Growing a green thumb

Flower Plus, a Shanghai-based e-commerce florist which delivers fresh flowers to customers every week, has grown in popularity in the past five years. It currently has around 8 million regular customers and sells more than 1.5 million flowers every day.

In 2019, the start-up, which has already completed several rounds of funding, received its series B funding of 35 million yuan.

Community gardens, where local residents grow and maintain plants in a public space while creating social ties and building a greater sense of community, have also been emerging in Shanghai.

The municipal government issued a list of 20 subdistricts for its pilot community gardener service last August. The list is aimed at promoting the building of small gardens and providing professional gardening courses for residents.

At the grassroots level, The Clover Nature School, a non-government organization initiated by a team from Tongji University, has been helping neighborhoods build small gardens since 2016.

"We have directly participated in the building of more than 110 community gardens and provided training and support to 600 communities to build their own gardens in the city," said He Jian, council member in charge of the operation of the NGO.

At the organization's flagship garden called "Knowledge & Innovation Community Garden" in Yangpu district, one would be able to find canola, strawberries and a small rice paddy that is ready to be sowed.

"Seniors, students, families and white-collar workers all come to the garden. They work, play, organize activities or simply rest and chat here. This is nature at people's doorstep, and it has the power of connecting humans," He said.