Garden centres are now lifestyle stores, says Monty Don

Helena Horton

GARDEN centres have lost their true meaning, says Monty Don, the celebrity gardener, arguing that non-gardeners have forced them into becoming outdoor-furniture stores.

The Gardeners’ World presenter said they have become over-commercialised, selling plants as an afterthought and concentrating more on marketing a lifestyle than selling the essentials.

He said: “I am not sure when garden centres went from being places devoted to selling plants, seeds and equipment to centres for outdoor living, soft-furnishing stores with restaurants attached, with plants for sale like sweeties at a supermarket checkout, but you can’t blame them. They gave us what we wanted.” Writing in BBC Gardeners’ World magazine, Don, 64, who lives in Herefordshire, called for the return of a “natural way of gardening”.

However, because of the lockdown, it is thought about £200million worth of bedding plants will have to be dumped because horticulture businesses were forced to close their doors.