And Steve Millington, Sales Director from Bosmere, said: “As a company we have been coming to Glee for many years, and for taking orders this is one of the best ever."

But GIMA Director Neil Gow issued this warning: "The future success of Glee requires the whole industry – suppliers and retailers – to look forward, not just to next year but for a number of years to come and make its mind up as to what it wants from trade shows.

"Of course 2012 has been a difficult year for the whole industry but the vocal handful of gloom merchants must not be allowed to influence the future of the sector, especially the independent traders who Glee is now really focused towards."

Although no trade show organisers will be present at the meeting on Tuesday, Richard Baker, Group Operating Director for i2i Events and responsible for Glee, said: “As exhibition organisers we really value the close working relationship we have with GIMA and the other trade associations in the garden and outdoor living sector.

"By listening and acting upon relevant market feedback, Glee continues to evolve to ensure it is always 100% relevant to the very sector it targets. We have always taken the view that we need the industry to be active stakeholders in the show and decide what they want to achieve from their trade event, knowing that we are best placed to help deliver it.

"In recent years, we have seen the passion that so many people in the industry feel. Now what is needed is this passion being harnessed with the industry all pulling together. It will make it a stronger, better industry and one that with a coming together of views will be well placed to take on the challenges of the next 30 years."

GIMA are encouraging everybody in the garden sector  to complete their Glee questionnaire over the next few days – it is available on line via the GIMA website www.gima.org.uk  

Alternatively, GIMA Director Neil Gow asks industry members to email any points of views, opinions and ideas direct to him at neilgow@gima.org.uk 

Sales of confectionery, biscuits and other sweet products increase ten-fold in the run up to Christmas.

According to Cotsworld Fayre. from October and Halloween right through to Christmas and New Year, shoppers are looking for sweet treats, not just for their own homes but also as gifts for family and friends

History shows that traditional favourites such as Christmas puddings, mince pies and shortbread always do well, but increasingly consumers are embracing overseas traditions too, with sweet treats of Italian and German goods like panettone and macaroons.

Paul Hargreaves, managing director of Cotswold Fayre, says: “Manufacturers have long embraced the seasonal demand for sweet products, with eye-catching packaging and product innovation aimed at appealing to the nation’s sweet winter tooth.

“Retailers too embrace the consumer’s desire for attractive gift products by really using their shelf space as a marketing rather than storage tool.  It is amazing what some glitter, baubles and merchandising can do for sales.

“A trend that has also emerged over the past few years is to encourage customers to make their own gift hampers.  By attractively displaying a range of festive products and offering free boxes and packaging customers are encouraged to turn their sweet purchases into fabulous personalised gifts.”

This year, Cotswold Fayre is predicting a record year for Christmas fine food sales, despite the economic climate, as consumers seek to treat themselves and their family.

“I think that we will see families pitching in with the cost of Christmas, with guests bringing fine food contributions as gifts,” added Paul.  “This will be a combination of traditional staples such as fruit jellies, but also cost effective sweet gifts such as hot drink dippers.”

To see the full range of fine food and drink products from Cotswold Fayre  www.cotswold-fayre.co.uk

The great Autumn garden clean-up is well underway in gardens up and down the country with Gardman Garden Rubbish Bags leading the way in the GTN Bestsellers Garden Product Chart – it’s the highest new entry.

Gardman have another new entry in the shape of Heavy Duty Men’s Gloves.

Orchid feed products are still lighting up the chart with Fito Drip Feeder keeping its grip on the No 1 spot. Other bestsellers include: Growth Technology Orchid Myst have two star performers in the Top 20 while their Orchid Focus Grow Fertiliser is a new entry. Gardman Orchid Drip Feeders 30ml, pack of 4, are also a re-entry.

Customers are also getting ready for Halloween, and a noticeable new entry is the Pot Tsar Nuclear Pumpkin E.  And gardeners will be lighting up their gardens during the festivities. Gardman Bottle Candle Lantern moves up to the No 2 spot while the Revolution Hurricane Lamps has increased sales by 100% to go into the Top 20.

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.

Glee exhibitors have donated four pallets of products to be auctioned off for a charity fundraising initiative.

Greenfingers invited exhibitors at the trade show to donate any leftover products at the end of the event to its ‘Turn Old into Gold’ initiative.

