Although overall sales dipped again week on week, we’ve now had four consecutive weeks of total garden centre sales volumes that are up on all of the past three years.  Even better news for the season ahead is that plant sales are driving those January gardening sales increases.

The GTN Bestsellers weekly sales indexes show that Plants are the only gardening category that is up year to date, by 9.5% currently.

Away from gardening related products the GTN Bestsellers Epos database has seen a huge number of kitchenware sales made in January. Perhaps the link between growing food (the indicators are good for Veg 2 Gro sales this year) and cooking is one that customers really get and are therefore more than happy to choose garden centres as their place to buy new cookware and other kitchen and home items.

Congratulations to all the winners at the GCA Conference this week, but special congratulations to Barton Grange and Fron Goch the Garden Centre of the Year winners and both past gold award winners in GTN’s Greatest Awards.  With GCA garden centres of excellence leading the way it’s no wonder garden centres continue to shine through an overall bleak picture for retail in the UK.

GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year: week 4

Garden Products Top 50 – down 2%

Growing Media Top 50 – down 43

Wild Bird Care Top 50 – down 17%

Veg 2 Gro Top 50 – up 17% 

All Plants index – up 20%

All Items index – up 13%

To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Glee at Spring Fair opened today (Sunday 2nd February) at the NEC. Glee at Spring Fair is an oasis of exhibitors that are a must visit for all visitors to Spring Fair who have gardening and leisure on their mind...

GTN have been organising the Glee at Spring Fair New Product Showcase which will be judged during Sunday with the winner announced at 4:00pm.  Do come and join us for a drink!

Here's our photographic preview of Glee at Spring Fair and other Spring Fair exhibitors that are close by as build up comes to a close on Saturday evening.  Glee at Spring Fair is in Hall 7 this year between cookware and Christmas Floral.

See you at the NEC.

Fordingbridge, the garden centre engineering and construction contractor, are taking part in the mammoth challenge to raise funds for their local hospitals. A group of staff from the company are taking part in the 60+ mile challenge to run, cycle (or stagger!) from their West Sussex factory to Fordingbridge town in the New Forest.

Fundraising for Love Your Hospital, the company’s nominated charity this year, the small team of designers, project managers, sales technicians and the Managing Director, will be splitting into pairs to each complete a section of the 100km route, before handing the baton to the next pair. The Fordingbridge staff will then regroup for the ‘final hurdle’ in the New Forest, to cross the finish line as a team.

“The idea to take part in some sort of challenge started with a few of us trying to lose a spot of holiday weight,” jokes Fraser Dixon, Business Development Manager at the firm. 

“The thought quickly evolved into a team relay and the distance just grew. There are now nine of us taking part, all of varying abilities, so we are all genuinely going to be pushed to our limits. 100,000 metres is definitely going to test us!”

Love Your Hospital is the official charity of Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which looks after St Richards Hospital and Worthing Hospital in West Sussex. 

“Every member of Fordingbridge staff relies on the NHS and being able to directly support our local hospitals was incredibly important to us, hence the decision to support the charity this year,” Fraser explains. “We have taken part in a number of fundraising schemes so far, including Joan, our Sales Administrator, scaling the O2 last year, but this will be a really satisfying mass effort with plenty of opportunity to cheer each other on.”

The staff are encouraging donations through their official sponsorship page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/fordingbridge

The event will take place on Saturday February 15th…come rain or shine.

With plant sales running at almost 10% up so far through January this year it’s a potentially very good omen for gardening in 2020. After the uncertainly of last year and a very wet winter our customers appear to be looking for as much cheer as possible to brighten their gardens, patios and balconies.

The January increase is even greater when compared with the previous two years, up 19% on 2018 and up 57% on 2017.  

The weather will be a contributory factor to this numbers but the fact that when conditions are favourable plants are being purchased in good volumes is fantastic news for all.

• Primula sales are growing every week to keep that as the No 1 Bestselling plant of the month.
• Cyclamen sales have started to dip, but they remain the No 2 Bestseller ahead of both planted Narcissus and Hyacinths.
• Kalanchoe are the highest chart mover of the week, up 20 places to No 22.  A great purchase for instant colour in a container.
• Viburnum, a great shrub for winter colour, were the highest re-entry to the GTN Plants chart at No 20.

To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

The Lubera team are proud to announce that they have won the award for Best Novelty Bedding Plant at IPM Essen Trade Show.  At the IPM the team wowed the judges with their brand new, and let's be honest, jolly exciting new peanut plant, Justmore!

