The Van Hage Garden Company

FROM: ANDREW BOURNE Marketing Manager (01920) 870811
RELEASE DATE: 17/05/05 - Immediate

Royal Horticultural Society Win for Van Hage
Prize winning horticulturalist Cornelius(Cor) Van Hage, co-founder of Hertfordshire based garden and leisure retailer Van Hage (which was recently voted “Best Houseplant Department by the Garden Centre Association), has been rewarded with more success.
At a recent Royal Horticultural Society Show at its Wisley H.Q, he won five prizes for his collections of self grown and bred Daffodils and Narcissi.

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Pictured Left: Cor Van Hage with a selection of his prize winning exhibits. Above: a still of narcissi viridiflora.
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He also created quite a stir with a separate display of 10 groups of blooms created from the crossing of miniature narcissi Viridiflora, which produces white striped green flowers in the Autumn, with mainly yellow and white miniature narcissi, which flower in the Spring.
“Our aim is twofold”, explained Cor, who is connected in this field with one of Holland’s leading companies. “Firstly the colour green is the most sought after colour for specialist breeders all over the world. Narcissi Viridiflora holds the key to this green evolution”.
“Secondly, we eventually aim to create pot grown, Autumn flowering miniature narcissi, in various colours, which would include various shades of green. These could flower to coincide with the very important Christmas season”.
Cor concludes however, that this will still take a lot of time and hard work before it can be achieved.
Leading horticultural figure Peter Seabrook was enthralled by the blooms. “The colours of Cor’s latest multi-headed small flowering narcissi are absolutely enchanting” he told us.

FROM: ANDREW BOURNE Marketing Manager (01920) 870811
RELEASE DATE: 10/04/2005 - Immediate

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VAN HAGE BEST IN THE UK AGAIN
Great Amwell based garden centre Van Hage has come top in a prestigious national competition.
By winning The Ruxley Rose National Houseplant competition, which is organised by The Garden Centre Association, Van Hage has been acclaimed for having the best Houseplant Department in the U.K.
The competition is judged on a variety of aspects including; range, quality and presentation of the plants, innovative and creative displays, layout and information as well as staff expertise and customer service levels.
“It is very, very impressive” said Garden Centre Association judge David Gilchrist. “Everything that you need in a houseplant area is there, and a very good atmosphere with polite, friendly staff, I really cannot fault it. It’s been a pleasure to walk round and judge”.
Van Hage beat off strong competition from previous winners from the Midlands and the North West to take the trophy once again for Hertfordshire.
“It is a wonderful achievement for our staff and for the company as a whole” said a delighted Theadora Van Hage, the company chairman. “We set our standards high and it is reassuring to have been judged as the best. This is great motivation for us to keep improving the quality of the shopping experience for our customers”.
Picture Part of the successful Van Hage team. From the left; Janet Moy, Jenny Valins (with the Ruxley Rose Trophy), Store Manager Julian Beer and Sue Clark.