Our image coverage of the 2005 show is not yet in place Please have a look at the image coverage from the 2004 show The text below is linked to the 2005 show please have a read
	Glee 2005 - Gardening and Plants,

Glee 2005 A Walk Around Glee

A comprehensive walk through the Glee halls

Glee, the number one annual event for the international garden and leisure industry, follows its successful pattern again this year. The are no major hall changes; so visitors walking through the halls of the NEC, Birmingham will come across garden furniture, accessories and barbecues in Hall 1, all the LOFA members gathered together in Hall 2 and more exhibitors of outdoor living and conservatory furniture in Hall 3/3A. Also in Hall 3/3A, buyers will find manufacturers and suppliers of Home & Gift products, plus the first of the stands that make up Petindex, which itself extends into most of Hall 4. Strongly featured in Petindex are all the stands associated with the buoyant aquatics market; and, linked with these, the Water Gardening sector.

Hall 5 sees the start of Glees core gardening products, along with garden machinery and power tools. Here, too, are the key companies offering retail services to garden centre operators; while Hall 9 is devoted to plants in the shape of Glee Nursery. The new UK Regional Growers feature provides the link from Hall 9 through to all the pots and containers, hard landscaping products, garden timberwork and buildings in
Halls 6-8.

Outdoor Living & LOFA Outdoor Living

Two and half halls filled with garden furniture, parasols, benches, barbecues, chimneas and all the accessories that offer the very latest in stylish outdoor living. Here, buyers will also find cane and conservatory furniture; and, in Hall 1, the ever popular outdoor spas.

LOFA is the UK's Leisure and Outdoor Furniture Association and its members account for around 80 per cent of the UKs £710m market in garden furniture, barbecues and patio heaters. All the exhibitors in Hall 2 are members of the Association. In Hall 1, new exhibitors include Beacon BBQ with a range of barbecues incorporating the new 'Grillstream' technology; Highlander (Scotland), who will have a display of camping equipment and May Parasols, a new German exhibitor showing giant parasols. Walham Teak is bringing its teak furniture to Glee for the first time and Wesco its barbecues, mini fridges and chairs. Hall movers include Gardeco, with a larger stand in Hall 1 to show its ranges of chimeneas, statues, pots and wall plaques; and Autoculture, moving to Hall 1 following its diversification away from lawnmowers into pedal cars and go-karts for children and adults.

Key brands in halls 1 and 3:
TPActivity, Super Tramp, Burden Group, La Hacienda, Suncoast, David Hallsall, A Mir., Plastica, Golden Coast and Canadian Spa.

Key brands in Hall 2:
Alexander Rose, PJ Bridgman, Hartman, Barlow Tyrie, Norfolk Leisure, Weber, Outback, Sunshine, Harbo Fritid

Home & Gift

The increasing importance of the gift department within the modern garden centre is reflected in the fact that by the end of March, the space allocated to this burgeoning Glee sector was already 35% more than at the beginning of last years show one of many clear indications that a growing number of companies now choose Glee to target potential customers.

In recent years garden centres have taken a large chunk of the Christmas market, in the shape of everything from artificial trees to Singing Santas. Add to these seasonal gift lines and greetings cards; and what was once a very patchy sales pattern has become a year-round profit opportunity, thanks to specific occasions such as St Valentine's Day and Mothering Sunday, Halloween and Bonfire Night.

Home & Gift is also about stylish housewares that can equally grace the patio, conservatory and the dining room table; here also are childrens toys and games, and presents for all ages that feature the popular garden theme.

New exhibitors this year include Claremont and May Home Fragrance, Fragrance Boutique, Ethos, PMS, Tisserand Aromatherapy and World Collectible Studios. Hilary Workman, Claremont & May Home Fragrance's marketing manager, said of its Glee debut: "We are very excited about exhibiting at Glee for the first time this September. Our home fragrance products and decorative accessories are very popular with garden centres and whilst we have historically only shown at giftware shows, we now feel the time is right to promote our products to the garden centre market. We will be launching two new fragrances and a new festive range at the show, and we hope to meet lots of garden centre buyers."

