Our Story
Hota began as a conversation between husband-and-wife team Hannah and Toby— asking, what should we plant in our garden, and where? With Hannah’s background in landscape design and Toby’s experience in tech, we saw an opportunity to create something that could solve this problem. Enter Hota, which helps people design a garden that works, enabling them to choose the right plants, and keep them alive and looking beautiful, with the support of the app alone.
From early sketches in our flat to testing the app in our own garden, Hota was built from the ground up to bridge the gap between professional garden design and everyday gardening. It uses smart tools—like Soil ID, which identifies complex UK soil types using a phone’s location—to ensure the right plants are suggested for each space, and design features to help users visualise where to place their plants.
After several difficult years including redundancy and career changes, working on the app in every spare moment we had, we moved from London to the countryside with our young family and are testing and refining Hota in our new garden.
In 2025, we launched our most exciting development yet: a partnership with Proctors Nursery, winners of a Gold Medal at the 2024 Chelsea Flower Show. This collaboration allows users to order high-quality plants directly through Hota, bringing their garden designs to life with trusted stock from one of the UK's best growers.
We created Hota to make gardening more accessible, more intuitive, and more inspiring. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or are just getting started, Hota aims to support you on your growing journey.