There’s no denying that houseplants are enjoying their moment right now.
While it’s true that they cannot even remotely be considered a new phenomenon, with early historical records appearing to suggest that ornamental and fruiting plants were potted indoors by those as early as the Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Greeks, Sumerians, Romans and even in ancient China, the popularity of houseplants has been on a sharp rise over the past few years.
If that rise wasn’t sharp enough as it is though, along came lockdown.
As the country was placed under COVID-safe restrictions, and the public told to “stay at home” for the foreseeable, the upward trajectory of houseplant popularity grew astronomically, with dedicated retailers all across the country reporting a significant surge in sales over the last 11 months.
So, what is to account for such rise then? Well, it’s simple. For those stuck at home, which has been the vast majority of us at one point or another, houseplants have seemingly offered a way of brining the outside in, a way of injecting greenery into our homes, and not to mention, they have provided the perfect pastime and place to focus our attentions.
A prominent link between the keeping and tending to of houseplants, and positive benefits for our mental health, has also been identified.
ADVERTISEMENT
And it’s the latter concept that has particularly resonated with one Manchester-based student.
Sam Garrington – a third year Environmental Science student at Manchester Metropolitan University – shares in the nation’s burgeoning love for houseplants to such an extent that he decided to start his very own “side hustle” selling them.
Alongside his studies, Sam founded the independent online houseplant nursery RootsNShoots from his Withington home last summer, and has been supplying homegrown, hand-potted and organic houseplants at affordable prices ever since.
ADVERTISEMENT
His main aim was to provide people with “beautiful plants that will aid the aesthetic of any room”, but this start-up is about so much more than just selling plants.
“I want to improve mental health, without breaking the bank.” Sam told The Manc.
“We operate with small batches of plants that are rooted from cuttings and then potted, and customers receive plants in the adolescent stage of growth, which provides the benefit of being able to watch your very own plant baby grow up.”
He continued: “Since starting at university, I’ve wanted to run my own business on the side of studying, but kept putting it off and never took the plunge [and] to be honest, even though I’ve always loved house plants and have loads of my own, I never really planned this and kind of just fell into it instead”.
“It all started back in the summer of 2020 when I was gifted 20 spider plant babies.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I rooted and potted them up, and then couldn’t decide what to do with them all, so I just posted about them on the main student Facebook page [Manchester Students’ Group], only expecting a couple of interested people to message me, but to my surprise, all 20 had been taken within half an hour and I even had people offering to pay for them once I’d told them that I’d already promised them to other people.
“This was the birth of RootsNShoots”.
Unsplash / Leonardo Iheme
And what a journey it’s been in such a short space of time.
Sam continued: “From there, I started potting up all the cuttings I could get my hands on and kept posting on Facebook until it got to the point where I needed to solidify my progress and start a properly-branded business.
“All my stock remains homegrown and hand-potted in small batches of whatever is available to me, but now I’ve invested in grow lights and shelving, as well as branded paper bags.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I’ve even had people who went home to their parents for lockdown ask me to send them plants via the post.”
While the chance to spread his love for houseplants and their benefits among the student population, and eventually as far and wide as possible, is what’s at the heart of RootsNShoots, Sam is also keen to demonstrate and help fly the flag for young people with entrepreneurial spirit too.
“I really endorse the sense of community within the student population,” Sam continued.
“I believe we are stronger as a unit and I’m sick of the stereotypical view that ‘students do nothing but study and party’, when in fact, many of us pursue creative and entrepreneurial avenues to prove we are much more than just students”.
With the popularity of RootsNShoots continuing to develop by the day though, where does Sam see his “side hustle” heading in the future?
ADVERTISEMENT
“In all honesty, I’m just taking things gradually and seeing where it ends up.” he admitted.
“I don’t particularly see this as a job and much more as a hobby.
“I love plants and want other students to discover the beauty of foliage, so at the moment, I see this as a way to get some extra money to supplement my loan and to help pay for my own plant addiction”.
He continued: “It’s hard to say where I see it going in the future as it’s so dependent on where I end up after graduating, but I’m eventually planning on launching an online store and doing postal deliveries, which means I can target a much larger customer base than just the students of Fallowfield.
“I’ve also recently started offering terracotta pots that are designed and hand-painted by my housemate who studies Fine Art at MMU too, which have turned out to be very popular and work well with the vibe I’m trying to convey.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Regardless of what happens after I graduate though, I’ll always find a way to spread my love of houseplants”.
