Bury Lane – a major UK, peat-free grower based near Royston, in Hertfordshire, has completely switched its indoor production from cut flowers such as lilies, peonies and agapanthus to producing houseplants is response to consumer demand.
It is now producing more than 500,000 plants a year for customers such as Tesco, and the company’s subsidiary, Geb & Green, won a Gold Medal at last year’s Chelsea Flower Show and the Best House Plant Studio award.
Will Clayton, Managing Director of Bury Lane, said that an interest in helping the environment, especially from younger people, was helping drive the boom in houseplants. “The big consumer focus in home plants right now is the leaf rather than the flower, with younger people, especially, being interested in building their own indoor gardens with evergreen plants,” he said. “Not everyone has an outdoor garden and with interest rates high right now we’re seeing younger people who are waiting to get on the housing ladder wanting to make their accommodation as appealing and interesting as possible.
“One easy and inexpensive way to do that is by having calming houseplants around your home and if you go on social media sites, you’ll find many people posting the latest additions to their home.”
Tesco says that it has seen the demand for house plants soar by more than 130 per cent since 2019. Tesco plants buyer Vicki l’Anson commented, “We first noticed the trend during the early months of lockdown and it was caused as a direct result of people having to stay at home and not being able to visit parks and other open spaces.
“But the trend caught on very quickly with people keen to show off on social media how they were adorning their homes with houseplants. And it’s now even more pronounced than it was then Importantly, it’s also good news for our partnerships with UK growers, as we’ve been working together to meet the increased demand with brilliant British-grown plants.”