A Sit-Down With Cory

It’s strange to think it’s already been two years; the years have flown by, but yes, I feel like we’ve made it work well, and it has helped us massively in terms of sales and in keeping plants in great condition. We are already ready for the next extension, haha.

Construction started on our garden centre extension back in December 2021.

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Do you feel your vision has changed since the project first left the blueprint? Have any of your objectives regarding what to do with the space changed?

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I approached it with an open mind, to be honest. I had an idea of where I wanted to position certain ‘groups’ of plants, but after working with the space now for a couple of years, we’ve found what works best in that space, and things have changed over time to suit. We are also tireless in changing displays and adding new stuff to the area to make it as good as possible, so again, I keep a fairly open mind, and we make it work for us depending on what is in season and what we wish to promote. It’s a constant process of change and learning, which is what makes it exciting for us and our customers. 

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It’s so nice to hear those comments, as we all put so much time and effort into the job. There’s so much work that goes into making our plant displays. The displays are the end results of constant husbandry work and an exchange of ideas between the team members, which happens daily. With a constant stream of new stock arriving, all of which needs pricing, watering, displaying, etc. in order for it to look its best, getting these positive comments is great, as it is vindication of our efforts. Also, being as busy as we are, it sometimes feels like we’re in a ‘bubble’, so whilst we feel we are doing good work, not seeing other garden centres regularly, you can become blind to what's happening in the industry as a whole. So when people tell us we’re their number one choice or we are the best around, it’s very nice to hear that. It is also a push for us to try even harder; we want to always improve on what we’ve done before.

'The displays are the end results of constant husbandry work and an exchange of ideas between the team members, which happens daily.'

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Probably the biggest thing is the temperature changes across the seasons, as they can cause issues with stock husbandry. We have to be careful with what we put in there in Winter, as it’s a few degrees warmer out there during the days, which can lead to some plants growing too early in Spring, and customers subsequently planting them out too early in the gardens. Young soft growth can be damaged by late frosts. Also, it’s very hot in there in midsummer, so we have to take extra care to water some plants twice a day to ensure they remain healthy. We take extra care when planning displays, etc., as to what to place in there at these ‘extreme’ times, so that we make sure we are offering top-quality plants that will grow well in customers' gardens.

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I think the biggest surprise is how quickly we’ve ‘maxed out’ the space! At first, it felt like a huge space to fill, but now we are back to battling for space for stock!

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I think we hoped we could use it for things like this, to help add interest to our ‘core’ business at different times. Hopefully, in the future, we can look to adding more events. I’d like to run some educational stuff like hanging basket making and pruning classes, etc, if we ever have the time!

'I think we hoped we could use it for things like this, to help add interest to our ‘core’ business at different times.'

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Definitely. This is probably the biggest bonus, most of our plant stock is now undercover in some way, and accessible for customers even on the most horrible of days, which we get a lot of! With us likely to have more and more ‘extreme’ weather, it’s massively important that we can still offer a nice shopping experience for people.

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As more and more wildlife habitats are lost, nature is definitely using our gardens as a way of surviving, and it's brilliant to see the garden centre offering a refuge for bees, birds, butterflies, and more. Since the extension was put up, we’ve noticed a big influx of small birds using it as a place to find food, shelter, and even nest. Before, when it was open, lots of birds of prey would be circling overhead, and we rarely saw the little birds, so it’s nice to know we are providing a refuge for them now. In the Autumn, when we were moving some of the displays around, we also found toads in there, so it has become a great little spot for wildlife of all kinds. The natural world is taking a battering at present, so gardens and garden centres are massively important, and we should be doing all we can to help.

'As more and more wildlife habitats are lost, nature is definitely using our gardens as a way of surviving, and it's brilliant to see the garden centre offering a refuge for bees, birds, butterflies, and more.'

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We try our best to recycle all of our cardboard and plastic waste, either by using recycling services or by providing customers with boxes and trays for their plants. We also capture rainwater from the roof of the extension, for watering our houseplants. We made the decision this year to not spray for bugs etc too. I don’t like the idea of using lots of chemicals on plants, and by encouraging birds into our space, they help us keep the bad guys at bay. We take lots of care with our suppliers too, making sure we use companies who share our values. We are now 100% peat-free on the compost we sell, and we use companies who grow peat-free where possible.

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Many of us have lost touch with the natural world (collectively, I mean), and I think it's hugely important to try and redress that balance if we can. Plants and trees quite literally keep us alive; without them, we most likely wouldn’t exist, so it has always baffled me that we wilfully destroy habitats that are essential to our wellbeing and survival. Horticulture is a way of us reconnecting with plants and nature, and it’s long been my aim to get as many plants as possible into gardens to help people and the nature that relies on them to enjoy and relish plants and all their amazing beauty. If, by way of selling a few plants every year, we can encourage others to understand their importance, I feel like horticulture is an important asset and should be valued and encouraged, from a young age, as much as possible. It’s proven beyond doubt that plants and working with them are massively beneficial to us mentally and physically, so getting our hands in the soil and learning about plants and how they work is something I think everyone should experience. I can’t imagine ever doing anything else.

In short, we are nature. Humans have a strange concept of being outside of nature, almost above it, but we are literally tied to the natural world; we come from it and return to it. 

'Horticulture is an important asset and should be valued and encouraged, from a young age, as much as possible.'

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I couldn’t possibly narrow it down! It’s like being asked for my favourite film or band; it’s virtually impossible. At the moment, I have something of an obsession with Japanese maples, but it’ll likely be something different next week….

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We will look as always at what has worked well this year and what hasn’t in order to plan for the future use of the current space, but we will also hopefully look at how we can maybe add even more space in the future  for lots more plants!

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