decorative products
Multi award-winning landscape designer, Chris Beardshaw, a presenter on BBC Scotland’s The Beechgrove Garden, says modern landscaping products must have sustainable credentials. Broadcaster Beardshaw, who won an RHS Gold medal for his Morgan Stanley Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2019, caused a stir with his extensive use of porcelain landscaping materials.
He said; “We went with a porcelain product for paving which has a high proportion of waste clay. The beauty of porcelain paving is that it’s only 20mm thick, whereas if you use slate, a logical alternative, then you might be using 40 or 50mm of natural product. As a consequence, the shipping of porcelain is more resource efficient, while it’s a consistent product. The aesthetic is pretty much the same: people can’t tell the difference between porcelain and a natural product.” With a huge public following, Beardshaw’s
gardens have a big influence on the landscape sector, and he isn’t just a pioneer of porcelain. Beardshaw’s landscape designs are increasingly incorporating cement-free concrete, while bamboo is being used
instead of hardwoods. He is a fan of slate veneer instead of pure, thick slate, while these contemporary materials blend seamlessly with the latest low-energy LED outdoor lighting.
As market leaders the industry often looks to Kelkay for inspiration. The company’s marketing director, Sarah Winn, explains what’s been ‘hot’ for Kelkay this season. She said: “The Borderstone range from Kelkay has seen strong growth in all-natural paving materials, particularly sandstone and granite. Our focus is on developing solutions that will allow our garden centre retailers to profit from this growth trend, which means coming up with creative ways of displaying product and cost- effective logistics solutions.
“Porcelain is also seeing strong growth – it’s a really attractive material and is very low maintenance so it is popular with younger consumers.
“These trends in both natural paving and porcelain are driving our new product development strategy and we are looking forward to unveiling a range of new ideas at Glee in September.”
Decorative accessories
On the decorative accessories side, this year’s GLEE 2019 saw a range of quirky accessories likely to catch the eye of consumers from springtime onwards. Animal and other themed ornament wholesaler, Abitquackers, has released its 2020 catalogue. Highlights included a range of Bronze coloured hares, Kingfishers, and ‘stunning Duck Pairs’. Sovereign Country is a company offering a range of planters, water features and statues that can be placed in garden, home, work or leisure spaces. Iggy Pig is a substantial trough planter (61cm long) in the design of a Pig. The planter has the look and feel of stone with a robust quality not always found in animal planters. As well as Iggy Pig, there’s also Polly, Ollie, Freddie, and Harold too!
Similarly, Sparta Statues one of the UK's leading stone garden ornament manufacturers and suppliers, launched 70 new lines at Glee this year. Highlights of these was the Sleeping Buddha Stoneware Statue.
Decorative pots and planters Maintaining the theme of sustainability, Allsorted Furniture Designs manufacturers aluminium planters, pots and troughs in a variety of styles and finishes. As aluminium is 100% recyclable, its planters hit the right note sustainably. The company’s aluminium planter range comes in five different design options. The Cone, Cylinder, Contemporary, Slimline and Square designs make up the range. The finish options include an aluminium brushed finish or a colour powdercoated finish.
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www.gardencentreupdate.com GCU December/January 2020
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