Plants and Flowers Foundation Holland opens the UK's first Flower Pharmacy in Soho prescribing bouquets for winter blues

Key Takeaways

• Plants and Flowers Foundation Holland created the UK's first Flower Pharmacy with chartered horticulturist and TV gardener David Domoney.

• Visitors were matched with flowers suited to their mood and left with a personalised floral prescription designed to lift, calm or energise them.

• Yellow blooms were prescribed for happiness, blue and green for calm, and orange, red and pink flowers for energy.

• The one-off pharmacy opened at 15 Bateman Street in Soho, London, on Thursday 22 October 2026, just before the clocks go back.

Plants and Flowers Foundation Holland has opened the UK's first Flower Pharmacy in London, a one-off shop in Soho that swaps pills and plasters for bouquets and hands visitors a floral prescription chosen to match how they are feeling as the nights draw in. The pop-up opened at 15 Bateman Street on 22 October, and it was created in partnership with David Domoney, the chartered horticulturist, TV gardener and author.

The concept borrows the language and rituals of a high street chemist, where a consultation, a diagnosis and a prescription are all things people already understand, while the remedy being dispensed is a bunch of sunflowers or a calming armful of hydrangeas. That framing turns a fairly simple message about buying flowers more often into something with a clear seasonal purpose, since it arrives in the final days of British Summer Time, when darker evenings start to weigh on most of the country.

Plants and Flowers Foundation Holland's Flower Pharmacy matches Soho visitors with mood bouquets that lift, calm or energise

Visitors to the Flower Pharmacy were matched with flowers suited to their mood, and each guest then took away a bouquet as a personalised prescription, chosen either to lift their spirits, to help them relax or to give them a burst of energy. The colour of the flowers did most of the diagnostic work, so yellow varieties such as sunflowers, roses, freesias and snapdragons were prescribed to boost happiness, while blue and green blooms including hydrangeas, delphiniums and chrysanthemums were reserved for calming arrangements, and orange, red and pink flowers went into the energising bunches.

The research behind the launch, carried out by OnePoll, found that 37% of adults struggle when the clocks go back and 29% admit the end of British Summer Time leaves them feeling glum, while 31% spend more time indoors, 28% find the darker evenings difficult and 22% notice lower energy levels. Most of those affected already try to lift their mood in some way, as 86% use at least one coping method and nature features strongly, with 23% turning to the outdoors, 22% heading out on country walks and 12% spending time gardening, although the most popular winter pick-me-ups turn out to be chocolate at 45%, coffee at 27% and a takeaway at 26%, which leaves flowers well outside the usual winter comfort routine.

Flowers clearly make people feel good when they do arrive, since half of adults say being given them makes them happy and 45% feel grateful, and 53% say fresh flowers make them happier than everyday treats like coffee, sweets or a takeaway, a figure that climbs to 70% among 25 to 34 year olds. Only 9% regularly buy flowers for themselves, however, and 38% have never even considered doing so, because most people still connect a bouquet with occasions such as Mother's Day, which 20% named, and Valentine's Day, which 18% mentioned. When asked what they enjoy most about receiving flowers, people put the way they brighten up the home and their beauty at the top of the list, followed by feeling appreciated and knowing that someone was thinking of them, so the emotional benefits are well understood even if the habit of buying for oneself has not caught on.

Both partners framed the pharmacy as a gentle form of self-care, and David Domoney said "There's something incredibly uplifting about flowers, and research has shown that they can have a positive effect on our mood and emotional wellbeing," which sets out the wellbeing case in plain terms. He also argued that flowers should not be kept for big days, saying "We often associate flowers with special occasions, but there's no reason we shouldn't enjoy their beauty and the benefits of having them around us in everyday life," and he added that "Sometimes, it's the simplest connections with nature that can make a real difference to how we feel." Monique Kemperman, horticulture expert for Plants & Flowers Foundation Holland, linked the idea directly to the season when she said "As the days become shorter and darker, small acts of self-care can make a real difference, and flowers are a simple way to bring colour, joy and positivity into everyday life." She went on to explain the purpose of the whole exercise by saying "The Flower Pharmacy is about encouraging people to see flowers as an everyday wellbeing boost rather than a treat saved for occasions."

Plants and Flowers Foundation Holland uses the Flower Pharmacy to move UK flower buying away from special occasions

Plants and Flowers Foundation Holland represents the Dutch flower and plant sectors, and it only took its current name relatively recently, after the organisation previously known as Flower Council Holland became Plants & Flowers Foundation Holland on 3 June 2025. The new name was chosen to reflect that it speaks for both flowers and plants, and it also replaced the earlier Dutch consumer labels Mooi wat bloemen doen and Mooi wat planten doen, so that all of its communications come from one central sender as the foundation works to strengthen its international profile.

David Domoney brings a long record in mainstream gardening to the partnership, since he co-presents Love Your Garden alongside Alan Titchmarsh, a programme he has worked on since 2012, is the resident gardener on ITV1's This Morning, has won 30 RHS medals and written the book My Houseplant Changed My Life, published in 2021.