Compared to other peanut varieties Justmore has pods that are really huge, about 50% longer, and at the same time, they are relatively profound. The nuts themselves are also big, and thus belong to the larger varieties in our assortment. The colour of the seed coat is dark red and it resembles the variety Justblack, which again is from our range,  a little bit.

While in almost all varieties the number of nuts per pod tends towards two on average, either slightly more or less (as there are also one-nut pods), in Justmore the number is almost always three.  Of course, there are also 2-piece pods, but most of them have three nuts and there are also a significant number of 4-piece pods, which you hard;y ever see in other peanut varieties.

Advantages of the Justmore peanut variety: 

• Large pods with an average of three nuts
• Attractive, long peanut pods, “snake nuts”
• Particularly robust against moist and cold weather

Short description of the peanut plant Justmore:

• Pods and nuts: Very large pods, usually 3 nuts, but also can have 4 nuts; the seed coat of the nuts is dark red.
• Yield: The yield is slightly lower than Justpink®, but when planted in early May, you can expect 60+ pods per plant in September/early October, which yields almost 180 nuts. Truly not a bad harvest for a Central European peanut crop.
• Planting: Early to mid-May; as this variety can also be harvested a little later in October, Justmore can also be planted until early June; initially upright, sparse growth, later branching.
• Harvest: From mid-September for early planting, early October for late planting.

Special features: Justmore shows an above-average tolerance to late harvesting and humid weather. The foliage is still 50% green even at the late harvest date around 20 October, while most other varieties already have quite brown and grey foliage at this time.

These plants will be available from www.lubera.co.uk from May 2020.

The Government introduced its Environment Bill to Parliament on Thursday and the Horticultural Trades Association has issue its response.

James Clark, Director of Policy and Communications at the HTA, said: “Horticulture and green infrastructure have such a huge role to play in mitigating climate change, delivering the Government’s ambitious aim of being net-zero by 2050 and creating a greener Britain.

“The introduction of the Environment Bill signifies the importance that Government is placing on the environment by putting the 25-year Environment Plan on a statutory footing.  A strong and vibrant horticulture sector is key to delivering many of the policy targets outlined in the Bill and we will be highlighting to Government how the industry can contribute.

“On recycling, it is paramount that there is a consistent approach across all local authorities. If all local authorities collected and recycled plant pots this would prevent 8,000 tonnes a year going to landfill. When developing plans around increased producer responsibility for waste it will be important that the Government engages with business to ensure that changes do not result in excessive burden, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.

“Finally, horticulture makes a significant contribution to improving air quality. Increased planting of trees and shrubs in public and private spaces, especially in towns and cities, will reduce the impact of poor air quality. In order to fulfil increased demand for UK grown plants and trees, the UK nursery production sector will require investment in infrastructure.”

The HTA also issued a comment regarding the UK’s exit from the EU which took place on Friday.

James Clark said: “Following the UK’s exit from the EU the delivery of a viable and realistic trade deal over the next 11 months will be challenging but critical. There are so many areas impacting on horticulture – from alignment on customs and excise, trade with Northern Ireland, biosecurity, environmental standards and immigration. It is important that a sensible and pragmatic approach is taken which allows for seamless trading without additional burden for horticultural businesses.

“Horticulture plays such an important role in the UK’s future from an environmental and economic perspective. With a new landscape ahead of us there will be opportunities presented such as the repurposing of EU monies for wider environment initiatives. We will be making sure that the voice of horticulture is heard in the discussions over the coming months.”

Visitors to Santa’s grotto at Squire’s Garden Centres last Christmas have helped to raise nearly £18,000 for local charities.

Young People in Horticulture Association (YPHA), a group designed to bring together the under 35s of ornamental horticulture to facilitate collaboration, education and innovation, has been launched. 

The group will maintain regular contact through social media, but also aim to arrange a select number of events throughout the year- each of which will be structured to be enjoyable yet educational. 

Each person who joins the group will develop their own set of industry contacts, and will have the opportunity to share thoughts and inspiration with likeminded individuals. The group’s primary focus will be to consider how the industry might evolve to appeal to a younger demographic than has previously been the case- both in terms of future horticultural employees and future garden centre customers. 

Anybody who wishes to find out more about the group is invited to contact yphassociation@outlook.com

The staff at Dean’s Garden Centre York are celebrating a blossoming year of fundraising with a generous donation of over £16,000 to York-based charity York Mind. 

