Whether you want to put your green fingers to the test with bedding plants, get your balcony prepped for the warmer months or add some life to your indoor space, there’s never been a better time to buy plants for your home and garden.
While a visit to your local nursery is always encouraged, if you’re on the hunt for a wider selection or simply don’t want to have to wrestle an unruly shrub into the back seat of your car, the good news is it’s now super convenient to shop for plants online.
That’s right, the magic of home delivery now extends to greenery, which can be sent through the mail and will arrive on your doorstep within a matter of days.
The convenience doesn’t stop there, though. Some retailers now also give shoppers detailed instructions on how to care for their plants after purchase, so, even if you’re just starting to dip your toe into the waters of gardening, you can rest easy knowing you’ll be able to nurture a healthy plant. Plus, many websites give you the option of filtering depending on your budget, space and which plants are safe to have around curious pets and toddlers.
If you’re not sure where to start, we’ve rounded up our pick of the nurseries and centres to buy from online, from garden fruit specialists to award-winning, family-run businesses.
Patch Plants
Patch Plants is a London-based, online garden-centre delivery service that was born after founder Freddie Blackett struggled to find plants to decorate his girlfriend’s flat when he moved in with her in 2014. He created Patch Plants as a solution, with the goal of making it easy for everyone to get into gardening.
The brand sources plants from suppliers across the UK and delivers them to your doorstep, along with tips and information on how to look after them. You can choose from indoor and outdoor plants, and there are plenty of ways to filter your options, including by the amount of light a plant needs, its height, whether it’s safe for pets and children, and how easy it is to care for.
In our round-up of the best house plants Patch Plants’s big Ken (£60, Patchplants.com) was chosen as the top pick for promising “to make a huge impact on any room in your home”. “Easy to care for, with impressive fresh green leaves that fan out, it can tolerate most conditions but will be happiest in a position that gets lots of indirect sunlight,” our tester said.
Dobies
Dobies sells a huge range of plants, seeds, vegetables and flowers for keen gardeners. It also offers a lucky dip box which contains a selection of six vegetables, different in every order, all arriving in 10cm pots, which is perfect for when you feel like trying something new.
You can also pick up gardening equipment, from watering cans and propagators to hedge trimmers and lawnmowers, and there are plenty of helpful tips to ensure you can make the most of your outdoor space.
If you’re committed to pruning your garden year-round, Dobies also has a gardening club membership, which costs £10 for one year. Benefits include 10 per cent off every order placed online, £30 worth of vouchers, monthly advice and exclusive members-only deals.
Quirky Plants
For every five plants bought, Quirky Plants plant five trees in association with The Eden Reforestation Projects in Madagascar, so, the site is a great destination for the eco-conscious. Selling both indoor and outdoor plants, there’s plenty of choice across the categories, from air purifying to hard-to-kill plants.
In our round-up of the best bedroom plants, we loved the ‘Eddie’ epipremnum aureum (£10.99, Pointlessplants.com). “Also known as golden pothos and devil’s ivy, this plant can grow up to eight feet long and is a great way to revamp tired looking surfaces or shelves”, our tester said. Plus, the handy online guides are perfect for first-time plant parents.
The Royal Horticultural Society
As the UK’s leading gardening charity, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) dates back to 1804 and has an extensive range of flowers and plants to shop online.
Unlike some other retailers, the RHS offers customers a five-year guarantee, which means that all fully hardy plants (including hardy shrubs, trees and perennials) are guaranteed for a period of five years from purchase. If you’re looking for a bargain, make sure to check out the “monthly offers” section, where you’ll find impressive savings on a range of plants.
If you’re a keen gardener, you might also want to consider becoming an RHS member. An individual membership costs £58.50 for one year and means you can book to visit all five RHS gardens for a member and a family guest or two children. It also includes a monthly subscription to The Garden magazine, worth £59; unlimited, personalised RHS gardening advice; free entry to over 200 partner gardens and savings on tickets to RHS shows.
For something to brighten up your space in the summertime, try the achillea terracotta yarrow (£9.99, Rhsplants.co.uk) for a 9cm pot. Blooming from June until September, this sun-loving plant has flattened flower heads that change from a rich terracotta colour to a soft pastel yellow as they mature over the warmer months.
Jacksons Nurseries
This garden centre and tea shop in Stoke-on-Trent is open to visit, but you can also shop its diverse library of plants, flowers and trees online.
A family-run business that’s more than 50 years old and delivers across the UK, the website is easy to navigate with a search function that lets you find a plant by type, flower colour, flowering time or soil type. As well as plants, Jacksons sells gardening equipment, everything you need to take proper care of your plants and gift vouchers, so you can treat someone else.
The deciduous azalea (£26.99, Jacksonsnurseries.co.uk) caught our eye, with its trumpet-shaped orange-yellow blooms. Its vibrant flowers will add colour to any garden and would make a pretty indoor display when put in a vase.
Beards & Daises
With a wide range of plants and a selection of sizes for each one, there’s plenty to love about Beards & Daisies. Specialising in indoor plants, the website allows shoppers to search by plant type, care level, light level, feature and which room they’re best suited to.
You can also find a range of plots, including planters and hanging styles, you can get next-day and named-day delivery, so you’ll know exactly when to expect the arrival of your new leafy friend.
The brand’s string of hearts (£20, Beardsanddaisies.co.uk) was featured in our guide to the best indoor plants, where our tester praised it for livening up bookshelves. “Ready to take pride of place in your home office, this plant already comes with long vines, measuring approximately 25cm but, they can grow as long as two metres in length. If you notice leafless stems getting too long though, don’t be afraid to prune them with a pair of clean secateurs,” they said.
