It is an extremely exciting time for Westland, with the recent purchase of Cranswick Pet Products and new season gardening products being well received in stores and by consumers.  Developments to various departments within the company have also been created to reinforce Westland as one of the leading horticulture companies in the UK.

The GCA Olympics will take place on January 27 at the Crowne Plaza Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire to raise money for Greenfingers, which creates gardens at children’s hospices nationwide.

As part of its strategy to promote the domestic tourism industry, the government had proposed to move the public holiday to later in the year, or to create national holidays around Patron Saints’ Days.  However, research commissioned by the HTA provided compelling evidence that the move would be an unpopular one.  In the poll conducted by Populus, 78% of people were opposed to losing the May Day bank holiday.   In addition, the HTA submitted a comprehensive response to last year’s public consultation illustrating the potential damage to the gardening industry of losing such a key trading day.  This was followed by a number of meetings with Government officials and a meeting between HTA President Carol Paris and the DCMS Minister responsible, John Penrose MP.

Many felt that trade was better than expected given the gloomy weather both over the weekend and in the previous month – although for the majority trade was down like for like on last year.

The Old Railway Line Garden Centre in Powys is overhauling its award-winning site to help cope with the demand it is experiencing from customers wishing to eat and shop there.

Exhibitor numbers are growing year on year and 2012 figures are up 16% on 2011 ensuring that all elements of UK plant supply are represented. This makes the event perfect for retail owners, managers and plant buyers to gain a complete overview of the UK plant market in a central location under one roof. New exhibitors for 2012 are: Atkiro, Batchmere/Profit Plant, Breeders Seeds, Bridge Nursery, Cobbins Nursery, Earley Ornamentals, H A Trim Christmas Trees, Liss Forest Nursery, Newington Nurseries, Peter Eastwood Plants, Rosebank Nurseries, Franchi Seeds of Italy, W D Smith & Son and Worfield Gardens.

This year’s International Breeders Area is a sell out with exhibitors from Europe and the USA bringing a truly international flavour. The dedicated area, which was introduced for the first time last year, provides breeders and their agents with the opportunity to promote their range of varieties. Displays will focus on new introductions of varieties that the breeder or agent is offering to UK growers for finished plant production.

As part of its strategy to promote the domestic tourism industry, the government had proposed to move the public holiday to later in the year, or to create national holidays around Patron Saints’ Days.  However, research commissioned by the HTA provided compelling evidence that the move would be an unpopular one.  In the poll conducted by Populus, 78% of people were opposed to losing the May Day bank holiday.   In addition, the HTA submitted a comprehensive response to last year’s public consultation illustrating the potential damage to the gardening industry of losing such a key trading day.  This was followed by a number of meetings with Government officials and a meeting between HTA President Carol Paris and the DCMS Minister responsible, John Penrose MP.

Ben will support LeisureGrow Grillstream with all of their summer
promotional activity, which will include in-store training sessions at
garden centres across the UK, plus a media relations and social media
campaign. Ben has long been a keen supporter of Grillstream. He says: “I think it’s
the best innovation in barbecuing for 20 years. A LeisureGrow Grillstream
barbecue cooks the food perfectly; it is versatile and also easy to clean.”
Lauren Woodgate, Marketing Officer, LeisureGrow Grillstream, adds: ”Ben has
twice won ‘Best British BBQ-er of the Year’ award so we’re delighted that
he will now share his passion and knowledge with our customers.”
To find out more about LeisureGrow Grillstream and their revolutionary
barbecue products, visit www.leisuregrow.com.

The PCTA welcomes microchipping as an aid to responsible pet keeping – a great issue to be tackled during National Pet Month, which celebrates responsible pet ownership. But the association is wary of the idea that microchipping dogs should be compulsory.

Solus Garden & Leisure Limited will be supporting Greenfingers, which creates gardens at children’s hospices nationwide, with its 2012 fundraiser ‘Turn Old into Gold’.

Able to exert a digging force equivalent to 32 times their body weight and travelling through tunnels at a rate of 80 ft per minute, moles are certainly a force to be reckoned with. Catching them is notoriously difficult, thanks to the complexity of their underground tunnels.

The web shop has been designed with the customer in mind so follows the same format as our 2012 catalogue. We hope this will speed up the process in which customers can place orders with us and provide an all round better service from when the order is placed right through to when delivery is made. This is an invaluable tool for all our customers and we would request where possible that it is used. To request a log on for our web shop please visit http://shop.oase-livingwater.com/

Their top quality, 5 year quick drying Wood Stain enhances the natural qualities of wood while providing a long term weatherproof protection. Available in 6 popular shades: Antique Pine, Dark Oak, Natural Oak, Mahogany, Rosewood and Walnut, the range is ideal for use on smooth planed exterior and interior timber such as doors, windows, conservatories etc.

