This year was no exception with regard to quality of plants and the ways in which they were displayed and judges Kate Lowe, Editor of Horticulture Week, Kevin Waters from Kevin Waters Consultancy and HTA Treasurer David Norman from Abercorn Garden Centre were faced with a tricky task in identifying the best.
Judge and merchandising expert Kevin Waters explains why the display from Parker’s Nurseries really stood out. He comments, “Parker’s Nurseries have really gone the extra mile and paid great attention to detail on their stand. With three distinct areas the stand provides plenty of ideas that can easily be replicated by garden centres.”
He adds, “The bar area, used to promote their garden cocktail range, is great fun and gives the stand a ‘Mojito feel’ – helping to appeal to a younger audience. This really helps to convey that gardening can be fun rather than hard work. Their display of wall mounted plants with painted back boards is so simple yet extremely effective. This alone is something that garden centres could do tomorrow to make an area look fantastic.”
Waters concludes, “The display of trolleys showing coloured pots, from their Bee Inspired collection, in clear trays is extremely innovative. The colour matching of the flooring to the pots on the trolleys really brings the stand together and is well thought through. With attractive edging on the shelves plants could easily be sold direct from the trolleys. So many ideas for garden retailers to take away and implement with relatively little effort or expense.”
Commendations were also presented to John Woods Nurseries, Lovania Nurseries and Pentland Plants.
