GIMA freezes rates in tough times

In advance of tomorrow’s GIMA meeting, the Garden Manufacturers Association has reacted to fears of a tough 2011 by freezing membership fees for a 4th year. See more... Read more - members only

Garden4Less Hit by Bosch / Amazon Scam

Local Internet retailer Garden4Less has been hit by a unique online scam involving the Amazon website. See more... Read more - members only

Angels open doors for Glee entrepreneurs

At Gardenforum's invitation, 6 entrepreneurs braved the stage to ask the Glee Garden Angels how to get access to garden centre buyers. The results were unexpected. As one company said afterwards, "I learnt more in 15 minutes with the Angels than I would have gained in hours with a consultant." See more... Read more - members only

Outrage at blatant copying at Glee

Some of the most innovative companies in the garden industry have been outraged by blatant copying of their products at Glee. See more... Read more - members only

National Conifer Week starts 2nd October

The HTA’s PlantforLife campaign and British Conifer Group have produced banners and a merchandising guide to help retailers build eye-catching displays that will have gardeners up and down the country pining for British Conifers. See more... Read more - members only

The Glee Garden Angels are revealed

Glee Garden Angels, hosted by Gardenforum, is an exciting and different event at Glee this year. Based loosely on the BBC's Dragons Den, three Angels will offer advice and perhaps a little more, to companies bringing innovation to the garden sector. We can now reveal the identity of our Glee Garden Angels. See more... Read more - members only

Dobbies team up with Hire Station

Dobbies Internet operation Dobbies.com has teamed up with leading tool hire company Hire Station to offer over 2000 different tools. See more… Read more - members only

Amnesty on rogue Danish trolleys

Container Centralen is tightening up on the use of rogue CC trolleys with the introduction of a new RFID label. Garden centres and nurseries are being offered an amnesty to bring unplated trolleys into the pool. See more... Read more - members only

Mary Portas headlines the HTA's autumn conference

Mary Queen of Shops is to visit several garden centres and deliver her views on the state of the sector at this autumn's HTA conference. The presentation will be followed by what is likely to be a lively debate. See more... Read more - members only

Perennial helps 937 people out of a crisis

Perennial is the charity that helps people who have worked in horticulture, gardening and garden centres. Last year 937 people were helped to overcome personal crises. See more... Read more - members only

June sales make up for the late spring

The GCA Barometer of Trade shows that garden centre sales increased by 8% in June. As a result, sales from January to June have caught up with those of 2009. See more... Read more - members only

YouGov accuses specialist garden centres of underperforming

A YouGov Sixth Sense report on DIY and garden centres says that major DIY stores are key players in garden retailing, but the specialist garden centres are underperforming. See more... Read more - members only

VirtualSOLEX goes live as LOFA grasps the environmental initiative

LOFA has used a third successful Solex to introduce two initiatives. Made Aware leads members through a process to reduce the social and environmental impact of their products. VirtualSOLEX is a database of products from the show that can be referenced throughout the year. See more... Read more - members only

Thurlow moves on from Glee

Dan Thurlow, Glee Show Director, is leaving the show and moving to another post within EMAP. He is to become Sponsorship Director for the events business. See more… Read more - members only

First-day success for National Plant Show

There was real enthusiasm from leading garden centres and from exhibitors on the first day of the first ever National Plant Show, which continues today. See more... Read more - members only

What are you doing tomorrow (Wednesday)?

Any garden centre or plant manager who can spare half a day tomorrow (Wednesday) and get to London, should visit the RHS Autumn Harvest Show. They will pick up enough ideas for this Autumn and next. See more... Read more - members only

Ambitious plans for GardeningTV

Gardening TV has new owners with ambitious plans to double the number of host garden centres within 12 months. See more... Read more - members only

Dobbies’ chief exec to address garden suppliers

James Barnes, chief executive of Dobbies Garden Centres, will be the keynote speaker at the GIMA business meeting on 7/10. Other topics include advice on how to succeed with sales agents and TV shopping. See more... Read more - members only

Farm shops and clothing provide growth for garden centres

The latest figures from the GCA Barometer of Trade show that it is new areas such as farm shops and garden clothing that are providing any growth there is in garden centres. See more... Read more - members only

Wi-Fi offered at 89 TGCG garden centres

Motorists keen to break their journeys to check their emails or use the Internet can now do so at 89 garden centres in The Garden Centre Group. See more... Read more - members only

More rain and a chance of ground frosts

Wiseweather predicts more rain after a sunny start to September and a chance of ground frosts from the 2nd week onward. Read more - members only

HTA predicts tough outlook as gardening sales fall

Quoting from the Garden Industry Monitor Market Update, the HTA predicts tough trading conditions for UK business in the short to medium term. However, this may present opportunities for the garden sector. See more... Read more - members only

Formula likely to remain the same for 2011 National Plant Show

There have been strong early bookings for the 2011 National Plant Show, encouraged by a successful first show this year and early booking discounts. Next year it will be bigger. See more... Read more - members only

Stock up with Charcoal – it looks like a BBQ August

Stock up with charcoal, Wiseweather says that August will be warmer drier and sunnier than average, particularly for the south. But the bank holiday looks less certain. See more...
Read more - members only

AWB to be abolished after 62 years

The government has honoured the promise made in March by Lord Taylor of Holbeach. Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has today announced that the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) will be abolished. See more... Read more - members only

New Landscape show for 2011

A new trade show has been launched for the landscape industry. Landscape is scheduled for the 13th and 14th April 2011 at Olympia. See more... Read more - members only

Calls for consultation as first hosepipe ban starts

The industry has called for more consultation as the first hosepipe ban starts tomorrow, affecting 2.9m homes. Filling ponds is allowed but watering vegetables with a hose is not. See more… Read more - members only

The Edible Garden Show is rescheduled for March 2011

The Edible Garden Show (TEGS), which was postponed for a year having failed to raise enough exhibitor interest in 2010, has been rescheduled for 18 to 20 Mar 2011. See more... Read more - members only

July to bring more sunny weather for the south

Wiseweather forecasts July to be warmer and sunnier than normal, with the south and west seeing the driest weather. See more... Read more - members only

Marshalls introduce a garden design app for the iPad

Marshalls, the landscape materials specialist, has introduced the Garden Moodboard app for Apple’s new iPad. It is designed to help people design their dream garden. See more... Read more - members only

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