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GTN Bestsellers - garden centre sales data every week
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The boom of May sales continues despite the weather being not that great and the GTN Bestsellers All Products Index now shows a 6.7% increase on garden centre volume sales year on year.
With reasonable weather this Bank Holiday weekend and for the start of June it’s possible that volume sales could be up by as much as 10%.
Garden Product sales are leading the way in the GTN Bestsellers Charts, now up 12% on last year with products backed by TV advertising faring particulry well in the Bestsellers stakes.
Veg plants are also seling well, bringing the Veg-2-Grow year-on-year comparison into the black for the first time in 2013. We can aslo see that plant sales in general are up on last year too!
The one area of concern in the GTN Charts is growing media, where volume sales are still 9% down on last year and a whopping 30% down on 2011. History tells us the peak for growing media sales is way past us but will this Bank Holiday weekend prove past trends to be wrong as more of the country gets active in the garden?
GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year:
- Garden Products – up 45%
- Veg-2-Gro – up 81%
- Growing Media – up 26%
- All items index – up 29%
WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.
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It’s all change at the top of the GTN Bestsellers Garden Products Top 50 this week as gardeners get really active in their gardens and the power of TV advertising kicks in.
Scotts Roundup Weedkiller Gel takes over as the No 1 garden centre bestselling garden product with the Powergrip Trowel from Fiskars and a pair of Classic Anvil Secateurs from Gardman taking the No 2 and 3 spots.
Tomato feed is still selling extremely well with Westland’s Gro-Sure Tomato Food joining Tomorite in the top 10.
The Gro-Sure Tomato Food is just one of 10 Westland products in the Top 50 this week coinciding with the “There’s life in the Westland” TV campaign.
The innovation of ready to sow border mixes of seed, compost and feed appears to have been well received by garden centre customers, after 6 weeks in the Top 50 for Scotts Miracle-Gro Flower Magic it’s now the turn for Westland’s Easy Flowers to grace the chart with the Bright Mix at No 17 and the Pastel Mix at No 43.
Hanging baskets and container gardening is in full swing too. Gardman’s 40cm Coco liner was the weeks highest chart climber and two Wolf Pots from Woodlodge (above) saw huge sales increases last week to enter the chart at Nos 35 and 44.
See the full GTN Garden Products Bestsellers Chart here. Subscribers Only
http://www.gardentradenews.co.uk/best1.asp
To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £120.00 per year click here
WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.
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This week's GTN Bestsellers Veg-2-Gro chart is dominated by two growers...Gardeners Kitchen and Quantil.
Gardeners Kitchen continue to dominte the top of the chart with 10 of their 14 products filling the Top 10 positions for the second week running. Tomato Moneymaker stays at No 1.
Quantil veg plants, however, dominate the chart in total volume. Twenty-four of the Top 50 Bestsellers are from Quantil with their 8cm Cucumber F1 the highest placed at No 11.
The highest new entry of the week is, you've guessed it, from Quantil – its 8cm Butternut Squash plants come in at No 22. It's not an easy plant to grow in the UK but an indication that our garden centre customers are getting more experienced and adventurous with their veg growing.
There's only one seed pack in the Top 50 Veg bestsellers this week, Beetroot Boltardy from Suttons, holding its own at No 40.
See the full GTN Veg 2 Gro Bestsellers Chart here. Subscribers Only
To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £120.00 per year click here
WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.
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| Her Majesty the Queen drops by on the Hillier exhibit |
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Record ‘Golds’ tally a tribute to growers, say RHS
The Royal Horticultural Society has paid tribute to the growers who helped garden designers and pavilion exhibitors to a record 92 Gold Medals at this week’s Chelsea Flower
Show, despite the late spring.
The Royal Horticultural Society has paid tribute to the growers who helped garden designers and pavilion exhibitors to a record 92 Gold Medals at this week’s Chelsea Flower
Show, despite the late spring.
