How sustainable is buying plants?

To be perfectly honest, anything that we do as a consumer is not sustainable or environmentally friendly. With that said it is far better for the local economy, better financial share and the planet as a whole if we buy from small local businesses and remain mindful of what we are purchasing.

As a consumer of plants myself I became very much aware that the scale on which many plants are grown, the conditions they are grown in and the resources that are used to grow them is not great for the health of our planet and that is why I decided to create DJA Plants. We are a small business based in Cheshire hoping to help to change your mindset around what you buy and what it has taken to get it to you. I’m not going to preach and tell you how perfect I am because I’m not. However since I have decided to raise my awareness of environmental issues I have bought a lot less things and considered the impact they have than I ever did previously.

At DJA Plants we grow the majority of our plants from cutting or seed in our nursery here in Winsford, Cheshire. We also rescue Cactus and Succulents and care for them until they are growing and well rooted down, at which point we are able to offer some unusual, old and difficult to acquire plants to everyone at sensible prices.

We do not sell leaves of plants or cuttings, we believe in selling only established plants to our customers. Growing from leaves or cuttings is fun and exciting but not guaranteed so we will never offer these for sale. That is not to say that we will not give these away if we have them available. We want everyone to learn and enjoy propagation.

We aim to grow all of our plants here in the UK. From time to time we purchase some plants from overseas and we may propagate from some plants that came from overseas but we believe that plants grown in a local setting have a much better chance of survival. We will be totally open and upfront about where our plants come from and where they were grown.

We chose to use non plastic pots because we feel it is important to not only recognise the damage that plastic has on our environment, but also to have the discussion about what can we do better to have a more positive impact on our environment. We will be the first to admit that plastic is an amazing resource and that alternatives are not necessarily better for our planet or any more sustainable. However if we are having the conversation with as many people as possible we are raising awareness and helping to become leaders for change in our industry.

We only use Peat free compost and consider the environmental impact of all of the products that we use. this includes our use of perlite and horticultural grit. We try alternatives and ensure that they work and have the same effects before we sell our products containing these alternatives or offer recommendations about these alternatives.

We don’t use harmful chemical sprays. We use biological controls such as beneficial insects. This might be why if you buy garden plants from us they may have the odd aphid or signs of slug damage. I believe we are all only visitors on this earth sharing the resources that we have and insects are part of a healthy eco system. If we get it right there will be balance and we don’t need to kill things with traps or chemicals the planets cycles will be in harmony and help us to take care of the “pests”. If you have an explosion of aphids today, I can assure you, you will have an explosion of ladybirds tomorrow! Of course the other alternative is to only buy plants which pests don’t like, that is an option too.

We want you to enjoy your plants so we are here to offer you help and advice at anytime. You can reach us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, email or via or website. We have all sorts of guides, such as watering advice and even the opportunity to have a one to one consultation session about any plants in your home or garden. These are available on our website or you can send us a direct message with your problem and a photo of the associated plant. When you buy from your new plant will be in the best possible condition to survive even the least green fingers.