In This Issue
Is this the end of the road for the Solus Brands?
Guy Hands on Dobbies, golds for Hilliers, Taylors and Javado, Town & Country cheque for Greenfingers - GTN's Chelsea highlights
Taylors Bulbs Johnny Walkers makes it 22 consecutive gold medals at RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Hillier win their 70th consecutive RHS Chelsea Gold
Put on a Chelsea Planteria Display...and win a bottle of champagne. Homebase already have Chelsea POS on display
Golden Wonder! Chelsea win for the humble spud
Homebase Urban Retreat Garden wins Gold at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Allensmore Nurseries launch new Blooms Of Bressingham plant range
Everything not so rosy in the ‘Front’ Garden warns RHS
New variety of rose in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support launched at Chelsea
Schoolchildren show off Healthy Living Plant at Chelsea
Thompson & Morgan scours Europe to ensure a Chelsea centre piece fit for a Queen
Monkton Elm tops sales of Juliana greenhouses
May Day! Solar lights and GYO are on fire
Plant Buyer - Romsey
Amenity Sales Person - Norfolk
Amenity Sales Executive - Leicestershire
Garden Retail Manager - East Midlands
Claire Austin wins Chelsea Gold!
Crowders reveal plan for 500 new houses and a bigger garden centre
Planning row garden centre 'in crisis'
Lighting product sales continue to power ahead
Runner Bean White Emergo is top of the crops
Veg planting drives sales of compost
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
GTN Food Xtra...GTN Food Xtra...GTN Food Xtra...
Garden centre’s restaurant expansion is the final link in a local food chain
Catering tip of the week: Make your message personal
Glee Food & Catering Zone sign up Catering Design Group
Situations Vacant
Plant Buyer - Romsey
Salary commensurate with experience
 
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Amenity Sales Person - Norfolk
£25k per annum
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Amenity Sales Executive - Leicestershire
£20k to £30k per annum
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Garden Retail Manager - East Midlands
£28k -£32k per annum
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Contact us with your news.  Email neil.pope@tgcmc.co.uk, or trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call the GTN News team on 01733 775700

 


Thompson & Morgan scours Europe to ensure a Chelsea centre piece fit for a Queen

When you know Her Majesty plans to visit your show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the last thing you want is a gaping hole where your centre piece plants should be on display.

That was the situation faced by Fernando Gonzalez Garden Design, when UK stocks of Digitalis ‘Illumination Apricot’ failed to flower in time for display in the Pure Land Foundation Garden, already being flagged as the most prestigious show garden at this year’s event.

With just four days to finish before the Queen’s visit to the world’s most prominent gardening event, a nationwide hunt for flowering plants threw up no leads.

The plant’s creator, mail order seed and plant specialist Thompson & Morgan, stepped in to widen the search, calling on growers across Europe. Plants in perfect bloom were quickly tracked down at the Plantinova nursery outside Barcelona, Spain, more than 1,500km from its Ipswich HQ!

New Product Development Manager, Michael Perry said: “Knowing our ‘Illumination Apricot’ was playing a major part in this cutting-edge show garden, we just had to help out.”

At end of play Thursday it called on staff, seeking a volunteer to make the mad-dash 3,000km round trip to get the plants on UK soil in time for Saturday’s big garden build.

Up stepped marketing assistant Terri Overett, letting herself in for a 4am start and an 18hour journey to get the plants to the UK in time. First a plane ride to Barcelona El Prat, a taxi to the nursery an hour east of the city, then back to the airport to face the worry of getting them safely back to the UK in a cold cargo hold.

A very relieved chaperone found the plants in good condition once through customs, where colleagues were on hand to rush the plants into London in time to put finishing touches to the Pure Land Foundation Garden, stand FR25. At the eleventh hour, German grower Kientzler also stepped in to rush 10 plants by rail and overnight ferry, helping to plug the gaps just in the nick of time.

The design team’s Director, Thang Vota said: “Fernando and I are so grateful for all the effort put in by the team – they definitely thought outside the box to help get the plants in place on time.  It was the company’s  Chelsea Flower of the Year Award for Digitalis ‘Illumination Pink’ in 2012, that inspired us to use the new sister line “Illumination Apricot” in our garden.

"We can’t wait for Her Royal Highness and the public to see the finished design in its full glory with stunning foxglove as a main focal point of the garden.”

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