“To be able to deliver gardens at the peak of perfection in a year when the growing conditions have been so challenging is extraordinary,” said the RHS’s head of judging, Bob Sweet.
“The show stands for the highest levels of horticultural excellence, and the exhibitors this year have demonstrated an unrivalled level of knowledge and ability.”
Many of the Gold winners were HTA members. For the first time, 10 show gardens were awarded Golds, with Fleming’s Nurseries of Australia taking the title of Best Show Garden for their showcase of native, Australian plants and sustainable landscaping in an urban setting.
Hillier Nurseries clocked up their 68th consecutive Gold, on the theme of ’Risk’. Hillier’s MD and Chelsea designer Andy McIndoe said: “For a while during this cold, dark spring, our theme of ‘Risk’ seemed particularly apt!”
The Hillier Nurseries tea and MD Andy McIndoe pose with a headline-stealing garden gnome, making a first ’legal’ appearance at Chelsea.
Top: Her Majesty the Queen drops by on the Hillier exhibit and learns about how the display was created.
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Turning Chelsea delights into sales
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...
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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Rolawn celebrate with Chelsea winners
Rolawn supplied products to 28 of the country’s leading garden designers and exhibitors at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show – including 10 gold medal winners, Best Show Garden and Best Fresh Garden...
Rolawn supplied products to 28 of the country’s leading garden designers and exhibitors at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show – including 10 gold medal winners, Best Show Garden and Best Fresh Garden.Chris Beardshaw planted the whole of his stunning garden for Arthritis Research UK in Rolawn Blended Loam Topsoil whilst Horticolous Landscape & Garden Design used Rolawn’s new water saving product ProMulch in their Grand Pavilion exhibit.
And artist and designer Tony Smith celebrated the beauty of the wheelbarrow offset against Medallion turf on his RHS Centenary Show Feature (pictured). Jonathan Hill, Rolawn’s Sales & Marketing Director commented “We are delighted with this years results and it has been a pleasure to supply so many of the industry’s leading professionals.
"As ever, product quality standards have had to meet the highest of expectations for Chelsea. We would like to congratulate all concerned and thank them for their support.”
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The new Flexi Spray from Hozelock has won the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show ‘Product of the Year’ 2013.
The Flexi Spray is an exciting, innovative multi-purpose hose end attachment designed to be moulded into an array of shapes to perform a wide range of watering functions. Simply plug it on to your existing hose system, bend it into the desired feature and water away!
Its key benefits include: a long reach spray gun, hanging basket waterer, turns into a sprinkler, hands free watering and flow control & 3 stage trigger.
Meanwhile Town & Country's Bamboo Gloves were shortlisted.
TV Gardener David Domoney’s search for Britain’s Best Street
Cultivation Street is launching at the end of May to find Britain’s best turned out street. Whether you live on a terrace in Todmorden, or avenue in Abergavenny – TV gardener David Domoney wants to see your street and judge who has the best gardens, plants and green spaces in the whole of the UK...
Cultivation Street is launching at the end of May to find Britain’s best turned out street. Whether you live on a terrace in Todmorden, or avenue in Abergavenny – TV gardener David Domoney wants to see your street and judge who has the best gardens, plants and green spaces in the whole of the UK.The competition starts on Sunday May 26 and there is prize money of £10,000 National Garden Gift Vouchers to the winning street. Applications for the prize should be in by Monday August 26, and the final prize will be announced on the Monday September 8. There are major media outlets already confirmed – Sunday People are giving extensive coverage as are many regional newspapers. David Domoney, the organiser of the campaign, says: “This is the Chelsea Flower Show of the UK’s streets, communities of next door neigbours all working together to share the passion of gardening and create a sense of pride to where they live. It’s the ideal place to share experience, plants and the enjoyment of gardening.
"We have achieved such widespread support for this competition. I am also delighted that the Prince of Wales, Princes Foundation for Building Community is awarding the Sustainability and Community Street category."
