Cultivating Green Spaces: The best places to buy indoor plants online

Adding some greenery to your home is an instant way to lift your mood, improve your mental health, help keep the air clean, and make you feel closer to nature.

At the same time, though, we need to keep our impact on the planet low. So, for example, you'll want to use peat-free soil and recycled pots – places to find the latter include Elho, Ecopots and Ocean Plastic Pots. Plus, if you buy plants online, it's good to use a company that takes its environmental responsibilities seriously, in everything from the way they're transported to how they're packaged.

To help you out, we've listed some of the best plant stores with delivery in the UK today. All of them have good eco-credentials. Beyond that, they have the passion for plants, great customer service, and a thoughtful attitude to curation that you won't necessarily find in the highest-volume online traders. (And if you need help on keeping things alive, we recommend Planta, an app with a strap line that reads, "Never kill a plant again". We'll take that!)

1. Patch

Patch wants to help bring the joy of gardening to anyone and everyone and is a great choice for newcomers or anyone who feels challenged by keeping their plants healthy. The vast majority of their plant collections are low-maintenance, and you also get a survival guide with every delivery.

Each plant has its own individual plant page, which describes what conditions it best thrives in, covers their preferred watering and fertilising routine and, in the case of outdoor plants, what type and how much compost they require. Patch also sends out a weekly email of tips written by urban garden expert Gay Search, and if customers have specific queries, they'll work with a team of experts to answer the question.

2. Beards & Daisies

Growing indoor plants helps you feel closer to nature, so it's ironic that much of the gardening industry has a negative effect on our natural environment. Beards & Daisies, however, are committed to finding ways to improve their impact on the planet, with 95% of their packaging now swapped to either compostable or recyclable options. And they're currently working hard on replacing that last 5% with a plastic-free solution.

Founder Jo and the team describe themselves as "fanatical about plants" and place a strong focus on the well-being benefits of indoor houseplants. To promote this vision, they've carefully curated a selection featuring some lesser-spotted varieties that you might not find in your local garden centre. And they're on hand Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, to offer friendly advice over the phone or via live chat.

3. Lazy Flora

If you like the idea of growing indoor plants but worry you won't have time to do it properly, then Lazy Flora is for you. Delivering "hassle-free plants for well-meaning but time-pressed plant parents", their mission is to make gardening simple for anyone who loves plants, regardless of their lifestyle or available space.

Founder Claire started the business when she moved to a small flat and found it difficult to find the right plants for her tiny balcony. Her aim, she says, is to "create something that inspires people. It's about joy and making beauty and nature more accessible."

4. House of Kojo

Another place to find something a bit different, House of Kojo, forages the world to bring you rare and unusual house plants for your home or office. These include plants with air-purifying qualities, easy-to-care-for plants, and pet-friendly plants.

If there's a plant on your wish list that you haven't been able to find anywhere, they invite you to contact them, and they'll see what they can do. They also deliver products for plant care, as well as pots and accessories.

5. Stem & Co

Stem & Co champion sustainable, eco-friendly products and have a deeply rooted love of nature at the core of their business. Founded in 2007 by Sam Rodwell, a fully qualified florist and horticultural student, they offer a finely curated collection of interesting, air-purifying, rare, and easy-care houseplants.

Sam has also created 'Propagation Club' where, for a monthly subscription, you get to take on a new horticultural challenge each month, whilst meeting like-minded people and sharing not only knowledge and tips but cuttings to enlarge your plant collection.

6. Bloombox Club

They may deliver thousands of plants across the UK each month, but Bloombox Club believes that buying a plant should be about more than just a one-off transaction. Instead, they aim to build a community of plant-growers by selecting plants based on rarity and quirkiness, as well as prettiness, and providing the kind of plant-care advice that can help spread the value of plants far and wide.

In practice, that means they provide plant-specific, quick-fire guides in their Plant Care A-Z and more substantial information in The Green Room, their online bank of videos, articles and blogs. It also means they've developed a strong network of Dutch growers, experts and plant influencers, with support from Royal Flora Holland, allowing Bloombox Club to stay at the forefront of plant trends and acquire plants that are not readily available elsewhere in the UK.

7. Hortology

Hortology is strongly committed to promoting the wellness benefits of plants. The company is based around delivering high quality, inspirational house plants, indoor plant pots and planters, which are often used in projects by interior designers and landscapers.

Hortology's network of specialist growers means you receive healthy, thriving plants grown and maintained with care, plus they work with artisan pot producers to offer a variety of unique designer styles and trends. They aim to provide a complete solution to help your plants thrive, from our easy to follow the information on plant care to advanced plant nutrition and watering solutions.

8. Mint

Are you looking for something different from the norm? You're sure to find it at Mint. They describe themselves as "a small group of plant crazy people from The West Country; we love the unusual, the strange and the under-appreciated."

Alongside the standard plant shop goods, you'll find collectable cacti, weirdly wonderful succulents, and other exotic plants and products. Plus, for those who want to up their horticultural game, they also offer workshops, home visits and consultancy.

9. Happy Houseplants

We're hearing a lot of mentions of the word 'happy' in this glorious list, an emotion many of us feel with our beloved house plants. So it comes as no surprise to discover Happy Houseplants, a London-based plant shop which delivers all over the capital and small plants to the rest of the UK. Founded by Emily Lawlor, it's a good option for those of you looking for something a little different; we love its current Purple Heart and are mentally calculating whether we can squeeze another plant into our own home.