Briony Markham, Corporate Fundraising Manager at Greenfingers, which creates gardens at children’s hospices nationwide, said: “We offered people exhibiting at the show the opportunity to donate any surplus products from their stands to Turn Old into Gold.

“We are delighted that four pallets of products were donated.We would like to thank everyone who supported us by giving items to us during the event.

“We were particularly pleased that a lot of products came from the ‘Shop Window’ area, which showcased some of the best products at GLEE. In addition to this other companies that donated items included Brother UK Ltd, Burgon & Ball and Scotts Miracle-Gro.”

The items will be auctioned off by W&H Peacock Auctioneers and Valuers in Bedford at a later date. All of the money raised from the sale of the items will be used to help Greenfingers build gardens for children with life-limiting illnesses in children’s hospices across the UK.

Briony added: “During GLEE we were also pleased to secure some much needed future donations from several companies.

“We would love to hear from anyone interested in donating any stock that is taking up valuable space in their warehouse. They can email us via info@greenfingerscharity.org.uk for more information.”

Mike Kelly, General Manager of Brother UK Ltd, which donated products to ‘Turn Old into Gold’, added: “We are delighted to have helped Greenfingers with its fundraiser.

“Donating the garden label printers we were showcasing on our stand was actually an easy decision when considering the good work the charity does and how it improves the lives of so many children. We hope they will help the charity raise valuable funds.”

W&H Peacock Auctioneers and Valuers will auction anything garden-related including barbecues, chainsaws, compost, greenhouses, hand tools, hedge trimmers and strimmers, patio furniture, plants, timber and water features*.

To find out more about Greenfingers visit www.greenfingerscharity.org.uk

Read the Glee Daily News Omnibus edition here.

Onion sets and garlic have dominated the final Veg-2-Gro Chart of the year, with Taylors Bulbs clinching the top six places.

Still at No 1 are Onion Sets Electric while the next three places are taken up by Radar, Senshhyu Yellow and Troy.

Garlic Early Purple White is the highest new entry, while Taylors Bulbs Garlic Germidour is in the No 6 spot.

Broad Bean Aquadulce Claudia continues to be the most prolific seed pack of choice. T&M packs are a non-mover at No 7 and Suttons’ packs are at No 8.

Suttons also have two Veg 2 Gro chart re-entries this week – Speedy Seeds Cress Curled at No 24 and Speedy Seeds Mustard at No 36. Both had 100% increases in sales.

See the full GTN Veg 2 Gro 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.

There was a real buzz created at the start of the Solus Open Days this week with a number of new things for retailers to see..

In the Botanico range, the Solus team have introduced new merchandising to encourage more link sales and have attached information flags to the shelving, giving consumers detail as to what a product can be used for.

The Yeoman Tools merchandising has also received an update to make it a more coherent range and again encourage link sales. You might like to take a look at the attractive BOGOF deal for consumers too, buy a rake and get a fork or spade FOC.

Pallet Alley was proving of interest to a number of retailers – you can choose a pallet of product for direct delivery straight from the showroom and take advantage of special rates. 

There is also the 21^st birthday offer, to celebrate Solus' coming of age next year. A number of ranges had a 21 Credit sign – for each order placed for these ranges you receive £21 credit to be used in the Clearance Hall. 

With 55 different show offers just on gardening and a further 30 special offers in the leisure and décor department, it's worth visiting a Solus Open Day in the next five days.

Email event@solusgl.com or phone 0121 504 2700 to book in.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to attend the HTA Garden Futures Conference on 10 October at One Great George Street, London. With the dinner event on 9 October already sold out there are only limited places left for the conference itself.  

HTA Garden Futures is the leading annual strategic industry event which will again introduce a powerful line up of expert speakers including:

Dr Brian Clark, Senior Economist at Barclays who will provide an overview of the current  economic climate and share his views on where it’s going and how this will impact businesses and consumers in the years ahead.

Paul Loft, Managing Director of Homebase who has a foot in both garden retail and the broader  world of retailing will give his perspective on how the industry can adapt and how Homebase is seeking to encourage more people to start gardening.

New Economics Foundation’s Andrew Simms who will propose a future for a successful independent retail sector.

Marshall Dirks from Proven Winners USA will outline great new ideas for getting people to buy and grow plants.

Paul Hogden of IT Genetics and Mark Pitman from Hillier Garden Centres will discuss their views on how garden centres can use social media successfully and how to maximise gain from it.