 The sponsor is the Horticultural Trades Association with their brand ‘National Garden Gift Vouchers’. The prize money for the winners is not to be sniffed at with a standing total of £16,000 pounds worth of National Garden Gift vouchers up for grabs. Carol Paris Director General of the Horticultural Trades Association says “Having a great line of street gardens does not only benefit the home owners, it could inspire hundreds of people who pass that street in their daily lives, equaling in a push to encourage new gardeners by good example”. Prince's Foundation competition judge says: "We believe that green spaces form an integral part of any healthy, sustainable community and this competition will help put the spotlight on that. Making the most of your front garden can help transform a good street into a great community that everyone can enjoy. Competitions like this show us that you can make the most of any urban garden, no matter how small, as long as you're creative and committed." The Horticultural Trades Association is supplying all Garden Centres nationwide with free POS kits ready for the launch to help to entice as many entries for Cultivation Street as possible. If each house that enters spends on average £150 on garden improvements, then one street's houses is worth a minimum of £600 to a retailer, with five streets' worth a minimum of £3,000 (based upon 4 houses in a street). The Sunday People newspaper is behind the campaign with coverage of the competition, with the Editor James Scott saying “Encouraging gardeners young and old is a big belief to our paper, I dedicate a whole page every week for David Domoney to give great hints and tips on how to make the most of our readers outside space”. The People will be printing features on the competition throughout the summer. As well as the HTA and Trinity Mirror, the campaign has gained some other heavy weights supporting the campaign including the Institute of Horticulture, The Garden Centre Association, and the Gardening Industry Manufactures Association. Neil Gow, Director of GIMA said: “With the season late to kick off, this competition is perfectly timed to inspire the public to venture outside and garden, alongside manufacturers and retailers working together to encourage sales”. Participating streets include families from across the age spectrum, involving children right through to the elderly. It’s all about creating beautiful garden spaces, making new friends, attracting more wildlife and, having fun. With regional heats and categories of awards, we are looking for true community spirit and pride, by making aesthetic and environmental improvements to street gardens culminating in ‘Britain’s Best Street Award’. In addition to eight regional awards there are other special award categories which include:- Generation Street – Awarded to the street from across the whole of Britain that has encouraged the youngest people to get involved in the project. Inspiration Street – Awarded to the street that has come together to look spectacular against the odds. It might be that the gardeners are recovering from illness, accident or addiction, but the community has still pulled together to create something very special. Judges will be looking for an inspirational story. Multiplication Street – This award will go to the street with the most consecutive front gardens involved in the competition, so start encouraging your neighbours to take part today. The more the merrier! Transformation Street – This award will go to the street that has enjoyed the most impressive transformation across the whole of the UK. Whether its seen driveways returned to gardens, dramatic new planting, and the greatest improvement in front gardens or all of the above. Sustainability & Community Street – This award will be judged and awarded by the Princes Foundation for Building Community for the street that has demonstrated an understanding of harmony and sustainability. Use of sustainable planting, re use or second life of discarded products/waste, timeless land based skills, willow hurdles, eco growing, dry stone walling, building your own bug hotels whilst involving community groups. Cultivation School – This award will go to the school that has involved children or families from the school to create an impressive garden within the grounds of the school. Whether it is with bountiful edible plants that help transform attitudes towards cabbage, soil, worms and ladybirds or beautiful flowers for decoration and harmony.
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Launch of The Greatest Awards 2013
New award celebrates 100 years of the Chelsea Flower Show
In the RHS Chelsea Flower Show's Centenary Year, the search is on for garden centre planteria teams with a touch of gold...
With poor weather in successive seasons underlining more strongly than ever the need for creative input to boost plant sales, GTN announces a brand new award to find the garden centre planterias with the Midas touch.
Since their launch by GTN in 2006, The Greatest Awards have been recognising and rewarding team excellence in garden centre retailing across all the major departments.