Key brands:
MGM Trading, Habasco, Salco, Innovation Giftware, Afrika Trading, Desser & Co, Elgate Products, Benross Marketing

Petindex

This year there is more choice than ever before at Europe's largest annual petcare and aquatics event, which has expanded into part of Halls 3/3A. Consumers are spending more money than ever on their pets and in Europe as a whole they spend around £11 billion pampering them. Over 300 exhibitors in Hall 4 will be showcasing well-known brands, organic products and innovative lines for pets that range from the humble to the truly exotic.

Key products include foods, bedding, training aids, leads, collars,toys, treats, cages, terrariums, aquariums, gravel, pumps, filtration systems and aquatic plants.

Petindex is also the first port of call for pet care specialist buyers looking for the very latest healthcare products and books on everything from teaching birds to talk to American Eskimo dogs. The Pet Care Trust will be offering a new programme of grooming demonstrations and retail seminars that proved such a hit in 2004.This year they will take place in Halls 3/3A; and John Stanleys retail seminars will include topics designed to assist pet retailers.

Key brands:
Arden Grange, Cranswick, Leander, Hills, Flexi, Pedigree Wholesale, Forsham Cottage Arks, Iams, Supreme, Tropica, John Allan, JBL, Underworld, Tetra

Water Gardening

Garden designers have long recognised the value of the sound of trickling water but it is the efforts of Charlie Dimmock and Ground Force that have made it truly popular. Water in the garden need no longer involve the use of mini diggers to create a huge ornamental pond; today's garden is more likely to boast a small, self-contained feature on the patio. Whatever the target consumer, the possibilities are endless and these are reflected throughout this sector of Glee. Buyers looking for everything from the very latest in water plants, features and pond filtration technology will find them in Hall 4.

Lotus Water Gardens are returning to Glee after the successful management buy-out and the Stewart Company maintains its usual, high profile position. Beaver Water Plants, who claim to be the UK's largest producer/supplier of cold-water plants to the trade move across the hall from Petindex to Water Gardening; and Escar Bronze has increased the size of its stand after a very successful show last year.

Key brands:
Heissner UK, Beaver Water Plants, Oase, Oasis, Escar Bronze, Henri Studio, LivingstoneTerrasso.

Garden Care

Central to the show is Garden Care, where garden centre buyers will find all their core product lines. From humble packets of seeds to the most sophisticated in irrigation technology, this sector will house all that is new for the 2006 gardening season. Hall 5 has a truly international mix of exhibitors; and whether buyers are seeking hand tools, growing media, garden chemicals, plant labels, hanging baskets and seed trays or outdoor clothing and footwear, Hall 5 is where it all happens. Past exhibitors returning this year include the LBS Group, Bahco, Jeyes Fluid and Erin.

Key brands:
Draper Tools, Fiskars, Gardena, Gardman, Hozelock, Scotts, Sinclair Horticulture, Suttons Consumer Products, Town & Country, Unwins, Westland Horticulture

Machinery

Glee is the only annual garden and leisure show in Europe that boasts a dedicated machinery sector. Specialist machinery dealers and buyers from DIY multiples, garden centres and the ground care sectors will have the opportunity to examine at close quarters the very latest in pedestrian and ride-on mowers, line trimmers, hedge trimmers, leaf blowers and garden vacuums as well as power washers.

Also within Glee Machinery in Hall 5, a series of seminars will run throughout the duration of the show. The LGE Business Theatre will once again present topics that will add value to every machinery dealers visit and will feature the finals and winning presentation of the national, Briggs & Stratton-sponsored Dealer of the Year competition.

