diff --git a/spring-context/src/main/java/io/micronaut/spring/context/MicronautApplicationContext.java b/spring-context/src/main/java/io/micronaut/spring/context/MicronautApplicationContext.java
index 75e5a853a..98dda885a 100644
--- a/spring-context/src/main/java/io/micronaut/spring/context/MicronautApplicationContext.java
+++ b/spring-context/src/main/java/io/micronaut/spring/context/MicronautApplicationContext.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 import org.springframework.context.*;
 import org.springframework.core.ResolvableType;
 import org.springframework.core.env.ConfigurableEnvironment;
+import org.springframework.core.env.Environment;
 import org.springframework.core.io.ProtocolResolver;
 import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
 import org.springframework.core.io.UrlResource;
@@ -320,6 +321,12 @@ public void setId(String id) {
     @Override
     public void setParent(ApplicationContext parent) {
         this.parent = parent;
+        if (parent != null) {
+            Environment parentEnvironment = parent.getEnvironment();
+            if (parentEnvironment instanceof ConfigurableEnvironment) {
+                getEnvironment().merge((ConfigurableEnvironment) parentEnvironment);
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/spring-context/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/spring/annotation/context/ApplicationContextSpec.groovy b/spring-context/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/spring/annotation/context/ApplicationContextSpec.groovy
index dd9a6f816..3e9e08375 100644
--- a/spring-context/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/spring/annotation/context/ApplicationContextSpec.groovy
+++ b/spring-context/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/spring/annotation/context/ApplicationContextSpec.groovy
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import io.micronaut.spring.context.MicronautApplicationContext
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactoryUtils
 import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext
 import org.springframework.context.support.GenericApplicationContext
+import org.springframework.core.env.MapPropertySource
 import org.springframework.stereotype.Service
 import spock.lang.Specification
 
@@ -95,5 +96,26 @@ class ApplicationContextSpec extends Specification {
 
     }
 
+    void "test set parent context"() {
+        ApplicationContext parent = new GenericApplicationContext()
+        parent.environment.propertySources.addFirst(new MapPropertySource("parentPropertySource", ["parent.property": "parentValue"]))
+
+        when:
+        MicronautApplicationContext context = new MicronautApplicationContext(
+            io.micronaut.context.ApplicationContext.build()
+                .properties("child.property": 'childValue (${parent.property})')
+        )
+        // only a started MicronautApplicationContext has its environment set
+        // (if not using the dependency injection constructor) - does this make sense?
+        context.start()
+        context.setParent(parent)
+        context.environment.getRequiredProperty("parent.property")
+        String childProperty = context.environment.getRequiredProperty("child.property")
+        String childPropertyResolved = context.environment.resolveRequiredPlaceholders(childProperty)
+
+        then:
+        childPropertyResolved == "childValue (parentValue)"
+    }
+
     static class MySingleton {}
 }