This year, recognising that garden centres must maintain a tight focus on essential business targets to mitigate recent losses, The Greatest Awards will initially feature the planteria, the category that gives garden centres their unique competitive edge.
After another poor spring for plant sales, centres are anxious to maximise planteria turnover in June and July, way beyond the traditional cut-off point for the summer bedding season. This summer, there is a heaven-sent theme to inspire planteria managers and their merchandising teams – 2013 is the centenary year of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, whose medal-winning plants and show gardens will continue to excite the gardening public throughout the rest of the year.
GTN and sponsors Bord na Mona are now inviting garden centres to take part in The Greatest Planterias Award 2013, a nationwide competition to encourage the creation of exciting and innovative plant displays that will stimulate footfall and boost customer spend.
The competition is in two parts:
1. The Greatest Planteria Displays celebrating 100 years of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show – using all your skills and ingenuity to produce beautiful, fun-filled planteria theatre - with sales appeal. As last year’s Greatest Jubilee Doorstep promotions proved, displays of this kind guarantee an immediate increase in plant sales.
Garden centres should send photos of their displays to us by Wednesday 15 July 2013. The winners will be selected by an expert Greatest Awards judging panel and notified of their success later in July, giving them ample opportunity for marketing and PR activity during the summer and through the autumn sales period.
2. The Greatest Planteria Sales Teams - as voted by the public. GTN will provide, on application, PDFs of posters, voting forms and other POS you can use to get your customers involved in voting your Planteria team as The Greatest. Part of the voting process involves your customers giving feedback as to why your team is The Greatest, which always proves a great motivator to planteria staff.
The public vote for The Greatest Planteria Sales Team will also close on 15 July and the winners notified later in the month.
For both of these Greatest Awards categories there will be awards for different sizes of garden centre, so every Planteria Sales team has a chance of winning, they just have to be Great at what they do. To register your Planteria Team for The Greatest Planetria Awards follow this link: Register here
Garden centres who took part in The Greatest Jubilee Doorstep Challenge know just how much their special displays helped to increase plant sales in the challenging trading conditions of summer 2012.
At our Gold Award centre, Van Hage at Great Amwell, their excellent Jubilee dressing was evident from the car park through to the spa baths display and resulted in sales of Jubilee items that far exceeded expectations.
Centres can use their participation to develop useful community networking and even create their own customer competition, like finalists Barton Grange at Brock, who got 42 local schools involved last year.
At Busy Bee in the Isle of Wight, in the section to find the customer with The Greatest Jubilee Doorstep Display, Linda Ryan of Sandown created a bright, vibrant jubilee doorstep that also included the Olympics – a great way to welcome visitors and brighten up her street.
Even the smallest centres enjoyed success last year. Our Silver Award went to the bijou Cleeve Nursery. Other finalists included Cowells, Coolings, and Van Hage Peterborough.
Here's a collection of pictures from last year's The Greatest Awards
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To enter your team into The Greatest Planteria Awards, email thegreatestawards@tgcmc.co.uk , typing 'Greatest Planteria Awards' in the subject line, to register your FREE entry. You will then receive further details, POS materials and your public voting pack by email.
As well as receiving The Greatest Awards accolades and certficates, as so proudly displayed in previous Greatest Award winning centres, the Gold winners of The Greatest Planteria Team awards 2013 will win tickets to The Greatest Awards Party, held in Harrogate in January 2014. It's an event not to be missed.
Deadline for submitting display photos and public votes: Wednesday, July 15.
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Members of the gardening trade are working on their swings for the GIMA golf day at Staverton Park in Daventry, Northants, on June 6...and there's still time to enter a team and raise money for great causes...
The GIMA Charity Golf Day is a proven way to: mix with your customers in a relaxed manner; build commitment with your own team; and get your business name and brands in front of your industry. And money raised from the event goes to Gardening Leave and Greenfingers.
There are three ways you can get involved even if you don't play golf. You can: offer your support by providing a raffle prize; take up a sponsorship opportunity; and book a table and enjoy an evening of entertainment and good company.
