House Plants
25 Thursday Oct 2012
Written by MrsLamberth in flowers, inspiration, Nordic Bliss asks, trends
Tags
green, greenery, home decorating, house plants, indoor, plants, stylizimo, terracotta, trendenser, weronica
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If you haven’t read it already Decorator’s Notebook had a post about a discussion we had a couple of weeks back. Basically I was telling her about my frustration with not finding any nice house plants in the UK. Ever since I moved here I have been looking for a place to buy pretty plants for our home. But they don’t seem to exist in the shops. There are very few alternatives. Often it is this one or this one… As we talked about it it seemed perhaps that there is no demand from shoppers in the UK, maybe house plants isn’t really a thing the Brits do?
When I look at the homes I post here on the blog almost every one of them has plants. Not big terrariums or windowsills so covered that the light barely gets through. But a dash of green every now and then, a gardenia on the coffee and bedside table, an olive tree next to the sofa.
from Stylizimo
from Trendenser
from En Mammas Dag
I think most of my favourite Scandinavian bloggers all seem to have house plants and I really like the way it looks. So my question is: Why do Brits stay away from plants in their house? (and also why are there no pretty house plants in any shops? If there are, please tell me where!) I’d love to hear what plants you have in your home or if that is a big no no :)
15 comments
October 25, 2012 at 8:37 am
I was raised in a home with plenty of plants – my mum still loves nice home plants and so do I. Even though I live in a very small rooftop apartment, I have currently five plants in my home:-) One orchid, a little palm and three succulents. I love them – they looks beautiful, they add a touch of nature and living to any interior and I can constantly redecorate with plant pots:-) Triple love!
October 25, 2012 at 9:34 am
I have the very same problem here in Barcelona: I cannot find nice plants apart from the ones they’ve been selling in any shop for the last 20 years. At the moment, I have a succulent, three different ferns but the best piece is a plumeria – the plant used by Hawaiian girls to make the flower wreaths – but it’s a jewel brought from Senegal!
I’d love to have the small Sophora showed in the second picture but no trace of it anywhere. : )
October 25, 2012 at 10:19 am
It’s true! I’m English and would love to have more/better house plants but the ones I’m after don’t seem to be stocked anywhere. Clifton Nurseries is quite good, as is the Chelsea Gardener but even there I had to request a particular plant – a monstera deliciosa – as they didn’t have it in stock. I didn’t go for it in the end as it wasn’t the right size for me and was v pricey! I’d love to hear about any good sources you find.
October 25, 2012 at 2:49 pm
Ever since we had our chat I’ve been noticing lots of nice plants on the Scandi blog – there seems to be a big trend for those whispy little trees (in your second picture) and I think I would really like one of them.
Does anyone know the name of that plant please?
October 25, 2012 at 2:54 pm
It’s a Sophora microphylla. : )
October 25, 2012 at 4:02 pm
Thank you Elena – it is lovely – so delicate!
I will try searching for one in England!
October 25, 2012 at 4:32 pm
I live in Scotland and we have TONS of plants in our home. My husband is a keen gardener, so we have plenty indoors and out. Nice pot plants you really need to go to a specialist store for – a garden centre or even DIY places like B&Q’s garden areas.
Or – grow them from seed, yourself – very satisfying and so easy to do!
October 25, 2012 at 11:11 pm
I have 3 plants in my living room all of which are dracaena as they seem to be the only plants hardy enough to withstand my negligent form of plant care. I have had one of them since I was a fresher at Uni, which makes it 12 years old. I also have some bamboo as that is also quite hard to kill and a number of tiny cacti. Can you see a pattern here?
However, I have been looking for more plants for my home for a while now but I can never find anything decent. I wanted some lovely plants for my bathroom but the search continues.
October 26, 2012 at 10:33 pm
I share your “pain”. I am from Denmark and have been living in the UK for more than 10 years now. I still find the complete lack of interesting house plants so frustrating!! Managed to track down a corokia last year in our local garden centre which made me smile for weeks.
Bonnie
November 3, 2012 at 11:44 pm
In my lounge I have 8 or 9, another 8 or 9 in the kitchen, a few in the bathroom, even the children have a venus fly trap or a spider plant.
Most of my plants are inherited/cuttings/babies of those cohabiting with friends and family or ones I have grown from seeds: perhaps that is why you don’t find them in B&Q/Ikea, there’s a thriving culture of indoor plant growing that doesn’t rely on shops?
beautiful blog thank you for sharing!
November 4, 2012 at 10:14 am
I’ve got quite a few houseplants and yes, I live in London! ;) There are a couple of places in Colombia Road flower market that sell them and will give great advice about which ones will thrive well during miserable, cold, rainy winters.
x
November 10, 2012 at 4:24 pm
I like your topic, quite interesting several ideas I have find here. But i’ve got 1 question, and there is no answer here, where I live, maybe you can help me? Do you know the name of the plant that we can see on the right window?
http://hqroom.ru/img/2011/11/3rooms_apartment_hqroom_ru_6.jpg
November 18, 2012 at 9:55 am
I do hope our host won’t mind but I believe it’s a ivy trained on an metal wire arch: very simple to make at home if you do not find it anywhere!
December 3, 2012 at 8:15 am
Various plants are sometimes grouped together in special plant tables or large cubes; elsewhere built-in or loose troughs are used to great effect, and occasionally a sizable section of the floor is raised to form seating and accommodate sunken plant troughs. This last innovation can make such an interior exceptionally cosy and welcoming.
December 5, 2012 at 7:16 am
Hi. I live in London Kentish Town, there is a beautiful plant shop just off the tube. It is called Boma, i think. I would trully recommend it if you are still trying to find some green
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