The origins of Webbs business are traceable to the middle of the nineteenth century when Edward Webb was a successful agricultural seeds merchant trading from Wordsley near Stourbridge in the West Midlands. By the end of the century Webbs seeds had become a household name and Webbs were appointed seeds-men to every monarch in succession from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Edward’s grandson, William, took over the business and involvement in the Wychbold area began with the purchase of Astwood Farm in 1925. There, both agricultural and horticultural seeds were trialled to assess their quality. Later Webbs moved their trial grounds to the A38 in Wychbold – the main Birmingham-Bristol road.

In 1937 the famous Webbs thatched building, the floor of which was designed to incorporate wood from all countries of the Commonwealth at that time, was completed by Messrs Braziers of Bromsgrove as a reception centre and the Wychbold Trial Grounds became a local landmark. During the late 1960s and early ‘70s, the English seed trade was transformed by a series of mergers. Webbs Garden Seeds joined with Bees and moved to Chester leaving the Wychbold site occupied by a fledgling garden centre started by William’s son Michael in the late 1960s.

In 1971, current owner Richard Webb, great grandson of the original Edward Webb, purchased the site with his wife and so began the development of Webbs as both a Garden Centre & Nursery.  Throughout the years the site at Wychbold has expanded and developed with Webbs establishing itself as a leading horticultural centre and regional tourist attraction, with a succession of retail awards recognising Garden Centre expertise.  Webbs has expanded and now has garden centres at West Hagley and Ryton Gardens.

How would you describe the garden centre and nursery?

Our flagship site at Wychbold is at the forefront of modern garden centre retailing, with over 100,000 sq foot covered retail space and some 1000+ car parking spaces. We also have additional retail offers such as Hobbycraft, Cotswold Outdoor, Jacuzzi & The Garden Building Centre.  We also have over 4 acres of display gardens designed to inspire and educate customers whilst emphasising our horticultural heritage.

Our site at West Hagley was acquired from Hurrans in March 2009, and is a mid-size convenience garden centre in an excellent suburban location. It offers 20,000 covered sq foot of space and was refurbished in 2010 including a brand new café layout.

Finally in 2010 we joined forces with the charity Garden Organic to run the retail and catering operations at the home of their prestigious organic demonstration garden at Ryton-under-Dunsmore near Coventry. We believe it is the first and only garden centre and café to be run according to the charity’s Organic Gardening Guidelines.

Webbs support local hospices and are involved with local charities – would you like to tell us about your charity work?

Webbs has supported local hospices since 2003 and has donated over £90,000 towards Worcestershire hospices’ fundraising coffers during that time as well as helping with gifts in kind such as Christmas trees and plants for their gardens. We also support many very local charities throughout each year and believe wholeheartedly in getting involved in the communities close to our garden centres.

As a business you are concerned about the environment and sustainability. What is your policy on this?

At Webbs, we recognise that there are some serious environmental and local community challenges that come along with running a business responsibly. We understand that we are currently a long way from being a totally sustainable business. We are after all predominantly reached by car and many of our products are sourced from all over the world. However we are in the business of improving our customers' environments and therefore it is right that we should attempt to improve our own practices to ensure our community breathes fresh air for generations to come.

Designing a Sustainable Site

We have tried to design recent new builds and premises with a sustainable edge. Our Wychbold store uses the best insulation materials and is fitted with low-energy lights and automated light switches. We are also ensure that with development comes improvement to our landscape setting. Our display gardens not only give our customers ideas, but have served to regenerate biodiversity along the banks of the River Salwarpe. Adjacent to the Gardens we have planted over 2000 trees as part of a Millenium Wood. We also have plans to develop the area surrounding our car parks into a Natural Arboretum of both native and specialist trees.

            Wychbold also uses 'grey water' systems to collect rain water from the main buildings and car park which is then collected via interceptor through a natural filtration system and reused  for the irrigation of the onsite growing nursery and the plant area in the Garden Centre.

            We're also getting better at recycling. We've introduced cardboard and polythene bailing machines and glass is recycled from our Restaurant. Wood is also separated as a waste product for recycling. Furthermore we provide a community recycling unit for paper, bottles and cans, in our car park. We also encourage customers to bring in old plants pots for recycling by the pot manufacturer.

            We're constantly reviewing our choice of organic and environmentally friendly gardening products, and specifically highlight this through informative signage and positioning instore.

We actively source, where we can, locally, with 80% of our bedding and hardy nursery stock being grown in the Midlands. Our Foodhall champions locally produced specialities from the surrounding counties, such as honey, cheeses, organically grown fruit juices, jams and chutneys, cakes and bakery, dairy and butchery.

             In sourcing all our Hardwood garden furniture products, we endeavour to get evidence from our suppliers to ensure that our stock is supplied from sustainable and well-managed forests. It is our policy to ensure that all the timber and timber containing products, we sell comes from forests independently certified as well-managed according to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). For those products that are not FSC-listed we seek from our suppliers evidence of partnerships with organisations committed to improving forest management standards to those required by the FSC, such as the Tropical Forest Trust (TFT) or the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).

