Brookside Garden Centre in Kent has decided not to produce its award-winning grotto in the foreseeable future because it has got ‘too big’ for the family business.

After celebrating its 10^th anniversary this Christmas, the grotto has become the victim of its own success, having won multiple GTN Christmas Awards for its innovation and popularity.

“We have created something that has got too big for our little family business,” said Simon and Alison Shead, who produced the grotto with their son Matt. “We only have 3,000 tickets to sell but this year we had 16,000 customers on our website wanting tickets. That means over 13,000 unhappy customers.

“We have created such a good reputation that some customers have started to expect too much from us for the price we charge.”

The garden centre has actually received 'threats' on a weekly basis because the grotto had been sold out with some customers believing their family deserved tickets more than others.

“We've had comments like, 'you're punishing our children because we didn't get tickets',” added Simon and Alison.

“We've had countless people threaten to go to the media because they felt we weren't selling them tickets even though we had sold out.

“Over the past 10 years we have raised more than £60,000 for multiple charities such as Make-A-Wish, DEBRA and to the Miles Miller Trust, a local lad from our village.

“After putting tens of thousands of families before our very own we have decided we need time to enjoy Christmas with our own family who have been neglected this past decade.

“We aren't saying never again, but the grotto you know and love has gone, and we will need to come up with a new business model that suits us and the customer over the next couple of years.

“To all the customers, staff, friends and family that have supported us over the years we cannot express enough how much your support means to us.”

As the GTN Bestsellers All Trading Index reports December garden centre trading up by 10% on last year, GTN Xtra has been asking garden centres across the country for their feedback on Christmas trading and their early views on overall trading for 2018.

Here are reports from Bents, Ruxley Manor, Planters, Klondyke Strikes, Fresh @ Burcot and Alton Garden Centres. Please add your Christmas feedback by using the comments link below or e-mail trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Matthew Bent, Bents Garden & Home told GTN Xtra:  “2018 was a busy yet challenging year for Bents, with a lot to celebrate along the way, from the best ever sales year on our nursery to a record breaking week in December. The weather has done its best to challenge us with a very cold start to what turned out to be a great summer, then a warm autumn which definitely had an impact on early Christmas sales.   However, the snow free Christmas period and what was an extra retail week in the run up to Christmas Day definitely helped to turn things round, making it one of our best ever Christmases.  Although despite ending 2018 on a high we were down on our targets for the year as a whole.

“Our Christmas events were as popular as ever with all our workshops fully booked, and our best selling product line by value and volume proved to be our own design Bents Bear and Penguin toys.  Pink was very popular, proving to be our best selling colour baubles and unicorns were definitely a favourite for 2018.  We also saw a growth in any type of personalised products from cards, tree decorations to pet baubles and we think this is a trend which will continue for 2019.”

James Evans sums up Christmas at Ruxley Manor: "Unfortunately, due to development and building works, we opened Christmas 2 weeks later than normal this year and therefore we started slightly on the back foot in October. November was a little disappointing with Christmas being slightly down on last year but this was purely down to Christmas Lights as Decs and Artificial Trees were both up. However, December was a much better month for us with record days which meant that Christmas and the centre overall, finished up on last year, which after the early part of the year (and the impact/intrusion of a restaurant refurbishment in the early part of the year and the summer rebuild of part of the centre) was better than expected.

"With regard to Outdoor Plants, sales are mainly driven by cut trees, due to our ice rink taking up the majority of our Outdoor Plant Department but cut Xmas Trees were also up on last year. Certainly for us, as probably for all centres, snow prior to Christmas can have huge consequences in loss of sales and so thankfully that wasn't the case this year!

"Our Christmas Events also finished up on last year, with the Grotto this was driven by our new/additional 'My First Grotto' for under 2's and although our Ice Rink doesn't close until tomorrow, that is also significantly up, again, driven by improvements that we have made to the rink and the introduction of a winter market style catering offering next to it.

"Therefore, considering the spring season and the rebuild and refurbishment projects that we have done, which always impact sales, we are very pleased to have finished the year up on 2017. With regard to 2019, we don't have any large building projects planned for the garden centre and so look forward to a year of consolidation and driving sales and the customer experience as much as possible."

Gerald Ingram, Planters and Garden King Garden Centres tells us: "Christmas was our strongest trading period of the year.   All three centres had record Decembers.  Helped by no snow but still strong anyway. 

