Our Sustainability Promise
Everything we do in our garden has an impact on the environment. With over 6,500 different plant varieties to care for at our nursery in Surrey, any small change that we make can have a really meaningful impact. We know we still have further to go, but we're excited to share with you the changes we've made so far. Download our report to read the full story, or see some of our highlights below.
Some of our top stories
Crocus - the first online nursery to be awarded Plant Healthy
We've always been committed to providing our customers with happy, healthy plants, and in September 2023 we became the first e-commerce nursery to be given Plant Healthy certification. No mean feat, this accreditation is awarded by a cross-sectoral group of organisations, brought together to promote and enhance plant health and biosecurity. By achieving and maintaining this recognition, our customers can be assured that when their Crocus plants arrive, they'll have been grown to the highest standards of plant health and biosecurity.
1 million plants from our propagation unit
Over the last few years we have been growing our nursery's propagation unit, which is where we grow perennials and shrubs from plugs and cuttings. This year we will have grown 1 million plants from the unit. All of which are potted into recyclable taupe pots and grown with a peat reduced peat mix. We hope that by 2024 all plants from the unit will be mostly peat free.
Number 1 for pollinator friendly plants
Like all gardeners, we love seeing pollinators on our nursery. We have a zero tolerance use of neonicotinoids, and our first tools used to deal with any pest or diseases are always cultural or biological solutions such as natural predators. We are also proud to offer our customers the largest selection of pollinator plants to choose from than anywhere else online. Discover our range here.
Switching to brown paper to package plants
We have replaced nearly all of our recyclable plastic used to package and protect your plants with brown paper packaging and brown paper tape, cutting our use of recyclable plastic down by 3.77 tonnes per year. We only use recyclable plastic to package plants where absolutely necessary, and are trying to remove this all together.
Welcome to our Nursery
Discover the changes we've made to become more sustainable
We've nearly doubled the size of our reservoir
We hope that during the 2023 growing season we will be self-sufficient for our water needs.
Our peat free trials are going well
As a result, we now use 50% less peat. Our goal is to remove peat from our own grown plants by 2024.
We've removed all neonicotinoids
Instead we are using a combination of biopesticides and natural alternatives.
Our plant pickers are electric
With a 40 acre nursery, we need speed to pick your order! 95% of our tractor buggies are now electric.
We use recycled materials for heating
Instead of oil, we heat our warehouse with a wood burner that uses waste pallets.
And have switched to LED lights
This has cut our energy usage by 60%. We're looking to install solar panels to be 100% energy efficient.
We recycle what's left
We recycle over 90% of the waste generated by us, including plastic pots, trays, cardboard and plastic.
Becoming self-sufficient for our water needs
Like most gardeners, our nursery was badly affected by the drought last summer. As a result, we have enlarged our reservoir so that it has nearly doubled in size. Over the winter we will collect and store run-off rainwater from our buildings, and use this to water our plants. We hope that during the 2023 growing season we will be 100% self-sufficient for our water needs. If you'd like to recycle water in your own garden, we have a fantastic collection of water butts that can help.
Your order, unwrapped
We're making significant changes to ensure you can recycle as much of your order as possible. So what can be recycled?
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2,000
Is the number of trees we planted to protect an ecosystem threatened by ash dieback.
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200,000
Is the number of plastic bags we save every year by switching to brown paper packaging for our plants.
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90%
Is the amount of waste we recycle from our nursery. That's equivalent to the weight of three humpback whales!
Investing in UK grown plants
We have made considerable investment into our on-site popagation unit that is expertly run by our nursery manager James and propagation manager Hugh. Here we grow perennials and shrubs from plugs and cuttings. All plants are grown in recyclable plastic pots and used a peat-reduce mix, which will be peat free by 2024.
By this year we will have reached a huge milestone of having grown 1 million plants on the nursery. As a business we are committed to growing more plants ourselves and expanding our UK grown offering to our customers.
Our Policies
Safeguarding the UK's flora and fauna
Ash-dieback has shown us that the spread of disease can have hugely negative environmental impact. As a business founded on a love of plants and gardens, we are committed to safeguarding the UK's flora and fauna. Part of this involves knowing exactly where our plants have come from, and feeling confident that they are free of harmful pests and diseases. For example, in 2017 we were so concerned about the outbreak of Xylella fastidiosa in Europe, that we were ahead of the government in stopping the importation of olive trees - despite increasing customer demand.
Achieving Plant Healthy at Crocus
In September 2023 we became the first online gardening business to be achieve Plant Healthy certification. Backed by DEFRA, this is only awarded to businesses who promote and maintain high levels of plant health and biosecurity, and by achieving and sustaining this accreditation, our customers can be assured that when their Crocus delivery arrives, their plants will have been grown to the highest industry standards.
Our ongoing commitment to biosecurity
Our Plant Healthy accreditation will be reviewed on a yearly basis, so the practices they promote have become part of our team's daily life. We employ trained professionals who keep up to date with all the latest biosecurity developments, and every morning they walk the nursery and its perimeter, checking for potentially harmful pests and diseases. Our customers count on us to take the best possible care of their plants before they arrive at their door, and it's a responsibility we take very seriously.
Our approach to peat so far
Over the last few years we have been conducting trials on the nursery to find a suitable alternative. Our nursery manager James has been overseeing the trials and has managed to reduce the amount of peat in our soil mixes by 50%.
Our goal is to be 100% peat free
Our ambition is to be peat free in the plants we grow ourselves. We are already conducting trials with a 100% peat free mix and so far they are going well. By 2024 we hope that all plants from our propagation unit will be grown in a peat free mix. This is a year ahead of our original target of 2025.
Peat in plants from our suppliers
We will continue to face challenges of sourcing peat-free plants from our European suppliers. However, where possible, we are increasingly sourcing and working with UK suppliers who grow in peat free.
Starting our plastic pot recycling scheme
We only grow plants in taupe pots that can not only be recycled, but are also made from recycled plastic. All pots from our suppliers are also made from recycled materials, unfortunately not all of these pots can be recycled by you at home. As a result, we've introduced a Pot-Back Scheme at Dorney Court where you can bring your pots and we'll recycle them for you. Find out more here.
Reducing waste on the nursery
From plants to packaging, all of the waste that we produce on the nursery is captured and sorted. As a result we manage to recycle 90% of all of our waste. That includes plastic pots, trays, crates, cardboards and plastic. Last year we recycled 65 tonnes of waste from our nursery, that's the weight of three humpback whales!
Building our own composting bays
All of our plant waste is recycled via our composting bays. Once ready we re-use this compost on planting projects at the nursery and elsewhere. Creating your own compost is one of the most important things you can do for your garden, discover our composting range here.
Increasing packing free deliveries
To cut down our packaging and waste we have established our own Crocus van delivery service for orders over a certain size. For these orders we use absolutely no packaging at all. So far this has helped us save 77 tonnes of paper and 17 tonnes of recyclable plastic.
Planting our own Crocus Forest
Earlier this year we worked with expert tree conservationists and planners to start our own Crocus Forest. We planted 2,000 trees of a variety of specimens, each chosen for the ability to withstand drought and contribute to a balanced ecosystem.
Helping young people into horticulture
To help encourage younger minds into horticulture we have started our own Crocus Apprenticeship Scheme. The two year scheme will give young people the opportunity to work with some of the best experts in the industry.
Want to read more?
Download our full
2023 Sustainability Report
