Director of The Gardens Group, Louise Burks has been named in the Glee Buyers Power List 2023. Louise took second place in the Christmas Buyer of the Year category.
Staged during Glee at the NEC in Birmingham, the awards recognise the individual buyers and buying teams who have gone above and beyond to make a difference within the garden retail industry each year.
Voting began in early summer. This year’s Glee Buyers Power List attracted more nominations than ever from suppliers and the wider market.
Honours for Louise
This latest honour for Louise follows consistent success in the Garden Centre Association’s national Christmas Competition. The GCA has awarded its top prize to The Gardens Group’s garden centres 11 times in the past 12 years.
Louise has overseen these hugely popular Christmas displays at Castle Gardens in Sherborne, Brimsmore Gardens in Yeovil and Poundbury Gardens in Dorchester for many years. This accolade comes as Louise and the team have made The Gardens Group’s displays kinder on the planet than ever before.
Consciously constructed behind closed doors during a single week in October, the 2022 Christmas displays were created using repurposed and recycled materials, all now adorned with hundreds of glass baubles, twinkly LED lights, recycled candles and soft toys made from recycled plastic.
Louise Burks, director of The Gardens Group, commented: “It means a great deal to be recognised by our industry and I’m honoured to have been awarded second prize in a field of outstanding garden retail professionals.
“I’m supported by a wonderful team across our three garden centres. Our successes simply wouldn’t be possible without them. We’ve all relished the challenge of making our Christmas displays, and people’s Christmas celebrations at home, more sustainable over recent years. This has been facilitated by some excellent innovations among our manufacturers.
“Planning for Christmas 2023 started in January. We’ve got plenty of exciting things up our sleeve for this year’s displays!”