Hayloft
Visiting this nursery’s website will immediately get you inspired, as it’s full of vibrant photos and is handily colour-coded so you can find the plants you want with ease.
Offering everything from fruit plants and garden plants to sundries, Hayloft also has a useful tips and tricks section on its website with plenty of gardening advice, from growing guides to how to tackle pests and diseases.
If we had to choose from its range of 3,5000 perennials, we love the helenium moerheim beauty (£21 for three, Hayloft.co.uk) for its unusual flowers and downward-facing petals in dark reds and burnt oranges. They have a long flowering time through summer to autumn and are good for cutting.
Crocus
Crocus is one of the biggest online gardening centres in the UK with more 4,000 plant varieties to choose from.
Its website is easy to navigate and has a whole section dedicated to providing tips and inspiration on how to improve your garden. You can also filter plants by type, including but not limited to, herbs, pond plants, climbers, perennials and grasses.
In our round-up of the best house plants, our tester included Crocus’s Chinese money plant (£14.99, Crocus.co.uk), which are available to order from spring. Highlighted as a great option for beginners, it’s incredibly low maintenance as its thick, fleshy leaves retain water better than others, meaning even the most forgetful among us will be able to keep it alive. “It has perfectly rounded, coin-shaped leaves on long, thin stems, making it a great decorative addition to any home,” our tester said. “It’s also said that this plant can bring good luck and good fortune to its owner – though we’ve yet to reap said fringe benefits.”
Created by plantswoman Beth Chatto OBE, you can visit this store in person near Colchester, Essex. But, while its water, reservoir and gravel gardens, to name a few, are a sight to behold, its online shop houses an equally impressive range of blooms and greenery.
If you’re shopping online, you can browse by plant names, collections or garden conditions. The website also has a gardening blog, where you can find news and advice. Blooming all the way through summer, this plant loves the sun and grows in light, well-drained soil.
Hortology
Online plant shop Hortology is a go-to for building your urban jungle. As well as advice on plant food, nutrition, watering and misting, it sells a huge collection of houseplants and planters, from popular ferns and palms to more unique plants like rattlesnakes and birds nest snake plants.
We’ve got our eye on the dracaena marginata multi stem plant (from £22.99, Hortology.co.uk) that will breath some life into our living room. Easy to care for, the resilient plant is one of the Nasa-approved species that help remove toxins from the air.
Ashwood Nurseries
This traditional plant nursery and garden centre is based in the west Midlands and has a range of plants available online for mail order.
Specialising in heathers, cyclamen, hellebores and hepaticas, its website is easy to navigate and is full of inspirational images. There are different sections for plants and bulbs, garden essentials and gifts, plus you can find plenty of information about important news and upcoming events.
We love its lewisias plant (from £4.25, Ashwoodnurseries.com), which is an award-winning speciality with delicate flowers in a range of vibrant colours including magenta, apricot and white.
Bloombox Club
If you’re looking for houseplants, consider Bloombox Club, which was created by psychologist Dr Katie Cooper. It focuses on indoor plants that can aid wellbeing
As well as individual plants, which span flowering, hanging and fern styles, the site also offers a great plant subscription service. Ideal if you’re looking to create an indoor jungle, you can choose to receive a box monthly, quarterly, bi-annually or annually. Each delivery contains a plant that’s handpicked by specialist growers, with a ceramic pot or basket, booklets and surprise gifts.
In our guide to the best house plants, Bloombox Club’s snake plant laurentii (£36.95, Bloomboxclub.com) was featured for both its eye-catching spikey leaves and its ability to purify air. “What makes this plant so great is that it has a NASA-approved magic power,” our tester said. “One of the best purifiers, it absorbs harmful toxins from the air and releases lots of oxygen at night, which is said to help you drift off to sleep and lessen the impact of airborne allergens like dust.” Other snake plants are available, too (£18.95, Bloomboxclub.com).
Pomona Fruits
If you’re looking to grow your own, this website is a go-to. Specialists in garden fruit, Pomona offers a range of fruit and nut trees, soft fruit bushes and strawberry plants, which can all be delivered straight to your door. It’s not all fruit either: the retailer sells vegetables, garden accessories and hedging, too.
Plump for the best of British strawberry plant collection (£39.90, Pomonafruits.co.uk), which consists of 24 plants, some of which are award-winning. It’s currently on offer too.
Plant Savers at Muddy Trowel
Inspired by the news that millions of plants were at risk of going to waste due to the closures of garden centres and nurseries during the pandemic, Plant Savers at Muddy Trowel is an online delivery service that rescues plants from British growers and delivers them direct to your door.
The retailer sources plants from nurseries that are likely to go to waste, so it can’t promise which specific plants you will receive, and instead offers plant bundles that it claims will be worth a lot more than the price point and will arrive undamaged.
It does specify how many plants you will receive in the assortment you choose and their size, and each delivery includes a bag of compost.
Fibrex Nurseries
A family-run company, Fibrex Nurseries is based in the Warwickshire countryside and is home to The National Pelargonium and Hedera Collections, typically on display from May.
The website can be filtered by a number of different plant categories, including pelargoniums, hederas, ferns, hibiscus and more. If you’re shopping for a gardening fan but don’t know where to start you can also pick up gift vouchers ranging from £5 to £50.
Peter Beales Roses
This Norfolk-based nursery specialises in classic roses, with a beautiful collection of varieties that are categorised by colour and group on the website. It also sells other plants its experts deem complementary to roses, from climbers and shrubs to perennials.
We love the yellow shrub rose (£21, Classicroses.co.uk), with striking blooms that are perfect for brightening up your garden in time for summer. We’re planning a visit to its beautiful gardens, too.
For more top tips and recommendations, check out our dedicated gardening section
