Houseplants could be seasonal saviour for last-minute shoppers
Festive shoppers scratching their heads over last-minute Christmas presents should consider gifting a house plant, as figures show December is a peak month for potted purchases. Around one in seven of all houseplants sold in the UK’s garden centres are purchased in the last month of the year. Industry body, the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA), says a plant is the perfect way to celebrate the season and has wellbeing and environmental benefits too.
New information from the HTA’s Garden Retail Monitor system, collecting barcode level sales data from UK garden centres, shows that last year 13% of all sales of houseplants in garden centres in 2022 were made in December. The industry is expecting a similar level of trade this year.
Laura Jeffery, Market Research Manager at the HTA, said: “A houseplant really is the gift that keeps on giving, usually for many years. Some greenery and colour bring cheer to us all in these darker months as well as continued pleasure, long after the wrapping paper from other presents has been recycled. This all makes a houseplant a sustainable present in more ways than one, with benefits to mental and physical wellbeing too.”
Although poinsettias are often a top choice at Christmas, HTA advises that there are other flowers and plants that are easy to care for in Winter. It suggests that there are other types that flourish at this time of year, including more tropical species. Dracaenas, Epimediums (commonly known as Devil’s Ivy or Pothos) and Philodendrons are resilient all year round, but they especially thrive in the winter. This is because they are adept at surviving in very low light levels, with about 95% of sunlight being filtered out by the time it gets to the dark forest floor.
The festive season is a vital trading period for the UK’s garden centres: the HTA found that 10% of total annual garden centre turnover in 2022 was made in December, and that nearly a third (29%) of sales in that month came from their Christmas departments.
It also found that 3.8 million people bought a real Christmas tree, and 2.4 million bought an artificial tree in a garden centre in 2022.
For shoppers unable to reach a garden centre in time or who are gifting from afar the HTA runs the National Garden Gift Voucher scheme. Evouchers and gift cards are available in store and online from £5 to £500 and can be spent in 1400 locations across the UK.