Since my recent post on the resurgence of indoor plants in Britain, I came across a few things which further confirm that there is a trend. Here they are:

The Houseplant book
As recently as Nov 5th another book on the subject entered the market. Called “House of Plants”, this is a local effort albeit published by “serious gardening” publishers Frances and Lincoln. The authors, Caro and Rose, started with a stall on Broadway Market little over a year ago, selling their self-grown plants. They now specialize in self-made hanging planters and locally made ceramic pots along with air plants, succulents and other indoor greenery and have opened their own shop Ro Co in North London. “House of Plants” is their first book (which I appropriately enough discovered in a Broadway Market bookshop).

Caro and Rose also have a designers' background and indeed offer bespoke event styling services with plants. Unlike the books mentioned in my previous post, however, theirs caters for those who genuinely care for their plants, i.e. they give plenty of horticultural advice such as how to propagate plants via leaf cuttings.

The Forestarium entrepreneur
I learned that someone working in my local café has started her own business, too, creating bespoke “plant terrariums”. Faustine, who tells me she will go travelling for three months before concentrating on the business, calls them forestariums. She creates little scenes and often includes tiny figures or items personally relevant to her clients. Check out her Instagram account here.

The Evening Standard embrace :-)
On Nov 10th, London’s free daily The Evening Standard also declared indoor plants “hip”: In her weekly “Homes and Property” gardening column, Pattie Barron wrote about the trend for indoor gardening – triggered, no doubt, by the upcoming “festival” [her term] that was

The RHS London Urban Garden Show
This took place last weekend and was the first ever, i.e. a new addition to the show calendar of the Royal Horticultural Society.

There was a great programme of talks, curated by co-curators at large CityScapes. They paired two speakers on each topic which made for interesting juxtapositions. 
Take first seminar Urban Agriculture:  Richard Ballard talked about his fascinating enterprise Growing Underground which - in a tunnel 33 metres under the streets of London - grows microgreens for restaurants with the help of hydroponics and LED lights. I'd read about them in the only issue of WIRED magazine I ever bought and Ballard's talk was the one reason I dragged myself out of bed on a rainy Saturday to arrive at the Urban Garden Show early. He was complemented by Sean Gifford from Sky Farmers who also grow food and deliver it to restaurants etc. - but chose the exact opposite in terms of location to do so: London's roof tops.

A seminar called Green is the new Black saw founder and editor Tom Loxley of Rakesprogess talk about how this brand-new print magazine came about and why he thinks it is viable and tapping into a much wider trend. He linked it to the general "Slow-Movement"  and a revaluation of crafts. In fact, he echoed my own long-held conviction that there is a new "Arts and Crafts" movement - akin to the one  in reaction to the Industrial Revolution. Right now, we are witnessing one in reaction to the Digital Revolution though it may not (yet?) have a figurehead like William Morris & Friends. 

He was followed by Dr Catherine Horwood, garden historian and author of the highly recommendable Potted History: The Story of Plants in the Home, who spoke about the wider context and showed that gardening in the city really isn't anything new. In fact, the Lindley Library currently shows an exhibition called The City Gardener, inspired by Thomas Fairchild's book of the same name which was first published in 1722.

It was nice to meet the guys from GardenTags again whom I'd first come across at GROW London in June. They were promoting their free app, explaining its benefits to the audience. Their social network for gardeners seems to do well and I think it is a truly good idea. Their co-lecturer in the seminar Gardening and Social Media was Michael Perry: self-styled Mr PlantGeek and under this moniker successfully busy on seemingly every media channel (social or otherwise), spreading the love for plants.

I had been surprised to see such a large number of elderly people – well, a generation or two above my own – at the Urban Garden Show, and perhaps less of a young crowd than I had expected. Quite probably the RHS’s traditional members came, dutifully, for this new show from their society, too. What did they make of it, I wonder? And was it the RHS's declared intention to cater for this clientele as much as for a new target group - or were they simply not entirely sure of whom to expect? For Perry introduced his audience to various social media channels - what they are, how they work and what might be in there for a keen gardener. 

Now, I may not be on social media thus far myself, for a number of reasons, but of course I do know about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest & Co. So this talk clearly was geared towards the older generation and accordingly several younger people left half-way through. I'm sure many seniors would have left, too - as they likely are on social media themselves already - but politeness kept them on their seats. That's not to say, of course, that Perry's presentation was boring. Just that there is a fairly small demographic which still would have been unfamiliar with its contents. This kind of introduction seemed to sit strangely with the rest of the talks. I for one, at least, would have expected something far more specific here.

