In recent years the popularity of houseplants has seen a huge increase. According to the National Gardening Association, houseplant sales surged by 50% between 2016 and 2019. And then the pandemic hit.

The last year or so of the pandemic (we’ve lost track at this point) has hugely contributed to the booming houseplant trend. The Royal Horticultural Society reported a 22.8% increase in their July sales alone compared to the previous year, through both their website and garden centres.

The scale of the trend can very obviously be seen throughout social media, with the tag #houseplants being used almost seven million times on Instagram. It’s interesting to see quite how many people started the pandemic with very few plants and now have their own home jungles.

So why exactly has the pandemic caused such a surge in houseplant popularity? We list five top reasons below.

Owning houseplants gives people a chance to provide care and form a bond with a living thing, which has come as a welcome escape to many who have been dealing with loneliness throughout the lockdowns, when separation from friends and family became the ‘new normal’. What’s more, caring for plants not only helps to ease loneliness but can also improve mental wellbeing by reducing stress and anxiety. A Japanese study found that 27% of participants experienced a reduction in their anxiety levels after just three minutes of tending to an indoor plant.

Another factor in the houseplant boom is the ever-increasing rental market. With fewer people having access to private gardens, houseplants have been a way to bring nature indoors at a time when access to outdoors was practically and legally limited. According to a 2018 report by mental health charity Mind, nature can improve both mood and physical health, so it’s no wonder that so many have turned to houseplants to provide that much needed connection to nature.

As well as improving mental health, it has been proven that being in an environment with houseplants can boost attention span. It is thought that indoor plants can prevent fatigue during periods of attention-demanding work (four hours of back-to-back Zoom calls, anyone?) With much of the world being thrown into working from home over the course of the pandemic, plants may have helped people to concentrate through the distractions caused by informal work environments and an endlessly attention-grabbing news cycle.

Being stuck within the same four walls for such extended periods of time, it’s not surprising that people have become somewhat tired of their homes. This has inspired many to take up decorating and DIY projects as a way to refresh their space as well as using up all that free time. A study by Global Data has shown that a massive three in five UK consumers had plans to decorate and furnish their homes during lockdown. Houseplants can be a low-cost way to spruce up homes and it seems fair to say that this has been a big factor behind the popularity increase.

Possibly one of the largest influences on the houseplant boom has been social media. Plants were already a huge trend before the pandemic, so when we were all glued to our phones due to being stuck inside, well… the results speak for themselves. You don’t have to look far on Instagram to find images of swoon-worthy houseplant set-ups, and there are now whole communities of plant lovers interacting and sharing with each other via social media. This has provided people with the opportunity to interact and bond over shared interests, which has been so important at a time when we weren’t able to interact in person.

The past year and a half has been a tough one for everyone, but a positive that can be taken from it are the new interests that have been bought into our lives, houseplants being one of them. Here’s hoping that now everyone has realised the benefits of indoor planting and will continue to bring them into their homes. Remember folks, a plant is for life, not just for lockdown!

To see our selection of house plants, visit the online shop on our website or pop over to Farringdon to see us in-store, open weekdays 12-6.30pm.