Where to buy plants online during the coronavirus lockdown
Looking to buy plants online? As spring is here, now is the prime time to tend to your garden and outdoor space, whether that's buying bedding plants for a colourful display 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.
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.
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. 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.
And, 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
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. Due to high demand, please allow up to 14 days for delivery.
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.
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
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.
You Garden
Similarly to Blooming Direct, You Garden stocks 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. Again, expect 14 days for delivery.
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 'short delays due to extra demand on couriers'.
Waitrose Garden
Although they offer a good selection of garden plants and houseplants, at the moment, you currently cannot order online at Waitrose Garden due to exceptional demand.
'We are sorry that you cannot currently access waitrosegarden.com. During this exceptionally busy time, we have temporarily paused the service to focus on delivering existing orders to our customers,' explained Waitrose Garden.
It is hoped that the site will be 'up and running again in the next few days'.
Browse plants at Waitrose Garden
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, some items are experiencing delays of 1 - 2 weeks due to high demand, but refer to the delivery estimates on the individual product pages for guidance.
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.
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. The RHS said 'demand is extremely high right now'. Anyone who has already placed an order should allow for a minimum of three weeks for delivery. Anyone wanting to buy plants is advised to check back on Monday 6 April.
Crocus
Crocus offers over 4,000 plant varieties. The Chelsea Flower Show plant grower offers 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.
'Please bear in mind that when the limit is reached: You will not be able to add new items in the wheelbarrow and checkout. If however, you are already in your wheelbarrow and going through the checkout, you can proceed as normal,' explain Crocus.
It may take a little longer than normal for orders to be processed too, so you're likely to experience some delays with standard delivery.
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.
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