Features

Do you have rattan furniture in your garden? With it being one of the most popular choices for garden furniture there is a good chance that you do. Rattan furniture is exceptionally popular due to the fact it needs very little maintenance. Good quality rattan furniture is rust-proof, weather resistant and easy to wipe clean if there are any unavoidable spillages.  However, that doesn’t mean you should neglect your furniture completely. At White Stores, we believe taking care of your furniture means that it will exceed its guarantee and continue to serve your needs for years to come.  A…

At the recent RHS Chelsea Flower Show miniature gardening made an appearance alongside the amazing show gardens, floral displays and trade stands. Working with the Horticultural Trades Association and Perennial, the Gardener’s charity, Fiddlehead produced a large fairy garden on the roof of a garden shed, as part of the HTA show garden 40 Sunbury Road.  Using live moss and over 100 Alpines & Conifers, plus a wide selection from the Fiddlehead range, the fairy garden attracted a lot of interest from the media and public alike. The show garden won a silver medal for the best inspirational…

Germany’s oldest consumer-goods fair banks on the latest outdoor trends with real plants and outdoor furnishings Green is often in short supply in urban settings. And this even though the colour spectrum from lime to moss has a particularly soothing effect on the human psyche. There is no doubt that many townspeople, suffering from permanent stress, lack a calming influence. Hence, the trend towards natural structures and colours for the home, decorations and tableware is almost self-explanatory. A ray of hope for many people who yearn for more forest, countryside and meadows in the hustle…

Coffee Logs Coffee is the drink which powers many of us through the working day – but thanks to bio-bean, thousands of tonnes of the UK’s spent coffee grounds are now being transformed into a revolutionary new product to power our homes. Coffee Logs – a carbonneutral solid fuel, ideal for woodburners, stoves and open fires – have taken the market by storm since their launch in October 2016, attracting attention from the BBC, ITV, The Sun, The Telegraph, CBS and many, many more. Each briquette contains the recycled grounds from 25 americanos, cappuccinos or lattes – and because of coffee…

Everyone’s A Winner Do you run, or have contact with, a local gardening club?  Would you like to encourage new gardeners, especially young ones, to become involved? Fiddlehead, the miniature gardening experts, are giving away trophies to independent gardening clubs, for the winner of the “best miniature garden” category. If your club doesn’t include that category yet, simply create it and contact Fairyglass Ltd for a trophy. There’s no requirement to use commercial miniature garden products, and no cost to the gardening club- even postage is paid for. Miniature gardening is a great…

Vivagreen have produced a series of straightforward information videos which can be personalised for new MossOff stockists. The team from Vivagreen have been working with Diarmuid Gavin to produce a series of short information videos to explain the benefits of their unique new MossOff product.   To support their garden centre stockists they are also making personalized versions of the videos available so that centres can use thems in their own online marketing and social media campaigns. To find out how to become a MossOff stockist, how to contact your local agent and more about how to get…

Who knows what this summer will bring. In the past we have had both drought and flooding, and last year it was cold and dreary in May and June, only to get hot and dry in August. Whatever the weather a beautiful garden needs a well-presented lawn to set it off. You may feel your lawn is for the children to use as their playground, or for adults to use for parties and BBQs. Whatever the demands are for your lawn we all need healthy grass plants to give us green comfort under foot and the secret to healthy grass leaves lies in the grass roots. Healthy grass roots produce denser leaves with a…

A Piece of Cake? HTA Catering Conference and Dinner 13-14 June 2017 Catering continues to play a huge role in the make-up of garden centres accounting for in excess of 25% of sales in many cases. Over half of all garden centres have a café or restaurant with many having invested further to increase their covers and grow their offer. Complex businesses in their own right, there are many elements to consider from menu planning, cost control and staff recruitment to menu development, service options, allergens and much more. Help is on hand!  Bookings are now being taken for the HTA…