The day's events start from from 10.30am when bacon sandwiches and hot
drinks will be served in the Club House. There will be two tee starts between 11.30am and 1.00pm. Golfers will be completing their rounds from approx. 3.30pm-6.00pm.
You can have a crack at “Challenge the Pro” on a par 3 hole where golfers will be invited to pay £5/head. Prizes of a FREE round of golf for 4 if you can beat the Pro will be up fro grabs.
After you have played golf or for those of you who don’t want to play, you can enjoy complimentary access to the pool, steam room, sauna and Jacuzzi.
Around 6pm you can join colleagues in the bar for the evening of fun and relax with a drink or two and talk about the day's events and how close you were to that hole in one!
In the evening, starting at 7.15pm there will be an evening meal, prize giving, raffle and charity auction.
To Play - Enter your 4 ball golf team for only £400. This includes golf, breakfast, practice range, evening and use of leisure club.
To Stay - Overnight Bed & Breakfast basis is at GIMA rate of £80.00/head.
To Dine - Join for the evening meal and entertainment £45.00/head.
Package costs: Team of 4 to play golf, enjoy the evening dinner and stay overnight for a package cost of £690. Team of 4 to play golf, 8 to dine and 8 to stay overnight for a package cost of £990.
Golf buggies are available to hire and need to be booked in advance and paid on the day direct to the club.
For further information call 01959 564 947 or email info@gima.org.uk
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A key product focus for Alexander Rose at this year’s SOLEX is the Portofino collection. Based on the exceptional response to the range in its first year, Alexander Rose are expanding the range to include two new chairs and two new tables, all of which will be on show at the show..
The Portofino collection of benches, chairs, sunbeds and tables takes garden furniture to a new level of cutting-edge contemporary style. Offering the ultimate in contemporary city living, and equally at home in a town or country setting, the Portofino provides comfort, low maintenance and unrivalled product performance in all weather conditions.
 Precision and durability are the hallmarks of this collection and this is no better demonstrated than in the intricate way the fine powder coated mild steel and wire mesh together, fusing lines, shapes and patterns in the designs of the furniture to exacting standards.
Taking its name from the famous Italian harbour town on the Ligurian Riviera in Italy, the Portofino collection epitomises elegance, craftsmanship and quality – just like the town of Portofino.
Also on display will be Alexander Rose’s collections of traditional and contemporary sustainable hardwood and woven furniture all offering the quintessence of quality and attention to detail.
With their reputation for design, strength and longevity, Alexander Rose furniture can be found in the finest gardens and conservatories around the world.
Make sure you visit the Alexander Rose stand (22).
To find out more go to www.alexander-rose.co.uk, call 01444 258928 or follow on Twitter@Alexander_Rose or Facebook.com/alexanderrosefurniture
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Is there still a growing media peak to come
Will the sales graph for growing media sales look like the UK double dip recession this year or just continue the week on week decline through to the summer? It’s all down to this Bank Holiday weekend it would appear...
Will the sales graph for growing media sales look like the UK double dip recession this year or just continue the week on week decline through to the summer? It’s all down to this Bank Holiday weekend it would appear.
Last year the Whit Bank Holiday weekend was the biggest of the year for growing media sales after an April and May that was wetter than ever. But in a normal year the peak is either at Easter or the May Day Bank Holiday. As we know this year is far from normal so are your growing media sales areas ready for the rush?The GTN Bestellers chart indicates that grow bags and container and basket composts, along with Multipurpose, look the best bets for you to major on this weekend with aisles of those lines performing better than the rest of the Top 50 overall. Westland’s West+ Mini Bales of Container and Hanging Basket Compost are the week's highest chart climber, up 31 places to No 15. An ideal addition to the hanging basket kit we’ve been on about over the past few weeks! See the full GTN Growing Media Bestsellers Chart here. Subscribers Only
To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £120.00 per year click here WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.
