Our Ruxley Rose finalists are announced

We have today (August 11, 2017) announced the names of the finalist garden centres in our Ruxley Rose competition.

The 20 centres all received top scores in the spring bedding and hardy nursery stock categories from our spring inspections and have now been put through for autumn judging.

Our member garden centres received visits from our inspectors throughout the spring and their findings have determined 10 finalists in the Garden Centre (GC) category and 10 finalists in the Destination Garden Centre (DGC) category, who will go through to the autumn competition.

Our Ruxley Rose judge, Roger Crookes, will visit the centres again in September to see how members are continuing to promote and sell plants during the autumn selling season.

Roger will be looking for excellent quality, range and presentation of plants. Layout of the plant area is also considered, including overall impression, access and use of demonstration areas.

Staff at our member garden centres are also judged on their knowledge and customer care, the promotions they run and special features, such as new varieties.

A winner from each category will be determined and announced during our annual conference at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon from January 21 until 24.

The finalists in the Garden Centre category are:

• Cowell’s Garden Centre in the North East
• Fairways Garden Centre – Ashbourne in the Midlands
• Fron Goch Garden Centre in the North West
• Garden Wise (Dumfries) Ltd in Scotland
• Mains of Drum Garden Centre Ltd in Scotland
• Meadow Croft Garden Centre in North Thames
• Pacific Nurseries in the Midlands
• Planters at Bretby Ltd in the Midlands
• Stratford Garden Centre in the Midlands
• Sunshine Garden Centre in North Thames

The finalists in the Destination Garden Centre category are:

• Aylett Nurseries Ltd in North Thames
• Barton Grange Garden Centre in the North West
• Bents Garden & Home in the North West
• Bicester Avenue Garden Centre in North Thames
• Burston Rose and Garden Centre in North Thames
• Pennells Garden Centre – Lincoln in the Midlands
• Perrywood Garden Centre & Nurseries Ltd in North Thames
• Simpsons Garden Centre in Scotland
• Squires Garden Centre – Twickenham in North Thames
• Woodlands Nurseries in the Midlands.

This prestigious competition aims to inspire our member garden centres to maintain best practice at all times and have centres that are inviting and attractive to customers. It is a competition that our members work hard towards throughout the year.

Members also benefit simply from having a visit from Roger to give them practical advice on achieving best practice as well as showcasing their own innovative sales initiatives.

Congratulations to those garden centres and their teams who have made it through and good luck and best wishes to them all for the next stage of the judging process.

Ruxley Rose judging reveals ‘recipe retailing’ at its best

Our 21 finalists in the Ruxley Rose competition have recently been judged and here are some of our judge’s findings (October, 2016).

The two winners, judged to have the best plant areas, will be announced during our annual conference at St Andrews in Scotland between January 22 and 25, 2017.

Our four inspectors visited our member garden centres during the spring and the plant scores from their inspections determined the 21 finalists who went through to our autumn judging process.

Our Ruxley Rose judge, Roger Crookes has just completed his visit of these centres and has reported back his findings this month, which have included details of recipe retailing at its best, greater awareness of insect friendly plants and displays that cater for a younger customer.

Nationally the top centres in both the Garden Centre (GC) and Destination Garden Centre (DGC) categories were revisited in September and GCA members were scrutinised on how they were promoting and marketing plants during the autumn selling season.

Roger says: “I was impressed and amazed by how committed and passionate plant area teams were in the face of yet another difficult plant retailing season. Some centres seem to be able to ‘take the knocks’ and keep on innovating and prioritising plants. But no matter how good the ideas are, this takes determination and a lot of hard work so deserves a great deal of recognition.

“I visited most centres during the hot weather of early September when the plant areas were looking glorious in the sunshine and were being enjoyed by customers and a huge variety of wildlife. You could say they were literally buzzing with insect activity and this re-enforced all the messages and displays I saw promoting the importance of plants as habitat and food sources for pollinating insects.

“Centres were consistently reporting that customer interest and sales of insect friendly plants were still building well, and teams were considering what else they could do to promote these plants for next year.

“Ready-planted containers and colour theming still seem to be on the way up, both for bedding plants and hardy shrubs – perhaps being driven by the new and often younger customers who do not think the same way as some of our more traditional customers.

“Linked selling seems to be changing on the plant area too – trying to retail dry goods alongside plants has always been fraught with challenges. I have seen some great examples of linked selling and ‘recipe retailing’, which show how far we have come from a few wet bags of compost next to some shrubs.

“These ideas and others will be explored during my Ruxley Rose plant area feedback session at GCA annual conference in January. It promises to be an illuminating presentation with the sharing of best practice very much at the forefront.”

Ruxley Rose garden centre finalists announced

We have announced today (August 15, 2016) the names of the finalist garden centres in our Ruxley Rose competition.

The garden centres with the top scores in the spring bedding and hardy nursery stock categories from our spring inspections have now been put through for autumn judging.

