In response to the findings, a group of celebrity gardeners, along with the HTA, are calling for the government to act now and support growers before it is too late.

The HTA is asking for a compensation scheme to be set up and claims that the UK Government’s aid package simply does not work for the horticultural industry. Less than one in five growers have received help through the government’s business support measures, while just 1% has received financial support from the government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans scheme (CBILS).

Current UK Government support does not consider the total loss of annual income for growers, which is largely seasonal from March to June. Meanwhile, over three-fifths of growers (62%) said that they were not eligible for business support grants, while nearly four in five (79%) growers are not entitled to any kind of rates relief.

In the Netherlands, the government has announced a scheme to help its industry while at the same time leaving garden centres open, meaning that Dutch growers will be perfectly positioned to supply the UK market if the British sector collapses.

Alan Titchmarsh has joined forces with an army of fellow TV gardeners including Adam Frost, Chris Beardshaw, James Wong, Bunny Guinness, Joe Swift, Pippa Greenwood, Jim Buttress, Matthew Biggs, Bob Flowerdew, David Domoney, Lee Connelly (The Skinny Jean Gardener) and Matthew Wilson, to help the industry by asking the millions of gardening lovers across the UK to show their support.

Alan Titchmarsh MBE said:  “The shocking findings from today’s report show that around a third of our ornamental plant growers – many of them family concerns could go out of business by the end of June unless action is taken now. Put simply, if the government is unable to offer a compensation scheme on the lines of that already put in place by the Dutch government, and independent garden centres remain closed, then our beloved British garden industry is on the brink of destruction. The longer the delay continues, the more costly the solution.

“Europe has stolen a march on the UK and already prepared its horticulture industry for the future. Without a similar financial lifeline, many of our growers will go under and even more, plants will need to be imported from Europe. Aside from the catastrophic economic implications, such imports leave our nation open to the risk of all the infectious diseases and pests that for the last decade British horticulture has worked so hard to avoid.

“We need to buy British not only to save our plant industry but also to help deliver on our climate change and plant health ambitions in the future.

“We are asking the public to support our campaign to #KeepBritainBlooming and to recognise the joy that plants bring to millions of gardeners across the country. Opening garden centres now, with the same safety measures employed as in supermarkets, will give people across the country access to plants, encourage them to garden, stay healthy and productive at home and help save an industry at the heart of British life.”

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