Speakers from Visa and Barclaycard will define the changes that retailers will see in payment technology, the growth in contactless payment and how this will affect the industry.

Future Foundation’s Jason Mander will provide insight of the drivers and trends which may affect retail over the next five years and the implications for the sector.

Industry leaders including Mark Pearson of Gardman, Andy McIndoe of Hillier Nurseries and James Barnes of Dobbies will explore how we can grow again and move forwards in The Big Debate.  

HTA Director of Business Development, Tim Briercliffe, comments: “With a great mix of garden retailers, growers, manufacturers and guests HTA Garden Futures provides not  only a great line up of speakers and topics but an invaluable networking opportunity for the industry.

"After the season that we have had the conference theme which focuses on the need to survive, adapt, and grow is particularly apt and there are sure to be  invaluable insights to be gained by attending – helping businesses to prepare for the year ahead.”  

Headline sponsors are Hozelock and The Scotts Miracle Gro Company.

For further information visit www.gardenfutures.org.uk

Glee 2012 was the 37th – and I have attended about 30 of them, the last 21 as editor of GTN.

As I am barely more than two years from the start of my eighth decade (go on...work it out), I think now is a good time to hand on the baton (although I will continue to write for the title).

GTN has had only two editors since its launch in 1978, so we are now looking for its third.

You will need plenty of energy, shedloads of passion for this fascinating industry of ours, and an appetite for change.  It will be fun. I’ll guarantee it!  Could it be you?

See the ad here.

Every week GTN receives and analyses epos data from a number of UK garden centres to produce the GTN Bestsellers charts.

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.

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 Growing Media Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Veg 2 Gro Bestsellers chart for this week are 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.

Rainer Schubert has been promoted to Sales Director of Scotts Miracle-Gro Consumer UK Business Group...

Rainer has succeeded Jeff Kwiatkowski, who has accepted the position of Vice President of Sales for the Lowe’s account in Scotts’ US business.

Rainer has worked for Scotts for three and a half years, most recently in a senior National Accounts position. He came to Scotts after working in the paints industry for ICI Paints (now Akzo Nobel) for 11 years, and previous to this he worked in the beer industry.

He has a wealth of DIY and gardening experience, covering all channels and has an excellent breadth of knowledge having worked in senior roles in Sales, Consumer Marketing, and Category Management.

Rainer said: “Scotts is a great company with exceptionally successful brands and products. We have a responsibility as market leaders to drive category growth, and I am absolutely looking forward to working with our retail partners to meet this challenge.”

The popular Alfords Garden Centre in Grimsby has been put up for sale by the present owners Peter and Dee Skiba.

They're eager to find a buyer who will safeguard the jobs of 25 staff members and who will provide even more choice and value for money for customers.

In the meantime they are reassuring customers that the centre is still fully stocked and open as usual as they prepare for the Christmas buying period.

"It is important people realise that we are still fully up and running and the perfect place to find a festive gift, or to decorate homes," said Dee.

"The bulldozers are certainly not moving in and hopefully new buyers will make sure they never do."

Glee first-timers The Lativian Institute of Humic Substances have made a good impression with UK retailers with their liquid fertiliser.

The company received a good level of enquiries for their Humate Green OK, a liquid concentrate containing natural humic substances made from Latvian peat. 

They claim the product improves seed germination, promotes rooting, stimulates plant growth and generally prolongs blooming – they have a substantial amount of research to back up their claims.

"Our Institute was set up in 2009 to research and produce eco-friendly products," says Dr Olegs Kukainis (pictured). " We have two product ranges, one for professional growers and the other for amateur gardeners.

"We can supply a garden centre with a complete retail package of display stand and all the product lines."

The range includes: Bioactivator 5ml sachets and 1L sprayers for preparing 1L of ready to use solution; Humic Concentrate 25ml sachets for greenhouse use; and Organic Natural Fertilisers for a range of different crops such as roses, veg and fruit.

Enquiries should be directed to Lukasz Olejnik  via email biuro@greenok.pl  

You can also find out more information by visiting www.greenok.lv

The construction of a new £2.5 million garden centre in Dunbar has  started nearly three years after a plan for the development was first lodged.

Lanarkshire-based BHC Ltd has been awarded the contract to construct the centre, which East Lothian Council had initially rejected two years ago but which was granted on appeal to Scottish ministers in April last year.

