Living accessories add color and style
This houseplant is on the money with 20,000 followers on Instagram
Houseplants are celebrating a resurgence in a continual effort to bring Mother Nature indoors.
M ove over, pothos, your reign as one of the more popular houseplants could be just about over.
Pilea peperomioides, commonly known as the Chinese money or friendship plant, just might knock you off your pedestal. This friendly, semisucculent houseplant is all over social media and blogs. It has 20,000 followers on Instagram. Top that, pothos.
For those of you tired of the basic Boston fern or succulent-ofthe-hour, there are choices and not just the Pilea. Houseplants are celebrating a resurgence in a continual effort to bring Mother Nature indoors while also providing living sculptural accessories that are comfortable in all kinds of interiors. But there’s something about the mysterious Pilea, enough to entice Leland and Mackenna Rowley to bank on it. The Rowleys, owners of Rowley Press, a fine paper and letterpress company, have done a bit of an about-face and opened Piep in a renovated Orange Street store in downtown Riverside, Calif., which sells home goods and works of local artists. Its mainstay, though, is plants, primarily the Pilea. The new company also ships houseplants and accessories nationwide.
What prompted the Rowleys to expand from printing to plants? “We love plants. And then a good friend asked about a Chinese money plant and since my husband is good at finding things, he started looking around,” Mackenna Rowley said. “We found a tiny cutting on eBay for $100. We thought we’d experiment with propagating one.”
As with many businesses, Piep began out of necessity. Mackenna and Leland Rowley, too, wanted to buy a Pilea but encountered problems finding one that didn’t cost a fortune — they go for $120 per seedling on eBay. So the longtime plant lovers decided to branch out and start another business, making Pileas accessible to the U.S. market and affordable, starting at $34.99.
Leland Rowley embarked on a yearlong quest exploring propagation methods, building a greenhouse and learning all he could about soil.
A wild, wonderful, plant-filled year began, culminating in the store’s recent opening. Along the way, the couple had its first baby (human, not Pilea) while still managing its printing company.
“Along the way, we fell in love with an amazing array of other houseplants, custom pots, gorgeous art, and a bunch of other fun stuff we decided we just had to sell as well,” said Mackenna Rowley. ““We want to be able to serve everyone’s plant needs.”
Mackenna Rowley said Piep is a “curated jungle,” home to all kinds of succulents to frilly figs and, of course the Pilea, offering an option to those looking for the unusual. Eventually, the Rowleys want to host classes and events on
houseplant care, crafts/DIY, and educational lectures. Piep will also be available for small special events.
Pilea peperomioides is a rare and hard-to-find indoor plant native to southern China. The photogenic plant, with its bright green flat, coin-shaped leaves, works in all settings, particularly in households that prefer a more minimalist design. It loves the indoors and is easy to propagate — another reason it’s so popular. It produces offshoots or “pups” that can produce separate plants or be given away, hence one of its nicknames, “the friendship plant.” For anyone who has ever shared a sourdough starter with a friend or co-worker, this could be for you. Adding to its lore, Norwegian missionary Agnar Espegren found it, fell in love with it and brought it home to Norway in 1946. He reportedly enjoyed giving Pilea “pups” to friends — prompting many in that country to call it the “missionary plant.”
The store also offers other pleasant plant choices such as a glossy Peperomia for $14.99 and a Madagascar Dragon Tree for $19.99, along with others.