Wyevale forecasts busy weekend for bulb sales

Wyevale Garden Centres, the UK’s largest garden centre retailer, is predicting that this weekend will be the most popular for the sale of bulbs. Officially marking the end of the summer sales season, the commencement of the bulb season in Britain’s gardens sees the start of autumn for the retailer.

In order for bulbs to bloom in spring, gardeners must plant their bulbs within the coming weeks, a fact that has prompted Wyevale Garden Centres to estimate staggering sales of 2,000 packs an hour. In the days following this weekend, it is expected that this momentum will not slow, and a further 700,000 packs will be sold over the following 10 weeks.

For many shoppers, this is not just a key date in the gardening year, but a time-honoured tradition that harks back to Victorian era. Used as a way to bring reliable colour to their gardens, bulbs were also used by Victorians to provide cut flowers for bouquets. Both then and now, tulips, hyacinths and daffodils are among the most popular bulbs.

Mairi Devlin, category manager at Wyevale Garden Centres says, ‘This weekend always features heavily in our calendar for the year and we don’t expect this year to be any different. It’s important that bulbs are planted at this time of the year so the nations gardens are in full bloom next spring, and our colleagues will be on hand in-centre to recommend their top tips on planting bulbs, and which bulbs to use for different colour schemes.

Mairi adds, “Many people don’t realise quite how diverse bulbs can be, for example why not try the ‘Lasagne layering’ planting method? This quirky planting style ensures that you get pops of colour throughout the year. Layering bulbs that have different flowering times will bring you colour for longer. Two layers will give you a beautiful spring display, and an extra layer of autumn bedding plants will add instant colour.”

The great bulbs & bedding event

To celebrate the start of the Great British bulb season Wyevale Garden Centres will be hosting a series of events in their stores that will allow them to share their bulb knowledge with shoppers. For each shopper who takes part in the event there will be a free bag of tulips and a planting guide. 

Image: Claire Laker inspects one of thousands of bulbs set to fly off the shelves at Wyevale Garden Centres this weekend. Over a quarter of a million shoppers are expected to descend on 152 stores nationwide for the biggest bulb weekend. As autumn gardening season gets into full swing, sales of loose bulbs are estimated to soar by 226% year on year – Four Rain

Source : Wyevale Garden Centres Press Release

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