Green revolution: why houseplants took over our homes during the pandemic 

Bought any houseplants recently? You are not alone. Patch, an online indoor plant retailer, saw a 500 per cent increase in sales during the lockdown. That’s not a misprint. For those stuck indoors, this was the perfect way to bring some greenery inside. Not to mention the added bonus of making at least one corner of your home Zoom-ready.

Is this a new addiction? Well, yes and no. When I first published my book Potted History: The Story of Plants in the Home, nearly 15 years ago, I ended on a rather pessimistic note. Since the heyday of Victorian ferneries and Edwardian parlour palms, the popularity of houseplants had steadily waned. By the start of the 21st century, cut flowers were all the rage, with cheap imports flooding supermarket shelves.

Why look after a houseplant from one year to the next when, for a fraction of the price, you could fill your home with a different bunch every week? But open any interiors magazine today and you’re more likely to see a Chinese money plant (Pilea peperomioides) or a fiddle-leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) than a vase of flowers.

The ubiquitous fiddle-leaf fig sums up the changing status of houseplants. They have become design statements, with this plant in particular being many interiors stylists’ go-to favourite.

In late 2019, we heard that “plantfluencers” (yes, apparently there are such things) were prepared to pay more than £2,000 for the Chanel handbag of house plants: Monstera obliqua. I would have been shocked by that if I hadn’t just seen a modestly-sized ­fiddle-leaf fig for sale for £250 in my local north London garden centre.

Houseplants have reached a new peak of popularity, which could overshadow even the level it got to in the 19th century. They are big business: in the UK alone, the indoor houseplant and flower market was worth £2.2 billion in 2018. The RHS’s garden centre at Wisley in Surrey saw houseplant sales increase 62 per cent last year, before the lockdown.

How has this “green revolution”come about in little over 10 years? One reason is the shortage of homes with access to outside space and a new generation of flat dwellers looking to bring greenery inside. The other two factors reflect advances in technology: improved propagation techniques and the growth of social media.

Indoor plants have become cheaper thanks to advances in micropropagation. Instead of the risky business of taking cuttings, techniques using bud and root tip cells make for near foolproof propagation. The almost ubiquitous moth orchid (Phalaenopsis), for example, can now be bought for about a quarter of what it would have cost 20 years ago.

The other big technological driver has been the popularity of social media, especially Pinterest and Instagram. Growers such as such as Jamie Song (who has 328k followers on his Instagram account @jamies_jungle) and James Wong in the UK, Darryl Cheng in Canada and Hilton Carter and Summer Rayne Oakes in the United States, share images of their collections for thousands of followers around the world to drool over and dream of emulating.

It isn’t hard to see why indoor plants have become so popular with millennials, a generation who love to share images of their food and pets. Houseplant expert Mercy Morris says that ­Instagram has democratised the love of indoor plants, allowing people to communicate about their plant passions.

Her own collection of over 150 different houseplants was to have been the first to open to the public for the National Gardens Scheme this year. While that is on hold for now, you can enjoy a virtual tour via the NGS’s website.

Houseplants are easy to photograph with a mobile phone. As horticultural journalist Jane Perrone told me: “A variegated leaf looks good in a square, more so than a border full of plants outside.”

A keen indoor plant collector since childhood, Perrone started a podcast about them, On The Ledge, in early 2017. Within three years, it has become one of the most popular podcasts in the “home and garden” category, drawing in listeners anxious to learn more about plant care.

With images of popular plants such as Monstera deliciosa (Swiss cheese plant), varieties of Alocasia (elephant’s ear) and Calathea (prayer plant) constantly available on social media, it is no surprise that the RHS found that these varieties were also the bestselling houseplants in 2019.

Sales of Alocasia, particularly the dramatic Alocasia zebrina, grew tenfold over the previous year’s figure, while their Wisley Plant Centre sold over 1,300 prayer plants. Many traditional garden centres have been slow to ­promote indoor plant sales. Instead, the main growth has been through online sites such as Hortology and Patch, as well as specialist shops such as Conservatory Archives in Hackney, east London.

