The Garden Centre Association (GCA) has introduced a new module on identifying hazardous plants through its Garden Retail Online Workshops (GROW) learning platform.

The ‘Poisonous Plants’ GROW module highlights indoor and outdoor plants that are dangerous to humans and pets.

Antony Snow (pictured), instructional designer for GROW at the GCA, said a surprising number of indoor and outdoor plants popular with customers posed a hazard to humans and pets alike. “This module has been produced to help employees identify these plants, provide their customers with the best advice for staying safe around them, as well as what to do if a colleague or customer becomes affected by them,” he added.

The GROW modules cover a range of topics to help employees gain knowledge and confidence in products and services to provide customers with the best advice.

The new module is available immediately to existing subscribers and the GROW e-learning facility is available to GCA member garden centres, as well as Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) garden centre members.

Iain Wylie, GCA chief executive, said: “Many of our members have commented on how effective our service has been to bring education and training to employees, which improves their knowledge to assist others in the workplace, whether colleagues or customers.

“It’s available 24/7, so garden centre staff can update their expertise when it’s suitable for them. It’s a cost-effective way of delivering training and personal developments too, which, in turn, benefits customers’ experiences when visiting a garden centre and this is good for everyone.”

GROW is a self-funding and non-profit making facility with any surpluses reinvested into the ongoing development and improvement. There are Currently 99 modules, all written by experts in their field, and more than 13,000 users.

Topics cover horticulture, customer service, food safety, regulated sales and health and safety. 

Other modules in the pipeline include ‘Allergens’ and ‘Manual Handling’, which will both complement and expand the existing training within the Food Safety and Health and Safety categories and will be designed, as always, with a garden centre environment in mind, while covering legalities and best practice.

Garden centres can sign up to GROW on the website  or contact Antony  or GCA CEO Iain Wylie to arrange an on-site demonstration or guest access.