Looking to buy plants online? As spring is here, now is a fantastic moment to tend to your garden, living room pots and/or outdoor space, whether that's buying bedding plants for a colourful display, pot plants to liven up a covered space or tomato plants to start your own vegetable patch.
Given the coronavirus COVID-19 social distancing, isolation and lockdown rules currently in place by the government, being confined to our homes means those of us who have a garden are spending more time in it. And if you're stuck working in the kitchen, a little greenery goes a long way to brighten up a dull space.
If you're not embarking on painting and decorating projects, then you might be looking to spruce up your garden, especially with sowing, planting and weeding being key jobs in the garden for spring. With supermarket stockpiling, many of us are also keen to embrace the grow your own trend, specifically looking to buy vegetable seeds or herbs to start a kitchen garden. There's also a heightened interest in houseplants, as we bring the outside in and inject greenery into our living space, which is needed now more than ever.
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With the closure of non-essential stores, which unfortunately includes garden centres, we're unable to pop to a local centre or nursery near to us to buy plants*, so it's no surprise that there's been an exceptionally high demand in buying plants online for home delivery. But where are the best sites to buy seeds, bulbs, plants and other garden essentials? All sites are experiencing extremely high volumes but here we round up the best retailers, noting any restrictions or delays currently in place.
*Please check with your local garden centre to see if they are still able to sell plants either online or via telephone order given the restrictions in place.
Thompson & Morgan
A great all-rounder, you can buy lots of plants from Thompson & Morgan, and there is currently no queueing system in place. The site stocks a great range including garden plants, flower seeds, flower bulbs and tubers, vegetable seeds and houseplants. There are lots of special offers on the website too, and you can also pick up some plant pots and other gardening essentials while you're browsing.
Following the news that the horticultural industry is facing an economic crisis with £200 million worth of plants set to be 'binned', Thompson & Morgan have pledged to help. 'We are working closely with nurseries and growers to ensure that millions of plants are not wasted. Our site features many of these offers and we will add more every day, passing on these amazing deals to our customers,' they said in a statement on their website.
Buy plants at Thompson & Morgan
thompson & morgan Verbascum x hybrida 'Southern Charm' (Garden Ready)
Gardening Express
There's a good range of garden plants and flowers at Gardening Express, ideal for beds and borders, hanging baskets and patio containers. Plus fruit trees, hardy herbaceous perennials and shrubs and trees are all available too. There's no queueing system in place either.
Buy plants at Gardening Express
Gardening Direct
Gardening Direct sell a great range of bedding plants, shrubs, tubers, seeds, fruit and veg, and more. You can shop by plant type and season too to find the variety you need. They are still accepting, processing and despatching orders.
While there is an increase in demand, they said on their website: 'A lot of plants have been pre-ordered and these orders take priority over new orders, this simply means new orders of some plants might be despatched towards the end of the individual plant's despatch window. We are well set up to despatch 1,000’s of plants every day but we won’t dispatch a plant until it’s ready for you – we can’t hurry mother nature! As we get through April a lot of our plants and vegetable plugs will be available for immediate despatch, this will be clearly visible on the website.'
Buy plants at Gardening Direct
Suttons
Royal Warrant holder Suttons is still accepting orders online. Ideal for buying plants, vegetable and flower seeds, and much more, there is a queuing system in place, but you won't have to wait too long. We tried on a weekend morning and we only had to wait 10 minutes. The website has also undergone 'essential maintenance' due to 'online demand for gardening products being particularly high'. Please note, orders are currently taking longer than usual to get processed and delivered.
Dobies
Whether you're looking for vegetable plants or seeds, flower bulbs, bedding plants, perennial plants or trees and shrubs, head to Dobies. When we had a browse we found a good range was still in stock. Please note, orders are currently taking longer than usual. If ordering seeds, they are generally being despatched in 7-10 days, while other goods are taking up to 28 days, however, the exception is live plants, which are being prioritised to get delivered as soon as possible.
Bloombox Club
If you're looking for houseplants, Bloombox Club should be your go-to destination. Created by Dr of Psychology Katie Cooper, Bloombox focuses on indoor plants to help you breathe, restore and boost your mind. The online site also offers a great plant subscription service to help you create an indoor jungle. Please note, there are delays due to extra demand.
Seeds4garden.com
If you're looking for vegetable seeds, flower seeds or herb seeds, Seeds4garden.com stock a great selection of low-priced seeds. There are of course some delays. A statement on their website reads: 'All orders are sent out and delivered. As we are currently understaffed and under pressure, we are forced to set a minimum order amount to control the number of orders we receive.' Delivery times are currently between 2-5 weeks.
Flowerbulbsinc.co.uk
Flowerbulbsinc.co.uk, part of the same company as Seeds4garden.com, is where you'll find a great range of spring and summer bulbs for your garden, from spring favourites such as hyacinth, amaryllis and tulips, to summer must-haves including dahlia, peony and lupins. Similarly there is a minimum order amount in place and delivery can take between 2-5 weeks.
Buy flowers at Flowerbulbsinc.co.uk
Blooming Direct
Blooming Direct, a trading name of You Garden (see below), offers a great selection of plants including spring flowering bulbs, bedding plants, patio plants, shrub roses, perennials, pond plants and fruit, and vegetables and herbs. However, due to extremely high demand, the website has been temporarily closed.