"Best sellers were water spinners from Premier, plastic willow tree skirts from Kaemingk, light up cushions, personalised decorations and books from H and H, Icicle lights, pink tree decorations.

"Plants were ok, wreath sales were strong, Christmas trees were up at two centres down at Planters but Planters sell three 20ft containers of artificial trees.

"Christmas exceeded expectation.  Bretby which does not have a reputation for Christmas finally seems to have made in roads into it!

"All events went better than 2017 and had record years.   Bretbys ice rink saw strong growth,  Planters and GK Grottos both sold out for the December weekends and Santa Paws sold out in the week days.  All events benefitted

the restaurants that will have record Decembers.

David Yardley, CEO at Klondyke Strikes sums up their Christmas and year end: "Christmas trading was ok for us, slightly down on last year for Christmas decorations and accessories but we did well with all gardening products in the first quarter as well as clothing, pets, gift ware, real trees and houseplants. Restaurants also did well on the run up to Christmas and overall we are 3% up on last year at this period. We maintained our trading margin throughout the Christmas period and did no price reductions or sales until after Christmas which is what we normally do and I am pleased with what we have achieved in this difficult trading environment. We bought a lot less Christmas product than last year and will therefore have less left than previously so will be looking to buy new products and ranges at the various shows coming up.

"Our financial year ended at the end of September and we had a good trading year again last year despite all the weather and economic issues.

"I think this coming year will continue to be difficult trading and all the uncertainty of Brexit wont help but we have to focus on what we do and can only deal with those issues under our control. If we continue to invest in our facilities, stock good products and give good customer service then we should still be successful in 2019."

Neil Gow, Fresh@Burcot Garden Centre told GTN Xtra: "2018 has been our best year ever since we began our business.  It was our strongest December ever, over 26% up on last year – but you will remember how poor last year was – skating across our car park was the norm! Many will have forgotten, or chosen to forget!

"Our strongest December ever, just over 8% up on our 5 year average which is the more important measure to us.

"The year has shaken out well too: 9.5% growth year on year (with zero cap. ex.) and still 7.7% growth over our 5 year average.

"None of this appeared possible at the end of April 2018, but that is what we mean about being fit and agile! Something the groups and chains will always struggle with and even we are seeing it now in the big independents that do not have agile management whether they are suppliers or retailers, in the horticultural sector or probably any other."

So far the only negative comment we've received about Christmas trading has come from Derek Bunker at Alton Garden Centre in Essex "Where have you been, Trevor?" Asked Derek after being asked how well Christmas trading had gone for them. "Here in our part of Essex we had a very poor November for Christmas and although December was fine we never made it up.  Lighting and artificial trees have been very tough with so much competition from other retailers taking a share of business at lower prices.

"As a core gardening centre we really suffered from the Beast from the East and then drought for two months. As for 2019, we will be really pleased when the uncertainty of Brexit is out of the way."

What were your experiences of Christmas trading and the year end?  Add your centres comments by using the comment link below or e-mail trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Keep checking back to this story to see further Christmas updates as they are added during next week.

Dobbies Garden Centres has recorded strong figures this Christmas with total sales of £24.1m being 21% higher than the same period last year. The garden centre retailer also saw record real Christmas tree sales and record restaurant sales.

The highlights were:

• Total sales of £24.1m were 21% higher than the same period last year.
• Like-for-like sales were 8% higher year-on-year and 1% higher than 2016.
• Footfall was 6% higher year-on-year.
• Against 2016 footfall strengthened significantly in the last two weeks, being 9% higher.
• Stronger customer conversion for both Retail and Hospitality on a one and two-year basis.
• Record real Christmas tree sales.
• Record restaurant sales.
• Strong sell through to date for seasonal clearance event.
• Cash margin significantly ahead of last year and 2016.

Graeme Jenkins, CEO, said: “Our Christmas trading performance was underpinned by strong conversion, as customers responded positively to the re-ranging of favourite products and the launch of exciting new ranges.

"In addition, the improvements we have made to our Hospitality offer, including to our Santa Grottos, have been very well received by customers.”

Andrew Bracey, Chairman, added: “Dobbies’ Christmas trading results are a credit to the hard work of Graeme and the team. With this critical trading period following closely after the acquisition and successful integration of six new centres, we are very pleased with the progress that has been made.”

Pictured: Dobbies Christmas tree sales are top of the tree. Credit Jeff Holmes

The popular Haskins Snowhill Garden Centre has announced plans for redevelopment, with a revamped centre due to open in spring 2020. The scheme will create up to 70 new jobs and will cost £15m.

Haskins acquired the Snowhill site in 2003 and has worked hard to maintain its position as one of the best garden centres in the area. Due to a number of ageing buildings on site, pre-dating Haskins’ ownership, the leading garden centre group recognised the need to redevelop and modernise the centre.

Julian Winfield, chief executive of Haskins Garden Centres, commented: “We have worked closely with the local authority and our neighbours over a number of years to achieve the permission to develop the site.

“We are absolutely delighted to be on track with the £15m redevelopment programme. Whilst it is a long-term investment, we’re confident that it will secure the garden centre for our customers for many years and be a good investment for our business.”

Once the redevelopment is complete, customers will benefit from a consolidated garden centre, with all goods and services located in one contemporary high quality building. The enhanced customer restaurant will seat 440 and offer an outdoor terrace. The restaurant will be able to provide customers with a better range of meals, snacks and drinks.

Additional improvements include a new large covered outdoor sales area, as well as a revamped car park with 346 parking spaces.

Haskins in Snowhill will continue trading as normal until Thursday February 28 2019 and then a temporary centre will open on site on Friday March 1 2019. The main centre will re-open for business in spring 2020.

The developers are currently in the first phase, creating the new car park and entrance and establishing a temporary centre to continue trading.

Julian added: “Once the Snowhill redevelopment is finished, we will have four purpose-built garden centres which puts Haskins in a unique position. Most leading garden centre groups have centres of varying shapes and sizes, but having four similar sites helps us alleviate the complexities of management.”

Haskins is located in Snowhill Lane, Copthorne, West Sussex, RH10 3EY. For more information visit www.haskins.co.uk  

Real reindeers, and camels, proved to be a big success at Planters Garden Centre despite protests by animal rights activists posted on Facebook.

“The reindeers are our own so we have a strong animal welfare message,” said company director Gerald Ingram.

“We also had camels on the weekend the protestors were at their most vocal and they also proved to be a great success.

“Next year I might make a stronger case that our reindeers have been saved from the Scandinavian meat and skins industry, so we’re seen as being more of a reindeer sanctuary.”

As part of the garden centre’s grotto experience, visiting children are invited to help mix a Christmas Eve reindeer food but Gerald picked up a valuable lesson as a result.

“We need to be more careful about making sure it does not contain nuts and give warnings on the booking page and in the grotto about traces of nuts,” added Gerald. “One little boy become ill after visiting on Christmas Eve because of this. He is now fine.”

What were your experiences with Reindeer and other live animal attractions at Christmas?  Are you taking steps to change things for next year?  Please add you comment to this story using the link below or e-mail trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Evergreen Garden Care UK has strengthened its commercial team with three new senior appointments within marketing and sales.

Ann-Marie O'Riordan joined the company in mid-August as Marketing Director with responsibility for brand, product and category developments. She has held a number of senior marketing roles, including that of UK & Ireland Marketing Director for more than ten years at Akzo Nobel.

With a new strategic direction and company mission, Evergreen Garden Care has also strengthened its sales team with the appointment of a new Sales Director and Head of Sales for Independents.

Sean Elkins, who joined the company at the beginning of September in time for Glee, has overall responsibility for the sales team. Among his previous roles were senior sales, category and strategy positions with one of the largest food manufacturers in the world, General Mills.

Working closely alongside Sean, Phil Harrison also joined in October as the new Head of Sales for Independent Garden Centres. Having held a variety of sales roles at Westland, Phil brings with him a wealth of experience within the gardening sector.

Mark Portman, Managing Director, Evergreen Garden Care, said: “These key appointments reflect the positive changes we are making as an organisation and further strengthen our commercial teams as we look to work far closer with our strategic customer base”.

For more information visit www.lovethegarden.com

The Garden Centre Association has added BBC broadcaster Tanya Beckett to its line-up of guest speakers at its annual conference on January 20-23.

Tanya will be taking to the stage to talk about all things business and the economy at the conference, which will take place at Luton Hoo Hotel, Luton, on Tuesday, January 22.

