The GCA conference, in less than 2 weeks, will hear from the former top woman in the British army, the ex-head of Porsche GB and there's a report on the world economic outlook.  The world record holder for reciting the value of pi will also take to the stage. Read more

2014 has been dominated by the repositioning of the major gardening goods distributors following the demise of Solus.  The weather for once provided a good news story and towards the end of the year there was a flurry of activity from Wyevale as it picked up eight long established independent garden centres.  See the full review – which is open to all… Read more

Garden centre catering operations face new food labelling regulations which come into force on December 13. Read more

Growers and nurserymen from across the horticulture industry are invited to the biennial Contact 2015 conference ‘Growing Opportunities’ which takes place on Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 January 2015 at JCB Global Headquarters in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. Read more

The new chairman of Choice Marketing told members that recent supply chain changes had provided an opportunity in what was an extremely challenging year, as a result the independent garden centre group is stronger. Read more

The HTA has teamed up with Garden Retail Success and a former GCA chairman to provide a mentoring and benchmarking service to help garden centres improve performance. Read more

GCA figures for September show that the gardener is back. Outdoor plants, garden sundries and landscape products showed double digit growth for the month. Read more

Longacres have become the UK’s first garden centre to offer an automated “Drive In” Click & Collect service. Read more

A new month brings with it a pattern change with much more unsettled weather likely for most parts as a reinvigorated jet stream runs close to the UK, something we haven’t seen for a while. Read more

2014 Glee will be hailed as a success. The new venue received universal approval. Monday and Tuesday were busy. But should it open on Sunday? See Gardenforum's comments on Glee... Read more

2013 turned out to be another disappointing year in all three key sectors of the garden retail market – garden plants, garden care and garden leisure – with all three sectors showing a steady decline in the five years to 2013 covered by the Analysis. Read more

Wiseweather predicts that high pressure will predominate during the next two weeks. Following a brief interruption it will return for a further few days. See more... Read more

The HTA says suppliers should look at teleshopping, crosswords and non-gardening media as a way of reaching keen gardeners having researched the interests they share outside gardening. See more… Read more

Garden product suppliers are being canvassed about their appetite for new garden trade show next year, either in the spring or in November. Organisers say the prospects look good. See more… Read more

Two new features from Gardenex at Glee this year will be “Meet the international buyer” speed-dating meetings for exhibitors and presentations with UKTI on boosting exports without huge investment and other such topics. See more... Read more

The Government is proposing legislation that would force Britain’s biggest companies to reveal their payment terms and performance, quarterly.  GIMA welcomes greater transparency saying the garden industry is particularly bad when it comes to paying bills. Read more

LOFA research shows that garden furniture sales grew 18% this year, but online retailers take the biggest share, over double that of garden centres. Read more

Willerby Landscapes took the Grand Award for a record fifth time today at the 38th BALI National Landscape Awards.  For all the winners - See more... Read more

Glee is to be a Monday to Wednesday show in 2015.  Stand bookings are 3 months ahead of last year and a new Glee Advisory Board gets weighty backing from the industry. Read more

A new month brings with it something of a pattern change with much more seasonable, chillier weather seeming likely to develop.  Brief spells of high pressure interspersed with fronts moving SE seems to be the likely pattern for the month. Read more

LOFA has decided to adjust the dates of Solex 2015 so that it starts on Tuesday July 7th.  Read more

The new month brings something of a pattern change early in the month with much more seasonable, cooler weather likely to develop for most parts. Read more

Homeowners and business could be hit with huge fines if they allow Japanese knotweed, Himalayan balsam and other non-native invasive species to spread from their premises. Read more

Quotes from HTA Garden Futures: “I want to create an emotional connection between the consumer and a bag of compost.”   And “Gardening is about partying, entertainment and living outside. It is not about ‘Jobs for the month’.” Read more

First statistics emerge from Glee, but the most telling is the strong rebooking for 2015 with 56% of the floorplan already rebooked. Read more

Paul Loft, MD of Homebase, appealed to industry leaders at Glee to work together to address the challenges of change, both in the digital world and in attracting young people to meet the changing needs of the consumer. Read more

There were around 60 British exhibitors at this week’s SPOGA Gafa, some giving a preview of what can be expected at Glee later in the month. See more... Read more

The HTA’s Garden Industry Marketing Board has some weighty backers and is gaining momentum. Next years ‘Love the Plot You’ve Got’ campaign will show how effective this group could become. See more… Read more

GCA and HTA figures agree that July was a flat month with sales increasing 1% on last year. Year to date their figures are quite different. And has there been any real growth in recent years? See more... Read more

A spell of wet weather at the beginning of week two is expected to separate two spells of high pressure. See more... Read more