Homegrown Handmade
The very expensive world of indoor plants
Houseplants are big business right now. So big that retailers are running out of stock. Even a small specimen of the elegant, trailing Monstera obliqua variety Monkey Mask (pictured at left) costs about $70. If you can find one.
That's nothing compared to the $4930 price someone paid for a variegated, 1m-high Monstera deliciosa in January.
And that record price was trumped in June when a tiny, rare, reverse-variegated Hoya carnosa Compacta (also known as 'Hindu rope') went for $6500 on TradeMe. I was tempted to dig mine up and offer it to the highest bidder.
Thanks to social media influencers, there's often a waiting list for certain types of plants. If you love the weird and wacky, the variegated, holey, splotched, or striped, you'll love the current trend for houseplants with unusual foliage.
The two basic types of indoor plants
Common flowering houseplants, such as African violets, begonias, and moth orchids, are prized for their colourful blooms.
But it's the other type, with the appeal centred on the leaves, which has surged in popularity in the last couple of years.
A standard Hoya carnosa – once common in every grandmother's living room – went for a crazy $1000 on TradeMe earlier this year.
But even the common monstera (also known as the ‘Swiss cheese plant') is $70$135 for a 25cm-high plant.
Rhaphidophora tetrasperma (also known as 'Mini Monstera' and Philodendron minima) is very on-trend. You might be able to find a small one (in a 14cm pot) for $40 or so. If you're after a giant one (in a 34cm pot), you can expect to pay around $120.
Many nurseries and garden centres are sold out, and there are waiting lists for certain plants.