City Garden Shop Wildernis in Amsterdam is the only plant shop in the Netherlands that only sells organic and sustainably grown houseplants. That’s unique.

Organic garden plants are in the news all the time. Consumers are increasingly aware of the benefits of organic perennials, seeds and propagating material for the vegetable garden and, of course, herbs that are grown without the use of pesticides and fertilizers. But you don’t hear anything about organically grown houseplants. Until now.

Pioneeering
Emma and Fabian van Wildernis are pioneering. There are only two organic houseplant growers in the Netherlands and only one of them supplies a limited number of varieties to the retail trade. So the offer is too small. But, Emma and Fabian reason, if we can create more demand with our supply, there may be ten of these growers soon and twenty in a while. You have to start somewhere and sooner rather than later. The organic share (with SKAL designation) of houseplants at Wildernis is already 30%. The other plants of Wildernis carry at least the MPS-A or MPS-A+, which stands for the highest sustainability mark within the plant industry, just below organic. Plants at Wildernis are therefore guaranteed to be 100% sustainable and/or organic.

7x therefore organic houseplants
Not only for outdoor plants, but also for indoor plants, it is important to grow them without fertilizers and pesticides, because:
• plants that grow at their own pace are stronger
• strong plants have sufficient defense against possible plant diseases and pests
• you enjoy healthy plants longer and more – they also grow larger
• with organic farming, soil life does not suffer from the harmful effects of the use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides
• an organic nursery also does not burden the flora and fauna in the area with artificial fertilizers and pesticides
• employees at an organic nursery do not come into contact with toxic substances
• as a consumer you do not bring poison into your home with organic plants

Cherry picking
Emma and Fabian are proud of their sustainable plant range. Every week, the plants are manually selected for the correct sustainability characteristic when purchasing. But it doesn’t stop there: the sustainable idea is implemented throughout the entire company. That makes business operations challenging, because you first have to find all your good parties. Who do you buy organic outdoor plants, seeds and spring bulbs from? Which beautiful pots have been produced responsibly within Europe? Which company do you have to deliver the wrapping paper or bags? What Emma and Fabian do is cherry picking and that takes time, because the Wildernis’ finest club now consists of more than two hundred people and companies with whom Emma and Fabian have personal contact and with whom the administration must also be handled separately. But that doesn’t matter, because everything serves the sustainable green purpose.

Mission
Emma: “Many people are not aware that houseplants are often grown quickly with fertilizer and with a lot of energy consumption. On top of that is the use of pesticides, often preventive and several very harmful species.

With plants, we have the feeling that they are sustainable and/or organic by definition, because green is pure nature, right? Unfortunately, in practice we often have to deal with what we call ‘the floppy plant’, which are quickly grown for economic reasons and then arrive at the customer’s house with exhausted and toxic soil and plant.

It is our mission to make this clear to everyone so that they can make a better choice. In the first place for the environment, but also for yourself if you like to grow beautiful and healthy plants in your home.”