By Business & Finance 
Pictured (L-R): Aoife Habenicht, Aldi; John Flanagan, SAP Nurseries; and Carol Marks, Bord Bia
Aldi announced a new partnership with seven Irish nurseries that will see more 100% Irish-grown garden plants available at Aldi’s stores.
Sourced exclusively from seven Bord Bia quality-assured Irish nurseries, Aldi’s new ‘Garden Grá’ range of Irish garden plants will be available from June 5th, with different locally grown plants on sale each week.
Garden Grá has directly led to the creation of 29 jobs across the seven Irish suppliers.
Aldi is a leading retailer of Irish-grown plants, having sold over 600,000 Irish plants throughout 2015.
The expert growers have been selected by Aldi from Bord Bia quality-assured Irish nurseries across the country and include Uniplumo Ireland, Keelings and Tully Nurseries based in Co. Dublin, O’Connor Nurseries of Co. Wexford, SAP Nurseries of Co. Tipperary, Spring Nurseries of Co. Cork and Doran Nurseries of Co. Kildare.
Enabling Aldi to significantly broaden its range of garden plants on offer to customers, the range will include premium bedding plants, rattan hanging baskets, marigolds, petunias, pansies, begonias, heathers, lavender, peace lilies, dianthus, pot lilies, dahlias, cyclamen, delphiniums, coreopsis and sun flowers amongst others.
Aoife Habenicht, Aldi’s buying director of horticulture, said: “Ireland is renowned the world over for horticulture and we are delighted to be supporting local growers. Our customers consistently tell us they want to buy Irish and all the Garden Grá plants will be sourced from Bord Bia quality-assured Irish nurseries. With prices starting from just €1.79, we are looking forward to offering the very best in Irish plants to our customers every week.”
Carol Marks, horticulture development and marketing specialist, Bord Bia, commented: “I would like to congratulate Aldi on its new Garden Grá range. The Supplier Development Programme for horticulture producers was developed by Bord Bia to assist ornamental plant producers secure, grow and maintain a listing with multiple retailers. We are delighted with the success our participating companies have achieved.”
