Chessum Plants appoints administrators and is for sale

The rose grower Chessum Plants, a sister company to Home and Garden that appointed administrators last month, is for sale having also entered administration. Read more - members only

Gardman availability up to 1200 SKUs

Gardman says Kings Lynn is fully operational again with over 1200 SKUs in stock and increasing as some lines are being flown in from the Far East. Read more - members only

Millais Nurseries has been granted a Royal Warrant

David Millais of Millais Nurseries has been granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales as supplier of Rhododendrons and Magnolias.  Read more - open to all

David Millais and his team

Jonathan Halford to run the London Marathon

Jonathan Halford, chairman of both Forest Garden and Gardman, is raising funds for CLIC Sargent by running in the London Marathon. Read more - open to all

Jonathan Halford

Fryer's wins garden centre of the year for the second year running

Fryer's Garden Centre in Knutsford near Manchester wins garden centre of the year at the annual Blue Diamond Awards for the year of 2017 held at Coombe Abbey. Read more - open to all

Best Garden Centre for the year - Fryer's

Wesfarmers appoints Lazards to find a buyer for Homebase

It has been reported that Wesfarmers has appointed Lazard to find a buyer for Homebase. Articles also speculate that a CVA is a possible outcome. Read more - members only

Home & Garden Group appoints administrators

It has been confirmed that the 9 garden centre Home & Garden Group has appointed the accountants Mazars as administrators on 27th March. Read more - members only

Former employees return as Gardman restarts operations at Kings Lynn

Gardman have decided to reactivate operations at Kings Lynn as demolition starts on Daventry. Reps will be calling on customers from Monday to advise on availability and ordering. Read more - members only

Demolition starts on the destroyed Gardman warehouse at Daventry

Unification reduces Kingfisher SKUs by 80%

B&Q sales fall 5.3% due to store closure programme and disruption from Kingfisher’s unification programme, which after 2 years has made good progress. Read more - members only

Gardman works on recovery plan

Gardman hopes to be in the position next week to tell customers what they will be able to supply and in what time frame. Read more - members only

Capi Europe opens innovative new factory

Capi Europe, the manufacturer behind Cadix in the UK, unveiled an innovative new factory with unique rotational moulding robots, that will see turnover double in the next couple of years. Read more - members only

Cadix's Kate Ebbens and Rob Montano  show the orange insulation

Gardman fire - was it arson?

The BBC reports that a man has been arrested on suspicion of arson as smoke continues to rise from the new Gardman warehouse in Daventry following a massive fire last night. Read more - members only

Administration for Countrywide Farmers

Countrywide Farmers, with 48 stores, has gone into administration after a potential sale is referred to the Competition and Markets Authority.  Read more - members only

Pennells acquire their third garden centre

Pennells Garden Centres have acquired the Four Seasons Garden Centre at Sleaford in Lincolnshire as of March 1st 2018. Read more - members only

Pennells at Cleethorpes

WGC gets ready for spring

The Wyevale management is focussed on standards, better communication with the shop floor and training as head office restructuring is almost complete. Read more - members only

Paul Emslie shows the recently released garden trends report

Start-up challenges larger manufacturers on plastic

Dan Robson, MD of recent start-up Green Digit, has laid down a challenge to larger manufacturers: If a young start-up company can successfully sell products – across Europe - made from sustainable, biodegradable materials, then surely others can too. Read more - members only

Fewer independents will sell their garden centres

Fewer independent garden centres will sell in future, said the owner of St Peter’s, Worcester. He also invited suppliers to consider running their gardening shops as a franchise. Read more - members only

Tony Blake

Bunnings opens 24th Store as PE buyers circle

Bunnings has opened its 24th store in Somerset amid reports that private equity firms are eyeing a potential bid. The Aussie chairman is also visiting UK stores. Read more - members only

Fire destroys Klondyke Strikes at Stokesley

Klondykes’s Strikes Garden Centre at Stokesley in North Yorkshire was destroyed by fire on Friday night. Read more - members only

There was a tie for Notcutts' best garden centre

It was a tie in the judging for Notcutts’ best garden centre, while the pet and wild bird team won the best category prize at its recent annual awards evening. Read more - members only

‘Best Category’ - the Pet & Wild Bird team, flanked by Chairman Nicky Dulieu (L) & Nick Burrows

Christmas department at Haskins Garden Centres has re-opened due to high demand

Haskins Garden Centre group has re-opened its Christmas department across all centres, due to high demand from customers. Read more - open to all

Which? names Lidl's Multi-purpose as best buy

Which? says Lidl's Multi-purpose compost is the best compost for pots and hanging baskets, beating others that cost 12 times as much. Read more - open to all

Blue Diamond opens East Bridgford with more sites in the pipeline

Blue Diamond opened East Bridgford yesterday, its 20th store. The purchase of number 21 is close to completion and there are further sites in the pipeline, subject to planning.   Read more - members only

Statement from The Garden Centre Association regarding Gardman

“The GCA extends its heart-felt thoughts and sympathies to all the company’s (Gardman) directors and staff and further offers its support and best wishes to the company in restoring its full business activity as soon as is practically possible.” Read more - open to all

Mike Lind, Chairman of the GCA

JP Morgan says a UK exit is the least bad option for Bunnings

Wesfarmers is reviewing its options for Bunnings/Homebase in the UK after announcing massive write downs and losses last month. Now an analyst at JP Morgan suggests that the least cost option would be to leave the UK. Read more - members only

The Gardman fire continues to burn

Dramatic aerial images of Gardman’s Daventry warehouse show the extent of the fire which continues to burn. The company hopes to have information about new premises by the end of the week. Read more - members only

Fire at Gardman - first statement - updated

BBC are reporting a large blaze overnight at Gardman’s Daventry warehouse. In an initial statement the company says it currently has no access to the site and will provide further updates during the day. Read more - members only

Hillview revenues grow by 43%

There has been rapid growth at Hillview Garden Centres, both like-for-like and from acquisitions in the last 12 months, having shown little growth in the 2016/7 results recently filed. Read more - members only

Shipley Garden Centre

Gardman’s Mark Portman takes over at Scotts UK

CEO Karl Kahofer has named Mark Portman as General Manager of Scotts (UK), filling the role Sheila Hill vacated in February. Portman has been group sales director at Gardman since last October. Read more - members only

Mark Portman

Sheila Hill leaves Scotts

An announcement is expected shortly that Sheila Hill has left The Scotts Company (UK). Also imminent is an announcement about the future of Roundup. Read more - members only

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