Iain Wylie, Chief Executive of the GCA, explained: “We’re honoured to have respected BBC broadcaster, Tanya, joining us for our annual conference and inspiring our attendees with her talk all about business and the economy. We’re sure it will be extremely interesting for everyone and they’ll be able to relate Tanya’s advice to the running of their own garden centres.”

Tanya has worked in broadcasting and the media for more than 20 years. She began her career at the Financial Times and went on to work for CNBC, Sky News, CNN and has worked at the BBC since 1998.

During her time at the BBC she has worked on a variety of programmes, including BBCWorld News, the Newschannel, Radio 4, BBC1, BBC2, Working Lunch, Today, World Business Report and Newsnight. She also spent three years living in and reporting from New York for the BBC.

The GCA represents nearly 200 garden centres nationwide. Through sharing information and its inspection programme, the organisation helps members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability.

The GCA’s 2019 conference will be held at Luton Hoo Hotel, Luton on the Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire border from January 20 until 23 and places can be booked via www.gca.org.uk.

In December it was announced that Peckish will be sponsoring the Channel 4 Weather bulletins, as part of wider plans to boost brand awareness and the wild bird card market.

The “Love Every Bird” campaign, which will expose the Peckish name to 10.4 million viewers, aired for the first time this week. Click here to view the adverts. 

The campaign will run through to end of February and is expected to further the brand’s position as the fastest growing name in the wild bird care market. The adverts will air in both the lunchtime bulletin and the evening slot, exposing the brand to viewers of the 8pm prime time TV programmes which are among the highest viewed on the channel. These include Kirstie & Phil’s Love it or List it, Food Unwrapped, and Jamie & Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast.

Rachael Dickinson, senior marketing manager at Westland, commented: “Last year Peckish had 45% brand growth year-on-year and we have implemented key strategies this year to help boost that figure further. One of which is the Channel 4 sponsorship which will reiterate Peckish’s position as the leading name for wild bird food. Sponsoring the Channel 4 weather is a first for any company in our sector, demonstrating our commitment to the brand and to raising the profile of the wild bird food market.”

The sponsorship will be supported by national press activity across weekend newspapers and digital engagement with an extensive social media campaign planned alongside targeted YouTube advertising. For retailers, there are also new promotional and marketing opportunities such as pallet deals and new point-of-sale materials to further entice customers and help drive volume sales.

The “Love Every Bird” campaign encourages people to feed wild birds and will drive growth in the sector. It focuses on the concept of capturing simple moments of joy in the garden, and how celebrating the little things, like feeding birds, can bring a smile even on the dullest of days. The lead product to feature in the campaign will be Peckish Complete Seed & Nut Mix. 

For further information on Peckish and the new ranges please contact your sales representative.

The UK’s largest repository of dried garden plants will be available online after the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) digitised its collection of specimens dating from 1731, future-proofing it for gardeners.

More than 86,000 dried specimens stored at RHS Garden Wisley have now been sorted and photographed with the support of the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, during which the charity unearthed long-forgotten horticultural treasures including a potato collected by Charles Darwin and geranium that sprung from the spot where the Prince Imperial, son of Napoleon III, died. They will all be available to search on the RHS website from autumn 2020.

The opening-up of the collection will help to support conservation work and ensure an exciting future for plant diversity in UK gardens. The collection is already an essential resource for garden plant identification, containing authoritative specimens that fix the name of a plant and can be used to settle disputes. It also charts the history of plant introductions – many of which were bought back to the UK by the intrepid explorers of the 18^th and 19^th century – and those that have since fallen out of favour.

Gardeners will be able to use the digitised collection to identify plants, compare different cultivars, ensure consistency in garden colour schemes and confirm size and scale of plantings. 

In 2020, the physical collection will also move to the new National Centre for Horticultural Science and Learning that will open at RHS Garden Wisley. The fast-expanding collection needs significantly more room to grow and in its current location the collection has to be frozen every 12 months to ward off biscuit beetle, a pest that devours dried plant material.

Yvette Harvey, Keeper of the Herbarium at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) said: “The process of pressing a plant for a herbarium has changed very little in 500 years but it’s important we make this important national resource ever more accessible. Moving the collection online we hope will help people to navigate the fascinating history of garden plants and play a role in the development and continuing relevance of herbaria in the digital age.”

A £4million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund has enabled the digitisation of the RHS herbarium and its move to the new National Centre for Horticultural Science and Learning.

