Business
Challenging June trading for garden centres
According to the July Market Update by the Horticultural Trades Association, garden centres experienced continued challenging trading conditions in June 2024.
Awards
Mayfield Park wins coveted Green Flag Award
The Green Flag Award has been granted to Mayfield Park in Manchester with the judges declaring that they had ‘never seen such an outstanding urban park in 20+ years of judging’.
Business
Sarah Raven nursery Rookery Farm is Planet Mark certified
Sarah Raven announced that their plant nursery, Rookery Farm is now Planet Mark certified.
Case Study
Alitex case study: Happy employees is good business
Staff are a company’s most important asset but even though many businesses sing to this mantra, there are often cases where employees fall into the lesser valued categories of company stakeholders.
Business
Blenheim Palace seeks partner for wine production
Blenheim Palace is looking to collaborate with an established winery to produce co-branded wines on the estate.
Events
Career Changers celebrated at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park 2024
The new garden category, RHS Career Changer of the Year for RHS Flower Show Tatton Park celebrates those who have found a new path in the horticultural industry.
Charity
Greenfingers 25th anniversary celebrations
Marking their 25th anniversary, the Greenfingers Charity’s Floral Ball is set to take place, June 2025 in the historic Coombe Abbey Hotel in Warwickshire.
Worth watching
Documentary: Designing Seven Small Space Gardens
Interesting short documentary film, featuring Jason Williams in his preparations for the centrepiece show gardens for the 2024 RHS Urban Show in Manchester.
Business
2023 visits to attractions across England recover but remain down on pre-pandemic levels
The 2023 Visit England Annual Survey of visits to visitor attractions showed that while visits across England continued to recover last year, they were still significantly down on pre-pandemic levels.
Events
Secret Garden of Denim at the Garden Museum
Artist Ian Berry has created denim secret gardens around the world from San Francisco to Sweden, and has now crafted a new installation at the Garden Museum.
Collaboration
Kim Murray and Sarah Raven launch new tulip collection
Kim Murray has launched a tulip collection in collaboration with the gardener and author, Sarah Raven.
Design
Max Fordham House & Garden
The environmental engineering firm and its eponymous late founder designed Max Fordham House, the UK’s first net zero residential home in Camden, north London.
Wildlife
Trees for bees at Wakehurst
Wakehurst is using citizen science to help discover the trees most favoured by pollinators and how to make cities more pollinator-friendly.
Events
BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair returns to Audley End
Run in association with English Heritage, the BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair, returns to Audley End House and Gardens in Saffron Walden in Essex.
Environment
HTA solar panels save over 9 tonnes of carbon emissions in the first year
During Net Zero Week, the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) reflects on the energy generated and the carbon saved during the first year since its solar panel installation.
Interview
Biodiversity Net Gain: the new nature market explained
The Dirt News interviews Katie Leach, Lloyds Banking Group’s first Head of Nature about the wider environmental and industry benefits brought forward by BNG, and the role of the financial institutions to develop the new compliance nature market.
Plants
Embracing Britain’s native wildflowers
Native plants are those that have occurred naturally in a particular place without human introduction, acclimatised to UK conditions and capable of surviving without intervention.
Business
One of Scotland’s oldest of the ‘new’ native woodlands goes on sale
Conserved and nurtured for the past three decades, the 1200 hectares, native woodland rich Cashel Estate has gone on sale with an asking price of £4m.
Awards
Deadline HTA Grower of the Year Awards 2024 approaches
The Horticultural Trades Associations’ Grower of the Year awards showcase the very best in UK horticulture and recognise and celebrate best practices in sustainable production.
Research
Native vegetation does not impact insect biodiversity in small urban gardens
Research in small urban gardens in the Netherlands found that insects were just as abundant in gardens planted with exotic plants as in those filled with native plants