Insider Picks writes about products and services to help you navigate when shopping online. Insider, Inc. receives a commission from our affiliate partners when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
The Sill
- Even if you live in a city hours away from the nearest forest, you can still enjoy the benefits of nature by bringing a houseplant into your life.
- The Sill is an online company that sells a wide variety of affordable indoor houseplants and delivers them to aspiring green thumbs in the continental US.
- I ordered a few plants from the informative, user-friendly site and loved the experience.
- The site makes it easy to find a plant to fit your needs, preferences, and home conditions, plus the proper support to help it thrive.
After living in all types of cities, including ones with evergreen trees lining every path and, on the other end of the spectrum, concrete jungles where parks are cherished respites, I've discovered I really like being near greenery. So, too, do my friends and peers.
Whether for their aesthetic value, their tactile immediacy that social media and the internet can't offer, or our desire to care for something that doesn't require as much commitment as a pet or child, plants are the latest trend to grip millennial consumers.
In the age of online shopping, companies like The Sill are making it easy to order and take care of these delightful succulents, vines, and ferns. The Sill has been especially successful, experiencing 400% year-over-year revenue growth and making 50,000 deliveries across the continental US in 2018.
The Sill launched in 2012 to help city-dwelling millennials who don't have access to traditional garden centers or the time and space to dive into full-on gardening enjoy the benefits of indoor houseplants. It knows that we like having something green in front of us, but we also want the whole process of obtaining and keeping the green thing alive to be convenient and affordable.
It has physical stores in New York and Los Angeles, where you can take fun monthly workshops, but you don't have to live in these cities to bring some houseplants home. We tried out The Sill's online experience so you know what to expect.
The Sill
Here's what you'll find on The Sill
The Sill sells a variety of indoor plants, shoppable by size, light required, and collection (e.g. for beginners, pet-friendly). You can also shop all plants ($5-$115.50) for a virtual garden of all types of plants, from the jagged and restless Calathea Rattlesnake ($44.50) to the nearly-impossible-to-kill Zanzibar Gem ($56).
Some come in planters, which are made from either plastic or earthenware and will increase the total cost of the item, while others come un-potted.
On each plant's product page, you can learn about the brightness, sun exposure, water, and humidity required to take care of it, as well as a brief "bio" about its origins. With this information on hand, you can pick out a plant that you can realistically take care of, not just the one that looks the prettiest.
If you like the consistency of subscriptions, the company also offers $35 subscriptions, which delivers one potted plant to your door every month.
The Sill ships to the contiguous 48 states, with free shipping on orders over $75. Otherwise, you'll pay a $10 flat-rate fee for standard 5-7 day shipping.
Once you have your plant, there's a plant care resource center filled with helpful care tips, DIY ideas, and educational articles to support your emerging green thumb.
The Sill
We ordered a few plants from The Sill - here's how it worked
I picked out three small plants to grace my apartment windowsill:
Although I've ordered plants online before from another service called Leon & George, I still err on the concerned side about how these small plants would travel.
They arrived together in one box at my door, packed in paper bags and wrapped in an additional protective layer of bubble wrap:
Connie Chen/Business Insider
Despite their trip in a box that had shown up turned on its side, they emerged unscathed and with little mess. A layer of dry moss packed around each plant helped prevent soil from spilling everywhere.
Connie Chen/Business Insider
They looked and felt healthy, and with the enclosed care instructions, I planned to keep them that way. So far (knock on wood), they've held up well.
The bottom line
I'm still fairly new to the world of houseplants, but I liked that The Sill offered a large variety to choose and mix and match from. I didn't have to deal with transporting the plants back home, and once they did find their place by my window, I felt confident enough to care for them.
More than just ship you beautiful, low-maintenance plants, The Sill is inspiring a generation of shoppers to get in touch with the natural world and showing them the benefits of plant care. If you're looking for affordable indoor houseplants and the support and information you'll need to make the most of the experience, I recommend trying out The Sill.
Order indoor houseplants from The Sill here
Subscribe to our newsletter.
Find all the best offers at our Coupons page.
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Insider Picks team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at insiderpicks@businessinsider.com.