Keep your ‘plant miles’ down by following these tips on importing, greenhouse use and propogating
I have been getting loads of questions about the sustainability of houseplants recently. To me, it’s very encouraging that people are so interested in greening their indoors (in both senses of the word). Here is a quick run down on the environmental impact of houseplants, and how to shrink it as much as you can.
The major concern I hear is that the vast majority of houseplants sold in the UK are imported, racking up “plant miles” on their journey from the huge nurseries in the Netherlands. However, all you need do is look at a map to see that Holland is as close, if not closer, to many of us here in Britain than other parts of the UK. Secondly, these plants are transported here by road and ferry, which produces not only a fraction of the carbon emissions per mile of flying, but significantly less than smaller scale deliveries would generate from UK nurseries. If you are driving to your garden centre to buy houseplants, the emissions from your car will almost certainly be greater than the emissions generated in getting it from grower to garden centre. In fact, it is fair to say that in the production chain of houseplants, transport is one of the lowest sources of carbon emissions wherever you chose to source them from.
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