Nick Crabbie, managing director of Berwick Garden Centre Ltd - the company behind the Dunbar centre - said: "During these difficult economic times, many people have been wondering whether this project is going ahead.

"I am very pleased to confirm that work on the Dunbar site is now under way."

The five-acre green field site of the new centre has been cleared of vegetation and levelled. The work will begin with perimeter fencing, followed by foundations and then the main building will be erected and infrastructure created.

The centre will be equipped with a biofuel woodchip boiler, which will provide heating and hot water for the whole site.

The final stage of building work will be a glasshouse, which is sub-contracted to a specialist Dutch company, Smiemans.

Vacancies for the centre, which could create more than 40 jobs, will be advertised when the project is nearing completion.

Multipurpose compost lines continued to dominate the Growing Media Chart, taking up five of the top seven places.

Westland Multipurpose 50 litres held on to No 1 spot while Arthur Bowers’ 60-litre bag continued at No 2. The biggest move was made by Growise Multipurpose with John Innes, 56 litres, which was a new entry, jumping straight in to No 7.

The highest re-entry was Westland West+ Light & Easy Compost 60 litres with four months feed – it re-entered the charts at No 20.

With Autumn bulb planting well underway, Arthur Bowers Bulb Fibre 10 litres saw a 100% increase in sales for the week, enabling the product to re-enter the charts at No 23.

Top soil was another product in high demand. Good performing products included Westland Top Soil (Value Bag) 35 litres, 20 litre bags of Sinclair Topsoil, and  Scotts Levington Organic Choice Top Soil 25 litres.

See the full GTN Growing Media 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.

Leading gardening gloves and footwear supplier Briers have launched their new Classic Wellington Boots.

The Classic Wellington Boots join a comprehensive range which also includes Stardust Wellies, Floral patterned gloves with matching kneelers, Boppers, High Heeled Boots and the Gruffalo range.

Perfect for days out in the wet, the Classic Wellington Boots will keep gardeners looking stylish and free to have fun without worrying about mud and water.

The Classic Wellington Boots have an adjustable strap on the side to enable tightening around the calf area.

The Classic Wellington Boots have been carefully crafted to accommodate a wider foot and ankle fitting. They also have a generous calf fitting, resulting in a more comfortable fit, and are perfect for tucking jeans into.

Briers’ Classic Wellington Boots are made from PVC, not rubber, and are available in UK sizes 4-10.

For more information visit www.briersltd.co.uk

Catherine Harrington Nurseries is introducing a range of Christmas Pot Toppers to complete household festive display.

The range consists of gold, silver, red and green coloured German quartz and a brilliant white Italian marble; and provides a good linked sales opportunity alongside poinsettias, mini-Christmas trees and other holiday season plants.

The 3 - 6mm particle size has been specially selected to best complement the plant in its pot, to cover the compost and help retain moisture. The 300g pack size provides adequate coverage for one 17cm pot or two 11cm pots.

Prices begin at £0.92 per unit including delivery to a single location. Orders are being taken now for mid-November delivery.

The company are also planning on introducing a range of quality pot toppers for outdoor pots and containers - with an extensive range of colours in both quartz and crushed glass as well as a variety of natural marbles.

For more information contact Catherine Harrington Nurseries on 07957 576765 or visit www.facebook.com/christmaspottoppers

The Garden Communication & Media Company Ltd is the UK gardening industry’s most useful media publisher with the industry leading monthly Garden Trade News, the weekly e-newsletter GTN Xtra, the weekly subscription service GTN Bestsellers and Garden Radio that plays in 100 garden centres across the country.

Due to retirement we now need to find a new editor.  This is a unique opportunity that gets right to the heart of UK garden centre retailing so we need a talented writer who understands the needs of garden centre owners, managers and department leaders.

Based in our offices just outside Peterborough, the successful applicant will run both the print and digital versions of GTN and manage the editorial content of Garden Radio.  Print layout and design abilities, using Quark Express will be required and an ability to work closely with our commercial advertising sales team will be essential. 

You will be expected to:

• Write for a horticulturally based business to business readership.
• Develop and maintain relationships with manufacturers and PR agencies.
• Understand digital media.
• Have a basic knowledge of magazine production (e.g. flat plans).
• Be adaptable to changes in workload and pagination.
• Have a working knowledge of Quark Express.

A competitive salary will be paid depending on the level of experience.

How to apply:

Please email your CV and covering letter to trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk.