Potty's Sunshine Plant Collective: the rundown!

It is hard to put into words just how infectious the energy of the Sunshine Plant Collective was at Hulme Garden Centre this Sunday, but I will do my best. First and foremost, a big thank you to our event sponsor Soil Ninja. Read on to see how their ongoing support helped to shape a beautiful free activity in the polytunnel!

Picture this: the sun is blazing, the tunes are blaring, and Alex has a sunflower on his head.

To the right you can spot Felicity on the welcome table, prepared with maps and name stickers for everyone arriving. Behind her you can find me yapping away by the gorgeous Potty shop (plant set up by yours truly, she looks amazing, right?!)

Next to us we had the overflowing Mind donation table. Mind is a charity dedicated to supporting people’s mental health. Many of our swappers so generously donated an insane amount of plants to this table. People were welcome to make a donation to Mind and then take whatever they wanted.

I came away with a cheeky monstera! We raised £144 for Mind on the day, with plans to raise more in the coming weeks. Donations are still welcome and you can find the link to donate here.

A little further down the woodland path were our beautiful artists of the day: Nicole’s Jungle and Studio Dawn. Nicole has an amazing handcrafted selection of paper plants and has a huge community who subscribe to receive a craft kit each month. She was kind enough to gift us some free plant stickers which I was over the moon with! Check her out on Instagram: @nicolesjungle.

Next to Nicole we had the lovely Chelsie who runs Studio Dawn, an LGBTQ+  female owned self-care shop in Manchester. She had a mesmerising range of handmade ceramics, the perfect size for your Potty houseplant! She even had a little discounted section of gorgeous candle holders and trinket trays, and you can never have enough trinkets… Head over to Studio Dawn at Redbank to meet Chelsie and her team, and connect with Studio Dawn at @_studiodawn.

The biggest events of the day took place in the bustling garden marquee. This is where the plant swap opened The Collective, followed by an interesting talk by terrarium expert Tom Cranham (@toms_terraria_design) and finally Alex’s famous Plant Bingo (as seen on @secretmanchester!).

The plant swap created the most magical vibes in Hulme Garden Centre. It once again brought our fabulous northern plant community together and it was gorgeous to see so many people connecting, sharing and loving every minute of it!

This time around we were even joined by a well-known face. Paul McCabe has been interviewed by Gardeners World and enthused about by The RHS for his incredible indoor jungle. We are very privileged to say he and his partner joined us this Sunday to swap some of his collection.

If you attended the plant swap please drop a comment and tell us the best plant you swapped this Sunday. The range was incredible and it was the perfect blend of houseplant staples and rare editions to expand your collection.

Tom Cranham has been seen up and down the country going up as far as Scotland to take part in Green AF. It was a privilege to have him share his specialist knowledge with us during his free talk at The Sunshine Plant Collective. His key interests are Begonias in terrariums, and the introduction of isopods, springtails and more to create a tiny biodiverse world in a jar. The marquee was full and totally enthralled by Tom's wealth of knowledge, and Tom even generously donated a terrarium as a bingo prize.

This leads us nicely into Potty's Houseplant Bingo, and the tent was soon filled with a palpable tension, the scribble of bingo markers, and the camp voice of Alex (66, you’ve got thrips!). A gracious hats off to our ultimate bingo winner, Sarah!

Sarah and her wife attended the Sunshine Plant Collective to visit Nicole as one of her long time subscribers. They had brought a variegated monstera with them to repot, and left with a fully repotted plant (moss pole and all), a Potty tote bag, loads from the Mind table, and a huge basket full of plants. We were all so glad to see Sarah and Kaye win, as their insane haul showcases the joy and excitement of this expanding houseplant event.

Over the way in the polytunnel we had dream team Emilia, Katie and 4 year old Hallie repotting plants at the Soil Ninja Repotting Station, and maintaining a beady eye on the Plant Collective’s workshops. Alex invited Beth from Fox & Daisy Designs to hold a macrame workshop, in which you could cleverly craft a macrame shelf for newly propagated plants. Genius, right?! The workshop was fully booked and everybody had huge smiles on their faces upon seeing their creations.

Following Beth we were joined by Matt and Rowan from Green + Grounded, a popular and well established Houseplant Palace in Sale. They are well known for their Kokedama workshops, and it's no surprise that this event was the first to sell out.

Kokedama is the Japanese practice of enclosing the roots of the plant in a ball of soil, and binding it with moss and string. This acts as a plant pot, and can be hung from the ceiling to create an eye catching and unique floating garden. Guests used beautiful asparagus ferns in their Kokedamas and the results looked absolutely amazing.

Alongside the workshops in the polytunnel we also had our free-to-use Soil Ninja Repotting Station. Soil Ninja sent us 180L of soil in advance which -in partnership with the pot recycling bin at the garden centre- allowed us to create a free activity for the whole family to get involved with. This was a super popular table for folk who needed a hand getting their plants repotted, people who needed advice or didn’t know what soil to use and those who just wanted a chinwag over our shared love of plants. Thank you once again to Amy and the whole team at Soil Ninja for making this happen!

The final area to mention is our kid’s corner. Initially intended for the polytunnel, the kids naturally came out into the stunning garden oasis equipped with play areas, a band stand and a sand pit. Waterlily Art & Garden provided the free colouring sheets and pencils which sat under the marquee for fun for all throughout the day. Katie and Emilia did a fab job ensuring smooth operations all around the polytunnel, and we are so grateful for their help!

Hulme Garden Centre was the perfect place for the second Sunshine Plant Collective, and we could not be more happy with how the day turned out. A big thank you to Emily and Rob and all of the staff at the garden centre who helped bring it together. Flatteringly we were told that the team had never seen the space so busy, high praise indeed! Community garden centres are vital places that offer so much: skills, the sanctity of nature, and a special space to connect with others who love the outside just as much as we do. Alex and The Sunshine Plant Collective voluntary team are so pleased to showcase the joy of this garden centre, and we've gained so much in return.

I think that’s all from me folks, though I’m sure I could go on and on about just how glorious The Sunshine Plant Collective was. Chatting all day in the sun is tiring work, and so it is time for me and all of my fellow yellow t-shirt bearers to rest up for the next big event.

See you all soon!