The local family business chose to support mental health throughout 2019, and raised the money by organising a range of opportunities for staff and customers to give; including a sell-out brass band concert at Stockton-on-Forest Village Hall in June, in-house quiz nights, collecting tins on the tills and prize grids in store. Between the York & Scarborough branches, the company has raised a huge £20,857.02 in total (with £4682.13 being donated to Scarborough, Whitby & Ryedale Mind). 

York Mind, which operates from Clifton, delivers a range of one to one and group based support for individuals aged 9 and above, were ‘over the moon’ to receive the donation.  

Whilst affiliating to the national ‘Mind’ brand, York Mind are financially independent from the main Mind charity, and therefore greatly rely on the support of local companies and people in the community in York to be able to continue & develop their life-changing work. This includes Counselling, Advocacy, Young People’s Services, Mental Health Training and a wide range of well-being activities designed to support better mental and emotional health. 

Laura Dean, Charity Co-ordinator at Dean’s Garden Centre, said: “We would like to thank all our customers, suppliers and staff members for their support in raising this fantastic amount of money, which will be used locally to support people suffering with mental health problems.”  

Holly Bilton, Fundraising Manager at York Mind, said: “The team at Dean’s have been such a pleasure to work with across the past year, and I am over the moon to celebrate their success with them. Their fundraising has been consistent and incredibly well-organised, and the fantastic total they have managed to raise for our services reflects the generosity and hard work of the close-knit staff team. Mental health problems are often ignored or misunderstood in our society; with the help of Dean’s Garden Centre, we hope to have reached a wider audience and helped more people to access support. On behalf of everyone at York Mind, we would like to thank colleagues for their enthusiasm and commitment towards better mental health in York.”

Barton Grange (above) regained the GCA Destination Garden Centre of the Year award and Fron Goch (below) took the accolade for GCA Garden Centre of the Year at the GCA Annual Conference in Bristol.

Iain Wylie, Chief Executive of the GCA, said: “What a fantastic night we had celebrating our ‘Garden Centres of Excellence’ winners. All of them have shown immense dedication, hard work and enthusiasm in what they do and couldn’t be more deserving. Each and every winner is a real credit to the horticultural industry.”

Eleven garden centres were announced as GCA Garden Centres of Excellence:

• Aylett Nurseries
• Barton Grange
• Bents Garden & Home
• Cowells
• Blue Diamond East Bridgford
• Fron Goch
• Perrywood Tiptree
• Simpsons Inverness
• Stewarts Christchurch
• The Old Railway Line Garden Centre
• Webbs of Wychbold

This year's GCA Greenfingers challenge raised a massive £12,000 for the Greenfingers Charity.

'Orse Racin' on Sunday afternoon, a quiz on Sunday evening and an auction at the annual dinner tonight were the FUNdraising activities this year.

A huge thank you to all who took part.

Cowells Garden Centre - Ruxley Rose Winner (GC).

Garden centre staff across the country are celebrating after receiving awards at the Garden Centre Association’s annual conference in Bristol.

The awards were presented to the member garden centres during a ceremony at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel.

Iain Wylie, Chief Executive of the GCA, said: “The hard work and dedication of our member garden centres improves year on year, meaning we have some of the highest standards in the industry.

“I’d like to congratulate all of our award winners as they are extremely deserving and are a shining example to others.”

Through sharing information and its inspection programme the GCA helps members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability.

The full list of winners announced on Monday, January 27 were:

• Christmas Competition (Garden Centre category) sponsored by Gisela Graham – Whitehall Garden Centre – Whitchurch
• Christmas Competition (Destination Garden Centre category) sponsored by Gisela Graham – Barton Grange Garden Centre
• Environment and Community Award – Garden Wise – Dumfries 
• Ruxley Rose (Garden Centre category) – Cowell’s Garden Centre
• Ruxley Rose (Destination Garden Centre category) – Perrywood Garden Centre Tiptree
• Barton Grange Trophy for Commercial Creativity and Innovation – Bents Garden & Home
• Customer Service Award – Best Customer Service – The Old Railway Line Garden Centre
• The Indoor Lifestyle Award – Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer (Garden Centre category) – Squires Garden Centre – Hersham
• The Indoor Lifestyle Award – Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer (Destination Garden Centre category) – East Bridgford Garden Centre
• The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer (Garden Centre category) – Fairways Garden Centre – Ashbourne
• The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer (Destination Garden Centre category) – Simpsons Garden Centre
• Dick Allen Award (Most Improved Garden Centre) – Notcutts Garden Centre – Wheatcroft
• The ifse Award for Catering Excellence – Best Garden Centre Restaurant (Garden Centre Category) – Fron Goch Garden Centre
• The ifse Award for Catering Excellence – Best Garden Centre Restaurant (Destination Garden Centre Category) – Joint winners Bents Garden & Home and St Peter’s Garden Centre
• Weber Outdoor Living Award – Best Outdoor Living Retailer (Garden Centre Category) – Joint winners Squires Garden Centre – Hersham and Fron Goch Garden Centre
• Weber Outdoor Living Award – Best Outdoor Living Retailer (Destination Garden Centre Category) – East Bridgford Garden Centre
• GCA Grow Training Award – Klondyke Garden Centre – Byrkley Park.

Barton Grange Garden Centre - Christmas Competition winners (DGC).

Bents Garden and Home - Barton Grange Trophy for Commercial Creativity and Innovation winners.

Bents Garden and Home - Best Garden Centre Restaurant winners (DGC).

Fron Goch Garden Centre - Best Garden Centre Restaurant winners (GC).

Fron Goch - Best Outdoor Living Retailer Award winners (GC).

Klondyke Garden Centre Byrkley Park - GCA GROW Training award winners.

Perrywood Tiptree - Ruxley Rose Winner (DGC).

Squires Garden Centre Hersham - Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer winners.

St Peter's Garden Centre - Best Garden Centre Restaurant winners (DGC).

The Old Railway Line Garden Centre - Best Customer Service award winners.

Sir Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project in Cornwall, has urged garden centres to see the environment crisis as a massive opportunity to make a difference to people's lives. "You should see yourselves as being at the pointy end of a new revolution," he told the GCA Conference in Bristol today (Tuesday).

"You are receptacles of marvellousness," he said. "Be aware.".

In a passionate address that gripped his audience, Sir Tim said horticulture was "so so important" to our futures and garden centres were places where grandparents and their grandchildren could go to feel safe. He acknowledged the "astonishing impact of greenery" on wellbeing.

A special themed party night at the Garden Centre Association conference saw delegates dressed in all types of fancy dress.

The winners of the Best Fancy Dress Award were King Canute & The Jellyfish (pictured above).

The second and third placed delegates are pictured below, along with a gallery of other suitably attired guests. 

Mike Burks will take over as Garden Centre Association (GCA) Chairman for 2020/21 at the start of the organisation’s annual conference tomorrow, January 27, 2020.

Mike, who is the Managing Director of The Gardens Group, will take the reins from outgoing Chairman, Mike Lind, who is also Managing Director of Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre.

He said: “I am greatly looking forward to my chairmanship and am lucky that the GCA has been in excellent hands with Mike Lind. With the association in such good shape, I can focus much of my time on driving forward with new initiatives and plan to visit many garden centres, attend meetings and work closely with the team to develop GROW, an e-learning tool that is very close to my heart, to make sure our members can get the most out of this valuable system.

“As well as sharing membership success stories, I’m keen to demonstrate the role that the industry can play in protecting wildlife and the environment, as well as bringing people together through plants and gardening to promote better health and wellbeing.

“We are in an enviable position, in that so many trends and needs of the modern world cross our path, so we need to work together to make the most of these opportunities.”

The Chairman of the GCA works closely with the GCA Executive and full Board of elected directors.

The GCA supports constructive relationships with other entities connected with retail and wholesale in the sector and promotes best practice across the industry.

Iain Wylie, Chief Executive of the GCA, said: “I am thrilled to have Mike as the new Chairman and congratulate him on being elected by our members.

“I am really looking forward to working with him when he takes on the role. He has already helped tremendously with the organising of our conference, which we will ensure will be bigger and better than ever.”

Mike has been on the GCA Executive Committee for more than 10 years.

He has also played an integral part in the creation and delivery of the GCA’s Garden Retail Online Workshops (GROW) which aims to give garden centres an opportunity to train staff to ensure their level of basic horticultural understanding is increased and that the necessary compliance training on topics such as health and safety and food hygiene is delivered.

