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

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 ?

I've been going there a lot

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

correct zoe

over ordering was an issue here as 25avalon said

christmas is round the corner

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.

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.

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

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!

actually i am more concerned about the unnecessary queues of traffic down the country lanes leading to these places
all those fumes and pollution
many in vans
friday is changeover day in the south west and the roads are already busy busy

and how do we get over the fact that plants everywhere are grown in plastic pots which are thrown away
can they be recylced

Lillie

pretty flower
5 years ago before brexit mawbe exactly
common practice 40p a half dead plant in august
saves them disposing of them

No, not 5 years before Brexit! 5 years ago -
I don’t get your point though or the relevance?

Our garden centres where closed until relaxation of lockdown. I have bought most of my plants etc on line.

Lillie

if you read the facebook comments from people visiting the garden centres there are no perennials
even the wilting hanging baskets are not included

Fair enough, Lillie, I was just going on the article.

There's another nurseryman quoted at length in the article. He has Kernock Park Plants in Cornwall. Is there a gran prepared to dish the dirt on them, or is it a bona fide serious business whose owner can be believed?

if you read the facebook comments from people visiting the garden centres there are no perennials
even the wilting hanging baskets are not included