Led by managing director Jamie Butterworth, Form Plants is formalising its strict peat-free position for the first time, which will be coming into force for all new customers from 1 September 2026.

Butterworth has never sown or grown his plants in peat at Form Plants in Row Town, but as with most nurseries there hasn’t been a formalised policy, until now.  

The new policy seeks to manage the external supply chain too. Adopting the Royal Horticultural Society’s definition of “No New Peat,” the nursery will require written confirmation from suppliers that incoming plants are either entirely peat-free or that any legacy peat present entered the production system on or before 31 December 2025.

Butterworth says:

”We do not use peat at Form Plants, and never have. The only peat that has ever reached this nursery came inside other plants potted elsewhere, years ago, before they were ever bought in by us, and we now buy nothing that contains it. This is not a policy we are starting from nothing. It is a line drawn under work that is largely done.

“There are a lot of designers and landscapers who want peat-free plants and are finding it very hard to get them, so I’m positive about the future.”

For Butterworth, someone who has avoided growing in peat, his recent personal move to Cumbria has underlined the importance of protecting the peatland.

While this policy targets the commercial supply chain Butterworth is keen to translate this message to home gardeners.