Glanbia Ireland’s network of 14 Country Life Garden Centres have been extremely busy during this period, contributing to this €1.2 billion industry in Ireland last year. As an essential service, our garden centres saw a massive increase in sales since March of this year, more than doubling sales* when compared to the same period last year, with some already reaching sales targets for 2021.

With this huge interest in gardening, Overherd at Glanbia wanted to find out more about who’s driving it, what they’re purchasing and is gardening’s popularity here to stay? Helping us answer these questions and more are two experts who have been advising and helping people plan their ideal gardens for many years – our Ballyhale and Ashford Horticulturalists Mary Brennan and Anne Synnott.

Mary has been with Glanbia for 10 years, but only recently joined the team at our oldest garden centre in Ballyhale. She says customers have been looking for “instant colour in their gardens. They don’t want to wait for plants to grow as they’re looking to enjoy them immediately.” She added: “Some people are coming in looking for fully matured trees such as cherry blossoms just before they bloom.

People haven’t been afraid to spend money and are purchasing large items like pergolas to create areas of calmness in their gardens while they’re working from home. The feeling is they need down time and nice spaces to escape to.”

GI’s busiest garden centre is in Ashford, County Wicklow, where Anne has been working for four years. She describes re-openings after lockdowns as “intense, but thoroughly enjoyable as gardens have brought happiness to customers’ lives during these difficult times.” With a number of new housing estates being built around Ashford, Anne has seen a “boom in the number of young customers coming into the garden centre. They’ve done their research and know what they want in terms of garden design and plants such as perennials and also vegetables – chili peppers are a particular favourite!”