Neither could I help wondering what the large portion of grey- or white heads in the audience (and I don't mean the fashionably dyed-grey...) made of seminar Greening Grey Britain? It not only introduced the RHS's own initiative of that name, but the lovely The Edible Bus Stop as well as the work of aforementioned CityScapes. Over the past few years I've seen several examples of the latter two in real life and very much liked their practical as well as sometimes irreverent, sometimes intellectual take on the subject of gardening. Especially CityScapes contributions strongly veer towards conceptual art and no surprise here since their tagline is "growing art in the city". It's  not your average fare at a RHS London show...

If the traditional RHS clientele were surprise, they didn't show it. Sure, an elderly lady with ringlets asked where the money for all these activities and installations came from - and you half-expected it would be followed by the comment "I hope no taxpayers' money is squandered on this" - but really, she seemed more like a journalist who couldn't quit asking questions simply because she'd reached retirement age. So overall, everyone I saw and talked to seemed very positive about this departure into waters new by the RHS. I hope there will be more of its kind. It's one more step towards including as many people as possible and raise awareness for the importance of plants - indoors and out, in the largely untouched as well as in the rural and the urban environment.

How do you navigate urban geography? For me, any town or city I have lived in became accessible by its network of parks and green spaces, but also that of flower shops. They are the fixpoints around which I map a city. Especially when new somewhere, I'd remember directions to a café or cinema along the lines of "Left of the market with the stall that sells unusual bedding plants", or "near the flower shop in the underpass".

When I moved to London all those years ago, an unreasonably large portion of the removal van was given over to my beloved indoor plants. Probably half of those are no longer with me, time constraints due to a growing family saw to that. However, I guess I would have replaced them if only I'd found the variety on offer I was used to being tempted by. Yet one of the first things I noticed on coming here was the comparative lack of indoor or conservatory plants sold in flower shops and garden centres. Why was that? Why did a country famed for its plant hunters, orchid mania and stove houses in Victorian days no longer care about indoor plants?

It didn't come as a total surprise to me: years ago, while at uni, I'd compared British and German gardening magazines and one thing that had stood out was this lack of interest in indoor greenery. But why? My own theory at first: As the traditional British house with its narrow front and long interior tends to be darker than continental town houses, plants can really only thrive near the windows. Perhaps droughty windows killed the tender tropic or sub-tropic guests, making people give up? I certainly lost several plants for that reason and still try to fill the gaps in the window frames with several layers of twine each winter. (In Victorian times, Wardian cases or similar would have protected these treasures and provide a plant-friendly microclimate in a living room setting.)

However, browsing the shelves of charity and second hand bookshops, I'd find publications on indoor plants by the metre! All of them from the Sixties, Seventies or early Eighties though. As window frames probably weren't different then, this theory didn't hold. I settled for the following: Since winters here tend not to be as harsh as those in Scandinavia or mid- to Eastern Europe, people can garden and have something in flower pretty much all year round. So while there may be less to look at in the garden, there is no desperate need for indoor plants!  I guess, they simply fell out of fashion. While in Germany it happened to once popular species or genera which were replaced by new, "more exciting" ones - here in Britain it seemed to have hit all, safe the ubiquitous Phalenopsis or moth orchid.

Until fairly recently there were about four or five flower shops in my extended area, two of them old-school florists, another the very fashionable Rebel Rebel. A further shop around the corner gave up as we moved in: I'd seen it open when we signed the rental contract but when we unpacked boxes it was no more, very disappointing. A successor has come and gone since. It did offer a few indoor plants but I have to admit I hardly ever bought anything there as I deemed it too expensive. (A portrait about my local favourite was once published on the simply incredible, awe-inspiring blog Spitalfields Life. Sadly, Joanne's flower shop, too, has closed its doors this spring and moved to Essex.) Our best bet was - to some extent still is - the famous Columbia Road Flower Market.

Things have changed, however. A number of "new kids on the block" have appeared over the past two or three years. First, if I remember correctly, was Grace and Thorn on Hackney Road. Their floral creations, like those of Rebel Rebel, seem to be very popular in fashion and fashionable circles. However, it was their shop which immediately attracted my attention. Not only did it offer many indoor plants, most of them succulents, but it presented them very stylishly, too: attractive cachepots abound. Incidentally, Grace and Thorn are about to open their third shop in the very near future - on Brick Lane. 

