Our sustainability practices 🌎

How a plant is actually packed

We are not going to sell you on a “zero plastic” pack-out, because the method that gets a living plant to your door in one piece is not zero plastic. Here is the real sequence:

• Wood fiber over the soil to keep it from spilling.
• A plastic moisture sleeve over the planter, secured with a zip-tie, which keeps roots damp and the soil contained in transit.
• A paper outer bag as the final wrap, secured with a rubber band.
• A wooden stake for tall or top-heavy plants, with cardboard inserts that lock the pot in place inside the box.

Most of those materials are recyclable curbside; the plastic sleeve and zip-tie are not. We use the smallest sleeve that does the job, and we are watching for a fully compostable replacement that survives 4 days in a truck.

Sourcing standards we hold our partners to

• Domestic only. Every plant is grown in a U.S. greenhouse. No international imports, no quarantine plants, no wild-collected stock.
• Small to mid-size family farms. Our partner network buys from independent growers (many of them family operations dating back to the foliage industry of the 1950s and 1960s) rather than consolidating through a single mega-supplier.
• Short transit from greenhouse to greenhouse. Our two pack-out facilities (Southern California and Central Florida) sit close to the growers that supply them, typically within 150 miles. That cuts both transit damage and freight emissions.

Shipping choices

• Ground service via USPS and FedEx for every order. We do not pay for air-priority service.
• Bi-coastal pack-out means most orders travel only one half of the country, not all of it.
• Heat packs only when the route needs them, added automatically when forecast lows along the route are below 45°F. Without one, a tropical plant can die in a single cold leg.

What we are not going to claim

• “Carbon neutral.” We do not buy offsets to slap a label on the homepage.
• “Plastic-free packaging.” See above, since the moisture sleeve and zip-tie are plastic, on purpose.
• “100% recyclable.” The cardboard, paper, and wood fiber are. The sleeve, zip-tie, rubber band, and heat pack are not.

Suggestions for a more sustainable pack-out, supplier leads, or polite criticism are welcome, so email [email protected]. We read everything.