What is your policy on peat and peat-free products?

• We share the concern of gardeners, the whole horticultural industry and government towards peat extraction and we fully support the continued search for alternative growing media
• We will only offer peat products that only come from either SSSI sites or from sites owned and managed by English Nature
• We are committed to stocking peat free composts at all our centres at competitive prices
• We do not recommend the use of peat products for mulching or soil conditioning unless as a means of disposal of used product ie. grow bags, spent mushroom compost etc. None of our products specifically for improving soils contain peat
• We recognise that for some plants, such as ericaceous subjects e.g. Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Camellias, Acers etc there has yet to be developed suitable alternative media
• We are actively encouraging our suppliers of outdoor plants to reduce peat content and look towards incorporating recycled materials in their growing medium
• We have been trialling peat alternatives for growing plants on our own nursery for many years and this process is continuing. We are currently using peat-reduced mixes that incorporate other recycled materials
• Garden Organic, the national charity for organic growing, who grow plants exclusively in organic, peat-free compost are now growing plants for our site at Ryton Gardens.
• We are optimistic that compost manufacturers, nurseries and retailers can work together to significantly reduce the amount of peat used in horticulture in the UK

Sales of Plants Grown in Peat-Based Growing Media at Webbs, Ryton Gardens

The Organic Gardening Guidelines clearly steers gardeners to avoid the use of peat.

The use of peat as a soil improver, or in homemade or purchased growing media, is within the Guidelines red category i.e. considered as 'never acceptable in an organic garden'. In line with Webbs commitment to operate within the Organic Gardening Guidelines, no peat based soil improvers or growing media is available from the shop at Ryton Gardens.

The only acceptable use of peat within the Guidelines is for container-grown plants and transplants that are purchased and bought into the garden. The use of these types of plants is within the amber category ie. considered as 'acceptable, but not for regular use'. Currently, peat-based containerised plants are still considered acceptable within the Guidelines due to the lack of availability of commercially grown plants grown in peat-free and organic substrates.

It is presently very difficult for organic gardeners to source a desired range of plants, particularly perennial species, if the use of peat within container grown plants is unacceptable. We have therefore taken a practical approach for the implementation of the Organic Gardening Guidelines.

In order to offer an increased range of plants to gardeners at this time, Webbs are stocking plants at Ryton Gardens grown in peat-based media, which is allowable within the Guidelines. They will also very shortly be stocking organic, peat-free plants grown on-site at Ryton Gardens. Webbs are working very actively with their suppliers, to expand the range of peat-free plants as quickly as possible.

Andy Strachan, Head Gardener at Ryton Gardens says, 'I have always found it almost impossible to source peat-free organic, ornamental plants. We therefore grow many of our own perennial plants for the gardens, and will now be increasing this production to supply Webbs and help increase income to the charity'.

Why do you think garden centres have become and still remain so successful even throughout a tough economic climate and despite the British weather?

We offer a good value pleasant alternative to shopping on the high street.  With the investment many of us have made to covered space, we now offer a wider demographic of customer a pleasant relaxed shopping experience whatever the weather or time of year. The strength of independent garden centres relative to multiple retailers in other sectors, has ensured a commitment to local sourcing & investment in customer service, all of which are appreciated by the discerning consumer in an age of homogenised retailing. 

What has trade been like so far this year?

Excellent growth during the first quarter has given us a strong platform for 2011.

How do you compete with multiples?

Membership of the Tillington Buying Group ensures we can compete on core commodity lines such as compost as well as produce great value marketing such as the Spring edition of the Webbs branded Beautiful Gardens magazine. As independents we are keen supporters of localised sourcing to maintain a point of difference.

What is your general opinion on the future of the garden industry?

The future of leisure gardening looks set to grow as demographically the baby boomers start to make up a larger proportion of those generations mostly likely to spend their time gardening.

This and historic recessions have proved that the British consumer is reluctant (though not immune) to reduce spend on gardening even during periods of reduced disposable income.  Is it any coincidence that concepts such as Grow Your Own, Cut Your Own & Bake Your Own have all grown in popularity as we perceive we have less money? Whilst these are encouraging signs for the future, Garden Centres as predominantly physical store retailers need to be mindful of the phenomenal growth in online and mobile commerce and the pressures that brings to our business in terms of greater competitive transparency, increased customer service expectations & and a transfer to alternative leisure activities as more people complete their shopping online. Naturally the latter point is also an opportunity for garden centres to capitalise on as we seek to offer more experience and leisure-based retail.  Long-term sector influences will be continued climate change and the planning environment for garden centre expansion.

Do you have an online platform?

www.webbsdirect.co.uk  has been trading since 2007 and now offers a range of some 6000 product lines to purchase for immediate dispatch.

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