Sunny days in June delivered great results for outdoor plant sales - up 15.4% over the same time last year.
Iain Wylie, chief executive of the Garden Centre Association (GCA), which released the new figures, said: "It's great to see core categories such as outdoor plants soaring, and we have the Great British weather to thank for it after staying unusually dry and warm.

"Other good performers during the month were clothing, which was up 12.3%, house plants, up 11.2%, and catering, which rose by 11.7%.

"The good weather continued into July so we hope to see sales in these categories continue to rise," he added.

Richard Cumming, managing director of new GCA member Orchard Park Garden Centre in Dorset said: "Certainly this year has been good enough, with outdoor plants and composts and pots of course showing significant sales growth along with giftware and the coffee shop. Good weather makes us a good destination and we can benefit from that in so many ways."

At Barton Grange in Preston, general manager Russell Winteridge commented: "Sales of plants were particularly strong in June and we also sold more planted containers than we have in recent years.

"Elsewhere we had strong sales in house plants, home décor and giftware, and across all our food offerings in the restaurants and the farm shop."

At Coolings Nurseries in Kent managing director Gary Carvosso said 2015 had been an excellent year for plant sales, second only to 2011 with its near-perfect weather.

"Hardy plants led by the perennials had a superb month, with a 14% increase on last June with bedding up 23%," he revealed. "Overall growth this year on plant sales is 7%."