Will the media hype around the RHS Chelsea Flower Show next week along with the hint of some warmer weather be the impetus we need for a record breaking Whit Bank Holiday weekend?

After a week when the temperatures dropped and April showers returned garden centre sales, especially plants and gardening products fared well again.  Not quite hitting the record heights of the previous week but overall up by 7% on the same week last year, according to the GTN Bestsellers All Barcode Products Index.

The met office forecast for the Whit Bank Holiday weekend says as GTN Bestsellers goes to press:  “The bank holiday weekend will most likely see a continuation of unsettled conditions, but there is a chance that much warmer weather may spread northwards across the UK.”

With that in mind, footfall should spike again so will you be ready with plenty of Chelsea related promotions and ideas to make the most of the high media profile for gardens and plants next week?

The Sun Flower Square, the industry exhibit at Chelsea, championed by Peter Seabrook and co-ordinated by the HTA, features four model garden displays, each 4m x 4m square, the same size as the average front garden in Britain and based on the successful campaign ‘Love The Plot You’ve Got’.  The gardens are ‘Room Outside’, designed by Lovania and made up of HTA members, the GCA Jubilee Hanging Basket Garden, The Seed Garden and the Rising Stars Garden, kindly supported by Westland Horticulture.

GTN Xtra will bring you pictures of these gardens on Tuesday morning after Press Day so you’ll be able to have a go at re-creating them in your centres to maximise on sales opportunities.

• Garden Products – up 12%
• Veg 2 Gro – down 21%
• Growing Media – up 5%
• All items index – up 7%