Then there are several shops that have added a few plants to what they sell - such as interior and fashion brand House of Hackney. With the latter's sumptuous, William Morris inspired designs, many of them featuring florals and foliage, this makes perfect sense and adds to the appeal of their shop. Others, like the one which otherwise sells fabric by the metre, seem to have added them to their portfolio because the owner simply loves plants and the optimistic and aesthetic boost they give to the shop - and perhaps because greenery in the window and on the pavement in front entices people to step in.

Then in December last year, also on Hackney Road, opened the Conservatory Archives. You couldn't miss it, the place is a jungle and heaven to someone like me. Crammed to the rafters with indoor plants of all sizes, it still manages to present them in a way you covet them all. As far as I'm aware it's the only retailer that focusses entirely on indoor plants. Very quickly, they seem to have acquired not only a loyal following but also been asked to do all sorts of installations for other trendy or upmarket shops and events, such as Grow London or the London Design Festival.

This year, a small flower shop opened again a few yards from where I live. Whilst their main business is bouquets, they too offer some of the newly fashionable housemates. And only last week I came across a new place which seems to epitomise this whole resurgence: off Broadway Market in Shoreditch, which you could quite possibly call "hipster central", I found Twigs. It's a plant shop offering coffee and lunch to go, thus combining the big urban trends of recent years: with latte, cappuccino & co it caters for the needs of the Flat White economy (of course there's also Wifi and a table to set up your MacBook or other Apple device) and with street food style lunch boxes and treats like macaron-ice cream-sandwiches for the "foodie" as well.

So why are indoor plants "in" again, especially with hip young folk? [I do sound like an old owl, don't I :-) ?] For one thing, young urbanites are ever more likely to be renters these days. Many won't have access to a garden. But even if their current abode offers one, they are less likely to waste much time and expenditure on it: why would you if you may have to up sticks soon? Houseplants not only make an impersonal flat instantly and with minimal effort more personal and welcoming, you can also take them along as you - once again - move home.

Moreover, whilst the previous generation will have seen them around in prissy interiors when they were children and, on growing up, may have rebelled and dismissed houseplants as square, the current Twenty- and Thirtysomethings are untroubled by this image and rediscovering indoor green for themselves. Sansevierias are a case in point. Decades ago, my father was given one when he graduated from university. All through my childhood we had this indestructible plant on our windowsill, in an undeniably Seventies-style cachepot of what looked like crocheted plastic. In fact, my parents still have this very same plant though it resides in a beautiful ceramic pot now. Anyway, I hadn't seen it for sale in twenty years. Then all of a sudden, a few years ago it re-appeared and has since enjoyed a spectacular comeback: the not-so-lovingly named Mother-in-law's tongue is seemingly everywhere now.

Accordingly, you'll also find an ever-increasing number of books on the subject. However, these look nothing like the "How to care for" manuals of yesteryear. Instead, they are most likely to focus on style and design. A brief glance around a local bookshop yielded at least six such titles, all new or fairly recently published, and most were expensively produced. Typical titles: "Wonder plants - Your Urban Jungle Interior", "Botanical style - Inspirational decorating with nature, plants and florals", "Decorating with plants - The Art of Using Plants to Transform Your Home" or simply "Evergreen - Living with plants" ("Dispel gardening angst and warmly welcome plants into your home..."). "Green is the new black", they proclaim and are more likely to be the output of a stylist than a horticulturist.

Preoccupation with style and a comparative lack of knowledge about how to care for indoor plants amongst this new target group - these too are the likely reasons why succulents and Tillandsias (or "air plants") especially are having a moment. They are easy to look after (i.e. won't die if you forget to water them) and are very sculptural at that. Moreover, there is a seemingly infinite variety of succulents - making it all but irresistible to build up a collection. Thus you'll find many shops that sell tiny plants in tiny pots at often not-to-tiny prices: the message, I guess, is that these really are collector's items. Affordable luxury. On the other end of the scale there are the "statement pieces" which command prices accordingly.

I may not always have the budget (or space!) for them, but I can no longer complain that you can't buy beautiful indoor plants in my neck of the woods. I'll finish by quoting from an article in The Telegraph: "How houseplants charmed a new generation of gardeners".  

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