Graduating with an honours degree in Horticulture from the University of Bath, Mike and his wife Louise, who is also a graduate in Horticulture from the University of Bath, founded The Gardens Group in 1987 with the opening of Castle Gardens in Sherborne. It has since expanded with the opening of Brimsmore Gardens in Yeovil in 1992 and Poundbury Gardens near Dorchester in 2006.

Although very much based in plants and core gardening, the garden centres are also renowned for their Christmas displays from October to December each year and Castle Gardens has won the GCA’s Christmas display competition nine times in the last 10 years.

Mike follows in the footsteps of his brother Peter Burks, who was GCA Chairman from 2012 until 2014.

The GCA represents nearly 200 garden centres nationwide.

Through sharing information and its inspection programme the GCA helps members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability.

For other information, please call 01244 952170, visit www.gca.org.uk, log on to www.facebook.com/pages/GardenCentreAssociation or follow the organisation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GC_Association.Peter Seabrook

The Garden Centre Association has announced Phil McCann (above right) and Mark Taylor (above left) will be joining its team of inspectors.

The pair will be responsible for inspecting member garden centres in South Thames with Phil inspecting those in the Garden Centre category and Mark checking members in the Destination Garden Centre category.

Iain Wylie, GCA Chief Executive, said: “We’re thrilled to have Phil and Mark joining our established team of inspectors.

“Phil has vast experience in the horticultural industry and graduated as a Plant Scientist and Mark studied at Writtle Agricultural College and has a HND in Commercial Horticulture.

“They will be integral in helping members to keep on improving standards and innovation through their annual inspection visits. The inspection process is very thorough and detailed, the GCA inspectors not only complete the inspection form during their visit but also give objective and honest feedback to the centres’ teams on the day before sending them their report.

“They will then make presentations at our regional meetings and during our annual conference in 2021.

“The 2020 inspections for member garden centres commence on March 16, 2020 and the inspectors are out visiting them until June 19, 2020, so those in South Thames can expect to see Phil and Mark soon.”

Phil graduated as a Plant Scientist and began his career in the horticultural industry as a Houseplant Manager at Prettywood Garden Centre near Manchester. He went on to become Plant Centre Manager at East Bridgford Garden Centre in Nottingham before selling seeds and young plants throughout the north and midlands for Unwins Seeds.

He then went on to sell Hillier Nurseries’ hardy nursery stock to garden centres across the north, midlands, Scotland and Northern Ireland and has worked for the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) as PR Manager for Shows and Gardens.

Recently Phil has been involved in creating an online garden centre and provides content for a variety of gardening websites. He is also a horticultural researcher and assistant producer for BBC gardening programmes and is the author of five gardening books and one cricket book. He is also a regular contributor to the RHS The Garden magazine.

As well as a HND in Commercial Horticulture, Mark has merchandising experience at macro and micro level having worked for Sainsbury’s Homebase. He was also the Planning Manager at Wyevale Garden Centres, where he was responsible for drawing up plans for refits and independent layout changes.

Prior to joining Wyevale, Mark worked for garden centre suppliers Nortene and Westland.

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Gardenex has announced that Joe Denham, CEO of VegTrug Limited, has taken over as chairman of the Federation. 

“After 10 years in the industry I am delighted to be taking on the chairmanship to assist Amanda Sizer Barrett and her team in any way I can, helping businesses to improve their exports from the UK,” said Joe.

“We are living through exciting times with challenges which have never been faced before. Every business needs all the help and advice it can get, and the team at Gardenex do a fantastic job for our industry.”

Joe founded VegTrug in 2009 and the company now operates in many countries – including Germany, America, Australia, India and Japan – as well as the UK.

Before setting up VegTrug Joe had a varied career as a serial entrepreneur, having founded and then sold his Dubai-based IT training company CBT Systems in 1997 under a NASDAQ merger with Smartforce. 

He went on to start a TV shopping supply company and had his own show on the ‘Ideal World’ channel for many years in the late 1990s before running a specialist horse feed business from his farm in Brittany. He returned to the UK and started VegTrug with business partner Paul Owen, and the company is now the largest supplier of raised garden beds worldwide, having sold around 600,000 units of its iconic product globally. 

Joe was appointed to the Board in 2016. He has taken over as Gardenex chairman from Richard Matthews, of the Summerfield Consultancy. Richard had been actively involved in the Federation for many years: first working in one of the firms in membership, then from 1982 as a committee member and non executive director, following this in the role of vice chair and then chair twice; then taking on the role of full time chair of the federation when it was decided to appoint one in 2008. 