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Put on a Chelsea Planteria Display now!
With all the media coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show this week, make sure you have a plant sales display that links into Chelsea, like this Gold-medal winning one from Homebase...
With all the media coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show this week, make sure you have a plant sales display that links into Chelsea, like this Gold-medal winning one from Homebase.
The display will sell more plants for you as was proved with last year’s Jubillee Doorstep Challenge and you’ll be in with a chance of winning The Greatest Planteria Display Award for 2013. Send an email to
thegreatestawards@tgcmc.co.uk, typing 'Greatest Planteria Awards' in the subject line, to register your FREE entry.
Homebase won Gold at Chelsea this week and on Tuesday morning had POS out on display in every garden centre informing their customers. Well done Homebase!
Bestsellers Tip of the Week...
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The National Trust has been accused of using “bully-boy” tactics to shut down a garden centre business run by a friend of the royal family.
Former courtier Colin Campbell-Preston is facing eviction from the centre he set up 21 years ago on trust land at Morden Hall Park.
The National Trust — which has an annual income of close to half a billion pounds — has called in lawyers to force him and his company, Capital Gardens, from the site in south-west London.
The charity says he is guilty of a series of apparently minor breaches of contract, which include failing to provide “toilet roll dispensers”.
When he was a teenager Mr Campbell-Preston, 55, was a page to the Queen Mother, while his own mother, Dame Frances, now 95, spent four decades as a lady-in-waiting to George VI’s queen, becoming a close confidante.
He is also vice-chairman of the Garden Museum, of which Prince Charles is patron. Charles is president of the National Trust — having taken over the role from the Queen Mother.
Mr Campbell-Preston said: “If Prince Charles knew how the National Trust is behaving, I am sure he would be shocked and appalled. They are using bully-boy tactics to force us out. They are destroying people’s livelihoods.”
He said the trust had told him it did not wish to renew a 21-year lease. But it can only do so by showing Capital Gardens is in breach of its contract, by alleging it has failed to maintain the site.
The business, which has more than 20 staff, will shut by the end of the year if the trust succeeds.
Mr Campbell-Preston said: “We first got wind the trust wanted to throw us out in October, when we got this letter saying we hadn’t done all this building repair work and they wanted us out.” Complaints included “the toilet roll dispensers in the toilets have been removed” and “hot water supply to the toilets is not operational”.
Capital Gardens was blamed for failing to prune fruit trees, though the trust later admitted it was paid by the garden centre to do that.
Mr Campbell-Preston said the site was derelict until he turned it into a successful business, building a planting area, gift shop and café. Meanwhile the National Trust property next to it — 18th-century Morden Hall — is in disrepair and boarded up.
Nic Durston, assistant director of operations for the trust in London, said: “We are in discussions with Capital Gardens about the future of the garden centre and have shared our intention that we would like to take it into our care. We hope that we can continue to work with Capital Gardens to find a resolution.”
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Gardeners have given raking up leaves the thumbs down and voted it the most hated garden chore, according to a new poll.
The survey by online garden centre GardeningExpress.co.uk asked 540 people to pick out the task they loathed from a list of ten common chores.
Among them were weeding, watering, trimming hedges, chopping down trees and cutting the grass.
Over a fifth (21%) of Brits admitted raking was the job they liked least finding it never ending.
Taking second spot was general tidying with 16% of those surveyed claiming they never looked forward to sweeping up and putting away their tools after spending time sprucing up the garden.
For 13% of respondents, trimming hedges was their least favourite task followed closely by digging with 12% saying they disliked this chore.
Pruning overgrown trees was seen as a laborious task by 11% taking fifth place in the poll.
Hot on its heels was weeding with ten per cent saying this was their most hated chore.
Pruning bushes and mowing the lawn took seventh and eighth place with eight and four per cent respectively.
Propping up the rear of the poll was planting with three per cent of the vote and watering the garden with two.
