Whartons Nurseries, based in Diss, Norfolk, supplies its UK-grown roses wholesale to UK garden centres. It partnered with Joy of Plants in 2021 to supply its retailers with sales tools, and is now launching QR codes on plant labels to deliver the information needed to make plant sales and to care for plants after purchase.
Wharton's sales and marketing manager Jo Davey said: “It's great for the industry if we can sell the right Care Product with every plant. And if the customer has the right care information and Care Product, at any time before or after purchase, that means more successful customers - and successful customers are returning customers.
“This kind of plant and care information, focused and continuously updated, is exactly what younger customers expect with products nowadays. And anything that brings younger customers to our plants helps us all.
“The ‘Plant Info Pages’ are provided by Joy of Plants - the same pages as shown in their Plant Finder app, popular with garden centres for their staff phones, loyalty apps, websites and kiosks etc.
“Joy of Plants have made it really easy for us to do. And we can track scans of the QR codes too.”
Her favourite rose from the first batch of roses to have the QR codes on their labels is “‘Orchid Romantica’ - a pink rose that’s scented and has ruffled petals. A small floribunda shrub rose, it’s suited to pots and small gardens, flowering from June to October.
Terri Jones, MD at Joy of Plants, said: “The ‘Plant Info Pages’ we display are branded to the grower, and can either describe the care products generically, or automatically recommend the grower’s preferred brands, complete with images of the particular care products.”
Her choice of rose is another pink rose “‘See You in Rosé’ – a Persica type rose, with open flowers that are attractive to bees. Being a Persica rose, descended from roses native to Iran and Afghanistan, it will do well in hot, dry summers. It’s small, so is a great choice for a small garden. And I just love the name.”
Whartons Nurseries are exhibiting at Four Oaks 2026 and can be found on stand B29. Whartons Nurseries was founded in 1947 by John Wharton and is now run by his son Robert and grandson Paul.
Whartons Nurseries is the UK’s largest grower of garden roses, propagating more than 1.5million roses a year and employing 50 full-time staff, many of whom have highly specialist skills. Field production now covers more than 60 hectares of land at any one time, with three production sites taking the field grown roses through grading, potting and despatch.
Joy of Plants’ mission is to help the industry sell more plants. It has created a library of more than 18,000 UK garden plants and trees, updated each year by breeders, agents and growers around the Industry, and offers a selection of tools around this library to help garden centres, retailers and growers maximise their plant and care product sales, including a Plant Finder for staff and customer phones, “print on demand” Bed Cards, “Inspirations” plant marketing for café screens, and plant/care info inside Loyalty Apps.
