Floral Thursday is back!

Time to dig out your boldest floral shirt, dainty flowery dress and everything in-between as Floral Thursday is back and ready to raise funds for the Greenfingers charity. Read more - open to all

Squire’s Garden Centres announce Charities of the Year

Squire’s Garden Centres has announced their ‘Charities of the Year’ for 2021-2022. The charities include Challengers, LinkAble, JAC, Shooting Star, White Lodge, Royal Surrey Charity and many others. Read more - open to all

WOKINGHAM - Just Around The Corner

A new sustainable era for grassroots football

Sponsorship from local employer, Wildlife World, based in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, has helped Oxstalls United become the UK's first grassroots football team with shirts made from bamboo - a fast-growing, super sustainable material; significantly reducing the use of plastic. Read more - open to all

Darlac donates tools to a Summer Gardening Programme

Darlac, the cutting tools experts, have donated tools worth over £1,300 to the Chelsea Pensioners for their summer gardening programme, which encourages veterans at The Royal Hospital Chelsea to get outdoors and enjoy a spot of gardening during the summer months. Read more - open to all

GIMA Innovators Seed Corn Fund

As activity ramps up ahead of Glee 2021, GIMA is encouraging new business and innovators to consider entering the 2021 GIMA Innovators Seed Corn Fund, with this year’s winner being unveiled at Glee.    Read more - open to all

GIMA Award entrants raise over £2,000 for Greenfingers

The Greenfingers Charity is offering its endless gratitude to entrants of the 2021 GIMA Awards as over £2,000 has been raised following the auctioning of donated product post-judging day. Read more - open to all

WH Peacocks Auctioneer 2021

The Edinburgh Butterfly and Insect World to close for good

The Edinburgh Butterfly and Insect World, at Dobbies’ Lasswade HQ, is to close doors for good after nearly forty years, reports the Edinburgh Evening News.  Read more - members only

The GIMA Judging is complete – find out who wins on Nov 11th

With almost 250 products entered, the judges had their work cut out for themselves, with winners having to wait a little longer to find out who has scooped this year’s highly contested awards. Read more - open to all

Garden centre headlines around the country

Headlines around the country include a sale and lease back by Dobbies, controversy about breast feeding in a garden centre and thefts of catalytic converters at Bents. Read more - members only

Gary Plevey, a true gentlemen, with his family

Seeding the Future

The Design Museum announces the winner of its national design and enterprise schools’ competition ‘Design Ventura’ Read more - open to all

Seed launcher called ‘Sow Beautiful

Fron Goch unveils plans for £1.7m extension

Fron Goch Garden Centre near Caenarfon is set to enhance its retail experience with a £1.7 million extension to showcase its strong plant offering. Read more - open to all

Quinton Edwards announce the sale of Oaktree Nursery

Quinton Edwards are delighted to announce the sale of Oaktree Nursery in Lincolnshire to Paramount Plants and Gardens. Read more - open to all

Dobbies celebrates National Children’s Gardening Week with refreshed Little Seedlings

Dobbies has announced the online relaunch of its Little Seedlings Club, to support and celebrate National Children’s Gardening Week (29 May – 6 June). Read more - open to all

St Peters Garden Centre creates ‘an adventure into nature and wildlife’

Tony Blake first dreamt about creating a wildlife area on St Peter's Garden Centre back in 2012... Last year, his son Will, now the MD, began to make this a reality. Read more - open to all

Will with Poppy and Olie at Poppy’s Farm

Southern Trident announces charity partnership with Child Rights and You (CRY UK)

Southern Trident has joined hands with Child Rights and You (CRY), India’s most trusted NGO which works directly with and for underprivileged children in India at grassroots level to bring about lasting change. Read more - open to all

Giant sunflowers bring cheer to children and charities

Squire’s Garden Centres gave away packs of sunflower seeds to children last April, and asked them to see how tall their sunflowers could grow. Read more - open to all

Winner Lily Brown with her 3.8m sunflower

Garden centres making news around the UK

Garden centres making news include an £1.8m development at Beckworth Emporium, concerns over a warehouse proposed by BGC and an interesting offer from Longacres on Twitter. Read more - members only

disused Gilford Mill. Photo Albert Bridge - Geograph

GCA regional meetings to reveal inspection winners

The GCA has resumed annual garden centre inspections cancelled last year due to Covid-19, and has announced regional meetings to hear feedback and reveal the category winners. Read more - members only

2019 Winners at Monkton Elm with judge Michael Cole (r)

Teams invited to compete in a charity golf day

Perennial, the charity for people working in, or retired from, the horticulture industry, is delighted to announce details of a charity golf day, hosted by British Association Landscape Industries to raise money for those in the industry. Read more - open to all

Squire’s celebrates 85th Anniversary with stunning plant displays

Squire’s Garden Centres is celebrating their 85th Anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, their garden centres across Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire and Middlesex each designed an eye-catching display to celebrate this special anniversary. Read more - open to all

Squire's 85th Anniversary winning display - Squire's Crawley

Enter Perennial’s HortAid2021 Gardening competition

The deadline for entry is 31st July, 2021 and the best in show will win £1,000 in garden gift vouchers and the chance to meet one of the competition judges. Read more - open to all

Latest Garden Centre news from around the nation

News from around the country includes an invasion by travellers at The Arium,  closure of Sunnyside restaurant after Covid test, minigolf at Dobbies and expansion at Newbridge Nurseries. Read more - members only

The Arium

Covid Closes Glendoick for a few days

Glendoick Garden Centre has been forced to close for a few days due to a small COVID outbreak amongst staff. Read more - open to all

AMES UK move to streamline group operations

Continuing the process of streamlining their group operations, AMES UK have moved to strengthen their supply chain team with restructuring of dedicated teams to handle and support domestic and FOB business. Read more - open to all

Jane Dumbrell Domestic Supply Manager

GIMA Charity Golf Day welcomes the industry back

Marking the return of in-person events, the 11th annual GIMA Charity Golf Day (June 9th, 2021) was a fun-filled day of friendly competition, reunions, networking, fundraising, and glorious summer sunshine. Read more - open to all

Golf in the sunshine

An 85-year love affair with gardening

Squire’s Garden Centres celebrates its 85th Anniversary this year. The company was incorporated on the 8th July 1936 and the original certificate of incorporation, though faded over time, still hangs on the boardroom wall alongside the first handwritten bank statement. Read more - open to all

Sunflowers bring cheer and cash to local charities

Squire’s Garden Centres has raised £2,562.21 for numerous local charities thanks to their recent sunflower seed campaign. Read more - open to all

Zest 4 Leisure shortlisted in GYO Awards

Zest 4 Leisure has been shortlisted in the Best Container Growing Product category in The Great British Growing Awards 2021 for its Raised Herb Planter and Marford Hexagonal Planter Set. Read more - open to all

Raised Herb Planter

Wyevale Nurseries receives Plant Healthy Certification for high biosecurity standards

The team at Wyevale Nurseries in Herefordshire are celebrating this week after being awarded a Plant Healthy Certificate during Defra’s 2021 Plant Health Week (May 2021). Read more - open to all

Wyevale Nurseries Production Manager Kyle Ross with Wyevale Nurseries Plant Healthy Certification

'We are all screaming for stock'

‘April hugely up… but it felt like we could have done more’.  ‘Rationing has started to become the norm and we are forward booking stock for the Autumn already.’ Read more - members only

Depleted displays at Dobbies, Andover

To see earlier stories - Look in the News Archive