The charity is fundraising for a further £3.3million to complete the build project. The public can adopt herbarium boxes that will store the collections and have their name engraved on the wall within the new Centre.

For more information and to help us to protect the future of plants, people and the planet visit www.rhs.org.uk 

Pictured: Herbairum toolkit showing camellia specimen - credit RHS, Joanna Kossak

The British Protected Ornamentals Association’s Peter Seabrook Bursary is seeking to reward young horticulturists with £1,000 to support their study of commercial horticulture.

The scholarship, part of the David Colegrave Foundation Scholarship Season, is also available to schools and horticultural colleges to finance trips for students over 16 years of age to leading commercial horticultural establishments.

“BPOA is delighted to support Peter in his effort to encourage new entrants to our industry,” said Simon Davenport, the association’s chairman. “BPOA members value the contribution of young students and trainees in improving the quality and size of the available pool of talent for our business and want to continue to back that work.”

Last season, the £1,000 BPOA  Peter Seabrook Bursary was won by Gabor Lukoviczki (pictured), who was able to extend his studies at Myerscough College to follow his Production Horticulture level 2 course with level 3 as well as being able to enrol on several smaller courses and purchase materials to enhance his horticultural knowledge and career opportunities. Gabor is also working as a grower at Lovania Nurseries.

 “My training is really important to me as it is helping me become a better grower and opening up opportunities for further development,” he said. “I recommend other keen horticulturists to apply for a scholarship with the David Colegrave Foundation in the future.

“I wanted to learn more on pests and biological control and have been able to develop my learning by buying some books. While attending an AHDB workshop on Diamondback Moth, I realised how important it is to recognise insect varieties. The bursary helped me to buy a digital microscope with high zoom capability to identify the insect varieties, which helps me to correctly select the pesticide or biological control to use.

“To extend my knowledge of pests, the bursary also helped me to start one other course - the RSPH Level 2 Award in the Safe Use of Rodenticides course. This course will help me to control the rodents safely and minimise plant damage.”

The David Colegrave Foundation (DCF) scholarship season is open for all student horticulturists until 31 January 2019. There are a number of scholarships available and to enter applicants simply need to complete an application form which they can do online.

More information can be found here 

Gardens mean different things to different people, and while some want a secluded space to unwind in and relax others want a place to entertain, chill out with family and friends, or simply enjoy pottering around their plot. Spending time outside helps to lower stress and anxiety, improves your mood, and is beneficial to mental health and wellbeing.

This February, the HTA is encouraging you to share this message with your customers with help from its ‘Gardening is Good for You!’ campaign, supported by National Garden Gift Vouchers.

Help customers to decide what they want from their garden and encourage them to talk through ideas with your expert staff. Should it be inviting and welcoming, vibrant and fun, private and protected, or perhaps a spiritual space to meditate?

Use your tried and tested favourites to produce beautiful inspirational displays with instant impact. Choose plants that are hardy, reliable, easy to maintain and great value for money.

For example, a traditional cottage garden could feature calming soft shades and scent filling the air, a restful garden to sit in and ponder an escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life.

In a a relaxing patio garden, you could using paving, decking or aggregates. Highlight evergreen climbers and shrubs to cover walls and fences and use large tubs and baskets to add drama and seasonal colour. Include furniture, whether a simple bench to perch, table and chairs to dine alfresco, or something soft and comfortable to sink into, de-stress and meditate.

Or try a simple ornamental and productive potager, perhaps mixing crops with flowers. In small spaces your customers could grow crops and culinary herbs in pots within easy reach of their kitchen or barbecue. Could you bring this to life in store?

DO YOUR CUSTOMERS KNOW?

Flowers can make you feel calm and relaxed, reducing stress and improving mental health. Fragrant flowers, like lavender, have been shown to lower heart rate and blood pressure, too, aiding restful sleep.

PLANTS OF THE MOMENT: PLANTING STYLES

Be creative and play with colour themes to create moods or celebrate a season. Choose plants to fit in to selected planting styles, such as those mentioned above eg

*  Cottage garden favourites like lavender, roses, lilies and sweet peas.

*  Reliable and easy to maintain shrubs and perennials.

*  Bold, leafy and evergreen shrubs, bamboos, grasses, etc, to create privacy.

*  Any shrubs, hedging, perennials and trees with flowers, fruits and berries of value to wildlife or that can be used to create habitats for nesting and feeding birds and insects, etc.

