Not sure where you can buy a houseplant from? Or even the best place to start your search? Well you've come to the right place.
The good news is that indoor plants are incredibly popular right now and this means you can buy and find houseplants for sale from a good many places these days. From traditional plant shops to online and multiple places in between.
There are positive and negatives to each which we will explore in the sections below.
First here are a few houseplant buying tips that can be used no matter where you decide to buy from.
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This is becoming an increasingly common way to buy. It's quick, convenient and a fantastic way to get hold of rare or hard to find house plants. The clear disadvantage is that you are buying "blind" you have no idea what the actual plant they're packing up and sending to you actually looks like.
Buy from a reputable online retailer, be skeptical of any offers or "sales" sounding to good to be true and always, always, ALWAYS read the description of what you're buying. Never assume the plant in the picture is the one you're literally going to get or assume that it's truly representative of what will be sent.
Examples of places to shop: - eBay, Etsy, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com (Affiliate Links)
The Garden Centre or independent Nursery is normally a brilliant place to buy good quality houseplants.
The people selling them should be knowledgeable and keen to assist you where possible, you've obviously gone there to look for a plant and they'll sell you one if possible.
The business depends on the income generated from selling each and every one of these plants and because they might have been in the shop for some time before being sold, they'll be well taken care.
This may seem a strange place to buy houseplants, but seeing as many Supermarkets sell all kinds of things these days it probably isn't overly surprising you can find plants for sale too.
They tend to be incredibly cheap, but the range is often limited, quickly changes and the stock may not be of great quality.
These tend to be shops which focus almost exclusively on plants and quite often are in an area with lots of passing trade.
Their reputation is paramount to their survival and the owners have to pay heavy rents for such popular locations. With this in mind you may pay a little more than in other places, but because the expertise on hand will be exceptional they're definitely a strong contender for one of the best places to buy healthy houseplants.
The designs of the stores are often gorgeous normally demostrate that the owners have a real passion for plants and know their stuff.
An good high street store will stock a variety of well treated seasonal houseplants at inexpensive prices. However in our experience, in most department stores the plants are not the main focus of the shop, i.e. it might specialise in clothing or food and the plants are just an after thought or "add on" at the tills.
Therefore regrettably most plants in these places are not well looked after and dead or diseased plants are quite common. If you're looking for a particular plant this may not be the best place to start your search, however you could still find a good deal.
These chain stores often have a "garden centre" or house decoration section, which will inevitably sell houseplants.
Prices are normally fair, and the selection varied. Quality is often excellent, although the staff members may not be well trained in "plants" and the care labels attached to the pots are often generic in their instructions.
Most aspects of a Market Stall and a Florist tend to be average in terms of the range of houseplants they sell.
Due to space limitations, these places tend to be quite small spaces, or they're also selling other services or products at the same time. For example in the case of a Florist most of the space will be reserved for their cut flowers.
However don't let this put you off as this could still be a good spot to find more common varieties of well cared for houseplants.
It's quite common at Fetes / Fairs to find amateur stalls selling garden plants but you may also find ones selling home grown indoor plants too. The selection however is often very limited and you will normally only find types which are very easy for the lay person to propagate, i.e. Spider Plants.
Prices can be quite varied although often a high proportion, if not all, of the sale price will go to the very reason for holding the Fete in the first place , i.e. to a charity or a school.
Have we missed any? Where do you buy your houseplants from? Tell us in the comments below.