Bruce Harnett of Kernock Park Plants, Megan Green of Hayloft Plants and Yvonne Marquenie of Plants & Flowers Foundation Holland joined HortWeek new plants writer Mr Plant Geek Michael Perry on a panel at IPM Essen to discuss how the horticulture industry should understand today’s plant consumer.

They discussed:

1. The peat-free and sustainability dilemma

• The transition to peat-free media remains the industry’s most "hot-button" issue, particularly in the UK.
• Kernock Park Plants (KPP) went 100% peat-free in 2024 and Bruce Harnett says that sustainability (biomass, water self-sufficiency) is a moral choice, even if the "commercial advantage" is currently unclear.
• Panellists agreed that, for consumers to fully switch, peat-free media must be equal to or better than peat. Currently, some "staunch" growers still believe peat performs superiorly.
• But while sustainability is a growing concern many consumers still "turn a blind eye" when price is a factor.

2. Innovation vs. "Trust Erosion"

• Should the industry stop introducing new plants? The consensus: Innovation must have purpose.
• KPP uses a rigorous trials process to ensure only "the best of the best" hit the market. Introducing novelty without value leads to "trust erosion."
• Plants like Salvia ‘Hot Lips’, Lavender ‘Hidcote’, and standard Rosemary remain dominant because they are reliable. Consumers value the "tried and tested" for mail-order success.
• "TikTok Plants": Novelties like the TomTato or "family" apple trees resonate with younger, online audiences, but the industry must distinguish between viral aesthetics and long-term garden performance.

3. Multi-platform marketing

The panel discuss approaches and strenghts of different platforms:

• YouTube: ideal for practical "how-to" guides.
• Instagram/Pinterest: use aspirational/inspirational imagery.
• Facebook: focus on community and storytelling

Meanwhile Matthew Perry raises concerns about influencers who focus on garden aesthetics rather than plant health. The panel stresses the need for authentic voices over "unattainable" glossy imagery.

And Megan Green says that, for Hayloft, 75% of business is now online, though the physical catalogue remains a valued tactile experience for a core demographic.

4. The "Holy Grail" of 'engagement'

• Green highlights the power of visual merchandising—linking the plant, compost, and pot in one display to remove customer friction.
• QR codes on labels and improved storytelling are seen as the "Holy Grail" for garden centres to provide info at the point of purchase.
• Research shows search behavior is often driven by nostalgia (especially in herbs) and the desire to care for others (gifting).

5. Reaching the Next Generation

• Younger consumers represent the future but are the hardest to recruit due to a lack of gardening space and lower spending power. Engaging them requires shifting from a "critical" focus to a "positive attitude" shift, making gardening feel attainable rather than a luxury chore.
• In summary, the industry must balance the marketing "pull" of new varieties with the "push" of sustainable production, ensuring that every new introduction builds consumer trust through reliability and climate resilience.

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In an era of AI fakery and fake news, star of the CutCrew YouTube channel, Jack Churchman has built his grounds maintenance business through authenticity and it has served him well. Eschewing the 'easy' money of kit sponsorship, he has won respect, credibility and work by sticking to his principles and maintaining standards.

Inspired by his mum and grandad who were keen gardeners, he got his first job at a golf course at the tender age of 9. After a spell in the military he used his spare time to work for free on gardens and golf courses during the pandemic and gradually turned it into a business.

Blessed with a ferocious work ethic, tenacity, resilience and a restlessness, he now at least partly attributes to ADHD, Churchman built his landscape maintenance business from the ground up and he is candid about the challenges of finding finance to grow his company with "no mummy and daddy to lend me £100k or whatever".

As much as YouTube has served Churchman, it has drawn some unwanted attention, tipping off burglars looking to move expensive machinery to competitors trying to sabotage CutCrew by trolling, misrepresenting and even stalking him. Despite the dramas, however, he maintains "the benefits far outweigh the negatives".

But interspersed with laughs and self-deprecation that have made Churchman such a YouTube phenomenon, is frank discussion of the challenges of running a business, negotiating competition, issues with late payment, spreading of risk, pricing, cost pressures and being responsible for people's livelihoods.

The podcast is also littered with tips and hard-won wisdom on how to win clients. And his advice to prospective entrepreneurs?: "Chase the thing you like, know and love from the beginning".

Find the CUTCREW LTD | Grounds Maintenance & Tractor Action YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@cutcrewltd

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View slides and Vodcast edition at https://www.hortweek.com/article/1944940

In this edition of the HortWeek Podcast, Matt Appleby spoke to Dries Jansen of Garden Center Advice talking about how to optimise garden centre operations for profit through layout, assortment, and realisation.

Jansen began his career as an analyst at Intratuin in the Netherlands, working with 56 stores and €250 million turnover. He used trends and data back then to identify predictable patterns.

But now, working alongside leading garden centre architect Fred de Rijcke, Jansen has combined data from HortWeek's exclusive annual Top 250 Garden Centres with insight from the garden centre markets in the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Belgium, to create a comprehensive decision-making model for the UK market.

The data analysis system maps annual turnovers against store area, various variables and individual store offerings, proximity to population centres and other key metrics. Combining these data sets he finds an 'average' yield per sqm that all garden centres can be measured against. Individual stores can be indexed to understand how they are performing and whether they may benefit from further investigation to find ways to improve that performance.