Amanda Sizer Barrett, Director General of the federation says: “In his role as chairman, Richard supported the team as it delivered the highest standards of services, benefits and expert specialist advice and sales leads to member companies.  He also encouraged the federation to use its expertise to help support the pet product market and the commercial horticultural sector as well as taking on the secretariat for the home gardening market association, GIMA.  

“Representing a much broader spectrum of suppliers has brought the Federation additional clout with government and more opportunities to bid for funding for its member companies and the Federation now represents the wide gardening and leisure sector on several government committees which has enhanced further its reputation and influence.”

Amanda concluded: “On a personal note, Richard has been scrupulous in carrying out his duties and responsibilities as chairman, being loyal and supportive. I will miss his contribution as colleague and chairman but understand that after 40 years, he definitely deserves a happy and fulfilling retirement! 

“We are now looking forward to working closely with Joe Denham, who has always been an enthusiastic and active user and supporter of Gardenex services.”

Always keen to share his knowledge, new Chairman Joe Denham has advised many start-up businesses within the industry and helped them particularly with sales organisation and exports. 

“Gardenex was so helpful to us in the first few years with VegTrug. I had good business experience but very little knowledge of the lawn and garden industry. I am now delighted to be able to offer something back,” confirms Joe.

Garden lighting and decorative lines continue to shine through in January garden product sales with 50% of the top 20 Bestselling lines in the GTN Bestsellers chart.

Overall sales of the Top 50 Garden products are running slightly down year on year at -2.4% but are significantly ahead of the previous three years volumes.

• Algon Organic Algae Remover Patio Cleaner has become a No 1 Bestselling line for the first time, increasing sales by 31% week on week to get to the top of the GTN chart.
• Smart Eureka! Lightbulb Lantern is the highest re-entry of the week at No 10.
• Vitax Organic Potato Feed is a re-entry at No 50, another good sign for growth of seed potato and Veg 2 Gro sales for 2020.

To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

After a slow start after the Christmas and New Year break Veg 2 Gro sales have taken off and we look set for a good year of veg growing.  

Excluding the first week of January the GTN Top 50 sales volumes are running at 10% up on last year.

• Taylors Onion Sets Red Baron move to the Top of the Veg popularity stakes.
• Taylors Seed Potatoes Taster Pack Charlotte are the early pace setter in terms of seed potato sales, up 27 places to No 6.
• Thompson & Morgan Beetroot Boltardy is the highest volume veg seed pack at No 7 in the GTN weekly chart.

To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Are Early Bird offers running later this year or are they just not selling so well?  

Traditionally the GTN Growing Media chart sees high volume sales of a number of lines as centres promote Early Bird offers for keen gardeners, but that doesn’t appear to be the case across the board this year with January volumes to date down by 25% on both of the last two years.

How have you used Early Bird Growing Media offers this year?  Are you holding off for February?  Do let us know: trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

• Bloomin Amazing Soil Enricher 70 litres moved up 24 places to No 14 this week.
• Westland The Gardener's Soil Conditioner 50 litres climbed from No 50 to No 24.
• Evergreen Garden Care Levington Standard Grobag was a new entry at No 33.

To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

The lack of a really cold snap so far this year means Wild Bird Care sales volumes are down on last year but with the nesting season starting soon and a radio ad campaign for Peckish Wild Bird Care products there are plenty of opportunities for sales to grow through to spring.

• Peckish Natural Balance Energy Balls 50 +20% Free continue to hold off Gardman Fat Snax at the top of the GTN Wild Bird care chart.
• Gardman Mealworm Pouch 200g is the highest chart climber of the week, up 25 places to No 11.
• Tom Chambers Classic Seed Blend 3.75kg is the highest re-entry at No 19.

To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Carol Dickinson from Hereford has been promoted to Head of Business Support at Wyevale Nurseries.

The 52-year-old’s role includes maximising the new IT system’s potential, overseeing the customer service team, developing and improving administrative policies and procedures and planning and implementing the marketing strategy.

Andy Johnson, Managing Director at Wyevale Nurseries in Hereford, which celebrates its 90^th Anniversary this year, said: “I’m pleased to announce Carol’s appointment to Head of Business Support. We have recognised the importance of streamlining the businesses and being innovative in our approach to the future.

“Following last year’s appointment of our new Commercial Sales Director, Ian Wright and expansion of the sales and administration team we are now centralising all IT, marketing and administrative support into one department and Carol’s role is to head up this department.

