Buoyant sales of Christmas and gift lines and a 34% increase in catering revenues gave GCA garden centres a strong boost at the end of the year. See more... Read more

The HTA is holding a series of workshops with garden centres to show ways they can improve links with local communities and those in the virtual world. See more... Read more

Gardenforum's Review of 2011 tracks the year's trading and events. It also shows the high number of garden centres and nurseries that are investing despite the difficult economy. This review is open for all to read, see more... Read more

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has leased one of its London Halls to Westminster School. The £18m raised plus a further £9m expected from a major fundraising campaign, will be invested in a substantial programme of innovation and modernisation. See more... Read more

The GCA has released a 5-year strategy. The headline will be ‘Better Standards, Better Business’ as the association actively seeks to expand garden centre membership and work with other trade organisations. See more... Read more

Wiseweather suggests that the drier, sunnier theme to the weather seems set to continue through December, with little sign of snow for most of the country. See more... Read more

A new recruitment agency dedicated to finding non-executive directors, main board directors and chairmen has been established as a sister company to More People. See more... Read more

The HTA's Garden Gift Card has hit the racks of Sainsbury's and should be selling in WH Smith and Clinton Cards before Christmas. 400 garden centres are taking part. See more... Read more

On Nov 30th the UK gardening press gathers for a huge lunch, where Alan Titchmarsh is to take to the platform to tell the audience of national, trade and local garden writers about Garden Re-Leaf Day. The organisers are asking urgently for examples of activities they can include. See more... Read more

One third of the garden buying is done by people under 45 years old, but their approach is very different to older gardeners. The HTA is publishing a report showing how to engage the younger, often novice gardener. See more... Read more

The next GIMA business meeting brings together two growing garden centre chains with one of the county’s leading independents. There will also be a report on the next 5 years for garden retail by Mintel and a working breakfast looking at better time management. See more... Read more

With 6 months before the inaugural Garden Re-leaf Day, it is already set to make a big impact with over 500 outlets, The Sun and major suppliers backing the event. See more... Read more

The Royal Horticultural Society has started construction of a state-of-the-art Field Research Facility at its garden in Wisley, Surrey to carry out plant disease and pest focussed investigation. See more... Read more

Which are the companies to face the Glee Garden Angels and what are the questions they will pose them? Common themes are: what do they need to do to get garden centres to take their products? Where should they be made? Should they use agents? What POS support is needed? How do you make a profit? See more... Read more

The unsettled weather seems set to continue through September, but it should be warmer with rain slightly above average, particularly in the west. See more... Read more

The RHS says we should expect a smaller harvest in 2012 unless there is a prolonged cold spell. Mild winters fail to give hardy fruit plants the period of chilling they need to encourage flowering. Plants can also blossom too early for the pollinators and be more vulnerable to late frosts. See more… Read more

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has joined forces with online nursery www.treesandhedging.co.uk to offer 2,000 schools five free trees each, in celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Read more

Sales of the new HTA Garden Gift Cards have exceeded expectations and do not appear to have had an impact on the sale of National Garden Gift Vouchers, which have experienced strong growth in the last quarter. See more... Read more

The HTA will not rush to find a replacement for David Gwyther. The new president is taking time to consult with her board and senior members of the team at Theale on the future of the association before deciding what they want from a new director general. See more... Read more

The GCA conference will look at ways to increase profit without massive investment. There will be examples from the best in garden retail and inspiration from experts such as Dr Hessayon, Michael Heppell, Jim Gardiner of the RHS, Mario Dolcezza, Andrew McMillan and Clare Rayner. See more... Read more

3 West Country garden centres have opted to operate their EPOS systems using the concept of cloud computing, installed by G7. It reduces the cost and increases security. See more... Read more

The David Colegrave Foundation is inviting students and newcomers to the industry to apply for scholarships so that they can benefit from the latest learning both here in the UK and overseas. See more... Read more

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

Two moves demonstrate the HTA’s growing influence. BOPP has agreed to join the umbrella organisation and the RHS is collaborating more closely with the HTA on plant trials. See more... Read more

The forecast for November from Wiseweather suggests a generally warm month, with below average rain. But there may be some ground frost in the second week in Southern areas. There is no mention of snow. See more... Read more

After taking a bit of a hammering during May, June and part of July, garden centre sales appear to have stabilised during August and September. But bulb sales were down for the second year. See more... Read more

This July’s Woking Show was the last. The group of growers behind the show has concluded that changes within the industry mean there are better ways to promote their businesses. This is the second regional plant show to close this year. See more... Read more

There are a few places available for next Wednesday’s HTA Garden Futures event. During such uncertain times this is a day to hear top bankers and business leaders from inside and outside the industry predict what might happen next. See more... Read more

Wiseweather predicts predominantly settled weather in the south for October. Scotland and N. Ireland will see more in the way of fronts carrying blustery rain that might affect the west later in the month. See more... Read more

There was plenty of evidence at Four Oaks that retail buyers are cautious about Christmas and about over-wintering too many plants. There was the biggest ever number of overseas exhibitors at the trade show. See more… Read more