Little Green is a family-run house plant business based in South Bristol. It was started by Lauren and Paul in 2017 and since then the whole family and joined-in, helping out however they can.
Lauren and Paul both gave-up fulfilling but often stressful and unsociable careers in nursing about a decade ago. Lauren took-up illustration full-time and continues to create beautiful children’s books. Paul retired for about five minutes before embarking on a PhD, earning him his “Dr. T” moniker. Nobody quite remembers when the obsession with house plants began, but there was a visit Kew Gardens, not long after which a collection of plant-related books began to gather on the coffee table. Before we knew it, it was June 2017 and Lauren and Paul were holding their first market stall in Long Ashton, just outside Bristol.
Since then, Little Green has attended hundreds of markets, opened our online shop and we’ve also started offering plantscaping and maintenance for businesses. The ‘green heart’ has been with Little Green since day-one though – Lauren and Paul are both long-time environmental activists and that commitment extends to the way they run Little Green: as sustainably as possible.
Lauren
If you’ve ever visited our market stall, you’ll have met Lauren. She’s that friendly face behind almost every Little Green stall, making it look incredible, dolling out plant-care advice and helping you pick-out the perfect plant for your home… and maybe one or two extra.
When she’s not on the stall, Lauren’s hunting-down fascinating new species or she’ll be on her electric bike, speeding to visit one of our plantscaping clients to check on their indoor jungle.
Favourite plant: “That’s like asking me to pick my favourite child!”
Paul
Paul (aka “Dr. T”) is the muddy hands of the operation, lovingly potting house plants into his very own peat-free compost and tirelessly tiredly lugging boxes of plants to and from Little Green HQ. He’s also Little Green’s treasurer… which the rest of us thought meant he had a treasure chest… which is why Paul’s the treasurer and the rest of us aren’t.
His trademark t-shirt claims that he’s “introverted but willing to talk about plants” but to be honest, even that would pushing it.
Favourite plant: “Air Plants because I don’t need to pot them!”
Lizzie
Lizzie’s point-woman on plantscaping, in that she points at plants and tells the rest of us where they need to go. If you’re after some new plants for your business or workplace, or if your current ones need a bit of TLC, Lizzie’s who you’ll want to talk to. She also helps-out her mum and dad with the stall on the fabled ‘double market days’, or just if Lauren just needs a coffee break!
Favourite plant: “Pitcher Plants. They’re really good for keeping the flies off the fruit bowl.”
Andrew
Andrew’s the most charming, hard-working and talented of the whole team. He’s in-charge of all things online, including designing the website and shop, taking photos and writing things such as the very page you’re reading now. When you make an order online, Andrew and his wife, Lizzie, will probably be the ones dropping-off your plant to its new home.
Favourite plant: “Sansevieria cylindrica ‘Skyline’, because it looks like it’s giving a high-five.”