One keen gardener said: “I enjoy most tasks in the garden but raking leaves is a real bug bear. We have a couple of big trees to the back of our garden and I seem to spend endless autumn days raking. As soon as I think I’ve finished, more seem to fall.”
Another added: “Some people hate it but I love cutting the grass. I find it really rewarding especially if it’s grown fast and looks really scruffy. Nothing beats relaxing on a well-manicured lawn with a nice cold beer on a warm summers’ day.”
A third commented: “I dread cutting the hedges that border our garden. They’re well over six foot tall so it means getting out the ladder, constantly moving it around. Added to that I get arm ache from reaching up and across with the electric trimmers. Worst of all is the clearing up afterwards. It takes forever.”
A mum said: “Before I had children I found watering the garden tedious. Now, it has to be the best thing to finish off a hot day. The plants get a soak – as do my kids. Watering the garden usually turns into a big water fight.”
A spokesman from GardeningExpress.co.uk said: “Most gardeners will turn their hand to anything and don’t mind even the most menial jobs if their garden looks good. However, there are always some jobs we dislike more than others and raking is high on the list for many people.
“It’s no surprise to see some of the more strenuous task coming near the top. Trimming hedges, digging and chopping down trees all require a fair bit of energy and stamina and can easily be among the tasks you put off. Once complete though, you feel good and the garden looks great.”
Top ten in full:
Raking leaves 21%
Tidying 16%
Trimming hedges 13%
Digging 12%
Pruning overgrown trees 11%
Weeding 10%
Pruning bushes / plants 8%
Cutting the grass 4%
Planting 3%
Watering 2%
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Thirty firefighters tackled a blaze at Cherry Lane Garden Centre, Bradmore, Notts on Tuesday.
Six fire crews from West Bridgford, Central Fire Station, East Leake and Mansfield attended the scene and all staff and customers had to be evacuated.
Mike Ryan told GTN Xtra "I was walking my Chairman around the store in advance of our launch this weekend when the alarm went off. The fire service were really great and used our irrigation tanks to start tackling the blaze straight away."
"Since then the staff have been fantastic, moving stock around and clearing up so that we could re-open on Wednesday afternoon using 1/4 of our shop area and all of outside."
"Suppliers too have been excellent and we will be able to keep all of the promotional offers we've been advertising for this weekend."
QD Stores, who own the Cherry Lane group of garden centres are very happy with the performance of their garden centres this year following a series of refits.
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Theboss of one of South Cumbria’s biggest garden centres has appeared in court accused of conspiring to pervert the course of justice in relation to a drink-driving charge.
Thomas Richard Hayes, 45, director of Hayes Garden World, Ambleside, appeared before a judge at Carlisle Crown Court this week with another man.
The prosecution says the pair colluded over who was driving a luxury Porsche when it crashed near Kendal 18 months ago. During yesterday’s 40-minute hearing Hayes, of Crook Road, Kendal, pleaded not guilty to the charge that between November 20, 2010 and July 24, 2012 he conspired “to mislead the police and the courts” as to the identity of the driver of the Porsche when it was involved in an accident. Derek Henderson, 57, from Woodbank Terrace, Endmoor, who Hayes employed as a part-time contract worker, pleaded not guilty to the same charge. The charge reflects their alleged actions following the accident on the afternoon of Sunday, November 21, 2010, when the Porsche nearly hit another car before crashing on to its roof in Hollins Road, Burneside. Hayes had claimed that it was Henderson who had been driving, and he had only been sitting in the passenger seat Following a court case in July the Honorary Recorder of Carlisle, Paul Batty QC, ordered the details of the case to be sent to the director of public prosecutions so that Hayes and Henderson could be investigated for allegedly conspiring to mislead the court. The prosecution at yesterday’s hearing in Carlisle allege that Hayes was driving the car at the time of the accident, though Hayes continues to claim Henderson was. The two men were remanded on unconditional bail and will go on trial on January 13 next year. The trial is expected to last a week.
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