* Plants to include in this month’s selection could include: Bergenia, Brunnera, Cyclamen coum, Doronicum ‘Little Leo’, Nandina domestica and Photinia ‘Red Robin’.

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Members of the Garden Centre Association are this month being reminded to compete for the chance to win the Worrall Cup.

The cup will be awarded to the garden centre with the best marketing campaign or initiative during the GCA’s annual conference at Luton Hoo from January 20-23.

Iain Wylie, Chief Executive of the GCA, said: “There is still time for our member garden centres to enter the Worrall Cup competition if they believe they have the best marketing campaign or initiative.

“We really enjoy going through all of the creative initiatives that our members come up with.

“The entries will be judged by an independent panel with marketing expertise. As this award is not influenced by the annual inspection, all entries have an equal chance of winning in January when the judging panel meets to assess the merits of each submission and decide the winner.”

Members are asked to submit an entry by completing a short form, which can be downloaded from www.gca.org.uk or requested by email, to the GCA office no later than Monday, January 14, 2019.

The submission of supporting material, such as photographs, print examples and web-links is encouraged. An additional sheet of written detail is acceptable along with the entry form, if required. Entries can be sent electronically via info@gca.org.uk or by post to the GCA office.

Iain added: “This is a wonderful opportunity for members to win a prestigious award, where both flair and commercial success are rewarded.

“If there are any questions relating to the submission of entries, please contact us at the GCA office in the first instance by email via info@gca.org.uk and we’ll be able to help.

“The winner will be announced during our Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony at our annual conference on the evening of Tuesday, January 22. The conference will take place at Luton Hoo from January 20-23.

“As always our conference will provide attendees with pertinent information on key aspects of the garden centre industry to assist members in achieving their business goals.

“The information shared will focus on a wide range of topics, including merchandising, marketing and management. There will also be plenty of opportunities for delegates to network and socialise.”

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.

The deadline for Worrall Cup entries is 5pm on Monday, January 14, 2019.

For other information, call 01244 952170, visit www.gca.org.uk

What better way to ensure sales opportunities are maximised this spring than by booking onto a HTA Workshop?

The workshops target specific areas of visual merchandising within a garden centre, including chemicals and fertilisers, and gifting. We are also offering our popular Selling More Plants workshop.

The workshop details and dates are as follows:

Selling More Plants
Trainer – Helen Chambers NDSF

This workshop looks at the principles of selling and helps to give delegates the confidence to turn a customer’s desire for a plant into cash in the till, and to raise the value of the sale.
5 February          Torwood Garden Centre, Larbet
19 February        Bents Garden & Home, Warrington
20 February        St Peters Garden Centre, Worcester
25 February        The Matford Centre, Exeter
27 February        Coolings Nursery, Knockholt, Kent

New for 2019 - Visual Merchandising – Gifting

Trainer – Sarah Manning

This is an advanced visual merchandising course aimed at teaching delegates the principles used in high-end retail gifting merchandising to get the most from your spring themed decoration and plant displays. Effective visual merchandising will enable your customers to easily interact with your inspirational displays, providing a memorable Mothering Sunday and Easter shopping experience for all.   
6 February          Mackenzie & Cruickshank, Forres, nr Inverness
27 February        Coolings Nursery, Knockholt, Kent

Visual Merchandising – Chemicals and Fertilisers
Trainer - Sarah Manning
Designed for those wanting to take their visual merchandising to the next level. Delegates will review how to maximise chemical and fertiliser merchandising on a day to day basis and identify practical ways to improve sales.

19 February        Torwood Garden Centre, Larbet
13 February        Bents Garden & Home, Warrington

Workshops cost £125 (+VAT) per person for members and £250 (+VAT) per person for non-members. Book your place now at www.hta.org.uk/workshops

Weeding is one of the most disliked, yet essential gardening tasks every gardener faces. Kent & Stowe has developed a comprehensive range of stainless steel weeding tools to tackle even the most laborious of tasks.

The range covers everything from intricate hand weeding to long handled multi-functional weeding and traditional hoes. All tools have been designed with comfort in mind to ensure weeding is an effective and simple task.

There are six specialist hand tools in the collection including the stainless steel hand loop weeder and hand corkscrew weeder which are ideal for eliminating those particularly awkward weeds. The hand weeding knife and the razor hoe make short work of the tougher weeds.

