Furniture, barbecues and outdoor plants were the big sellers in garden centres during August.
The latest Garden Centre Association (GCA) figures show an increase of 31% in furniture and barbecue sales over the same month last year, with a year-to-date (YTD) change of 10%, while sales in outdoor plants were 18% up, and 8% YTD.

"During August garden centre customers were out in force and making the most of any hints of good weather with the purchasing of furniture and barbecues," commented GCA chief executive Iain Wylie. "It's great to see sales in outdoor plants were on the up too as people spent time in their gardens before the autumn."

Other categories which saw good sales were clothing, up 8%; catering, up 11%; houseplants, up 12%; and food hall/farm shop, up 12%.

Overall garden centre performance rose by 13% in August compared to August 2014; YTD change was 7%.

Mark Gilbert, sales director at GCA member Paradise Park in East Sussex, found that August was "once again a month of very varied weather conditions that ultimately favoured the traditional gardener, who could enjoy good soil conditions for plenty of extra planting. This was reflected in a 20% growth of outdoor plants sales compared to last year.

"Furniture and barbecue sales showed a good growth over August 2014 in spite of the varied weather conditions previously mentioned. Factors for this included a well-trained and informative sales team that converted a lower footfall for August 2015 into a higher sales figure than 2014, by targeting the right customers.

"Range also stayed solid and available through the month, helping to beat local competition that had sold off certain summer lines early and not re-stocked," he added.