Graeme Brindley has seen trends come and go during his 40 years growing and selling indoor plants, but the past 12 months have been unlike any other.

"Forty-three years ago people would be mad on collecting all different types of indoor plants," he said.

"In the past five years that trend has come back and there is a whole new wave of people collecting plants again and getting right into it."

"It's particularly been with younger people, which is great to see."

In 2005,  Mr Brindley relocated his nursery 20 minutes north of Coffs Harbour to a 2-hectare site at Sandy Beach as production continued to increase.

"We've gone up in production … It depends on variety and size but [we're producing] about half a million plants a year," he said. 

"It's all grown and sold to other nurseries, garden centres and your chain stores like Bunnings in New South Wales and Queensland and some other states."

Nursery and Garden Industry of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory (NGINA) CEO Anita Campbell said COVID-19 was the key reason why more of the population had become interested in house plants.

"Because people couldn't travel domestically or internationally they were spending a lot more time at home and a lot more time looking at the liveability of their home," she said. 

"[People were] spending a lot more time in the garden and a lot more time with their plants inside.

"So, [the industry] was already growing and doing really well but COVID definitely supercharged it, no question."

Nurseries across the nation notice 'boom'

Ms Campbell said nursery owners across the country were experiencing a rise in sales.

"We have found that the interest in gardening and interest in plants has created a boom," she said.

"We're seeing [the plant boom] not only in NSW and the ACT but across the entire country."

And it was not just indoor plants.

"A lot of people in their smaller living spaces are putting a lot more plants on their balcony and on their terraces," Ms Campbell said.

"They are using plants to improve their livability … stretching out as much to a garden even people in small living spaces can manage."

Indoor plant sales skyrocket

Nursery industry statistics, released in March, showed the Industry generated billions of dollars each year.

"Over 2.2 billion plants were produced and sold in Australia in 2019–2020 at a total value of $2.6 billion," Ms Campbell said.

"This is quite an increase from years before.

"In 2018–2019 we were looking at only $2.47 billion, so we've gone up significantly in the past year or so."

Ms Campbell said indoor plant sales had increased from around 9 per cent to 13 per cent of the market, clearly growing in popularity. 

"We are a massive contributor to the economy and to people's health and wellbeing," she said.

"We are a lot bigger and a lot more important than people realise."

Story By | Keely Johnson