Why the lockdowns increased Ireland's love for houseplants

We meet Cork city houseplant pros who share tips and talk to suppliers about the growing surge of interest in greenery for our living spaces

Carol Chamilet and Michele Bertoni at Verd, 18 Washington Street, Cork. Pictures and video: Dan Linehan

At a time when online shopping has boomed and shops were shut for extended periods over the last two years, it’s a treat for home interiors enthusiasts when a new shop opens up, especially one located right on a city-centre street prompting the mindful experience of slow window shopping.

Just two months ago, Verd opened its doors on Cork’s Washington Street to sell houseplants to green-fingered folk and aspiring novice plant growers cottoning onto the trend for accessorising the home with greenery. I popped in for a nose around on a bright, chilly morning and to have a chat with the owner, but also to see if I could be tempted to join the growing trend and reintroduce greenery at home having eliminated plants — bar a thriving money tree — from my interior life after a house move.

Thanks to the loveliness of Verd and the enthusiasm of the ladies running it, I arrived home accompanied by a ladylike maidenhair fern now well-watered and settling in on my sideboard, and a more recalcitrant cat grass having a perpetually bad hair day, disrupting the hard lines of the bathroom.

I also picked up a book suitably entitled The New Plant Parent by Darryl Cheng (Abrams Books), which I studied last weekend in the hope of keeping the new lodgers alive and, in the process, I’m fostering lofty ambitions of future plant propagation.

And it seems I’m not alone.

“Lockdown has increased interest in plants,” says Michele Bertoni, Verd’s owner. “Customers found that caring for plants helped their mental health; an hour or two where you focus on just that.”

A Brazilian native, Michele settled in Cork when her husband took a job in technology here. Verd started with a pitch at the Marina Market, moving just two months ago to 18 Washington Street where her verdant shop window stops passers-by in their tracks.

Painted in on-trend black, the shop front colour theme is continued inside so plant displays spilling from the walls snap against the black backdrop. It’s dramatic, imaginative and chic, inviting a variety of customers from newbies to seasoned growers.

“Some are watching interior design shows that all have plants now,” Michele says. “Some customers became plants lovers in lockdown, and there are collectors coming in looking for new and rare varieties.”

But success with plants is not necessarily about being naturally green-fingered: It’s your plant parenting style.

“When people say they kill plants, we look at how they are treating it,” says Michele’s colleague Carol Chamelet. “If you’re an over-waterer, buy ferns, but if you’re not, something like mother-in-law’s tongue thrives on neglect.”

“It depends on light too,” adds Michele. “There’s no point in fertilising if the light is wrong, so think about where you want to put it. You might want something to fill the gap left by the Christmas tree.

Carol Chamilet and Michele Bertoni at Verd Houseplants, Cork.

“Do your research when you get home, look at your house and come back to us. Bear in mind the home has different micro-climates from the porch to the living room, so don’t put a cactus in the bathroom. It’s from the desert.”

Just like humans, plants have their likes and dislikes.

Pat Keville, owner of houseplant specialists Plantstore.ie sees new interest in houseplants as partly trend-based. “Plants boomed in the ’70s and then waned, so it could be cyclical that they’re popular again,” he says. “But we’ve also seen an influx into Ireland of people from around the world where houseplants are very popular, like Eastern Europe.”

Pat also cites how being confined to our homes has fuelled interest when people were looking for things to do, especially as more people live in apartments and may not have access to outdoor space.

“Houseplants are like the new pets and new children,” he quips.

But he’s also seeing a shift in the buyer demographic prompting a growth in interest. “It used to be people over 40 buying plants and they still are,” he says, “but it’s a younger cohort in general now, people in their 20s and 30s. They’re much more conscious of sustainable matters and the green agenda and clean air. Houseplants are more sustainable. You can grow a plant and propagate it, whereas flowers might only last a week.”

• instagram.com/verd_houseplants/
• instagram.com/plantstoreireland/