More History

It is also worth remembering that the late eighties was probably the best time for the availability of some of the more unusual garden plants. I guess for the garden centres the issue with these plants was that they sat in the garden centre for up to, and beyond, a year and required constant care and attention so that eventually they were not making you much, or any, money. Compare that with a quick selling line like Leylandii and you can see from a business point of view which item made the more sense to stock. The arrival and preaching of retail consultants in the nineties would hammer that home much to the disappointment of plants people, both in the garden centre and their customers
The nineties also brought about a great change in garden centres and the industry as a whole. From the very early nineties onward, the DIY stores and independent hardware stores could see the potential of gardening and started to include a garden section in some shape or form in their stores. When these businesses started selling plants as well as garden accessories it meant that garden centres were no longer competing with each other but also with a new breed of retailer. The key to their success was not necessarily price but another big factor. Convenience.

Bless us father for we have sinned!

During the eighties and early nineties period, the plants of choice in most garden centres were to become some of the most reviled vegetation ever to enter the average garden. This was the time of the Variegated Poplar, The Rose of Sharon and of course the dreaded Leylandii. Hundreds of garden centre owners must hang their heads in shame at the thoughts of what they built their businesses on. It’s a strange thing because if it weren’t for the Leylandii then we probably would not have the number of garden centres and nurseries we have today. For a lot of garden centres this plant was their bread and butter (Literally in many cases, it put the food on the table!). I won’t go into the gory detail of it’s march through suburbia, suffice it to say that Napoleon didn’t cause the same anguish, heart ache and gnashing of teeth in his trips to the corners of Europe that the Leylandii caused in it’s assault on Ireland and the UK.
Then came the Variegated Poplar. I would swear that at one time in Ireland in the late eighties every house had at least one and many had more. People could not get enough of them and the sight of those wonderful cream, green and pinkish-orange leaves fluttering in the wind on a June day still makes me cringe. My mum still has one in her garden which has survived many threats and curses (by me) but she loves it!
The British visitors to Ireland also loved it and we sold them to tourists with glee. As if the planting a few VPs in every garden in the UK would make up for a different sort of planting that happened here centuries ago! A reverse plantation that in the right light would look like Tricolour trees flying all over the “Auld Enemy”!
The Rose of Sharon was the last of the great plagues. This small innocuous looking plant with its pretty yellow flowers was soon swallowing up rockeries and borders with tough roots and rust prone leaves. Up to last year it was still being requested in garden centres but luckily in the nineties garden centres developed a conscience and were better educated about how rampant the plants were. Most stopped selling them or at least advised customers on the problem they could become.
The assault was over.