2017 – ‘Tiny Tropical Garden’ YouTube channel is started to share my ambitious journey through the transformation of my first small mid-terrace garden into a lush tropical paradise. (Want to watch my first video? Click here.)
2018 – My gardening hobby quickly grows into a healthy addiction and with support and encouragement from my wife I begin retraining in Horticulture with the RHS. My enthusiasm and passion gains me a full time role as a professional Horticulturist at a well known subtropical garden.
2020 – The YouTube channel is renamed ‘Tropical Tribe’ and has become a resource for thousands of people. My wife wife gets the ball rolling on getting me a greenhouse for my birthday. My first ever greenhouse, a size of only 8 x 6 feet, is delivered and quickly becomes full of cuttings and young plants. To make space in the greenhouse, I add a page to the Tropical Tribe website to sell plants online, the customer orders and support were fantastic! Off the back of this initial success, a dedicated plant sales website was created. Grow Paradise was born.
2021 – My own small tropical style garden was featured on BBC Gardeners World, with Monty Don describing it as ‘…certainly very beautiful.’
The online plant sales and YouTube channel continue to grow. I decide to work 4 days a week so that I can dedicate a full day every week to Grow Paradise.
We launch the Grow Paradise Seed Shop to help customers source unusual and exotic seeds.
2022 – I decide that it is time to make the jump and pursue working on Grow Paradise full time.
Online exotic plant and seed sales continue to grow with fantastic support from our customers.
In the summer we attend our first market, taking our plants to potential customers. It was great fun and a huge success. We attend weekly markets throughout the summer, talking to other plant enthusiasts and selling plants.
In autumn the Grow Paradise Seed Club is launched, a monthly seed subscription box with exclusive illustrations and online content. I was proud to have lots of customers sign up to become Seed Club Members and we now grow unusual seeds together every month. The Grow Paradise Seed Club continues to grow with more members every month.
