Our members in the South Thames region are celebrating today after picking up awards during a presentation yesterday (Tuesday, July 4, 2023) at Castle Gardens in Dorset. Garden Centre of the Year in the Destination Garden Centre (DGC) category went to Ruxley Manor Garden Centre and the Garden Centre (GC) category award was presented to…
Our Barometer of Trade (BoT) figures for May (2023) showed a huge leap in sales of seeds & bulbs and outdoors plants. Member garden centres recorded seeds & bulbs up by 113.59% last month when compared to May 2022 and outdoor plants were up by 24.94%. Pent-up demand Peter Burks, our Chief Executive, explains: “We…
Meadow View Stone is hosting a silent auction in aid of the Greenfingers Charity throughout the first two days of Glee, offering an array of goodies that customers and suppliers can silently bid on for a chance to win. Greenfingers, the industry’s leading charity is appealing for more suppliers and customers to offer their support…
EHG aims to champion UK gardens, landscaping, arboriculture and environmental horticulture and push the government for greater support for the sector. Industry event in the House of Lords will be attended by more than 160 high-profile MPs, Peers, officials, ministers and sector representatives, as well as TV’s Jim Carter and Alan Titchmarsh The UK’s gardening,…
Last week saw the first meeting of our 2023 Rising Stars. Twenty-two were selected to start our programme and 19 attended the first event hosted by NIAB Cambridge. They viewed trials featuring composts and fertilisers that include those of Rising Stars sponsor Westland Horticulture. Westland Horticulture Keith Nicholson, Marketing Director at Westland Horticulture, says: “The…
We’re having a stand at Glee so that existing members and those interested in finding out more about us can come and see us for a chat. We’ll be at the event at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham in Hall 8, Stand 8C70-D71 from June 27 until 29. Face-to-face catch up Peter Burks,…
Our Barometer of Trade (BoT) figures for last month (April 2023) have revealed food hall/farm shop and catering continued to perform well while other categories also saw encouraging increases too. Across our member garden centres, our BoT recorded that catering sales were up 21.63% when compared to April 2022 and food hall/farm shop sales remained…
The dates for our summer regional award meetings when members find out who has come top in our annual inspections for 2023 are out now. Garden centres are encouraged to attend the event in their area and to bring as many of their team members along as possible. Inspections coming to a close Another round…
The Garden Centre Association (GCA) Trust has selected Louise Kemp from Coolings Wych Cross Garden Centre and Ashley Bains from Barton Grange to attend this year’s International Garden Centre Association (IGCA) Congress (2023). The two candidates will receive a sponsored place at the IGCA Congress in September as part of the Dick Allen Scholarship Award…
Twelve candidates from this year’s Glee Talent Store have been selected to showcase their designs at Glee (April 2023). Visual merchandising training day They were selected from 24 garden centre staff members, who took part in a visual merchandising training day and submitted ideas for a pop-up store concept based on either houseplants or outdoor…