“Over the past two years Carol has worked relentlessly to develop and implement our new business process management software, our ERP system. 

“She is now a key member of the Senior Management Team and we hope the recognition of this in the business support role will bring together the central business functions of IT, marketing and administrative support to allow for a more joined up approach in delivering our business plan objectives.”

Carol has worked for the company for 22 years and prior to her promotion she was the Customer Support and Innovation Manager at Wyevale Nurseries.

The mother-of-two added: “Although the powerhouse of the business is the growing divisions, the vision has always been to support the growing operations to allow them to get on with what they do best.

“To do this we have established a simple and effective central Business Support service. By bringing together the technological, marketing and administration sections of the business we can exploit synergies between them to drive the business forward.

“A united team with a common purpose is always a strength to be reckoned with and we are extremely excited to help the business continue to flourish on the back of one of our most successful years.”

In her spare time Carol enjoys gardening and relaxing with friends and family.

The Burpee Seeds Europe team know that as the wind is howling and the rain is falling at this time of year, it is strange to think about blooms and frocks.  But one cannot help but shout about brand new Echinacea 'Sundress', even in mid-January! 

This stunning coneflower promises to provide the wow factor to any perennial border, 'Sundress' will not only tempt you, but also beneficial insect pollinators into the garden.

Selected for its winter hardiness following trials on Burpee's farm in South Holland, 'Sundress' is a reliable performer both in borders and containers.

Flowering the year after sowing, this gorgeous plant will produce an abundance of stunning flowers with pure white ray petals surrounding a yellow cone.

Burpee Seeds Europe website: www.burpeeeurope.com

As Seeds Manager, Rachel will take on day to day management of the seed store staff on top of her buying and quality control role. Having been at the company for over 20 years, Rachel will be building on her vast experience in seed sourcing, buying and the testing laboratory to take on wider quality responsibilities within the company.

Commercial Director, Tim Jeffries commented “I’m delighted to recognise Rachel’s commitment and undoubted skills. She can now look after our seed from source to packing machine. Her role will oversee sourcing, buying, quality in laboratory testing and optimum storage conditions to ensure premium seed right through to delivery for machine filling. I am confident we have the strongest seed team in the UK if not Europe. Rachel is highly respected throughout the seed trade and I know our suppliers, growers and customers will be as delighted as the team are at Mr Fothergill’s to hear of her enhanced role.”

Denys E. Head Ltd are in the final stage of a sale to Haskins Garden Centres Ltd.

Roger Head, Managing Director of Denys E. Head Ltd, has confirmed that he is in the process of selling the business, Forest Lodge, Garden Style and Birdworld, to Haskins Garden Centres Ltd and is working towards completing the sale over the next few weeks.

Roger Head said: “After setting up the business with my parents 40 years ago, I feel the time is right to retire and therefore sell the business. I have known Warren Haskins throughout this period and believe the Haskins business to be the perfect custodians to continue to develop Forest Lodge, Garden Style and Birdworld. I am very proud of the business and the team of people who have contributed so much to our journey and will work hard to make sure the transition is as smooth as possible for the team and our customers.”

Warren Haskins, Chairman of Haskins Garden Centres Ltd, confirmed: “I am looking forward to Forest Lodge, Garden Style and Birdworld joining our family business. We have developed a great culture within Haskins and work hard to develop a long-term plan for all our sites, with a view of remaining a family owned, independent business.”

See GTN Xtra's photo gallery of Forest Lodge Garden Centre from April 2019 below:

The Klondyke Group Limited have just announced the acquisition of Garden Wise Plant and Garden Centre in Dumfries from Alistair and Gillian Bertram who will retire after a long career at the site.

The award winning centre in the south west of Scotland celebrates its 40th year in 2020 and becomes Klondyke’s 22nd garden centre.

The centre will continue to trade under the Garden Wise name and all of the staff will be retained by Klondyke.

Commenting on the acquisition David Yardley, Chief Executive of Klondyke said "Garden Wise has been long admired by Klondyke and is a great geographical addition to the group, becoming our sixth trading centre in Scotland".

See GTN Xtra's gallery of photos from Garden Wise taken in December 2017 below.

The most recent addition to the AMES UK Director team is Matt Wilson who joined the business in September. Matt is responsible for Finance and HR and comes with a wealth of relevant experience in privately owned business and large corporations.

