From tiny beginnings as a small market stall at New Covent Garden Market (NCGM) in the 1980s, Evergreen Exterior Services – known to most as Evergreen – has grown into one of the UK’s leading plant wholesalers. As the firm celebrates its 40th anniversary, NCGM remains a vital part of its business model

When Evergreen began trading at the original New Covent Garden Flower Market on Wandsworth Road in 1986, its ambitions were understandably limited. Brothers Steve and Tony Doe, together with business partner, Peter Gibbs, started the business with a single stall here. The business gradually expanded to a permanent base in Banstead, Surrey, and has steadily built a huge customer base largely thanks to strong relationships with suppliers across Europe.

The NCGM Evergreen team. From left to right: Ray Diaz, Paul Fairhead, John Sait, David Morrison, and Eric Connick

Today Evergreen employs more than 50 people, operates a fleet of 25 lorries and vans, and delivers plants nationwide. Its customers range from independent florists and shops to landscapers, garden designers, gardeners, estates, local authorities and, increasingly, garden centres. A company that began with one small market unit now boasts annual sales of around £23.9 million, with New Covent Garden Market itself accounting for approximately £2.3 million.

Catering to every customer

There’s no such thing as a typical day, as Evergreen’s customer base is so varied. “A small florist might be looking for houseplants, while a landscape contractor could require mature trees or hundreds of metres of hedging,” says Thea Pitcher, Evergreen’s head of marketing. “There’s not really anything that we can’t get for our customers and that’s what makes every day different.”

As a Kew Gardens-trained horticulturist with 25 years of experience in horticulture, design, and TV, Thea’s well placed to comment on the firm’s impressive transformation. “It’s been an amazing 40 years, a real success story and the business has come a long way from quite humble beginnings.

Evergreen's owners Danny Cumber (left) and Craig Marshal (right) with Eric Connick (centre)

“We’ve always has a great relationship with NCGM and we’re still here,” she adds, highlighting that Evergreen’s growth remains closely connected to NCGM. “We have two large units at the Flower Market, managed by Paul Fairhead”.

Many Evergreen employees have spent a substantial part of their working lives with the company. Sales Manager Oli Doe (son of Tony), joined as a teenager, while current owners Craig Marshall and Danny Cumber both started at Evergreen’s as Saturday boys at the Banstead nursery when they were just 16. In 2020, Craig and Danny decided to buy the business after working their way up. But more on that later.

Eric Connick – above, who celebrated 40 years’ of service with Evergreen in August this year – provides a collection point for customers ordering stock from Evergreen’s Banstead nursery, as well as holding a larger selection of plants for landscapers and other trade customers. Whereas Paul, with fewer years’ service but a lifetime in the industry, is more focused on smaller plants, florists, shops, bedding, houseplants and interior planting.

“Eric is a proper Market boy,” says Thea, “someone who embodies the character and traditions of the environment in which Evergreen was born. Eric’s longevity is extraordinary, particularly given the early hours involved over so many years.” Now approaching 65, he remains a familiar presence at the Market. “He’s been an amazing employee, a constant at NCGM, totally reliable.”

For Evergreen, long-serving employees represent something more valuable than institutional memory. They carry the history of the business with them. Thea describes how, when she recently needed to establish how long Evergreen had worked with a certain supplier, she simply sat down with co-owner Craig. “He could tell me everything,” she says. “A lot of companies would have to go through historic records.” At Evergreen, the records are often in people’s heads.

24-hour plant-y people

One of the original Evergreen trucks

“Our operation is designed around speed,” says Thea. “Customers can place an order with Evergreen in the morning and, where stock is available, we’ll have it ready for collection at the Market the following day. We have lorries that travel from Banstead to Nine Elms five days a week, as well as suppliers that deliver directly to the Market.”

For a landscaper working in central London, that sense of urgency can make a significant difference, and that’s where Evergreen’s click & collect service excels. “A contractor who discovers halfway through a job that they need another 20 plants doesn’t necessarily have the time to drive out to Banstead, collect them and return to site,” says Thea. “Our Market operation effectively brings the stock closer to the customer. For a lot of companies who have businesses in central London, it’s an invaluable service.”

