Turning Chelsea delights into sales
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Chelsea 2013 was a horticultural delight – just as you’d expect after 100 years of practice, so there will be plenty of media coverage to stimulate more gardening activity.
The trick is to turn that into garden centre visits and sales, so the GTN Team were on the lookout for ideas and inspiration that could be used in garden centres, and especially ideas for The Greatest Planteria Team Display.
The large cast of celebrities at Monday’s Press Day reminds us that Gardening, Plants and Flowers can be very high profile, and stars are happy to bask in their glory. Now all gardening retailers can bask in the glory.
Shout about it!
Garden designer Adam Frost delivered a gold medal winning garden for Homebase “Sowing the Seeds of Change” and by Tuesday morning the planteria at our local Homebase had all the gold medal winning POS up on display – well done Homebase, you already have Chelsea Planteria displays ready to enter The Greatest Awards!
Hillier’s maintained their position as the most successful exhibitor in the history of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show by clinching their 68th Chelsea Gold medal in a row. They even employed a lifesize garden Gnome to impress the judges. Now I wonder what the Hillier Garden Centre Planteria display entries will be?
Stand out
One way to create a Chelsea Planteria display is to re-create a Chelsea winning garden, it doesn’t need to take up a lot of space. This gold winning Artisan Garden was a truly magical creation in a very small space.
 Freelance journalist David Hurrion leads the way in standing out from the crowd – his suit cost £60.00 from Opposuits.com. Great style for a garden centre special event or a centre meeter and greeter!
Getting noticed
Not only did the Australian Trailfinders garden win Best in Show, they win best dressed team too. The smart shirts with logos on the back mean their sponsors get maximum exposure. But it’s the trilbies that really get them noticed. Even in a crowd, they can be seen!
Getting involved
The best way to get the Chelsea feeling to rub off on your business is to get your hands dirty and get involved. Steve Harper helped two young garden designers to a Gold medal with sponsorship from Vital Earth and William Armitage really got his hands dirty by helping a local
sculptor with the planting, supplied by Europlants, and assembly of their display by the Bull Ring entrance.
Product placement
The ultimate in product placement – a Hozelock growbag waterer and a Tomorite Planter in prime position on the Generation garden and a pair of old Town & Country wellies used as a planter on the Ken Muir display.
Metal trends
Metal structures and ornaments featured prominently around Chelsea 2013. Recycled metal garden ornaments grabbed our attention on several displays, and there were fire pits everywhere.
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Winning Artisan Garden.jpg
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