Monkton Elm’s Mike Lind gets ready to hand over the chairmanship of the GCA and warns that the proposed increase in minimum wage could be a significant threat for the garden centre sector. Read more

Garden centres should focus on Facebook first…  The HTA marketing conference delivered advice and some great links to free resources. Read more

The HTA Market Update analyses the retail sales of plants, garden care products, pots and garden leisure. It also evaluates greenhouses and sheds and looks at garden services. Read more

Blue Diamond continues its Wyevale buying spree buying Bridgemere, while Webbs buys Cheltenham garden centre. In addition 2 centres will close. Read more

SmartPlants adds T&M to its growing list of commercial partners.  Customer receipts by the mail-order supplier will soon be accompanied by the newly developed SmartPlant 'button' to provide post sale advice. Read more

James Barnes, the former CEO of Dobbies, is to become the chairman of the HTA and will speak on behalf of the association with members and outside the industry. Read more

David Domoney congratulates this year’s Cultivation Street ambassador of the year, Dobbies’ Steven Purton, who regularly shares his expertise with a local charity, 4 schools, a college and a hospital to improve their communal spaces. Read more

The Royal Horticultural Society will receive £4 million from the National Lottery towards a five-year project that includes developing the world’s first National Centre for Horticultural Science and Learning, at the RHS Garden at Wisley. Read more

The HTA Board has announced that Chris Pateman has left his post as Chairman of the HTA citing family reasons and the long commute. Read more

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

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

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

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

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

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

An expanding membership has prompted the GCA to start the search for an additional inspector to join the current team of 3. Read more

History and Heraldry, Allensmore and Woodlodge were the Suppliers of the Year in their categories for the Choice Marketing Group of independent garden centres. Read more

HTA chairman, James Barnes calls for the backing of members, especially growers, to hear him present plans to re-invigorate the HTA and to promote sustainability at the Cultivating Retail conference. Read more

The new Welcome building that opens next month at the RHS Wisley garden will sell more unusual and rare plants from one place than anywhere else in the UK. Read more

Here’s your chance to catch up with some of the events in the retail garden sector that you may have missed. It was a turbulent year with the collapse of Gardman; around 60 garden centres changing hands or closing, Wyevale, Bunnings, Snow and drought. This is open to all. Read more

LOFA has announced that secretary Phil Gibbs left the association on Friday 19^th October as a new look board explores new opportunities for the association. Read more

The Garden Centre Association has recruited 9 new members bringing the total number of garden centres the association represents to nearly 200. Read more

The British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA) is launching a new retail data service for members thanks to an exclusive deal with research and data provider, GfK.  Read more

Chris Pateman became chairman of the Horticultural Trades Association earlier this year. Part of his role is to be the new face of the HTA, representing the interests of members to Government and the rest of the garden sector. Read more

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

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

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

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

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

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