The pace of the business is reflected in Evergreen’s working hours, which means it’s often a 24-hour operation. While the Market trades between 4am and 10am, Evergreen’s operation stretches well beyond that, with staff often working through the night to receive and sort deliveries, while drivers transport plants between the nursery and the Market.

“There are really not that many hours when someone isn’t working,” Thea says. “There are a lot of cogs to make the wheel turn and our biggest asset is our people.”

The challenges of Covid

Buying Evergreen in 2020, Craig and Danny’s purchase came just before Brexit kicked in and was followed almost immediately by the Covid-19 lockdown. But what looked like a disastrous moment to take ownership of the company turned into something very different.

“As people were confined to their homes, gardens and outdoor spaces suddenly became enormously important,” says Thea. Sales of houseplants boomed, while demand for plants for gardens and outdoor projects surged. The Flower Market closed for three months, but Evergreen’s Banstead nursery remained open. Thea recalls long queues of customers waiting to get in. “Lockdown went from being a really low point to being a super high point,” she says. “We saw the value people place on their outdoor space become increasingly important.”

Change is the only constant

Over the past 40 years, it’s not just the level of trade that’s changed. When the company started, most of its growers were UK based and international sourcing was not really on the radar. That changed around 35 years ago, when Evergreen started importing plants to boost its assortment. Today, a substantial proportion of its stock comes from European suppliers, particularly from Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

British growers remain an important part of the supply chain, and the shift towards imported plants is not necessarily a reflection of customer preference. “Many climbers, trees and perennials, for example, are still sourced from the UK,” says Thea. “If more British stock was there then our customers would buy it. But it must be good quality. We pride ourselves on having quality plants as well as offering incredibly good value.”

Quality, value and speed

The combination of quality, value and speed have become the three pillars central to Evergreen’s customer proposition. Scale provides significant buying power that allows discounts to be passed on to their customers, but it’s the speed of Evergreen’s supplier network and its own transport operation that proves the cornerstone of success.

Evergreen’s Banstead site - pictured above - operates both as a cash-and-carry and as the company’s main distribution hub. The wide variety of plants available is a world away from the company’s original NCGM unit, with access to thousands of lines, ranging from everyday bread and butter varieties to tropical plants, cacti and trees reaching 10 metres in height.

With ever-changing stock based on the alternating seasons, Evergreen can source any plant a customer might want. “Our supplier network means even relatively obscure requirements can generally be sourced quickly,” says Thea. “We always maintain a strong core range while having the ability to find something different when our customers need it.”

However, Brexit regulations have made things more difficult. “In the past an order for a plant sourced from Belgium could sometimes be placed on one day and delivered the next, she says. “That’s become more complicated, but our logistics operation still gives us considerable flexibility.”

Future aims

Despite Evergreen’s business expanding far beyond London – delivering as far afield as North Yorkshire – its units at NCGM and its Banstead site are still core to the business.

Banstead has continued to grow as a wholesale nursery over the past seven years. Recent investment includes a new quarantine area and facilities for waste plant material, reflecting the increasing importance of plant health and biosecurity.

And soon the Market itself will be changing again – in Q4 2028 – bringing the wholesale operation closer to Nine Elms Tube station and providing a larger trading space.

“We’ve had an amazing journey from a tiny plant stall to multi-million-pound business,” says Thea. “Yet our fundamentals remain much the same. You’re not really anyone without your staff and your offer. It’s simple really, good plants, good service, quick turnaround and meaningful relationships that last.”

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Healthy certification

In October Evergreen gained its Plant Healthy Certification, following an independent audit of its operations at both Banstead and NCGM. “The certification recognises businesses that meet the Plant Health Management Standard and demonstrate robust

plant health and biosecurity practices,” explains Thea. “We source plants from an extensive network of UK and European growers, so this certification represents an important milestone and reinforces our commitment to responsible sourcing, traceability and plant health.”