About us

A small nursery with strong opinions about soil.

Fern & Fable is two people, a cat, and 180 square metres of greenhouse on Nørrebrogade. We've been growing houseplants here since 2019.

How it started

In the winter of 2018, my partner Mira and I killed eleven plants in four months. We were living in a flat with one north-facing window and a radiator that ran constantly, and we kept buying plants that wanted the opposite of what we had. Every one of them came from a garden centre with a plastic tag that said "bright indirect light" and nothing else.

We decided the problem wasn't us. It was the plants — or rather, it was that nobody was selling plants that matched the flat we actually lived in. So we rented a small greenhouse, learned to propagate, and started growing things that could survive a Nordic winter, a forgetful owner, and a radiator.

The best houseplant is the one that's still alive in March. Everything else is decoration.

How we grow

We propagate everything ourselves, which means we know the parent plant of every specimen we sell. We mix our own soil — peat-free compost, perlite, a little worm casting, and a handful of sand for the succulents. We harden off slowly, over weeks, so that a plant that leaves the greenhouse has already spent time in conditions close to a real apartment.

We don't ship anything until it's ready. If a batch of Monsteras isn't quite there yet, they stay in the greenhouse and the shelf stays empty. This is not a marketing decision. It's just what happens when your inventory is alive.

Why we don't do subscriptions

We've been asked, more than once, whether we'd do a monthly plant box. We won't. A subscription model rewards volume, and volume is the enemy of a plant that arrives healthy. We'd rather sell you one plant this year that survives than six that don't.

People

JW

Jonas Whitfield

Growing, soil, logistics

MH

Mira Holm

Propagation, design, everything else

BR

Bramble

Chief pest control officer

Visit

The greenhouse is open to the public on Saturdays from 10 to 15, from March through October. We're at Nørrebrogade 148, 2200 København N — the green door next to the bakery. Come say hello. Bramble will probably ignore you.