___
You can find more information about RootsNShoots, as well as view the plants in stock and place your orders via the company’s Instagram account here.
Feature
Five Manchester artists we’ve been listening to this month | May 2025
Oh, hey, didn’t see you there. Come looking for more top Manc tunage, have we? You’re in luck, because Greater Manchester just keeps pumping out top bands and artists all the time, hence why we do this.
If you’re new around these parts, first of all, welcome and secondly, the whole thing is very simple: every month, we round up some of the best talents coming out of 0161 and talk about why we like them. I know, groundbreaking stuff, right?
They don’t have to be born and bred in Manchester, but they do need to have made this their music home – the first the correct career decision they made, the second being working their way into our ears.
So, now all the housekeeping is done and dusted, let’s dive into some delightful new Manchester music, shall we?
Five Manc bands and artists we’ve been listening to recently
1. IST IST
This month we’re starting off with one of those Manchester bands that may not be new but still crop up for us at regular intervals to remind us of two things: first of all, that they’re brilliant and secondly, that they should have featured on our regular round-up of artists a long time ago.
We’re talking about IST IST, who returned with another live, multiple LP-spanning compilation (plus some extras) this past March, which we’ve had on plenty over the past month. It goes without saying that they sound brilliant live, and we feel bad for only just remembering how good and prolific they’ve been.
You always get plenty of New Order, but also White Lies and Editors; Future Islands, The National and lots of other baritone-driven bands that bring that element of melodrama to layer over the instruments themselves. ‘You’re Mine’ might be their biggest track, but ‘The Kiss’ and ‘Exist’ are also favourites.
2. Robbie Cavanagh
Now, we all know that country music is having a real moment right now and we, for one, couldn’t be happier about it, to be completely frank. Though arguably simplistic at times, it’s soulful, often impressively pared-back, and when something does impress you lyrically or technically, it sticks.
With that in mind, we recently realised that award-winning songwriter Robbie Cavanagh has been on somewhat of a comeback since 2023, and we hadn’t noticed until painfully recently. Returning after a six-year hiatus – bar some little ditties during lockdown – his latest project has some of his best work yet.
Fully tilting from folk into country and folk, the stunning vocalist belatedly blew us away with the bluesy single ‘Helpless’ and a gorgeous new collaboration with solo artist, Abby Gundersen (equally talented sister of Noah), but please still start with his 2016 Mahogany Session, where it arguably all began.
Named after Manchester city centre’s famously eclectic indie emporium, Afflecks Palace have never quite blown up in the way they way we thought they would when we first came across them years ago, but there’s still plenty of time and we’ll be damn it if they don’t deserve more regular listeners.
You’ll also be glad to know that, despite the name, they aren’t one of those trite, overly performative bands who wear a stereotypical Manc-ness on their sleeve that we sometimes come across; they’re just good and deserve a lot more recognition for their contribution to the neo-pysch genre.
As for where to start, we’ll admit we prefer their first album; ‘Forever Young’ is noodley and catchy, ‘Everything Is an Attempt to Be Human’ has those shoegazey guitars, but it just doesn’t get better than the incomparable ‘Pink Skies’, which still makes us feel some type of way – we just can’t quite describe.
We just love it. ‘Nu-Madchester’, or whatever you want to call it, its distinct sunniness never fails to tickle a part of our brains.
4. Findlay
Next up is Stockport singer-songwriter Findlay, who released more new music this past February, and has been making indie pop that ropes in plenty of other influences for more than a decade now.
That being said, she’s always experimenting with her sound, as her collabs with Blossoms, Miles Kane, Bill Ryder-Jones, Joris Delacroix have shown, and this latest iteration seems to have her tapping into everything from almost 50s and 60s female soul singers to slow electronic and more.
We love the smooth sexiness and sheer ambition of her latest single, ‘Stay Kinky’ and ‘Waste My Time’ always feels like a late-night chiller fit for music video set in a dingey bar, however, we still have a soft spot for her debut, ‘Your Sister’, with the riff that’s almost reminiscent of ‘Blockbuster’ by Sweet.
Last but not least, it’s the second time we’re featuring a returning artist and it comes in the form of young Alex Spencer, whose journey from busking around the streets of Greater Manchester to sold-out headlines shows and featuring on the likes EA Sports FC 25 (yes, FIFA) is a truly remarkable one.
