Sainsbury’s is to put Argos in every store

Sainsbury’s will introduce Argos digital concessions to more than 20 additional stores by Christmas, bringing the total number to over 30. Read more - members only

Smart Garden to buy Chapelwood from Scotts

Paris Natar says at last he has found the right opportunity as Smart Garden agrees terms to buy the Chapelwood wild bird care business from Scotts. Read more - members only

Crooklands of Dalton reopens on Oct 8th

Having been closed for the whole of September, Crooklands of Dalton, plans to re-open on October 8th, following a £1m redevelopment. Read more - members only

Dobbies CX outlines the plans for Dobbies

John Cleland, chief executive of Dobbies since July, told an invited audience of chief executives at Glee that Dobbies’ new owners were long term cash investors. Read more - members only

John Cleland

SBM plans to be world number 2 after acquisition of Bayer Garden

Jean-Paul and Alexandre Simmler, owners of SBM, have outlined their plans for Bayer Garden when they close the deal in October to take it out of Bayer. Read more - members only

Alexandre Simmler

Scotts are in advanced discussions to sell ChapelWood

Scotts Miracle-Gro has announced that the company is to sell the ChapelWood bird seed brand. Read more - members only

New Ideas at SPOGA gafa

New Ideas on show at SPOGA gafa include indoor gardening, the first solar powered sun lounger and a powered patio brush system to replace sprayers. Read more - members only

Grange is to stop UK manufacture

Grange is to announce next week that it will close all production facilities at Telford. Read more - members only

Highgrove to offer a new distribution service for garden centres

Highgrove is to offer garden suppliers and retailers a new distribution service based on a model that works in the grocery market.  Read more - members only

Wesfarmers’ CEO is really excited about Homebase

As sales lift 7.5% Wesfarmers, CEO, Richard Goyder says a pilot will start early in 2017 to rebrand some Homebase stores as Bunnings. Read more - members only

Seasonal sales grow 10% at B&Q

Like-for-like sales at B&Q continue to grow, helped by the store closure programme. Parent company, Kingfisher, remains cautious but can detect no Brexit impact. Read more - members only

Fishkeeper Scotland to open in 6 Dobbies stores

Fishkeeper Scotland is soon to open at Dobbies Edinburgh HQ at Melville as part of a major store roll-out plan. Read more - members only

Next wins planning for new Plymouth store

Plans for a new Next Home and Garden store in Plymouth have been approved despite planning officers recommending rejection. Read more - members only

The Proposed Plymouth store

Fire Brigade called to Wyevale’s Windlesham garden centre

The fire and rescue service was called to Wyevale’s Windlesham garden centre last week to rescue a man who was trapped upside down between two containers. Read more - members only

Maryanne Stokes buys Luca’s Garden

Maryanne Stokes has bought Luca’s Garden that sells garden furniture and giftware online and at shows. Read more - members only

Garden centres making the news

A chance meeting with Olympic cyclists, The Apple and Cider fair at Eggesford and houses planned for a former Wyevale garden centre are among the regional headlines this week. Read more - members only

A38 traffic congestion.  Picture from the Derby Telegraph

2015 was a good year for Haskins, Alton, A. Mir & Co and Europlants UK

The latest company results to be updated on Gardenforum include strong growth from A&E Leisure, Europlants and A. Mir & Co, plus figures from Alton Garden Centre, Pennell’s Holdings, Haskins and The Millbrook Garden Company. Read more - members only

T&M joins the Google Certified Shops program

Thompson & Morgan, gets the Google Certified Shops badge for its online range of seeds, plants, gardening equipment and outdoor living furniture. Read more - members only

Plant inspecting at T&M

Online sales grow 39% at B&Q

Interim results from Kingfisher show good progress unifying the buying and procurement across B&Q, Screwfix, and the international subsidiaries. Read more - members only

Green light for massive garden centre and factory outlet at Ashchurch

Secretary of State has shown a green light to the building of a £60m garden centre and factory outlet at Ashchurch that will create 1,000 jobs. Read more - members only

Wyevale restructures regional management

Wyevale is increasing its customer focus by restructuring its area managers and moving them out of head office.  This is likely to lead to redundancies at Syon Park. Read more - members only

Eyles and Stevens leave Hillview as Boyd restructures - UPDATED

Marcus Eyles and Neil Stevens have left Hillview garden centres resulting in a restructuring by CEO Boyd Douglas-Davies. - NEW INFORMATION ADDED Louise Golden is also to leave. Read more - members only

Boyd Douglas-Davies

Bunnings to outline Homebase plans at BHETA

Bunnings UK and Ireland managing director PJ Davis will make the first public presentation of Bunnings’ strategy for Homebase, at BHETA in November. Read more - members only

Andrew Bracey becomes chairman of Dobbies

Andrew Bracey, co-founder of Midlothian Capital that led the June buy-out of Dobbies, has become chairman of the garden centre group. Read more - members only

Dobbies at Liverpool

Taylors’ £1m expansion was a ‘big pill to swallow’

Taylors Bulbs new warehouse increases loading capacity in their peak seasons and will improve efficiency. Read more - members only

Mr Fothergill names new sweet pea for Chelsea Pensioners

Having raised over £50,000 for the Royal Hospital chelsea, Mr Fothergill has named two new sweet peas. One for the Chelsea Pensioners and a second for Greenfingers. Read more - members only

John Fothergill and Sarah Ruggeri

All-In-One closes Knutsford Garden Centre

All-In-One has closed Knutsford, the garden centre it bought 5 years ago. It had become financially unviable due to a drop in footfall. Read more - members only

Planteria manager at Highfield Garden World reveals how plant retailing has changed

Gone are the A-Z beds... Does anybody make their own hanging baskets these days? Where sales of shrubs, perennials and annuals may have shrunk, sales of plants like an £800 potted acer have soared.   Read more - members only

Jon Mason

Scotts buys into Dutch maker of hydroponics gardening lights for $136m

Scotts continues to diversify into hydroponics and indoor gardening as sales in Europe fall. Read more - members only

Sales and operating profits grow at Notcutts

Notcutts' results for the year ending February 2016 show how the company is transforming into a focussed garden retail group. It has been investing in garden centres and selling non-core assets Read more - members only

To see earlier stories - Look in the News Archive