Able to exert a digging force equivalent to 32 times their body weight and travelling through tunnels at a rate of 80 ft per minute, moles are certainly a force to be reckoned with. Catching them is notoriously difficult, thanks to the complexity of their underground tunnels.

Introduced for the first time in 2011, the Award is designed to recognise the very best new garden products at this year’s Show.  The eminent panel of judges - which includes businesswoman and star of The Apprentice, Karren Brady - will be looking for innovation, visual appeal, functionality, quality and value for money and environmental sustainability.

The organising team decided on the move after extensive research with exhibitors, visitors and non-attendees, after three years running alongside Spring Fair International. The 2013 Totally Shows will now run on Sunday 10th, Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th February at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.  The Arena claims to be within a two hour drive of 70% of the UK’s population, and its central location and the ‘early in the year’ time slot tick two of the key boxes demanded by exhibitors and visitors alike. The organising team will also be taking the opportunity to update the way the show runs with a new floor plan and some exciting visitor initiatives!
“We want to deliver a national trade show the industry will benefit from and be proud of!” said show director James Murray.  “This move allows us to be in control of our own destiny and gives us the opportunity to add some new thinking to the way the show is run.”

Further details on the 2013 show will be released shortly.

To contact the Totally Shows 2013 team call Brintex 020 7973 4734.

Nicholas Marshall, Chief Executive of The Garden Centre Group, said: “We are delighted to have taken on the plant centre and gift shop at Westonbirt. We are working closely with the Forestry Commission to ensure a smooth handover. 

Made Aware has created an innovative campaign to engage with garden
furniture and barbecue consumers at point-of-sale by creating specially
designed wishing trees.

Taylors Bulbs is donating 50 pence for every £2.99 packet of 25 Crocus Barr’s Purple sold in 2012 to Greenfingers, which creates gardens at children’s hospices nationwide.

The Wishing Tree is part of a UK-wide campaign, where garden furniture suppliers, such as Alexander Rose, has signed-up to the ‘Made Aware’ initiative to make their products more environmentally-friendly and to improve the welfare of the people who make their products.

Warm, sunny weather in March encouraged footfall into garden centres and nurseries which saw good demand for plants, clothing, foods and catering bringing widespread reports of increased sales despite challenging comparatives following a strong performance in March last year. Wet weather across much of the UK over the Easter weekend, which fell this year in April, kept some customers away however others appeared keen to take advantage of the good planting conditions and opportunities to fill water butts now hosepipe bans are in place across much of the east and south east of England.

Kresse is the inspiration behind designer label Elvis & Kresse, which
specialises in transforming industrial waste into innovative lifestyle
products. The company is famous for creating fashion accessories from
decommissioned London Fire Brigade fire hose and giving 50% of the profits
to the Fire Fighters Charity.  Phil Gibbs, Secretary, LOFA and organiser of the Made Aware programme is
delighted to have Kresse on board.

The company has already raised £4,000 for an irrigation project to help the Centre grow its own crops but is now looking to extend this support further as the demand for places at the centre continues to grow.

Although none of the water companies that operate in these regions currently expect to implement hosepipe bans, the HTA will monitor developments very carefully and react to protect members’ interests if this situation changes.   In the meantime, it is recommended that all HTA members should continue to encourage their customers to use water wisely.

In light of this, visitors to Glee 2012 (17^th – 19^th September, NEC Birmingham) will be able to take advantage of the newly launched Food & Catering Zone.

Archery has been a Paralympic sport for many years and has featured in the Much Wenlock Olympics, which are held every year in Shropshire. Having lived in the town of Much Wenlock for many years the knowledge that this Market Town was  pivotal in the beginning of the modern Olympics has inspired Peter in his quest to compete in the 2012 and even the 2016 Olympic Games.

The gift was made after The Edible Garden Show’s organisers were moved and inspired by work carried out at Headley Court in the groundbreaking horticultural therapy unit developed to help servicemen returning from conflicts recover their strength, mobility and co-ordination.

New research carried out in three countries has found that in garden retail businesses, something as simple as wearing a name badge can make a huge and immediate difference to customer satisfaction levels.

The study, carried out by mystery shopping and customer experience experts Shopper Anonymous (www.shopperanonymous.co.uk), found that when garden centres they work with introduced name badges for all staff, customer satisfaction ratings rose by a remarkable 12% almost overnight, in comparison to those that didn’t require staff to wear badges.
 The figure came out of the study of 10,000 mystery shopper reports carried out in garden centres and related retail outlets over the last eight years in the UK, Australia and New Zealand by Shopper Anonymous. Mystery shoppers wanted staff to be wearing badges so they could distinguish between staff and other shoppers if uniforms weren’t being worn; said they trusted staff wearing name badges and were more likely to build up a relationship conducive to making a sale with someone who wasn’t anonymous.