Stores identified with 'potential' to improve are profiled individually to assess their performance in various metrics, eg. ambience, service, price etc. and action points can be generated to help boost turnover.

Jansen refers to slides and images during the podcast - to view these or see the video version of this podcast, CLICK HERE

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HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby, senior reporter Rachael Forsyth and technical editor Sally Drury make their predictions for horticulture in 2026.

JUMP TO

00:02:16 - weather

00:06:24 - cost pressures

00:14:20 - volunteers

00:15:27 - imports/exports/SPS agreement and UK plant production

00:17:15 - pests & disease

00:19:08 - climate change and innovation

00:20:17 - Turf - turfgrass breeding and appreciation of grass and grass eating!

00:23:02 - readiness for spring and an early Easter and how to monetise the 'fallow' post Christmas period

00:27:43 - sharing of knowledge and raising of professionalism in the horticulture industry

Check out our huge archive of HortWeek Podcast interviews with an unrivalled selection of prominent and fascinating figures from all corners of the horticulture sector.

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Studies such as that of McCance and Widdowson have revealed dramatic drops in fruit and vegetable mineral content since the 1940s.

This week's guest on the HortWeek Podcast Jennifer Brodie believes that 'rock dust', a by-product of volcanic rock mined for road construction and rich in minerals trapped since the pre-dinosaur era, could help reverse this by remineralizing the soil and feeding microbes that will re-fortify plants.

Brodie has come full circle in her career and is now returning to her passion project 12 years after she founded REMIN (Scotland), which pioneered the use of rock dust as a top dressing for soil, compost mixer and activator.

Now leading the Pro-Grow rock dust division for resource management company Veolia, she explains the geology behind basalt rock dust, its dual benefits for plant health and carbon capture, and how the industry is shifting toward "ecological transformation".

She details how some of the 400,000 tonnes of green waste they process annually is integrated with rock dust to create a PAS 100-certified compost for the garden retail market. Her goal now is to expand rock dust's use into the organic farming sector.

Quoting Soil Association founder Lady Eve Balfour, Brodie says: "Everything begins to matter when the rate of soil erosion exceeds the rate at which life can invade the mineral rock underlying the soil and convert it into soil." Brodie believes that rock dust has an "unrecognised" role in rectifying the mistakes of the past and helping renew soils for the benefit of all.

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HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby, senior reporter Rachael Forsyth and technical editor Sally Drury share their top horticulture stories of 2025.

JUMP TO...

00:00:43 - horticulture and peat-free

00:04:10 - developments in Biodiversity Net Gain

00:07:26 - remote mowers, new technology and implications

00:13:13 - loss of horticulture colleges and new learning options

00:17:54 - the impact of drought in 2025 going into 2026

00:21:30 - how horticulture is turning to battery-powered kit

00:26:20 - diversity, inclustion and equity in horticulture

00:30:34 - border inspections - imports, exports and an SPS agreement for 2026

00:36:42 - what are the team looking forward to in 2026?

Do check out our huge archive of HortWeek Podcast interviews with an unrivalled selection of prominent and fascinating figures from all corners of the horticulture sector.

Podcast presenters: Matthew Appleby, Rachael Forsyth and Sally Drury

Podcast producer: Christina Taylor

Make sure you never miss a HortWeek podcast! Subscribe to or Follow HortWeek podcasts via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast platform.

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The Garden Trust's Linden Groves is campaigning against a proposal to end the organisation's role as a planning statutory consultee.

She robustly contests the proposal to remove the statutory consultee role and disagrees that it would improve the planning system. Instead, precious parks and gardens, hard won over many centuries, would be lost to communities both now and in future.

“We are passionate about the role that the UK’s world-famous historic parks and gardens can play in supporting positive economic growth and healthy cohesive societies, and eager to continue helping this in our role as statutory consultee. We encourage supporters to respond to the consultation and will publish our response as soon as possible.”

In March, the Government decided to ditch planning consultancy from bodies including The Gardens Trust, to speed up the planning system. “We are seeking views on reforming the role of statutory consultees in the planning system in England,” it said. The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 13 January 2026.

• The consultation can be accessed here.

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Tony Kirkham has a mission, one that will resonate with many arborists across the UK: "I'd like to get rid of the term 'tree planting'".

The former Kew arboretum head says: "Our success rate of establishing trees isn't good in this country... I'd sooner see less trees planted and established rather than planting big numbers that fail to establish."

In his conversation with HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby, Kirkham gives his thoughts on the "exotics" versus "natives" debate and reveals his "top future trees" which include his favourite "hard-working trees".

On pest and disease threats to trees, Kirkham issues a stark warning. Experts say it is a case of "not if but when" Xylella enters the UK, and Kirkham says, with more than 400 host plants identified so far: "I think every woody plant is vulnerable. We really need to crank up our biosecurity."

Other than Xylella, his the top concern is plane wilt, which "is spread by arborists" via tools, machinery, PPE and clothing, and which is "coming towards us pretty quick...we need to keep that out at ALL costs".

He also talks about how arborists can handle the rising frequency and intensity of storms, recalling how he got Kew back up and running in the wake of the storm of 1987 that brought down so many trees that he considered "old friends".

But despite the devastation that took three years to clear, he now says it is "the best thing that could have happened" - getting rid of unsafe trees, giving the Kew team a chance to replant and refresh the arboretum, revolutionising tree-planting practice.

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