The long handled range includes three hoes, the Dutch Hoe, the Oscillating Hoe and the versatile 3 Edge Hoe. The traditional Daisy Weeder with 1.6m handle is a comfortable and effective tool for removing these weeds with minimal pressure on the back. In all there are eight specialist tools with long handles all designed for ease of use.

Kent & Stowe produce traditionally designed tools using modern manufacturing techniques to give a comprehensive range of products, with a tool for every type of job and every type of gardener. The tools have been expertly hand crafted to include robust solid heads and extended lengths for comfort during use. The specialist Weeding tools come with a re-assuring 15-year guarantee.

Kent & Stowe have a range of Spring promotions available for immediate delivery complete with space-efficient, design-led merchandising solutions available from your Crest Garden Sales contact: www.kentandstowe.com

The Common Sense Gardening group is exhibiting at the Garden Press Event, to be held at London’s Business Design Centre on February 27 2019.

This occasion offers the industry a unique chance to showcase its newest products to key figures in the home and garden media exclusively. Herading the start of the gardening season, the event is now in its fourteenth year. 

Gary Phillpotts, chair of Common Sense Gardening, said: “We’re really excited to attend the show and speak to journalists about our recent research. We’ll also be using the chance to dispel a few common gardening myths.

Conducted during the summer of 2018, the company’s research, which questioned more than a thousand gardeners aged 18 to 60, reveals the demographics of consumers buying garden care products and their reasons for doing so:

• * A large proportion of people with their own gardens save time on weeding by using garden products
• * Most did gardening work themselves, without employing anyone else to do it
• * The garden has become hugely important as an extra space that’s perfect for relaxing in and for entertaining friends and family
• Younger gardeners in their twenties think that spending time weeding gardens and caring for beds and borders is excessively time-consuming 
• Garden care products are safe to use because they are subject to so many regulations, and are used widely and responsibly

Phillpotts added: “We’re keen to educate consumers about using and disposing of garden care products responsibly. Invasive weeds can be a problem in any garden, so controlling them with the right garden care products is quick, convenient and practical.”

The Common Sense Gardening Group works together to ensure the safety of garden care products and assist consumers with any of their gardening issues. It provides people with tips on the safe usage, storage and disposal of the garden products they use on a day-to-day basis.

The Common Sense Gardening Group belongs to the Crop Protection Association and is a key member of Britain’s plant science industry. The group aims to help a broad audience to fight problems in their garden as safely as possible.

It comprises of five member companies, all producing and selling garden care products.

2018 was a year of extremes weather wise and a series of events that will shape our UK garden retailing market for years to come.  As a result GTN Xtra was read by over 45,000 people during 2018 and they viewed almost 1.2 million pages, a monthly pages viewed average of 98,584.

But what were the most read stories during one of the busiest in our memory for industry news?  Surprisingly our most read story wasn't about Wyevale garden centre sales or Gardman, it was a story that got picked up via social media and ended up being viewed over 83,000 times.

Here's our Top 100 most read stories of the year.  Just click on the link to see them in full

Wyevale Garden Centres has sold its Chichester site to local property developer Drayton Investments Ltd.

The business will continue to run as a Wyevale garden centre under licence until 31 August 2019.

It is the 40th Wyevale centre to be sold since Terra Firma started the sale process.

WGC said: “We would like to thank our great colleagues at the centre who have been central to our turnaround in the past few years.”

Gloucestershire garden centre Trioscape is fighting a proposal by Severn Trent Water to close a 2.6k section of the main road outside for five months.

Seven Trent says safety is paramount during work to replace a water pipe and it will be putting up ‘businesses open as usual’ signs.

However, Trioscape manager Will Ormand says he has “grave fears” that the work, due to start in February, will have a massive long-term impact on the garden centre, which recently completed a major investment in its gift area and restaurant.

He said that although previous road works nearby had seriously affected the business, it had only only been for a maximum of a month at a time.

“The last time was for fibre broadband, which we understood. This is for five months,” he added. “We are very fearful because the closure notice will come in our busiest time of year and will mean us missing all the bank holidays, which are the bread and butter for garden centres like ours.

“Customers are put off by road works and once they change their trends, we will struggle to get them back. This road closure will not only have a devastating effect on our local businesses but also the thousands of people who use this road on their daily commute.”

He has been told the garden centre will be entitled to compensation but does not believe it will cover the losses and it could have a long term impact.

