In this week’s issue:

• A quick thank you
• Why this is the perfect time to reflect
• Your 2025 plant wins
• Your 2025 plant fails
• The wishlist plant you *finally* brought home
• My plant of the year
• Your turn (and yes, I’m watching 👀)
• And more…

🇬🇧 Sheffield Answers

Every week, I get tons of questions about growing houseplants. In “Sheffield Answers”, I’m going to pick one out each week and answer it. Want to submit your own and get it featured next week? Click here to ask me a question!​

Question: How do you grow plants from corms? Sal

My Answer: Corms are short, swollen underground bulbs or stems that store food for the plant. They help the plant survive dry or dormant periods and regrow when conditions improve. Alocasia is the most common indoor plant to grow them.

Cut them off the plant below the soil surface and then plant them an inch or so deep, pointed side facing up into some free-draining soil. Place the pot in a bright, warm spot and keep the soil damp but not wet. They can take a long time to sprout so be patient. To speed this up you can try peeling the outer skin of the corm before planting.

🪴HOW TO & TIPS

Rich here, for the final Houseplant Digest of 2025.

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And before anything else, I just want to say a huge thank you.

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This year, we crossed 500,000 subscribers together. Half a million people who care about plants, learning, experimenting, failing, trying again, and generally making their homes a little greener.

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That still feels slightly surreal to type.

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But more than the number, it’s been the interactions that have made this year special.

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The comments, the messages, the photos you send me of plants thriving (and not thriving), the debates, the jokes, the shared frustrations.

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So as we sit in that quiet end-of-year space, where time slows down and the kettle goes on a bit more often, it feels like the perfect moment to look back on 2025.

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Next week, we’ll gently turn our attention toward 2026, but let’s finish this year properly first.

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I’m going to answer a few questions below — and I really want you to do the same.

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And yes… I am watching the replies 👀

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I want this to be the most replied-to newsletter we’ve ever sent.

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So take two minutes, hit reply, and let’s do this together.

🌿 Looking back on 2025​
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A plant success story from 2025:

For me, it was definitely growing my spider plant in pon and it looking 10 times better (no sad, crispy leaves).

​Here's the video if you want to check it out.

A plant failure from 2025:

Hmmm.... my calathea ornata succumbing to spider mites twice. You really have to be vigilant in treating the plant (because they come back with a vengeance).
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A plant you finally crossed off your wishlist this year:

Bird of Paradise. The goal is to get it to flower, which will be tricky in the north of England. It’s a big, beautiful plant!

Your favourite plant of 2025:

I’ve fallen in love with Pothos Devil’s Ivy again because of how versatile they are. They look great sprawling from a pot or climbing a support.

Now it’s your turn.

Hit reply and answer the same four questions.

Short answers are perfect. Long stories are welcome too.

Wins, disasters, surprises, plants you fell out of love with — I want to hear all of it.

Thanks again for being here this year, for trusting me with your plant care questions, and for making Sheffield Made Plants what it is.

See you in 2026 🌱

Plant Of The Week

Platycerium bifurcatum

▸ You can order it here (UK only) 👉 https://collabs.shop/tuwdf7​

Use code SHEFFIELDMADEPLANTS for a 10% discount.

Products I use to keep my plants strong and healthy

▸ Amazon UK 👈

▸ Amazon USA 👈

📹 Watch & Grow: This Week On YouTube

👉 If I Wanted Thriving Plants This Year, I'd Do This​

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Did you know?

Plants don’t actually measure time by days or years. Instead, they respond to patterns.

Light levels, temperature shifts, watering rhythms, and seasonal changes are what tell a plant when to grow, slow down, or rest.

This means your plants don’t care that it’s the “end of the year”… but they do notice when things change.