Key brands:
Atco-Qualcast, Bosch, Contax, Claymore, Hayter, John Deere, Honda, Ryobi, Stihl.

Retail Services

Still in Hall 5, this area within Glee brings together those companies offering services that make up the fabric of the modern retail environment. Every service, from initial planning to final fit-out, is covered by Retail Services exhibitors.

Two new names to look out for this year are Bolling Coffee and First Franchises.
Bolling Coffee is a specialist supplier of coffee and equipment to the catering industry based in Huddersfield. Managing director Ian Balmforth said one of line that should interest garden centres is its Rain Forest Alliance certified coffee. It makes a good espresso, the basis of all the speciality coffees which are so popular these days, he added.

Key companies:
Cambridge Glasshouse, CSY Computer Systems, Fordingbridge, G7 Computer Services, Greenfield Software, hpw Partnership, Hammond Phillips, Hansen UK, Malcolm Scott Consultants, National Polytunnels, Smeimans Projecten, Stagecraft, Thermoflor

Glee Nursery

Hall 9 is the magnet for all those with an interest in and a love of plants. In terms of stand space, Glee Nursery is already 28 per cent larger than last year. Here plantaria staff, garden designers and landscapers will find a vast array of material, from bedding plant plugs to huge specimen subjects shown by growers and importers from the UK, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal and New Zealand. Glee Nursery is the leading forum in which buyers can catch up with the latest trends in houseplants and the innovative, health-promoting ways in which they can be used around the home and the workplace. The HTAs Plant for Life campaign will be strongly featured here.

Kinglea Plants have booked the biggest ever stand in Nursery by a British grower; while the Europe's largest nursery in terms of turnover, Bruns Pflanzen, is making its show debut. Other new names are The Gedney Bulb Company, a specialist producer of potted bulbs and herbaceous perennials, and Impulse Plants, a Dutch company that operates a fleet of refrigerated lorries loaded with seasonal plants ready for those impulse sales from the benches.

HART has relocated to Hall 9 this year to concentrate on its plant offerings following a change of corporate structure. Director Jessica Adams said: We know our members go into the plant hall, so it is appropriate that we should be in there. Because of the way HART is now set up, we have the opportunity to sell plants to non-members as well. We will also be featuring our own-brand multipurpose compost.

Also new this year is the UK Regional Growers in the Link between Nursery and Landscaping, where buyers will be able to source plants from specialists suppliers within their own localities.

Key brands:
David Austen Roses, Bransford Garden Plants, Duncan & Davis, Farplants, Hilliers Nurseries, Nostell Priory Roses, Simple Pleasures, Syngenta Seeds
See separate release for more detailed information about UK Regional Growers

Landscaping

Plants make up the soft elements of a garden; fencing, paving and walling are the hard ones. But there is more to Glee Landscaping in Halls 6-8 than just the construction materials. Buyers looking for ornamental garden features and statuary, patio pots and containers are well catered for, as are those looking for garden timberwork, buildings and greenhouses.

It is a Glee first for Finnforest. Europes biggest wood products industry corporation, with a turnover of EUR 2 billion, operates in more than 20 countries and employs 8,000 people. The company is keeping its Glee debut range close to its chest; but has already increased its stand size by more than a third since initially booking in the new year. Meanwhile UK market leader Forest Fencing will have a substantial presence in the landscape halls. Another exhibitor determined to make its mark is Woodlodge Products, which will be displaying its pots and containers from around the world on the largest stand in Halls 6-8.

Glee Landscaping is of growing interest to garden designers and landscapers but this year, for the first time, Glee will add value by addressing the specialist interests of these visitors. A series of seminars and a Landscaping/Garden Designers debate will take place on September 20

Key brands:
Halls Garden Products, MIM's Pottery, Finnforest, Forest Garden Products, Woodlodge, Deroma, Apta, Marshalls. Direct Timber, Bradstone, Borderstone

Next Show is in 2006 on the 17 - 19 September

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