Brexit forces garden centre to give away £100k of plants for free

Could be totally wrong but I think Lillie is saying that this happens a lot in August. Nurseries want to get rid of plants that are nearly at the end of their shelf life. I know my local ones offer a similar discount, Buy 1 Get 2 Free etc etc.

Apologies if I'm wrong, Lillie!

But this is common practice .. they need to make room for the Christmas decorations!

mawbe
i meant free plants have existed in quantities at this garden centre every year
brexit didnt force the owner in 2018 or before

SpringyChicken

It’s a five minute drive from me but I’m not going. It’s more likely to be plants that aren’t selling and annual bedding that is past it. And there’s always the chance customers will buy other plants during their visit. Of course, that could be me being cynical. My friend might attend and if so, I’ll report back.

Unlikely to be bedding if it's usually going back for growing on.

Our garden centres were reopened when classed as essential services, thank goodness. No shortage of staff as they all kept their jobs following furlow. Only thing missing was a cuppa after shopping. Even my friend daughter, a student, was taken back. Very well organised, and plants still coming over from Holland, although many are propagated locally.

correct zoe

over ordering was an issue here as 25avalon said

christmas is round the corner

Lillie

correct zoe

over ordering was an issue here as 25avalon said

christmas is round the corner

Excuse me asking, Lillie, but are you local to, and familiar with, this particular garden centre? You are very keen to diss it.

is this a catch question maizied
like the switzerland france stuff which caused a lot of trouble
if so i dont want to disclose but happy to answer in pm

No, it's not a catch question at all. I don't go in for that sort of thing. Not interested in hounding posters to catch them out. What you se is what you get..

I'm just curious because I think that most posters would say something like that they knew the place very well, or lived locally etc. Just to give their comments some context and a confirmation of their reliability.

Not saying that you're doing anything underhand or that I disbelieve you. Like I said, I'm just curious.

I don’t like what I am reading about this company.

They have mostly very poor staff reviews on Indeed.

In March 2020 they refused to shut down despite 3 prohibition notices under Covid regulations.

The company name is Joyner Holdings, not Plants Galore or Grown Direct. There is a company registered as Plants Galore in Roydon, Essex which has issued a notice disassociating itself from plants galore in Devon and Somerset.

On 25th. February this year Joyners admitted defamation and had to pay damages to a solicitor in the Environment Agency, after being fined for storing waste on nursery land which led to a massive fire which became a public health hazard.

They only seem to have 77 employees, and most of their staff vacancies are for assistant managers with a commercial nursery background.

I think he doth protest too much.

Right MaisieD I am off to look up the other company Kernow Plants.

they also illegally used to charge 50p when you used your debit card

You are always keen to blame Brexit MaizieD ... just accept that not everything is related to that.

It sounds like a good idea to reduce prices of annuals or poorly looking perennials, and even giving them away makes sense, saves getting rid of them themselves, and once in the store customers usually buy something.

Nobody is stopping anyone from benefiting from the offer and donating some of the money they saved to a charity.

Is Tony Joyner the man who started Trago Mills or Brian Fords silverbridge ?
Have spent many a happy hour looking for bargains there in the past.

mokryna

Nobody is stopping anyone from benefiting from the offer and donating some of the money they saved to a charity.

...or just enjoying a free plant come to that.

lemongrove

Is Tony Joyner the man who started Trago Mills or Brian Fords silverbridge ?
Have spent many a happy hour looking for bargains there in the past.

Trago Mills was started by Mike Robertson, lemongrove.
I think his son Bruce has carried on the family business.

No trip to that part of Devon was complete without a trip to Trago.
I've not heard of that garden centre though and Trago Mills has its own garden centre.

I haven’t been for ages Callistemon the Trago we went to is in Cornwall. Brian Fords is in Devon and sells low cost food and household items and plants, it may not be still going ( and was likely started by Brian Ford)?

lemongrove

Is Tony Joyner the man who started Trago Mills or Brian Fords silverbridge ?
Have spent many a happy hour looking for bargains there in the past.

I don't know. I was just curious about the offer described in MawBe's opening post, read some Devon Live pieces about the business and the many negative comments about Joyner that accompany some of them. He's not a popular man. Then one link lead to another and I saw just how many times he had been involved in conflicts with official bodies and customers. These overstock giveaways seem to be a regular thing including Christmas trees last year an offer which came shortly after a story hit the news about them selling bug-infested trees.

I live by some HUUUUGE greenhouses that have nurseries open, though it's not their main trade as they must supply to other garden centres, big gardens etc. In July they reduce ALL their stock to half price and the idea is by the end of August the whole of their stock will have sold and the nurseries will be completely empty. They do it on the pots too.

I've been going there a lot

Rudbeckia and Echinea are £2.50 atm! and Roses are £3.50

You are always keen to blame Brexit MaizieD ... just accept that not everything is related to that.

Jeeeeeeez, lemon.

Have you seen who started this thread and who wrote the title? Not me.

There I was, lauding it as an unexpected Brexit Benefit and I still get the blame ?

lemongrove

I haven’t been for ages Callistemon the Trago we went to is in Cornwall. Brian Fords is in Devon and sells low cost food and household items and plants, it may not be still going ( and was likely started by Brian Ford)?

However did I miss Brian Ford's?

If you read all the posts you will see that it’s common for some garden centres to do this MaizieD so the dodgy owner of the one in question is no doubt blaming Brexit when it’s good business to get rid of plants at this time.You even question
A poster about their bona fides on this matter.
Blaming Brexit for everything bar the weather ( or Covid)
Is what unscrupulous people do, especially if it opens up a good marketing concept for them.
Your sainthood will have to wait.?

No feedback from my friend yet but reports on Facebook were of hour long queues to get in and out of the nursery, people turning up with vans/lorries to grab as much as they could. No info on the types of plants being given away.

Despite the reasons and the rhetoric, I'm glad that plants are being saved.

I've saved many a plant going cheap in the unloved corner of garden centres.

lemongrove

If you read all the posts you will see that it’s common for some garden centres to do this MaizieD so the dodgy owner of the one in question is no doubt blaming Brexit when it’s good business to get rid of plants at this time.You even question
A poster about their bona fides on this matter.
Blaming Brexit for everything bar the weather ( or Covid)
Is what unscrupulous people do, especially if it opens up a good marketing concept for them.
Your sainthood will have to wait.?

If you read the thread title and the OP, lemon (as I suggested in my last post) you will see that 'It wasn't me, Guv'.