Liverpool city region family-owned horticultural venture Happy Plants secures new funding to increase outdoor growing capacity. Tony McDonough reports
Formby horticultural business Happy Plants has secured new funding from Lloyds Bank to build a new five-acre outdoor growing space.
Happy Plants is a third-generation family business, founded more than 40 years ago by the Porter family who started out as fuchsia growing specialists and traded their plants at flower shows.
It now employs 50 people, rising to 130 during peak season, and has evolved to sell a variety of easy-to-care for plants, including geraniums, begonias and perennials for gardens.
They grow young plug plants from both the UK and imported from Europe, before supplying them to retailers and garden centres including Hillier, Notcutts and Ruxley Manor Garden Centre.
This new growing space is located at its second site in Thornton. Expected to be up and running within the next two months, it will increase the business’ growing capacity by 30% during the peak summer months when it can grow plants outdoors.
The ability to grow plants outside will also help the business to develop more durable, low-maintenance products that will be better equipped to survive more unpredictable weather conditions.
Happy Plants director Natalie Boynton said: “Horticulture has been a big part of our family since my grandad started this business back in the 1980s and we’re always looking at ways we can build on the progress we’ve already made.
“This is why we’re expanding with a second site and this latest funding package is a key step in making this happen.”
This latest expansion builds on the investment Happy Plants already made in creating this second site to expand its operations back in 2022, with the business having tripled the growing space it owns since 2019.
The new facility employs modern gardening methods including smart irrigation and precision watering to drive efficiencies and reduce waste within the business’ operations.
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Joanne Etherington, relationship director at Lloyds, added: “Happy Plants is a strong family-run business with a clear focus on quality, innovation and making gardening more accessible.
“This expansion will help the team to build on this success, with its new outdoor space set to be up and running just in time for its peak summer season.”