RETAILERS visited two Hereford nurseries in March (2017) to attend their PlantFest and to see new product developments for the coming year. Wyevale Nurseries and Allensmore Nurseries held the joint open day on Wednesday, March 8 for any plant retailer, both existing customers and those who may not have been supplied by either nursery. Adam Dunnett, Sales and Marketing Director at Wyevale Nurseries, said: “We held the open day event again in collaboration with our neighbours Allensmore Nurseries and customers were encouraged to come and visit both sites in one day. Adam Dunnett, Sales and…

Gorgeous garden orchids add a touch of exotic beauty to your garden. These wonderful plants create a stunning display in a shady part of your garden throughout spring, and become a true star of the garden increasing in size with maturity. There are four wonderfully different but equally stunning types of Garden Orchid available – Pleione, Calantha, Bletilla and Cypripedium. These have been developed by the specialist Dutch nursery, Anthura, who were established in the 1970’s. Growing to a maximum of 50cm x 50cm (20in x 20in), the four different types of garden orchid offer a variety of…

We know how hard it is to see everything you want to at a busy exhibition and the HTA are giving all visitors their own VIP invitation to the HTA National Plant Show, sponsored by Hortipak, and Nursery Supply Show (NSS). The HTA have been working very closely with the venue to enhance the experience for visitors and for 2017 this will include rehydration stations around the halls offering ice cold water infused with zesty lemon slices and fresh mint, Fruit stops where you can grab one of your 5 a day and our Food on the go pod where you can pick up a takeaway bowl of summery soup and a…

Britain's leading manufacturer of plastic housewares, What More UK, reports an excellent and encouraging response from its presence at the annual Autumn Fair at the NEC, Birmingham. Returning to the autumn trade fair after an absence of 10 years, the Lancashire-based firm behind the renowned ‘Wham' brand was kept exceptionally busy on its spacious custom-built exhibition stand over the full four days of the event, from September 6th to 9th. "We experienced high numbers of both visitors to our stand and orders taken throughout Autumn Fair 2015," reported delighted What More director Tony…

Somerset based Durston Garden Products continues to grow as the company returns from GLEE 2015 with even more new customers under its belt. The 100% British based family owned company was established in 1860, and continues to operate from its original location in Somerset where the business now boasts one of the most modern fully automated packaging plants in the UK today.    “The success of the company” says sales & marketing director, Chris Durston “can be attributed to a number of factors, with the most notable being our  reputation within the industry for offering excellent quality…

A new twist on the traditional wheelbarrow, Baksaver Barrow, won two awards – the Best Machinery and Tools Product and the New Product Innovation Award – at the Glee garden show in Birmingham. The Innovation Award was added to the award programme for 2015. Created in response to industry feedback, this new award celebrates true innovation from the 500+ exhibitors filling Glee in 2015. The Baksaver Barrow is a new wheelbarrow designed to tip and push with ease.  It's particularly useful for anyone who struggles to use a traditional wheelbarrow.  More information can be found online at www.…

SEVEN new plants were unveiled at this year’s (2015) Four Oaks Trade Show by Wyevale Nurseries. The plants included Fuchsia ‘Thumbelina Gem’, Geranium ‘Purple Ghost’, Raspberry ‘Ruby Beauty’, Salvia ‘Clotted Cream’, Salvia ‘Joy’, Salvia ‘Love and Wishes’ and Salvia ‘Super Trouper’. Adam Dunnett, Sales and Marketing Director at Wyevale Nurseries, said: “We were very excited to be able to unveil seven new plants at this year’s Four Oaks Trade Show. “The plants show true innovation in the plant market. Raspberry ‘Ruby Beauty’ is the first ever dwarf, patio raspberry and is perfect for the…

What an exciting new chapter for Gardman and its customers … Gardman goes to Glee next month with a greatly enhanced product range following this summer’s management buy-out that has left the company in its strongest financial position for eight years. Chairman Jonathan Halford, who led the buy-out, says the new management structure, backed by private equity investor Rutland Partners, which owns Pizza Hut, Bernard Matthews and Maplin, gives the company a stability it has not had since 2007. Headline news at Glee will be the introduction of a stock availability guarantee, made possible by…