Our four inspectors visited our member garden centres throughout the spring and the plant scores from their inspections determined the 20 finalists to go through to the autumn competition. Now the Ruxley Rose judge, Roger Crookes will visit these centres again in September. Plants are the key differential category for garden centres in spring, he will be keen to see how garden centres are pushing sales.

Nationally the top 10 centres in both the Garden Centre (GC) and Destination Garden Centre (DGC) categories will be revisited in September and Roger will look at how our members are continuing to promote and sell plants during the autumn selling season.

The finalists in the Garden Centre category are:

• Cowell’s Garden Centre in the North East
• Creative Gardens Donaghadee in Northern Ireland
• Fairways Garden Centre – Ashbourne in the Midlands
• Garden Wise (Dumfries) Ltd in Scotland
• Planters at Bretby Ltd in the Midlands
• Squires Garden Centre – Cobham in South Thames
• Squires Garden Centre – Milford in South Thames
• Sunshine Garden Centre in North Thames
• Thompson’s Plant & Garden Centre – Newchurch in South Thames
• Thompson’s Plant & Garden Centre – Welling in South Thames.

The finalists in the Destination Garden Centre category are:

• Barton Grange Garden Centre in the North West
• Bents Garden & Home in the North West
• Burston Rose and Garden Centre in North Thames
• Coolings Nurseries in South Thames
• Haskins Garden Centre – Southampton in South Thames
• Newbridge Nurseries in South Thames
• Perrywood Garden Centre & Nurseries Ltd in North Thames
• Simpsons Garden Centre in Scotland
• Squires Garden Centre – Twickenham in North Thames
• Stewarts Christchurch in South Thames.

Congratulations to those garden centres and their teams and good luck and best wishes to them all for the next stage of the judging process.

The two winners (GC and DGC) will be announced and presented with their trophies at our annual conference which is being held in St. Andrews, from January 22 until 25, 2017.

Nation’s leading garden centres scoop awards

The winners from our first batch of annual awards were announced at our conference today (January 25, 2016).

The awards were presented to the winners during a ceremony at The Grand Hotel in Brighton.

Iain Wylie, our Chief Executive, said: “Each year the standards just get higher and higher and our inspectors are constantly impressed with the progress they see across the board.

“During the past year our members have worked incredibly hard to reach and maintain the very highest of standards in garden centre retail excellence and I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone on their successes.”

We represent nearly 200 garden centres nationwide.

Through sharing information, and our inspection programme, we help members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability.

Julian Winfield, our new Chairman for 2016 and 2017 and Chief Executive at Haskins Garden Centres Ltd, said: “We’re a diligent, committed, enthusiastic and hardworking industry and these awards recognise the very best garden centres in the country. Well done and congratulations to all our winners.”

The full list of winners announced on Monday, January 25, 2016:

• Christmas Competition (Garden Centre category) sponsored by Gisela Graham – Castle Gardens
• Christmas Competition (Destination Garden Centre category) sponsored by Gisela Graham – Barton Grange Garden Centre
• Environment and Community Award – Planters, Tamworth
• Ruxley Rose (Garden Centre category) – Cowell’s Garden Centre
• Ruxley Rose (Destination Garden Centre category) – Squires Garden Centre, Twickenham
• Barton Grange Trophy for Creativity and Innovation – Webbs of Wychbold
• Customer Service Award – Best Customer Service – Burston Garden Centre
• The Indoor Lifestyle Award – Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer (Garden Centre category) – Squires Garden Centre, Shepperton
• The Indoor Lifestyle Award – Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer (Destination Garden Centre category) – Raemoir Garden Centre
• The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer (Garden Centre category) – Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre
• The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer (Destination Garden Centre category) – Barton Grange Garden Centre
• Overall GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer – Barton Grange Garden Centre
• Dick Allen Award (Most Improved Garden Centre) – Hilltop Garden Centre
• The IFSE Award for Catering Excellence – Best Garden Centre Restaurant (Garden Centre Category) – Creative Gardens Donaghadee in Northern Ireland
• The IFSE Award for Catering Excellence – Best Garden Centre Restaurant (Destination Garden Centre Category) – Frosts, Woburn Sands
• Weber Outdoor Living Award – Best Outdoor Living Retailer (Garden Centre Category) – Sunshine Garden Centre
• Weber Outdoor Living Award – Best Outdoor Living Retailer (Destination Garden Centre Category) Van Hage Great Amwell

Ruxley Rose garden centre finalists announced

We have announced today (July 27, 2015) the names of the finalist garden centres in our re-vamped Ruxley Rose competition.

Instead of asking for entries this year, the garden centres with the top scores in the spring bedding and hardy nursery stock categories from our spring inspections have now been put through for autumn judging.

Nationally the top 10 centres in both the Garden Centre and Destination Garden Centre categories, 20 in all, will be revisited in September. 

Regional Ruxley Rose winners announced

We have announced the winners of our annual Ruxley Rose competition.

The Ruxley Rose competition focuses specifically on our members’ outdoor plant areas and recognises excellent quality and range of plants.