A UK supermarket has reported that demand for houseplants has soared by more than 130% since 2019, with what started as a lockdown trend now even more pronounced.

Tesco said one of its suppliers, which had mainly dealt in cut flowers such as lilies, peonies and agapanthus, had switched its indoor production facilities solely to producing house plants to help meet demand.

Bury Lane, a peat-free grower based near Royston in Hertfordshire, now produces more than 500,000 houseplants per year.

Tesco said that demand for houseplants at its stores has soared by more than 130% since 2019, and it suggested that people sharing photos of their living space on social media has played a role in this.

Tesco plants buyer Vicki I’Anson said: “We first noticed the trend during the early months of lockdown and it was caused as a direct result of people having to stay at home and not being able to visit parks and other open spaces.

“But the trend caught on very quickly with people keen to show off on social media how they were adorning their homes with houseplants.

“And it’s now even more pronounced than it was then.

“Importantly, it’s also good news for our partnerships with UK growers, as we’ve been working together to meet the increased demand with brilliant British-grown plants.”

House plants being inspected
Bury Lane produces more than 500,000 houseplants per year (Joe Giddens/PA)

Grower Bury Lane suggested that younger people, keen on building indoor gardens, were helping to drive the trend.

Will Clayton, Bury Lane’s managing director, said: “The big consumer focus in home plants right now is the leaf rather than the flower, with younger people, especially, being interested in building their own indoor gardens with evergreen plants.

“Not everyone has an outdoor garden and with interest rates high right now we’re seeing younger people who are waiting to get on the housing ladder wanting to make their accommodation as appealing and interesting as possible.

“One easy and inexpensive way to do that is by having calming houseplants around your home and if you go on social media sites you’ll find many people posting the latest additions to their home.”

Tesco said that last April it became the first UK retailer to make the climate-focused move to go peat-free on its British-grown bedding plants, in order to lower its carbon footprint.

It also now only sells compost that is peat-free.