The GCA urges those who haven’t booked to act quickly as rooms for the annual GCA conference (21st - 24th Jan) are running out. This is the main networking event for top garden centres and suppliers, with top speakers from business, sport and entertainment. Read more - members only

Gardenex has secured grant funding to help UK manufacturers, especially SME’s, exhibit at major overseas garden trade shows. For the first time these will include Myplant & Garden in Milan. Read more - members only

The HTA has named Chris Pateman as the new chair of the Association.  In this new role Chris will assist the HTA Board in coordinating the activities of the HTA Executive and their teams at Horticulture House. In addition, he will represent the HTA at a senior level to Government and other stakeholders. Read more - members only

The window has opened for future horticulturalists to apply for scholarships from The David Colegrave Foundation. There are 7 potential scholarships available. Read more - members only

The RHS has approved award-winning online learning provider Learningwithexperts.com 
(formerly MyGardenSchool) as an accredited provider of RHS gardening qualifications. Read more - members only

Last week’s 3 day conference and trade show, held by Choice Marketing, eclipsed the HTA Futures conference that it clashed with, by drawing 160 delegates. 90 suppliers exhibited at the trade show. Read more - members only

The HTA is warning garden centres it will not accept gift vouchers once they have expired, due to a change in legislation. The amnesty on vouchers with an expiry date of 31 December 2016 ends on 31 August 2017. Read more - members only

At the recent BHETA networking event, Amazon buyers were out in force and outlined several services that could take the supplier opportunities to new levels.  Read more - members only

Having lost its planning argument with Wokingham BC, Sheeplands garden centre has closed concessions, seeded the overflow carpark and made other changes. Read more - members only

Dobbies is to launch an online store early next year serving the whole of the UK following an agreement with the Ocado Group’s Speciality Stores. Read more - members only

Lobbying by the HTA and the NFU has been successful in lifting the threat of growers being charged rates, which could have amounted to hundreds of thousands of pounds. Read more - members only

Quinton Edwards is offering www.crowders.co.uk for sale. It would suit a garden centre looking to develop its multi-channel capability without the risk of building its own website.  Read more - members only

Gardman will move to a new DC in Daventry before the end of this year giving it the infrastructure to grow and the capacity to absorb acquisitions. Read more - members only

2016 saw second tier garden centre chains and independents invest as Wyevale consolidated. Homebase and Argos are sold. The HTA moved offices and moved to become the lead association for all gardening related businesses. Glyphosate, Xylella and the weather made frequent headlines. Scotts and Bayer looked for a way out of distributing consumer garden chemicals. Read our review – open to all. Read more - open to all

The HTA has unveiled a new Nursery Supply Show to run in parallel with the National Plant show in June. Read more - members only

Latest figures from The GIMA Barometer of Trade (BoT) show that raw material costs have risen by 12%. These costs, says GIMA, will have to be passed down the supply chain. Read more - members only

2017 started with a flourish but lost momentum and settled to be an OK year. Suppliers worried about Brexit, the living wage, higher costs and Wyevale. Retailers and growers worried about Xylella. Takeover activity reached new peaks among suppliers, but no major garden centres changed hands. The industry said goodbye to some old friends. Read our review – (open to non-subscribers). Read more - open to all

BHETA has created a new National Home Improvement Week for the home and garden industry on dates in the middle of March that clash with Garden Re-Leaf Day. Read more - members only

3 leading trade associations GIMA, The HTA and Gardenex are backing the additional Glee exhibition, a concession at the Spring Fair in February. Read more - members only

The British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) is to launch two major sales campaigns this autumn. One targets the public, the other is to recruit trade members. Read more - members only

The GIMA Barometer of Trade reports double digit cost increases for raw materials, freight and labour in the last 12 months. Read more - members only

Due to illness one of the new GCA inspectors has been forced to step down this year. So two, who had intended to retire, are back as judges and will address the newly announced regional awards meetings.  Read more - members only

The HTA has backed its management team by promoting finance director, Alex Vick, to senior executive director in charge of day to day operations and by giving each director greater responsibility. Read more - members only

Following reports of genetically modified petunias being sold in Finland, the HTA has alerted the UK authorities to their existence in the UK supply chain. Read more - members only

The HTA is to carry out a review before deciding on how to replace Carol Paris, the chief executive who left last month. Read more - members only

BHETA’s next networking forum is to feature two of Amazon’s category leaders, who will be sharing the latest information on how digital innovation is fuelling the Amazon business and the opportunities that this presents to suppliers. Read more - members only

Mike Lind is to succeed Julian Winfield as GCA chairman at the beginning of 2018. He says he wants to make the GCA more relevant. This is at a time when it represents only a small proportion of garden centres… read the Gardenforum comment. Read more - members only

Garden Re-Leaf day on 17^th March will see outside participants join the garden industry as it celebrates the start of the gardening season and aims to beat the £140,000 raised last year for Greenfingers charity. Read more - members only

Having grown 55% Allensmore Nurseries invests in climate control but says Brexit means they face an uncertain period. Read more - members only

A new AMA report says Internet garden sales grew by an estimated 24% within the last year and that DIY multiples account for the majority share. Read more - members only