Plants and planted containers

As well as being fanatical about our flowers, at Daisy Chain we are also passionate about our plants. In particular we specialize in houseplants, and always have a wide range of both foliage and flowering plants to choose between. We also sell planted containers, all made by us in the shop, which ensures we know the quality of all the plants that have been used.

Caring for plants

At Daisy Chain, we don't just like to sell you the plants, we also like to make sure that you know how to look after them. Many plants often have a reputation of being difficult to look after, but in our experience these are usually unjustified. If you follow a few basic pointers, most houseplants are very easy to care for and should give you many months and years of pleasure.

Light

If you are at all in doubt, then put a houseplant in a reasonably bright position, but where it will not get more than an hour or two of direct sunlight. Many desert and arid climate plants (such as cacti and succulents) can tolerate greater levels of sun, and many tropical foliage plants used to living in dank jungles will be happy with very low light levels, but a middle ground is a safe bet if you are not certain.

Temperature

Temperature is the factor that is most often poorly explained. Although many houseplants are conventionally labelled as requiring minimum temperatures of 10-15°C, this usually isn't the case. Certainly they don't want to suffer a frost as their cell structures cannot cope with the formation of internal ice crystals, but temperatures down to near freezing are usually not a problem. As we don't have any heating in our shop, our houseplants, even those tropical in origin, are frequently subjected to very low temperatures overnight in winter without ill effect, and we are as yet to lose a plant to cold. The only thing you do have to ensure is that the plants are not overwatered in winter, as a combination of cold and damp roots will kill these plants quite easily.

Food and water

Humans do pretty poorly if they have to do without food and water, and plants are pretty much the same. Feed plants every couple of weeks in summer with a basic houseplant food and stop feeding over winter. When it comes to water, the basic rule is similar to feeding, increase watering over summer and reduce again over winter. Typically you won't go too far wrong if you aim to keep the compost slightly moist in summer and somewhat drier in winter. A few desert plants such as cacti and succulents need hardly any water at all over winter.