SBM Company, which bought Bayer Garden last year, has announced a partnership agreement with Italy-based Valagro to sell and market its garden brands in Europe and the US.  For the UK these include MaxiCrop. Read more - members only

Briers has launched a quality home textile range for garden centres with fashion conscious customers.  The new company has been named Pignut. Read more - members only

Lolly Lee was so convinced that her new venture would be a success that she sold her house to fund the launch of The Orangery Collection, introducing design led ranges from artisan producers around the world. Read more - members only

Squire’s plans to open a new 'Raffles' Café Bar at Shepperton Garden Centre, which will include a new style of service - where orders are placed at the till then an electronic tracker is taken to the table. Read more - members only

New CEO, Nicholas Marshall unveils his £40m, 3-year plan to re-establish Dobbies’ reputation as a quality retailer of British plants. He also has ambitions to expand. Read more - members only

The Barton Grange Group has started the construction of its £8m leisure development to be built alongside its award-winning garden centre at Brock on the A6 near Preston. Read more - members only

Two more Homebase stores to be converted as Bunnings pilots, bringing the total to 10. The latest include Weston-super-mare and Harlow. Read more - members only

Mr Fothergill’s Seeds has acquired Darlac, the garden tools supplier based in Slough, to expand its offer to garden retailers. Read more - members only

EP Barrus has bought the gardening glove and footwear manufacturer, Town & Country.  Its founder and chairman Barry Page is to retire. Read more - members only

The owners of a regional DIY chain await sentence after an outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease that ‘probably’ come from a hot tub display in its garden centre led to two deaths. Read more - members only

Hare Hatch Sheeplands has finally complied with the council’s enforcement notice. The garden centre operation has been shut down, yet Rob Scott says the business has a bright future as a specialist nursery building on the heritage of the Floral Mile. Read more - members only

Blue Diamond has replaced the front of house manager and head chef after Fryer’s garden centre received a ‘0’ rating, the lowest possible, for food hygiene in May. Read more - members only

Local news report a fire at 11.15 last (Tuesday) night at Stephen H Smith garden centre at Otley, attended by 50 firefighters.  A number of pets are reported to have died in the fire. Read more - members only

The HTA is to complete its restructuring by recruiting a part-time chairman to be the figurehead that speaks for the industry.  Read more - members only

It is 7 months since SBM completed its purchase of Bayer garden and established SBM Life Science. So far it has kept a low profile. At Glee the industry will see how culturally different the ambitious, family owned group will be. Read more - members only

Sheila Hill is UK Country Manager and says, “We look forward to strong investments in our brands and categories with more media and innovation.” Read more - members only

Timber product supplier, Zest 4 Leisure, has just bought a new distribution centre in Saltney, Flintshire. It has also announced a collaboration with Cardiff Metropolitan University. Read more - members only

Creative Gardens beats the GCA averages following improvement works. Overall, almost as many centres were down in July as up. Read more - members only

The historical poor performance of Homebase is expected to continue in the short term, despite encouraging sales growth in gardening categories, as customers continue to adjust to the Bunnings offer. Read more - members only

Following recent rumours and reports about the preformance and funding of Wyevale, Gardenforum talks to major suppliers and people close to the company and gets a better understanding of what is happening. Read more - members only

The project to build a Garden Bridge over the river Thames has been abandoned, officially, following the Mayor of London withdrawing his support. Read more - members only

As well as the acquisition of Darlac, Mr Fothergill’s revealed other innovations, including a new RHS AGM range, a starter range endorsed by David Domoney and the introduction Seasol and Optigrow. Read more - members only

It has been reported that Terra Firma is negotiating a re-financing deal for Wyevale as the garden centre group has not met its trading targets. Read more - members only

It will be business as usual for La Hacienda, the global manufacturer, importer and distributor of outdoor heating and outdoor living products, after it became part of Griffon Corporation. Read more - members only

The Daily Telegraph listed Wyevale Garden Centres as one of the ten worst companies to work for, based on scores from the jobs website Glassdoor.co.uk. Gardenforum finds other garden retailers scored much better. Read more - members only

“It’s been an interesting ride” says the BUKI chief as he opened the fifth Bunnings pilot store in a former B&Q at Folkestone. Read more - members only

Vitax is to expand its production facility in Skelmersdale and warehouse in Coalville after faster than expected growth this year. Read more - members only

Frosts has sold its landscape maintenance division to Nurture to focus on its core construction and garden centre operations, where profits fell last year. Read more - members only

Excellent sales in seasonal categories, particularly garden and outdoor living, and strong grocery sales contribute to strong like-for-like growth for B&M as it presses ahead with store openings. Read more - members only

It has now been confirmed that Gardening Express owner, Chris Bonnett, has acquired his first bricks and mortar garden centre and called it Bonnetts Garden Village. Read more - members only