The charming and still fresh-faced local lad from Droylsden is nothing short of proof that hard work and determination can pay off, and those ‘Bucket List’ dreams really are within reach. Obvious talent aside, this teenager has grafted his arse off and we couldn’t be more proudof how far he’s come already.
He last featured in this round-up back in April 2024 but even in the time between then, he’s released plenty and developed even further as musician, so much so that we’re not going to suggest which songs to try; instead, you can watch our most recent interview with him and relive his last year or so with us.
I’m Alex Spencer and This is my journey so far!
8 years of my music journey summed up in 1 minute 55😅 Thankyou to everyone who’s followed my journey so far, to anyone new or to anyone who doesn’t know my story, I made this video to show where it all started and how I got here❤️ pic.twitter.com/Hi3W7MHMxX
So, the next time you hear someone foolishly complaining that the Greater Manchester music scene ‘isn’t what it once was’, you can go right ahead of show them these bands and artists.
In fact, you could just point them in the direction of this very page and Audio North, in general, as we do this round-up every month and plenty more every week, meaning you’re headphones never dry up.
For instance, you can check out which Manchester bands and artists we were listening to back in April, both new, current and old, down below. We’ll see you again very soon.
It’s rare you get to see legends in real life, especially this up close and personal, but there’s still just one key word that keeps coming to mind when we think of seeing Bruce Springsteen in Manchester at the Co-op Live last night: surreal.
We still can’t quite believe that he was here in Manchester, in the flesh, for three separate nights, but we do intend to replay it in our heads over and over again until it fully sinks in.
Springsteen, ‘The Boss’, Brucey, whatever you want to call him, there really is something to be said for someone who’s been going this long and still exerts so much energy at 75.
That goes for his desperately loyal and dedicated crowds, too. The legions that marched down ‘Thunder Road’ and back down the CityLink walking route and the Ashton canal in supreme spirits after all was said and done gave as good as they got.
We can only assume Springsteen was as incredible on the first night at Co-op Live as he was on the last. (Credit: Audio North)
From singing back every chorus to the chants of “Bruuuuuuuce!” between every single song, it was more apparent than ever that being a Springsteen fan is quite literally a way of life for these people; they know every line, every call and response, every micro-dance move and regular on-stage ritual.
Each show is roughly three hours long, by the way – he does have an absolute treasure trove of discography to work through, in fairness.
Put simply, there’s no messing about, just non-stop rock and roll of the highest order. Well, there are some brief pauses, but for good reason…
As a passionate political and philanthropic person throughout a career which spans more than six decades, he took the time to talk about America and the turbulent times they are once again facing.
He spoke about the craven billionaire class, poverty, uniting through art and, just as he did on night one in Manchester, Springsteen railed against a particular tyrant who happens to have found himself in the seat of power yet again back over in the States. He made sure to do this every single night.
‘Born in the U.S.A.’ (which he did decide to play, along with a plethora of the other biggest hits) now feels more like a protest song than ever. The war may no longer be in Vietnam, but there is one raging back home, and he’s even more wary of it than before.
He thanked those in the pit and the stands for indulging him, as well as the “wonderful space” of the Co-op and its “beautiful sound” for hosting him, but we have a feeling the New Jersey poet could have said just about anything and he’d still have 23,500+ in the palm of his hands.
All that being said, it wasn’t like this was a pseudo-rally or anything like that, nor was anything of this being foisted upon the audience, but there was a real sense of a congregation gathering in the church of Bruce to take in his sermon.
His followers have often been referred to in this way, and despite only previously considering ourselves a very casual Springsteen enthusiast, having now been to a sell-out arena gig with one of the biggest Boss fans we know, we can understand why millions of people around the world idolise this absolute icon.
It goes without saying that a huge amount of applause must go to The E Street Band themselves, who are just as much a part of what makes Springsteen sets so special as he is.
From the ever-charismatic Steven Van Zandt (still hard not to see him as ‘Sil’ from The Sopranos) to Jake Clemons on sax – who has been part of the group since 2012 and shared a touching embrace with Bruce as tributes to his predecessor and uncle, Clarence, played behind them – these lot are a family.
Our only minor gripe is that we sorely missed hearing ‘Atlantic City’, but what the concert did confirm is that much like the effect the recent Bob Dylan biopic had on us, we’re now more committed than ever to working through the Springsteen back catalogue from start to finish and seeing how obsessed we get.
To end on one final thought and echo the words of the man himself: “peace, love and freedom.”
Emily Sergeant -
24th February 2021 