Founder and Managing Director of Shopper Anonymous, Jonathan Winchester, says the findings carry a stark message for those running garden centres and nurseries:

The Pet Department is located within part of the building previously only permitted for storage use.

‘Full Member’ status demonstrates that at least 55% of the total volume of growing media and soil improver sold by the business is made of non-peat material.

As many areas of the south, south-east and Yorkshire are already facing droughts and hosepipe bans, it is important that garden centres and stores encourage and reassure their customers to keep on gardening through these dry times. Scotts Miracle-Gro is doing its bit by producing information for its trade customers – as well as for gardeners.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), published on 27 March, still contains the controversial statement that new permits for peat extraction should not be granted. 

Each member garden centre will be assessed by an inspector across all departments and awarded an overall score. Centres must achieve 60% or above to remain as members.

A great value garden plant: year round you can enjoy its aromatic, silver-grey foliage; in summer it produces an abundance of scented flowers in blues, purples, pinks or white; and is a good food plant for bees. Once established, it is also a tough, drought tolerant plant.

Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre in Taunton offered the young trees to any schools, charities, village organisations and community groups that needed them.

The charity is seeking a new Chair to replace Richard Jackson when he steps down in June and it is keen to attract someone from the garden industry.

Karen has a broad range of experience in consumer marketing and her previous roles include head of marketing for high profile leisure destination LEGOLAND and premium chain of health clubs Esporta.

-   December 2010 saw the heaviest snow falls in much ofBritainfor years. It crucified the sales of Christmas trees, houseplants and decorations for retailers.

In the short time since its release Salt Away – which removes salt and unsightly white efflorescence from bricks, stone and concrete – has proved a huge success. With customers remarking that ‘there’s something about Salt-Away’, Everbuild couldn’t have anticipated a better response to a product. Some people have been so impressed with the originality and performance of Salt-Away that they have even been asking why no-one has ever made this product before!

Bolsius Aromatic is a complete selection of pure and naturally scented quality candles at competitive and value-for-money prices.

Navy, Sky Blue and Turquoise wellingtons with contrasting spots join the original pink version.   

Appealing to existing weedkiller users and also non-users Roundup Gel will enable retailers to reach millions of new customers in 2012.

Known for leading the way with regards to innovation in the weed control sector, Roundup Gel is not only easy to use and effective but is also as quick as a RTU and as precise as hand pulling.
 

The tool is part of the multi-change range, which offers gardeners more than 200 tool heads and detachable handles so gardeners don’t need to keep buying stand-alone items.

Non-stick blades for easier cutting are set 30 degrees down from horizontal for greater comfort.

We spent a lot of time last year introducing some new products to our range and offering some great value for money deals on these products in order for people to benefit from trying them in their centres.

Available as a boot, ankle boot and clog, all styles are made from fabric-backed PVC and really stand out from other footwear on the market, resulting in their massive success.

The perfect product for any budding vegetable grower, the Let’s Grow…Potato Barrel from Botanico has been a popular seller throughout 2011.  Ideal for where space is at a premium, the easy-to-assemble barrel also features two doors for dual access to the crop – making it even easier for gardeners to enjoy the fruits of their labour!  SRP £29.99

The ‘Get Inspired’ range follows the sell-out success of Hartman’s Jamie Oliver Fire Pit. In addition to the fire pit, the extended range now includes a formal dining set with integrated ice bucket and six chairs, a sun lounger and a deep-seated sofa bench. All are made from cast aluminum with contemporary caramel cushions.

“We’re delighted to have the only IBA based gel rooting products approved for sale into the UK’s Garden Centre and On – Line markets”, said Nugel’s Director Julian Tatlow.  “Both Gel2Root and Gel4Plugs meet the demanding requirements of the Directive”, he added.

Using a brand new formulation the new West+ Light & East Multi-Purpose Compost has all the exceptional benefits of Westland’s highly successful West+, with the bonus of being super lightweight, making it easy for consumers to pick up and carry.

Some would say it has been a year of lows and even deeper lows. There have certainly been some tough times, with retailers and suppliers coming to the end of the road, whether that is in their trading relationships with each other or just in trading. Focus closing its doors for the last time hurt a number of people, most of all their staff but also the staff at their suppliers who were left smarting too. Some were ‘taken by surprise’ when the end came – I’m not sure why.