Blogs

PKL gave a helping hand to Petersham Nurseries on October 25th to help them put on a remarkable charity event in aid of the #CookForSyria campaign.
 
The supper club, for national press and digital influencers, took place in Petersham Nurseries’ new Covent Garden interiors store and delicatessen. Featuring inspiring recipes from the #CookForSyria cookbook, the evening was a fantastic success for the campaign and for Petersham Nurseries including their team of chefs led by Executive Chef Damian Clisby and Syrian restaurateur Imad Alarnab .
 
The success was even more…

In October 2017, due to the continued growth of their rapidly expanding Export business, Smart Garden Products welcomed two new employees to their award-winning team based in Abingdon.

Following her recent promotion, Elvire Beugin was delighted to recruit Silvia Staudenmaier and Sabrina Laloui.  Coming from a diverse range of backgrounds, they will be able to utilise their valuable experience to help promote and support the Smart business in continental Europe.

Jonathan Stobart, Managing Director of Smart Garden Products says of the recent recruitment…

Employees from Zest 4 Leisure, a leading trade supplier of quality timber furniture, have covered over 3,400 miles this year, raising in excess of £15,000 for Cancer Research UK, its chosen charity for 2017.

Running, swimming and cycling, employees have taken part in a variety of challenges, the latest of which saw 45 people complete the Flintshire 10k Run.

In addition to this, 23 people successfully completed the Chester Marathon and 25 employees did the Manchester Marathon.  Not to be outdone, Managing Director Steve Morgan and John Vaughan, Fencing & Timber…

THE GARDEN Centre Association (GCA) has launched its Worrall Cup competition this month (November, 2017) that is designed to find the member garden centre with the best marketing expertise.
 
The garden centre with the best marketing campaign or initiative will be awarded the prestigious cup during the GCA’s annual conference in Stratford-upon-Avon from January 21 until 24, 2018.
 
Chief Executive of the GCA, Iain Wylie, said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for members to win a prestigious award, where both flair and commercial success are rewarded.
 …

Following strong growth this year for the nursery co-operative Farplants, Andy Merrick has been promoted to Head of Sales.

Andy Merrick, previously the Garden Centre Sales Manager for the West Sussex based plant wholesaler, has been appointed to Head of Sales to continue the company’s growth plans. Since joining in 1999, he has progressed within sales and account management to manage the sales team and provide support to Farplants’ garden retailing customers.

Merrick has been an integral part of the Farplants product development team who have made over 1000…

Not long now! The weekends over and the neighbourhood kids are planning their costumes at this moment to surprise you at your door. Is your house Halloween ready? If you’re not sure, then read on for a quick step guide through prepping your front garden for the arrival of trick or treaters.

Preparing the doorway

The first point of call for little Halloween goers is the door. Decorating your door is the first step in preparing your home for Halloween. The spookier the better! You can use anything from fake spiders and cobwebs to ghost doorway hangers and posters, to create…

Following the recent release of the film It starring everyone’s favourite clown Pennywise – it’s clear we’re a nation that loves to be scared.

And as we head towards Halloween, houses will be adorned with scary spooks and costumes will be donned as people hide behind masks in order to shock their friends and neighbours.

Whilst this is a bit of fun for many people, our pet dogs can sometimes find this distressing – especially if they are part of the outfit! If your dog is nervous around strangers imagine opening the door to a masked ghoul or being around groups of excited…

Smart Garden Products is delighted to announce that Caroline Holford has joined Smart Garden Products on 9th October as Trade Marketing Manager.

Caroline beings a wealth of trade marketing experience having spent several years working with Dexam, Canon, HoMedics and Bic, among others. On joining a new industry, Caroline says “I am looking forward to transferring my extensive marketing experience in housewares, licensing and FMCG to the gardening sector.  I feel very fortunate to be joining the Smart Garden team at a time of such growth for both the company and the industry.  I am…

Mobile app development company Apps4U invites small businesses across the country to enter their free app development competition, with a prize worth nearly £2000.

Mobile apps are a major component in modern living. 85% of people say they prefer using apps over mobile websites, mainly because they streamline the user experience and make the business/service more accessible and easier to engage with. Given the popularity of apps, their benefits for a small business are almost immeasurable. Apps can help draw in new customers, inspire repeat business, establish…

Haskins is encouraging gardeners to make the most of their home-grown pumpkins with a delicious soup recipe for Halloween.

Alasdair Urquhart, plant advisor at Haskins Garden Centres, commented: “Making your own pumpkin soup is simple and rewarding. Even if you haven’t had time to grow your own this year, you can still follow our step-by-step recipe.

“We recommend saving the seeds once you’ve scooped them out, so you can roast them and sprinkle on top of the soup, to bring extra flavour. For a novelty twist, you could try serving the soup using the…

The original in-store media company “Neat Ideas” offer a range of inspirational kitchen, garden, housewares & DIY products.

Everything we do, from selecting innovative quality products, to our packaging design and smart in-store media, is designed to ensure maximised sales.

With our in-store media and promotional approach, we ensure that our products offer more profit per square foot.

Following the success of BEES™ Seeds and Gifts over the last couple of years, G Plants have developed a collection of new wooden display units with vintage BEES branding, which will be available for delivery from December.

The products in these ranges have been designed to be suitable for year round sales, with attractive packaging, which makes them ideal for gardening gift lines to drive sales, even in quieter months.

Display stands are available when ordering a selection of BEES™ Seeds and Growing Gift lines, which can be stocked up with follow up orders…

The industry was saddened at GLEE 2017 to hear that the range of DaVinci Home and garden products were no longer available to garden centres as the business had ceased trading due to personal reasons.

The good news is that Melmar Stone, one of the leading stoneware and garden ornament suppliers in the UK have formed an exclusive strategic partnership with the manufacturer of the range and are pleased to announce that the products are NOW available for ordering in time for the 2018 season.

This is important news because the products have been hugely successful in the UK and…

With margins of +140% on high ticket items that cost the retailer virtually nothing to stock, this was something we really wanted to find more out about. So to find out how they do this Garden Trade Specialist interviewed WhatShed.co.uk, the UKs most authoritative website on garden buildings.

Q: So WhatShed, how did you find out that this was such an important profit center for the retailers?

A: From an online perspective WhatShed is one of the largest traffic drivers for some of these retailers. Over the last few years, they have opened up to us and…

Hillmount Ards has opened its doors following a £1 million investment in transforming the site of the original Thriving Life Church at the junction of Movilla Road and Ballyreagh Road into a 10,000sq ft lifestyle garden centre with the creation of 25 jobs for Newtownards.

 
Robin Mercer, Hillmount Ards, said:  “I always promised my wife Edith that I’d open a garden centre in her home shopping town of Ards and after we opened Hillmount Bangor we began to search for a site.  Developing Hillmount Ards has been a real labour of love for Edith, our son Alan and I, and we…

Staff working at Haskins Garden Centre in Roundstone are supporting a local project to build a sensory room at St Andrew's High School C.E. for boys.

The garden centre has donated a £100 gift card to a group of degree students at the University of Chichester who are behind the project. The students are in their third year of a primary teaching degree and as part of their training, they aim to raise £2,500 within the local community in order to create the new sensory room.

The sensory room project will help students who require different types of support throughout the…