Residents face a 50-minute detour during the disruption. Hundreds have signed a petition launched in protest.

Severn Trent’s Gareth Mead said: “We don’t take the decision to close roads lightly but it’s vital to keep our teams, pedestrians and road users safe.

“We’re very aware of the concerns of local people and businesses about the closure but we’ll be putting out very clear signage highlighting that businesses remain open as normal, and school buses will be allowed through for drop off and pick up like normal.

“The really important thing here is that we’re investing £3 million in the area to make sure our customers have a reliable water supply in the future, while also significantly reducing the likelihood of leaks and bursts.”

Storm Deirdre may have had devastating effects on high street retail footfall but it didn’t stop garden centres selling as much in total as the snow of last year.

Top line volume sales analysis from GTN Bestsellers shows that volume sales for last week were up by 12% on the same week last year and on a par with the week after Easter earlier this year.

That means the GTN Bestsellers All Products Sales index will close the year on minus 2.6% vs 2017, an amazing turnaround from the position mid-April of being 16% down, even after Easter.

As you’ll see from this week’s chart pages it wasn’t Christmas that saved the day during the storm. Plants, garden products and growing media sales were all up significantly on last year.

Happy Christmas to all our readers and best wishes for a great Bestsellers year in 2019.

GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year (week 50)
Garden Products - up 25%
Growing Media - up 46%
Wild Bird Care - down 10%
Christmas - down 1%
All Plants Index - up 15%
All Items Index - up 12%

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

‘Bents equals family and family equals Bents’; one of the main messages to come from recent customer focus groups held by Warrington based Bents Garden & Home and designed to gain a deeper understanding of its customer base and awareness of its popular be inspired privilege club.

The initiative comes as Bents marks the five-year anniversary of be inspired and the results will be used to guide future improvements as it moves into its sixth year.

A common phrase used by many in the groups was that Bents was ‘more than just a garden centre’ with it being likened to leading retailers including John Lewis, Selfridges and Marks & Spencer.  Comparison was also drawn with Harrods, but with the caveat that ‘even then you wouldn’t feel as comfortable as you would in Bents.”

Says Matthew Bent, Managing Director at Bents Garden & Home: “The feedback from these sessions has been incredible.  To be compared to such well known, leading retailers is fantastic but the messages that mean the most to us are the ones which relate to the friendliness and welcoming nature of our Centre and colleagues.  Our colleagues are the ones who help create that special atmosphere which makes us what we are and it was great to see this acknowledged by our customers in such a passionate way.”

Another direct comment which reflected this feeling stated that “everyone is welcome and everyone is welcoming’ whilst ‘the friendliness, the courtesy, the smiles and the spirit’ was also widely acknowledged.

Bents used Poynton based Park Lane Research, who have worked with national retailers including Waitrose and Aldi and were happy to admit they had never received such positive and protective comments in when working in similar situations.

Park Lane Research were briefed to carry out a qualitative study comprising two group discussions and twenty in-depth telephone interviews.  The groups were split by age, gender and use of their be inspired card, to include regular and occasional users as well as lapsed users, in order to gain a snap shop of current custom.

Results from the study will be used to guide future communication and improvements from a customer perspective both in store at Bents and it’s be inspired club.

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 2016 as well as 2017 to allow your teams to see variations over a three year period.

Access is by subscription only.  For £145.00 per year you and your team can have access to the most up-to-date gardening sales analysis that has already helped many UK garden centres increase their sales.  To subscribe call 01733 775700, e-mail karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or buy on-line using this link.

Highlights of the GTN Garden Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Garden Plants Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Growing Media Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Christmas Products chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Wild Bird Care chart for this week are here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts seriously improve the business of our subscribers.  Invest 15 minutes each week in improving your sales using the GTN Bestsellers charts and your turnover and customer satisfaction will improve too.

Get the GTN Bestsellers charts in full every week in the GTN Bestsellers newsletters for only £145.00.

GTN Bestsellers is the only industry source of weekly garden centre sales information, collating Epos data from centres with an aggregate turnover in excess of £120m.

Use the weekly Garden Products and Growing Media Top 50 sales volumes charts to plan your hotspot and other promotions and ensure you have the right products in stock to satisfy the needs of your customers.

For further information contact karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call 01733 775700.

Buy your subscription today and start receiving the GTN Bestsellers charts this week.