RHS Houseplant Studios 2022 in collaboration with Malvern Garden Buildings

"We know the benefits that plants have on our well-being, but what about the well-being of our plants? They provide oxygen so we can breathe and remove pollutants from the air. They deserve our gratitude. Our design takes inspiration from a clinic/spa environment created for plants. A lack of knowledge and improper care can contribute to the cycle of buying and killing plants - The Plant Clinic aims to break this cycle by demonstrating simple adjustments and additions which can increase the health and longevity of plants.

We hope visitors will take away ideas on how to better care for their own houseplants, and in doing so, increase not only their plants' well-being but their own. We intend to create an inspiring atmosphere, a place which will encourage people to think about the plants' needs, not just their aesthetic value. We have chosen to group plants together on a living wall as this helps to create a mini micro-climate, raising the humidity as they transpire. Plants which thrive in higher levels of humidity have been planted in terrariums. The plants have been chosen for their ease of care and affordability, as we believe plants should be accessible to everyone. Propagating plants is something we are passionate about and a way of getting plants for free, which can increase your own collection or be gifted to friends and family. Propagating can also be a way to save a dying plant - the plant itself may die but the propagated cutting lives on.

Plant production is a multi-billion-pound industry and with it comes all the environmental costs associated with mass production: energy and water consumption, peat consumption, chemical use, emissions from air and freight travel, not to mention the amount of non-biodegradable plastic used. Those of us who buy houseplants like to think of our hobby as being ‘green’, but houseplant production has a large environmental footprint. Therefore the most sustainable thing you can do is keep a plant alive! The aim of the Plant Clinic is to help people do this."