Matt has set about bringing all AMES UK’s 300 employees into a harmonised system, streamlining policy and supporting the rest of the management team.

He is keen to point out the extraordinary employee retention in La Hacienda, Kelkay and Woodshaw with several members of the team having been on the payroll from the very start.

With his other hat on, Matt is focussing on the future sales growth of AMES UK and he was able to confirm their ambitious 20% growth forecast for 2020. Group turnover in the year ending September 2019 reached over £43million, a significant increase on the prior year and Matt’s confident that AMES UK – before the addition of Apta - will break the £50m barrier in 2020.

“It’s been a very busy first few months for me with major infrastructure projects here at Kelkay, the acquisition of Apta and the largest pre-season orders in the company’s history. I’m relatively new to the gardening industry, but I am reliably assured that what we need now is some sunshine. We are certainly very well prepared!”

Sue Allen was confirmed as chairman of the Greenfingers Charity at its last week, when a new-look board was also introduced.

During his four years in the role, outgoing chairman John Ashley was instrumental in the further development of the charity, overseeing the completion of 10 gardens at UK children’s hospices, with four more in the planning; the launch of the ‘Million Moments’ campaign, which reached its £1million fundraising targetl in under three years; the launch of the Chairman’s Fundraising Dinner at the RAF Club, which has raised over £100,000 in three years; the appointment of patrons Ann-Marie Powell and Adam Frost; the development of the Greenfingers Charity brand, and the award-winning Greenfingers garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2019.

Sue Allen is a well-known face in the garden retail industry, having established Millbrook Garden Centres in 1979 with her late husband, Dick. Now that the businesses are run by her extended family, Sue splits her time between the board of trustees for the Garden Centre Association, chairmanship of the GCA Trust and now, Greenfingers.

Sue, who has been involved with Greenfingers for more than 20 years, said she was excited to be guiding the charity over the next four. “From the development of fundraising opportunities, to building the Greenfingers brand nationwide, and encouraging our ambassadors and supporters to engage with us even more – the potential for growth is significant. I can’t wait to get started!” she added.

The AGM saw three trustees step down at the end of their tenure –post Scotsdale’s Caroline Owen, Dennis Espley (previously MD of Squire’s, now Non-Executive Chair of the Tillington Buying Group) and Carol Paris, CEO of Somerton Group,.  Two new trustees – Tammy Woodhouse, MD of Millbrook Garden Centres, and Richard Capewell – joined the board.

Linda Petrons, director of fundraising and communications, said: “On behalf of all of us at Greenfingers we’d like to thank John for everything he has done for the charity during his time as chairman. He has been a wonderful part of our development over the last four years and will be missed. We are of course excited to have Sue on board and look forward to seeing how we can move forward under her guidance.

“I’d also like to thank those trustees who have come to the end of their term. Their input has been invaluable, and I hope they will continue to support Greenfingers in the future.”

A review of Highlights of 2019 and  preview of plans for 2020 included:

• Almost £550,000 raised through FUNdraising activites
• Four new gardens completed at Grace House (Sunderland), Little Harbour (St Austell), Richard House (London), and Claire House (Wirral).
• Five new gardens set to be completed in 2020 at Haven House (Essex), Rainbow House (Loughborough), The Nook (Norfolk), St Oswald’s (Newcastle) and Ty Hafan (Vale of Glamorgan).
• Kew Green Hotel’s support of Greenfingers as its chosen charity will continue in 2020. To date staff in hotels across the country have raised over £380k.
• The team at STIHL raised over £10,000 in 2019 through a range of FUNdraising initiatives.
• New charity partnership with Clarins UK, which has chosen Greenfingers as its new charity partner
• Garden Re-Leaf Day 2020 – new teams signing up for the Sponsored Walk and Cycle Challenge, plus retailers thinking of new and exciting ways to get involved.
• The ‘Monte Carlo or Bust’ Rally race which will see teams travel through six countries in a £500 ‘banger’ as part of a FUNdraising adventure.
• The New Summer Ball at Barton Grange will be making its debut this June.
• Floral Thursday at Glee will return, though this year we hope to see many others ‘going floral’ for Greenfingers on 17 September.
• The GIMA Golf Day

…and the continuation of the Chairman’s Fundraising dinner at the RAF Club in London 3 November.

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 newsletter.

As the year goes on we give sales volume comparisons with 2017 as well as 2018 to allow your teams to see variations over a three year period.

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