Situated on the charming Hanningtons Lane, you will find a new plant shop with a difference. Discover paid a visit to find out more.
Hugo & green opened its doors in November 2023, and is the brand’s second premises, the other is in Horsham and has been a thriving business for two years.
The shop itself is stunning. Reminiscent of a film set plant shop, you feel as though something magical may happen when you enter. For a start, there’s an enormous floating plant on the right hand side by the window and the walls are painted a blueish black. This contemporary colour choice enables the green of the plants to pop in an otherworldly way. And may we add, all of the perennials for sale are absolutely flourishing, there is green fingered sourcery at work here for sure.
Unusually, there is also a small greenhouse inside, situated to the rear near the counter. Terrarium workshops take place behind said greenhouse in a secluded area at the back, but more about that later.
The wall of green that hits you when you walk in is invigorating and there are so many gorgeous specimens to choose from including Cacti and plants of all shapes and sizes.
Hugo & green’s tagline is ‘houseplants & happiness’ and during our chat with owners John and Stevie it became evident why. John revealed, ‘We sell houseplants, obviously, but we might do it in a way that’s a bit different from what people have normally seen. We take the stress and fuss out of it and try to keep things as simple as possible, making the buying of houseplants accessible to everyone.’
They achieve this through ensuring people are buying the right plants for their spaces and are happy to advise based on location, room, levels of light etc as hugo & green plants are sold to survive, not wither and die. John continued, ‘With the right advice, looking after a houseplant shouldn’t be hard work and this starts with getting the fundamentals right with the initial purchase and we are here to help with that.
‘We don’t sell online at the moment for this reason as we would rather sell face-to-face so we can be there to take people through the journey of buying a plant and making sure they are going to put it in the right place and are armed with the knowledge on how to look after it – it is really simple if you get the right plant and put it in the right place. We take pride in demystifying it all, we work with species of plants that are very fuss free.’
John believes that post Covid and the birth of the Tik Tok generation has given way to a lot of complicated houseplants that require state of the art kit and over the top care. It’s safe to say buying a houseplant from hugo & green will eliminate the need for any of this meaning you can provide water and love and watch your new green friends thrive as nature intended.
Alongside houseplants hugo & green also sells terrariums, which in layman’s terms means open or closed glass containers where small plants are grown. Due to the temperature, humidity and environment, terrariums can be monitored more closely similar to a greenhouse. John explained, ‘We run workshops for those which are proving to be really popular. So one half of the shop is for selling plants and the other half is for our terrarium workshops.’
The shop works with nurseries across the UK and Europe so they can source plants for a particular space meaning bespoke orders are also a possibility. You can purchase the big to the small, and the unusual to the common. You really must pay them a visit, we are obsessed and can’t wait to make our first purchase.
3 Hanningtons Lane, BN1 1GS
@hugoandgreen