Peter McDermott, Head Gardener, said in a statement: 'Dear Fellow Gardener, As you can imagine, we have been seeing a massive increase in demand driven by people staying at home and spending extra time in their garden. In order that we maintain good service to you, our customers, whilst maintaining a safe working environment for our staff, we have temporarily closed our website and order lines from taking any new orders for 48 hours. Rest assured, we will be back open again and ready to serve you in the very near future.'
Blooming Direct > temporarily closed
You Garden
Similarly to Blooming Direct, You Garden stock a great range of garden plants and seeds. They also sell bulbs, trees and shrubs, fruit trees and essentials such as compost, lawncare, fertilisers, and pots and planters, plus garden furniture and tools. However, due to overwhelming demand, they too have temporarily closed their website for the next 48 hours.
You Garden > temporarily closed
Primrose
Looking to grow your own vegetable patch? Head to Primrose where you can also buy ornamental plants, climbing plants, flower bulbs and more. Please note, if you're looking to buy furniture and hard goods, there is a backlog and they now expect all orders to be delivered within the next 2-3 weeks, excluding plants. As a result, they are currently suspending new orders on many hard goods products until the backlog is cleared.
Waitrose Garden
Although they offer a good selection of garden plants and houseplants, Waitrose Garden has currently paused its website due to exceptional demand after reaching its daily threshold.
'We are sorry, but we've paused taking new orders for the day as we have reached our daily threshold. During this exceptionally busy time, we have temporarily limited orders to ensure a great level of customer service and focus on delivering existing orders to our customers,' read a statement on the website. Check back tomorrow to place an order.
Browse plants at Waitrose Garden
Wilko
On Wilko there are some seeds and bulbs in stock, but this is quite limited online. We found a significant selection was not available.
B&Q
B&Q is selling a selection of seeds, with most available for home delivery. They also have flower bulbs and houseplants online but we found a lot of these were not available to purchase for home delivery. Additionally, the retailer is offering new assorted plant bundles which include bedding plants, culinary herbs, herbaceous perennials and roses. Please note, there is a queuing system in place – expect lengthy wait times of more than an hour.
Homebase
Homebase is selling a range of plants including roses, trees and bedding plants, but there are some limitations in place. For example, we found we were unable to order shrubs, perennial plants, grow your own seeds and houseplants. However, they have a good selection of roses and seed bundles that you can order.
Patch
For a great selection of indoor plants, do take a look at leading online retailer Patch. There’s a really good range of houseplants for every room of the home. However, if you’re looking for outdoor plants, you'll find a smaller selection. Deliveries are still available as normal.
Dobbies Garden Centres
While Dobbies Garden Centres has had to close its doors, you can still buy plants online with a selection of bedding plants, bulbs and seeds. Not everything is in stock, however.
'Delivery times may be longer than expected, however we’ll be doing all we can to keep any disruption to a minimum. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you,' said Dobbies.
Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
The RHS Plants shop has temporarily paused taking new orders as they have reached the maximum number of orders that they can process daily. 'If you have placed an order already, please be assured we’re working exceptionally hard to get orders out to our customers as quickly as possible. Please allow for a minimum of 3 weeks from the date of purchase for delivery,' they said on the website.
Crocus
Crocus offers over 4,000 plant varieties with a good range of plants, flower bulbs and houseplants. To keep up with demand, Crocus has introduced a daily limit on the number of orders its nursery and warehouse can process, so it pauses all orders once the threshold has been hit.
It is taking longer than normal for orders to be processed too. 'The situation is changing all the time but we are currently shipping orders within 20 days,' Crocus revealed.
Sarah Raven
You can still order plants and bulbs from Sarah Raven but seed and kit orders are temporarily suspended. 'Due to unprecedented demand for seeds and gardening kit, we have taken the difficult decision to suspend orders for seeds and kit for a short period of time until we have caught up on our existing orders,' said a statement on the website.
Mail order plants
Plant Heritage has supplied a list of its National Plant Collections supplying mail order plants. Please see a list here.
Olivia Heath is the Daily Editor at House Beautiful. Heading up all things digital, Olivia loves uncovering tomorrow's biggest design trends and sharing the best decorating tips, small-space living solutions, and houseplant care advice. She also enjoys curating stylish and affordable homeware on the high street, as well as spotlighting the hottest properties on the market. Olivia covers some of the biggest events in the calendar, including all the action from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Colour of the Year forecasts from Pantone to Dulux, and exclusive previews of all the new Christmas collections before they hit the shops. Olivia has been writing about homes and interiors for the past seven years, and her work has also been published on House Beautiful US, Elle Decor US, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, Red, Prima, Town & Country, Elle Japan, Modern Living and Micasa Revista. Prior to joining House Beautiful, Olivia worked at Reveal magazine, where she reported on celebrity and entertainment news by day, and attended showbiz parties and red carpet events by night! Olivia has an MA in Journalism with an NCTJ qualification, as well as a BA in Journalism and Media & Cultural Studies. Previous bylines include The Guardian, Independent on Sunday, The Huffington Post, Frontline Club and Pride Magazine.
