From his parents’ house to major restaurant chains – the founder of Gardening 4U by Will shares the company’s journey to success.
When and why did you found the company?
I founded Gardening 4U by Will at the age of 16 while living at home with my parents in 2022, after my obsession with all things plants fully cemented. I started selling on Facebook, Instagram, and it got really big, really quickly – my parents had to deal with customers coming into their house every weekend – now it’s grown to an impressive scale.
How has the company evolved?
From selling out of my parents’ house to now supplying large scale restaurant, hotel and office chains across London and beyond, it’s safe to say we’ve evolved hugely in the last few years.
Located at the heart of New Covent Garden Flower Market in London, we are now a leading supplier of wholesale plants in Covent Garden, proudly serving landscapers, garden designers, garden centres, and plant retailers throughout London and beyond.
What sets your offerings apart from the rest of the market?
With a strong trade focus and a customer-first approach, we source directly from our UK nursery; spanning over 170 acres—home to an outstanding and ever-growing range of herbaceous perennials, including Agapanthus, Salvias, Echinacea, Dahlias, Delphiniums and Digitalis. They are expert growers of Premium Perennials. Which are clean, sold in bud or flower form and come in big pot fulls – and due to zero importing costs of perennials we are very competitively priced.
Our rose supplier grows the latest disease resistant varieties on peat free compost and produces over 10,000 roses a year.
It has taken time to establish our reputation as a leading wholesale plant retailer in London, which all stems from being consistent with stock, approachable and reliable.
In recent years our partner nurseries have invested heavily in a significantly increased production capacity. At their 100-acre site in Herefordshire which has been designed with the latest technology in providing environmentally sustainable and efficient dispatch.
We have a very unique range of herbaceous perennials and bedding with some varieties and sizes not found anywhere else in the landscape supply industry.
What happens on the nursery at the quieter periods of the year:
At this time of year our new plants trial area starts filling up with new and interesting candidates that we evaluate for inclusion in our range. Run by Amy Evans at our Hereford site, the trial area has over 250 different varieties this year including new high-quality bedding and perennial plants, shrubs, roses and trees.
Every variety will be evaluated by sales and growing staff with just a few excellent new introductions joining our product range for landscapers and garden centres.
Where are in London are you based?
We are based at the UK’s Largest Wholesale Market. New Covent Garden Market in Nine Elms, London where landscapers can pick up pre-orders from the nursery, browse our seasonal range and order for the following week. We have a large stand with expert sales advisors, as well as myself to assist.
How large is your range and can customers visit the nursery?
Yes, the nursery is open by appointment, and we can take you on a guided tour of the site on our very own golf buggies. We have a huge range of bedding, perennials, shrubs and specimens – all of our bedding, perennials and shrubs are majority home grown.
We also do have some specimen pleached trees, topiary and hedging which we have regular deliveries of.
How can customers stay up to date with nursery and stock updates?
We use a variety of platforms to reach our customers weekly, including email, WhatsApp and our amazing social media pages on Instagram and Facebook. You can always send us a message for a plant request, or for us to put aside something for collection that you have seen.
I would highly recommend checking out our Instagram as we connect, collaborate and showcase our plants, while we share more about the business on Covent Garden Flower Markets Instagram. We established this nearly four years ago and have grown to have a following of nearly 9k in that time.
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