Rare plants and plant boxes Thornsett Green, Surrey

Grown under iron and glass.

A Victorian palm house, four hundred species and a very patient team. We raise rare ferns, aroids and orchids from seed and post them to your door.

Choose a box Follow a seed to the doorstep

Scroll and the house wakes

01 From seed to box

From seed to box

Seed

A speck, a crack, a root.

Fern spores are dust and aroid seed is the size of a lentil. Warmth and damp wake them, the coat splits, and the first root goes down long before anything grows up. We watch it through glass in the seed room.

Day 0 to 21 · 24 °C · no peat

Propagation

A leaf joint and a jar of water.

Cuttings of rare aroids root in glass jars on the propagation bench, while fern and moss seedlings shelter in the Wardian case. Roots in a fortnight, a new leaf unrolling by week six.

Day 21 to 63 · 26 °C bottom heat

Humidity and light

The weather we make.

The house is held at about 70 per cent humidity, with a fogger at dawn. Roof blinds slide across at noon. Every gauge is read by hand twice a day and written in the logbook, like it has been since 1868.

62 to 86 % RH · 12 to 52 klux

Potting

Crock, mix, plant, moss.

Each plant goes into clay with a crock of broken terracotta, our own bark and perlite mix, and a collar of living moss. The plant is lowered in by hand and firmed with two thumbs. Twelve minutes each.

Day 63 to 140 · clay, never plastic

The box that ships

Wrapped like a gift.

Tissue sleeves, wood-wool and a care card. Boxes go out Monday to Wednesday so nothing waits in a depot over the weekend, and arrive upright, damp but not wet, inside twenty-four hours.

Day 182 · tracked 24 · compostable packing

Seed0days old58% RH

I / V

02 Your turn

Grow your own, live.

Pick a plant family and how much light it gets. The bed in the palm house is replanted and regrown in front of you. Drag the scene to walk round it.

Plant family

Light

Planting: Mixed bed
Height: 120 cm
Growing: mixed bed

A little of everything, at dappled light. Choose a family to replant the bed.

Drag the scene to orbit

03 Boxes, plants and workshops

Take a little of the house home.

Plant boxes

Monthly, posted Monday to Wednesday. Pause or skip any time.

Seedling boxOne plant in a 9 cm clay pot, care card, tissue£24/month
Collector boxThree plants, one rare find every third month£42/month
Curator boxFive plants and first pick from the wait list£79/month

Rare plants

Grown here, hardened off here. One of each, until it is gone.

Monstera ‘Thai Constellation’Rooted cutting, 4 leaves£185
Alocasia ‘Frydek Variegata’12 cm pot£58
Phalaenopsis ‘Gold Lip’In spike, 7 buds£39
Davallia, squirrel’s foot fernHanging basket£22
Adiantum ‘Fragrans’Maidenhair, 10 cm pot£16

Workshops

Small groups of eight, in the palm house, tea included.

Terrarium buildingSaturdays, 10:00 to 12:30£55
Orchid repotting eveningThursdays, 18:30£38
Propagation masterclassFirst Sunday, 11:00 to 15:00£65
Palm house tour and teaWednesday to Sunday, 14:00£18

04 The small print

Slow, damp and very green.

First panes glazed: 1868; By a Surrey ironfounder, and still mostly the original glass.
Species in the collection: 412; Ferns, aroids and orchids, plus a few things we cannot explain.
Humidity we hold: 70% RH; Fogged at dawn, vented at noon.
Boxes posted last year: 11400; Every one packed by hand at the long table.

05 Visit or subscribe

Come in out of the weather.

Tell us what you would like and we will write back within two working days. This is a concept page, so nothing is actually bookable.

Find us

The Palm House, Orchard Lane
Thornsett Green, Surrey GU99 5XQ

Open

Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 16:00
Closed Monday and Tuesday (we are packing)

Talk to us

01483 555 0147
hello@glasshousebotanics.example