’s can be submitted in the strictest confidence to aileen@brechincastlecentre.co.uk

Our Client is grower of quality Nursery Stock destined for the major multiples and garden centre chains. They are currently seeking a driven and experienced Nursery Site Manager who can assist in the culture of quality stock. 

The ideal person will possess:

Knowledge and training within a horticultural discipline preferably from a commercial production background 

Excellent record of managing and supervising staff

Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including good IT skills

A strong team builder and player with initiative, drive and enthusiasm who can progress within the company. 

Please call 01780 480530 and speak to Gillian Muir or apply with your CV quoting reference #6666 to info@morepeople.co.uk

I am currently looking for an experienced garden centre management candidate to join the team of a large independent garden centre. 

This position will sit underneath the centre manager alongside another assistant manager and will be part of the senior leadership team of the site. 

Excellent cross department experience would be beneficial as there will be multiple areas covered by this role. IT and Horticultural experience would be ideal. 

Man management skills are key and experience managing teams must be evidenced in your experience.

Please call 01780 480530 and speak to Gillian Muir or apply with your CV, quoting reference #6658 to info@morepeople.co.uk

Our client is an exciting e-commerce business who source and supply a range wonderful garden products and plants to a discerning mail-order audience across the UK.

They wish to appoint a dynamic E-commerce Manager- Ideally a person with some plant knowledge and good e-commerce experience to run their e-mail marketing, social media and to provide horticultural content to our website.

Someone with fabulous communication skills, real entrepreneurial characteristics, creative flare, drive and with plenty of get up and go!  

Please call Dianne Saunders on 07929 013910 or apply with your CV quoting reference 6653 to info@morepeople.co.uk

Whatever next? This week sees the debut of Speaking Santa Drinking Straws in the GTN Bestsellers Christmas Chart. The Straws from Premier Decorations are proving a big hit, and sold in higher volume than the Cottage Delight Christmas Cheer Beer Pack, one of last week’s new entries. Let’s hope the two are not being sold as a linked sale!  

Personalised named items continue to sell in high volume, taking six of the Top 20 sales positions.

• Named Flashing Christmas badges, pictured above, from Paper Island are the week’s highest new entry at No 19.
• Scentsicles, distributed by Festive, make a return to the chart at No 27.
• Packs of 5 battery operated flicker candles from Premier are the highest chart climber, up 31 places to No 10.

karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

The Horticultural Trades Association is planning to move its Garden Futures conference out of London for the first time. 

The move is thought to be a response to calls to make the event more accessible to HTA member retailers around the country, who were conspicuous by their absence at last month’s event.

Defra minister George Eustice will undoubtedly have scored Brownie points at a Commons reception this week for revealing that he once budded roses at Bransford Nurseries.

Eustice, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for farming, food and the marine environment, guest speaker at the All-Party Parliamentary Gardening & Horticulture Group’s 15^th annual reception, said that he left Riseholme agricultural college with an HND in horticulture and spent a year at Bransfords, where he had “one of the most memorable summers of my life”.

Nursery tasks included budding trees and roses. “Towards the end I got good enough to do some chip budding on their experimental stocks and new varieties. But when I came back the following winter, the tree manager shook his head and said nearly all of them had died. [Working there] was, nevertheless, “a very enjoyable experience”, although today, 20 years later, he found it difficult to remember plant names.

He told his audience: “We should never lose sight of the fact that horticulture is an incredibly important industry, employs around 200,000 people and makes £9bn contribution to our economy. It is a major industry which we have been keen to support in Defra.”.

It was also important, he went on, to attract a new generation to the industry and get across that it was a profitable industry with a good future.

Another week goes by with exceptionally high sales levels for growing media at this time of the year. When the weather is right, the nation continues gardening for as long as it can. The final week of October had the highest sales of the past six years, up 17% on the previous high in 2009.

Sales of bark and manure have seen increases as gardeners prepare for next spring and mulch around new plantings. Are you offering deals on bark when customers purchase new shrubs and trees for autumn planting?

Star performers this week:

• Westland Plant Protection Bark, 90 litre pack size, is the highest new entry at No 43.
• Westland Gro-Sure Farmyard manure increased sales by 110% and moved up 10 places to No 6.
• Arthur Bowers John Innes No 2, 25 litres, is this week’s biggest chart mover, up 23 places to No 20.

karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

‘Downton Abbey’ star Jim Carter, a keen gardener and a patron of Greenfingers, has urged the gardening industry to get behind next March’s Greenfingers Garden Re-Leaf Day (27 March 2015).

Speaking at the All-Party Parliamentary Gardening & Horticulture Group reception at the House of Commons, he thanked the industry for its existing support of the charity, which enables it to continue its work providing gardens at UK children’s hospices.

www.gardenreleaf.co.uk

Homebase commercial director Paul Emslie will share information about the company’s realignment programme at  the British Home Enhancement Trade Association’s next member forum on 18 November.

The five-year programme, now at the half-way point, is reporting successful progress, including increased sales.

Parent company Home Retail Group anounced recently that they would be closing 25 per cent of Homebase stores by 2019.

The BHETA event will be held at Federation House in Birmingham (10am). Details of other guest speakers will be available on the  website.

Peter Stone, home improvement sector director of BHETA, said: “A high profile speaker like Paul is going to be of huge interest to BHETA members across the spectrum from housewares and SDAs to DIY and garden, so we expect a great turn out.”

A top physician says more GPs should prescribe gardening as a complementary treatment

Sir Richard Thompson (left), once the Queen’s Physician and former President of Royal College of Physicians, said the scientific evidence that gardening was good for health and wellbeing was stacking up.

