Flying Brands blames difficult times and mistakes for first half losses. It has been forced to renegotiate banking terms and will not pay an interim dividend. See more... Read more - members only

Van Hage is to close its floristry departments at Peterborough and Great Amwell.  The company is also consulting about redundancies at Peterborough.  See more... Read more - members only

Despite strong local resistance, Barnet Council has granted planning permission for a Jewish free school to take over The Garden Centre Group’s Wyevale Garden Centre at Mill Hill. See more... Read more - members only

A sharp drop in the sales of garden furniture, plants and garden sundries in June means that revenues for most garden centres have fallen below last year. See more... Read more - members only

Fiskar’s Weed Puller won the GIMA Sword of Excellence for the best product in the 2011 GIMA awards last night, plus the Marketing Award of Excellence. Solus was named Supplier of the Year for the second year. It was also a good night for the Hozelock Auto reel. See more… Read more - members only

With sales and margins up, The Garden Centre Group has decided that ‘now it is time for the company to look at the various options going forward.’ See more... Read more - members only

The Garden Centre Group is to buy Country Homes & Gardens, whose garden centres trade as Country Gardens. This unifies the two groups that have been operating in tandem. See more... Read more - members only

William Sinclair has been refused permission to continue harvesting peat at Chat Moss on environmental grounds, which it says make no sense. At Bolton Fell where they have stopped production, compensation negotiations are delayed. See more... Read more - members only

The drive for excellence has boosted The Garden Centre Group revenue at the half year. Collaboration with David Austin Roses at Syon Park has quadrupled rose sales. ‘Click and Collect’ to be launched in the autumn. See more... Read more - members only

Figures released today show that Focus DIY owed over £61 million to suppliers. A number of leading companies in the garden sector face substantial losses with 5 owed over £1 million each. See more… Read more - members only

There’s a spat between ex-presenters of Gardener’s World arising from the 'I don’t Dig Peat' campaign launched by Garden Organic. See more... Read more - members only

Garden centre revenues in May have fallen for the last 3 years and this year they were 15% lower than in April, according to the GCA. Garden furniture sales suffered especially. See more... Read more - members only

Six and a half years after rescuing Stewart Plastics from administration, Lee Mowle has sold the Stewart Group in a deal valuing it at £17m. The buyer is private equity firm, ECI. See more… Read more - members only

Park Garden Centres are to start work as soon as possible on the first phase of the £5m redevelopment of its garden centre at Almondsbury. See more... Read more - members only

Dobbies is seeking to fund the transformation of communities around its garden centres with bursaries worth £66,000. These are distributed through its “Here We Grow” programme. See more… Read more - members only

A display of black golly dolls has provoked a threat of a mass boycott of Bybrook Barn Garden Centre in Ashford, Kent. See more... Read more - members only

B&Q sales fell 6.7% in the last 3 months thanks to the weather and the closing down sale at Focus. But shares rose on the news. See more... Read more - members only

Latest: Carlisle has opened on time after Council approves last minute works... Dobbies had said it was confident that a new roundabout would be ready for Council approval on Thursday night, hours before the official opening today. See more... Read more - members only

A new restaurant for Brigemere, Adrian Hall to close Hampstead GC, M&S to open on Trent Valley Garden Centre, B&Q cleared to buy 30 Focus Stores. See more... Read more - members only

Choice Marketing puts a hold on the addition of further garden centres after Johnsons of Boston joins the group. See more… Read more - members only

Solus has announced the closure today of its small Newcastle depot. In future customers will receive deliveries from Edinburgh or Birmingham. See more... Read more - members only

Following the demise of Focus and several other retailers, consumers can be wary about paying deposits before delivery. B&Q is using TrustMark to build confidence. See more... Read more - members only

CEO Nicholas Marshall says the Mail on Sunday article claiming that PwC are about to sell The Garden Centre Group is a load of old rubbish. See more... Read more - members only

Wilmslow Garden Centre, one of the Klondyke Group, has been destroyed by fire and has closed. See more... Read more - members only

Oaktree Garden Centre near Bracknell, a 23-acre site, has recently been sold for an undisclosed sum. The purchasers, John & Eve Went, are looking to develop the £1.8m turnover centre over the next few years. See more... Read more - members only

Local sources report that Stephen H Smith is in talks with Marks & Spencer about opening a store on its site on the outskirts of Scunthorpe. See more... Read more - members only

The administrators have published the closure dates of the Focus DIY stores, with the first 10 closing on June 19th. More than 31 stores have been sold to B&Q and 13 to Wickes. Asda are also taking some. Click on the website button below. Read more - members only

After protracted negotiations, Garden Wise (Dumfries) has won permission to double the covered retail area of the garden centre. Work starts in July. See more... Read more - members only

Home Retail Group has experienced further significant decline at Argos while like-for-like sales at Homebase edged higher thanks to the weather. See more... Read more - members only

The first of Alan Titchmarsh’s new gardening series is due to air on Friday. GIMA has been helping the makers to source products and is keen to alert suppliers and retailers ahead of each show to items that will be featured. See more... Read more - members only