Last week's planning conference revealed why Malcolm Scott believes Dobbies have a formula that will be a challenge to other garden centres. See more... Read more

Not satisfied with already being the garden centre against which all others are compared, Bents has agreed plans with Warrington Borough Council for a £10m expansion with the aim of becoming the North West’s ultimate garden, home and leisure destination. See more... Read more

Guy Hands, founder of private equity group Terra Firma Capital Partners, has confirmed that he is in the bidding for The Garden Centre Group. See more... Read more

The Garden Centre Group is not renewing its lease on Beverley Garden Centre. Another group is poised to take over, if planners agree to adjust the planning in time. See more… Read more

PSGF Ltd which trades as Peter Smith Garden Furniture at Bradford has called a meeting of creditors with a view to putting the company into liquidation. See more... Read more

Weekend reports have named two private equity houses, Apax Partners and Terra Firma, that are thought to be in the final round of bidding for The Garden Centre Group. Gardenforum has learnt that four bidders remain in the contest. See more... Read more

In its quest to be the best in everything it does, Bents has disclosed that it is planning a big expansion over the next 10 years as it aims to become the ‘Trafford Centre’ for garden, home and leisure shopping. See more... Read more

William Notcutt is to leave Notcutts at the end of this month to set up his own agriculture and forestry business. He will resign as deputy chairman of the Notcutts board. See more... Read more

Scotts Miracle-Gro is to collaborate with MBI, a leading provider of bio-pesticides for pest management. The result should be a new range of natural products for the lawn and garden. See more... Read more

2010 seemed to be a good year for some nurseries but a significant proportion of garden centres showed a small reduction in sales accompanied by a larger fall in profits. There were losses for The Garden & Leisure Group and Webbs Garden Centres. Solus and Decco both performed strongly. To see summaries for over 50 garden companies, See more... (This article is open to all readers) Read more

Knutsford- based Fryer’s Garden Centre has completed a deal to sell the family-owned garden centre and award-winning rose growing business to Blue Diamond Garden Centres of Guernsey. See more... Read more

William Sinclair says it is pleased with 2011 trading. It claims to have gained market share and results will be in line with expectations. See more... Read more

Results just released by The Garden Centre Group show that 2010 was not the recovery year it had hoped for. However, its performance has improved this year and the bank has extended the group loan facility till 2013 pending a possible sale. See more... Read more

Dobbies is to close Paisley garden centre at the end of December. This will reduce the stores to 31 till Gillingham opens in the spring. See more... Read more

Shares halve at Flying Brands as Gardening Direct performs significantly below expectations. The value of Sir Tom Hunter’s investment has fallen by 97%. See more... Read more

The first reports of Christmas thefts from garden centres have reached Gardenforum. Over the weekend more thefts have been reported. In one case the thieves were caught red-handed. See more... Read more

Stapeley Water Gardens is reported to have entered a 30-day consultation process with staff over the future of the garden centre. Local newspapers suggest that Dobbies may be close to a deal for part of the site. See more... Read more

A tweet from HTA director Tim Briercliffe, raises the possibility of a shortage of UK grown hardy nursery stock next year, after a late autumn boost in sales. See more... Read more

The Smith family is buying the assets and business of Peter Smith Garden Furniture (PSGF Ltd) which has called a creditors meeting with a view to going into voluntary liquidation. See more... Read more

William Sinclair has bought Yorkshire Horticultural Supplies, a compost manufacturer near Doncaster. This represents an important strategic move into green composting and gives Sinclair more control over quality. See more... Read more

There has been much activity in garden centre property in the last week. Supermarkets are in prospect for 3 garden centre developments including Peterborough Garden Park. Worsley Hall Garden Centre is to re-open and Sheeplands is to spend £2m. See more... Read more

After the worst outbreak of Downy Mildew on Impatiens yet, it appears that it has become resistant to the key fungicide and can overwinter in soil. Growers are saying they will continue production as long as retailers accept there can be no guarantee against infection. See more... Read more

Everything Scotts Miracle-Gro does in 2012 is aimed at putting the Customer First says the new sales director. They will achieve this with several significant product innovations, a massive new distribution centre and a £7m TV campaign. See more... Read more

Vital Earth has been named East Midlands Business of the Year and is in the running for the UK title in the annual British Chamber of Commerce Awards. See more... Read more

Brokers downgrade forecast profits for Home Retail as first half sales and margins fall at the Argos and Homebase group. It warns that early weeks of the second half have not improved as anticipated. See more… Read more

The Garden Centre Group has launched a ‘Click and Collect’ service for plants. The company believes this is a major step forward in building the group’s credentials as a serious plant retailer. See more... Read more

Chepstow Plantaria Ltd, owner of 3 garden centres in the West, is seeking permission to extend Chepstow Garden Centre. See more... Read more

James Coles & Sons Nurseries are to submit a planning application to build 175 houses on their 20-acre nursery at Thurnby in Leicestershire. See more... Read more

The three Tesco non-executive directors at Dobbies have resigned. The new chairman of Dobbies is the Tesco UK property director. See more... Read more

Dobbies today opens a new store at Speke in Liverpool and announces plans for an alternative site in York, having had the first one rebuffed. See more... Read more