In 2018, Patch sent out 120,000 houseplants to British homes. During the lockdown, they’ve already sent out 31,000 of one plant alone, ‘Rapunzel’, Golden Pothos (Epipremnum aureum). Sales of ‘Susie’, a Sansevieria, and ‘Big Ken’, the kentia palm, have also dramatically increased. (All Patch’s plants come with reassuring non-botanical names, so as not to scare beginners.)

Most of these newly-popular plants have actually been around for over 150 years. They are being rediscovered by a new generation because they fit so well into contemporary lifestyles. There are other benefits as well. “The theme of wellbeing and indoor plants has been long-established,” Mark McCance, owner of online houseplant retailer, Hortology, told me. He thinks the Covid-19 pandemic has brought this into sharp focus, with people looking to create their personal sanctuary of calm.

Morris believes the love of plants has skipped a generation to the millennials and Generation Z. They may no longer have windowsills lined with African violets (Saintpaulia) as their grandparents did, but many spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum ‘Variegatum’) and Christmas cacti (Schlumbergera) have survived as cuttings passed on by family and friends.

I, too, am a borderline indoor plant addict (according to my husband). I think the total number – 35 – is quite modest, but I have to admit that many of them are rather large. I was seduced by an Alocasia zebrina, with its alluring striped stems when it was just 40cm high. Buyers beware! It has grown so big I could now hide behind its enormous statement leaves. But it’s staying because it’s still stylish.

A new introduction perhaps? Far from it. The illustration of Alocasia zebrina on the cover of the revised edition of Potted History is a hand-coloured print from the mid-19th century. There’s not much new under the sun these days – especially on the windowsill.

Potted History: How Houseplants Took Over Our Homes by Catherine Horwood (Pimpernel Press) is available from books.telegraph.co.uk for £9.99.

Popular plants that help clear the air at home 

Thirty years ago, research from Nasa showed that certain houseplants could soak up air pollutants such as formaldehyde and benzene. Step forward Spathiphyllum wallisii, the peace lily. For best effect, you need lots of plants – ideally a green wall. But even just a few of these easy houseplants can improve indoor air quality.

Hedera helix, the common ivy, ties with Spathiphyllum in being best at reducing CO2 and stabilising humidity.

These are also proven to be beneficial to indoor air quality:

• Dracaena fragrans ‘Lemon Lime’ Ficus elastica, the rubber plant
• Guzmania ‘Indian Night’, colourful
• Nephrolepis exaltata ‘Bostoniensis’, the Boston fern
• Phoenix roebelenii, the dwarf date palm
• Zamioculcas zamiifolia, the ZZ plant 

Some houseplants are toxic to cats and dogs, so check labels carefully before purchasing.

How old is your houseplant? 

Many popular houseplants have been around for 
over a 100 years.

Mid-19th century

It wasn’t all fern fever and aspidistras in the 19th century. Alocasia longiloba ‘Veitchii’, the trendy elephant’s ear, first arrived from the jungles of Borneo in 1862. It was a statement plant for Victorian parlours.

Early 20th century

Large palms such as Howea forestiana, the kentia palm, and Chamaedorea elegans, the parlour palm, were ideal for the more pared-down minimalism of the Edwardian drawing room.

The 1930s

The current popularity of cacti and succulents is also nothing new. Opuntia ficus-indica, the prickly pear, and Aloe vera were often chosen to match the angular art deco style.

Mid-20th century

Every 1960s sideboard had its Chlorophytum comosum ‘Variegatum’, the spider plant, while Saintpaulia, the African violet, sold in millions and reigned on north-facing windowsills.

Late-20th century

Instant greenery in the shape of Schefflera, the umbrella plant, and Ficus benjamina, the often-temperamental weeping fig, still give a jungle look to many contemporary living rooms.

Early-21st century

No millennial home is complete without a Pilea peperomioides, the highly fecund (and, to some, auspicious) Chinese money plant, and Ficus lyrata, the fiddle-leaf fig. But for how much longer?