Addressing this week’s All-Party Parliamentary Gardening & Horticultural Group’s annual receptioin at the Commons, Sir Richard, a lifelong gardener, said US trials thad shown people got better more quickly and took fewer painkillers if they could look out of the window at greenery, as opposed to sculpture.

As a Patron of the Thrive charity, he had seen for himself how mental and physical health can be improved. Stroke patients could recover their balance and strength by working in the garden.

“I hope the industry will consistently push benefits to health of people buying their products and gardening,” he said.  Exercise was important too in disease prevenion, including cancer, with new claims that 10-15 per cent of the causes of cancer are down to lack of exercise. Trees and plants also helped to control climate change.

Gardens and plants directly and indirectly benefited to personal health and had wider national and international affects. “I  would like more GPs to prescribe gardening, a cheap form of complementary treatment.  There's a free gym outside your window.” he said.

The weather-driven footfall surge in September pushed garden centre sales up 15 per cent compared to last year, say the HTA.

Latest HTA Garden Retail Monitor figures show that garden retail sales are currently ahead by 10% (to the end of September) compared with 2013, following a wet August, when the national benchmark was at 2%. Figures are vastly improved from June 2014 when the average benchmark for national sales was -8% and gradually rose to 1% in July 2014. The figures highlight the difference a warm September can make.

Media gardening coverage may be helping, too. Nature programmes indirectly linked to horticulture (such as Countryfile) made the top five of most popular programmes, reaching a high of more than 7 million views in October. New gardening programmes introduced by the BBC in October included 'Glorious Gardens from Above' presented by Christine Walkden and 'Big Dreams, Small Spaces' with Monty Don.

The opening of William Sinclair Horticulture's new £25 million 50-acre growing media supersite in Ellesmere Port signals a new high tech era in one of Britain's most traditional industries.

Fully operational following a three-year design and development programme, the 50-acre site on the banks of the Mersey is now Sinclair's commercial, technical, operational and logistical centre of excellence, showcasing proprietary and world-leading technologies which Sinclair CEOPeter Rush (left) believes will revolutionise the growing media sector.

In the huge 400,000 sq ft production halls, an imposing array of plant can process over 7,200 cubic metres of growing media per day via grading machines, roof screens and 45 computer-controlled hoppers which can mix and switch between any of 4,000 different recipes instantaneously. Production of Sinclair’s unique new generation SuperFyba® peat substitute is a key feature.

Following the success of their new product launches at Glee, Bosmere have further strengthened their management team through the promotion of Glynn Davis to the position of National Sales Manager. Glynn, who has a wealth of experience in the garden market, joined Bosmere in 2012. He is a former President of the Garden Industry Manufacturers Association. 

Commenting on the appointment Steve Millington, Sales Director, said “Glee proved to be the best show for Bosmere in recent years. The investment which the company has made in fast tracking new products to market has resulted in a substantial increase in our customer base and distribution. Glynn’s considerable experience will be invaluable as we move the business forward. In addition to his new responsibilities he will continue to manage his major accounts.” 

Bosmere was established in 1979 with the now famous Bosbag and Boscart. Since those early days the product portfolio has grown to over 1000 items including the widest range of garden furniture covers in the UK together with a comprehensive range of garden sundries. 

Online retailer Primrose has been selected to join the Google Certified Shops programme.

To help shoppers identify online merchants that offer a great shopping experience, the Google Certified Shop badge is awarded to ecommerce sites that demonstrate a track record of on-time shipping and excellent customer service.

When visiting the Primrose website, shoppers will see a Google Certified Shop badge and can click on it for more information.

“We’re delighted to have been included in the Google Certified Shops program,” says Managing Director of Primrose.co.uk, Ian Charles.

“We’re continuously looking to build on what we know best and this is just another step in providing our customers the best shopping experience possible.”

As an added benefit, when a shopper makes a purchase at a Google Certified Shop, they have the option to select free purchase protection from Google. Then, in the unlikely event of an issue with their purchase, they can request Google’s help, and Google will work with Primrose and the customer to address the issue. As part of this, Google offers up to £1,000 lifetime purchase protection for eligible purchases.

Google Certified Shops is entirely free, both for shoppers and for online stores. The programme helps online stores like Primrose.co.uk attract new customers, increase sales and differentiate themselves by showing off their excellent service via the badge on their websites.

Established in 2003, Primrose has an annual turnover in excess of £30 million and been profitable every year.

The Tree Council’s National Tree Week gives garden centres and nurseries an opportunity to turn the spotlight on to an often neglected plant category.

Launched in 1975 to mark the start of the tree planting season, it runs this year from 29 November to 7 December. It encourages communities to do something positive for their local treescape.

November is often considered as nature’s time to plant, due to moderate temperatures and rainfall. Plants can root and acclimatize before the harsher temperatures of winter or the onset of summer heat. It’s also a good time to plant trees before the ground gets too hard or frozen. Trees planted in the autumn will experience much less stress and will require less watering and aftercare than trees planted in spring or summer.

Broadcaster and horticulturist Christine Walkden is championing trees as the HTA’s Plant of the Month for November. “Trees to me add movement and grace to any garden situation, raising the eye into the third dimension, with stunning foliage, lovely flowers, great fruit and the ability to attract bird life and insects into the garden, “ she says. “They have a place in all gardens…We should all be planting more trees.”

Recommended RHS Award of Garden Merit tree varieties include:

Amelanchier lamarckii

Photinia fraserii ‘Red Robin’

Acer freemanii ‘Autumn Blaze’

Quercus palustris

Malus ‘Evereste’

Sorbus vilmorinii

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 upto 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 this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Christmas Products 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.