Research from online outdoor living retailer, Internet Gardener, which included analysing thousands of Instagram posts, has revealed the indoor plants most favoured by millennials.

Millennial interest in these plants is so great that plant retailers across the country are selling out, says Internet Gardener, with specific waiting lists for the most popular on Instagram.

The top 50 posts from almost 6.1million images across five hashtags were analysed to see which plants featured frequently in each individual post.

The top 10 plants according to the research are:

• Swiss Cheese Plant (7%)
• Princess-Blue (7%)
• Chinese Money Plant (5%)
• Devil’s Ivy (4%)
• Boston Fern (4%)
• Hedge Cactus (3%)
• False Shamrock (3%)
• String of Hearts (3%)
• String of Pearls (2%)
• Rubber plant (2%)

The Swiss Cheese Plant was found to be the favourite across Instagram’s top posts, accounting for around7% of all indoor plants shared on the platform. This species of houseplant also received on average 745 likes per post where it featured.

The plant that received the most likes on average, however, was not the same species which featured the most. The Chinese Money Plant, which came third as it appeared in 5% of posts, actually gained the most likes on average at 2,001 per post.

Jo Lambell, director of online plant retailer, Beards & Daisies, discussed how the Instagram data marries up with her own indoor plant sales statistics: “The trend for indoor house plants shows no sign of slowing in 2019. With 45% of our customers falling in the 25-34 age group, they are well versed in the environmental benefits of indoor house plants and are keen to follow the trend for filling their homes and offices spaces with a medley of plants. Our most popular plants include anything with a pink leaf which explains the massive popularity of the Oxalis, our best-selling plant; and with 70% of our customers being female this is no surprise.”

She continues: “The bigger the better with house plants, and our customers favour these tall plants for maximum impact, so it's no surprise the Swiss Cheese plant features at the top of the list. This is our best-selling 'jumbo plant' followed closely by the Rubber Plant. We'll have waiting lists for these plants when they go out of stock! Millennials don't do trends by halves, with most orders including multiple plants. No Insta home, coffee shop or office is complete without a Devil's Ivy - a staple for any new 'plant parent' as it's low maintenance, fast growing and inexpensive making this a popular add-on to any plant order.

“We’re not surprised to see the popularity of shelf plants on the list. Almost 50% of our plants are delivered to cities throughout the UK, where space is a premium and plants, such as the String of Hearts, succulents and String of Pearls are flying off the virtual shelves, as they're a fab way of working more greenery into small spaces.”

Internet Gardener managing director Andy Baxter said “The rise of urban gardening is not one to be ignored. Recent news has frequently discussed how millennials are choosing plants over children and, with a crumbling housing ladder forcing younger people into small rented accommodation, it’s no surprise they want a plant or three to comfort them. As we can see the Instagram data matches up with sales statistics, it’s quite clear that millennials and gen z ‘jungalow’ owners alike are using their disposable income on some green company.”