“The ‘It’ factory is the quest,” said Katie Dubow, the president of Garden Media Group, a PR firm that advises companies on market trends. “Everyone wants to have it, grow it, sell it.”
People’s relationships with their plants deepened during the pandemic, industry experts say, and when trendy varieties looked dusty. Former “It” plants such as the pilea peperomioides, with its coin-shaped leaves, and the fiddle-leaf fig, a fixture in home design catalogs, have gone out of fashion. (The violin leaf “got a bad rap” in part because it’s harder to care for than it looks, explained Christian Esguerra, an influencer who posts “crazyplantguy” under the handle.) The raven zz had a moment, the philodendron birkin was briefly coveted , and the pink princess is on her way out.
Now, instead of one plant that everyone wants, dozens of them are popular. The National Garden Bureau has declared 2022 the year of the peperomia, but fans are also craving all kinds of alocasias, anthuriums, calatheas and hoyas.
Variegated monsteras with streaks or flecks of color, such as the Thai constellation, known for its yellow and white splashing leaves, and the monstera albo, loved for its white paint-like spots, remain in demand, in part because certain botanical properties make them difficult to propagate.
A five-leafed Thai constellation plant sold on eBay this month for $600 and a five-leafed cutting of a monstera albo for $500. Costa Farms, which has been trying to grow its own version of the Thai constellation for several years, recently ran a limited supply of the plants at Walmart — priced at about $600 each for a 12-inch pot — and sold out quickly. (Proceeds went to charity.)
The appearance has also evolved. Popular plants are now often variegated with large, highly textured, angular leaves that are often pink or purple. And when displayed, rather than a single eye-catching plant in a window, they are often grouped in a corner like a jungle or packed in a growing box.
“I think style is a much bigger part of this particular wave of houseplant enthusiasm,” says Leslie F. Halleck, a professional horticulturist and consultant. “That aesthetic of shape and form, and how it plays out in one’s interior space, has become more important.”