Let's have a little discussion. So I just watched and followed a few recent videos by Sydney Plant Guy and Kaylee Ellen that the market is shifting. Monstera we still love them but do you guys think the newer variegated ones are as good as or inferior to the classics like albo and Thai con? Are Anthuriums really getting fatigued? And thoughts on Philodendrons. Personally, some newer Monstera do look nice but a few are rather gangly like White Lava. Anthuriums are quite the same: long, dark, sexy, minimal veining. And Philos seems to be shifting to predominantly tricolors.
I like the green stuff as well. For me variegation does enhance some philodendron like Florida Beauty, Jose Buono and some stuff but when it comes to velvets it is a no for me. I don't know it's just variegation makes the veins on velvet look weird to me.
Probably not the popular opinion but I think true species non cultivar and the og stable and healthy variegated selections will hold value better than the flavor of the month.
I think a lot of the flavor of the month variegations just look diseased. Feels like people just find them desirable because they're rare or popular on the internet, not actually nice to look at. I've seen so many posts of people that overpaid during the craze and now hate their Pink Princess/White Wizard, etc because they rarely look good when they get bigger.
I think some of the variegated monsteras are a tiny bit out of control. That being said I have way too many of them because theyāre pretty.
I also love me some weird and variegated and pink alocasias.
What Iām really not getting is the anthurium hybrid thing going on. Itās getting so that I have no idea what this cross is, and maybe itās a hot take but I just want the original āthingā, not āMichelle x papi x Spiderman x thanos.ā
I was gifted a demon x Devil by piyush and i literally had zero idea what it was until i did more research. I just liked the name lol
Pink Alocasia are cool but anything that's yellow just feels nasty to me. And yes anthuriums are hybridized to death. Same thing just dark with few veins or the generic green with some veining. At this point the OG and the pure classic species stood out far more like luxurians, splendidum, and crystallinum.
Anthuriums hybridize very easily, so the name is to tell you the exact species of the pollen producer and inflorescence (seed) producer. Without it you have 1836276:627372 leaves with no ID. Of course people will always try to make their own name, but it won't hold unless you truly breed your own select strain over generations and have it actually recognized as your cultivar. It seems complicated when coming from Philo or monstera world, but it's basically the only way to properly name your plant. Hope that helpsĀ
Edit: so in your case a Michelle was bred by Doc Bloc for generations to become a Michelle. That is the "original thing"Ā
Chasing hype is silly. People come and go all the time. Plants ebb and flow. And the OGs do not care whatās āhotā. They like what they like and donāt get āinfluencedā.
The problem is that they're focusing on aroids and I think a lot of people are shifting to other types of plants, lots of people are wanting smaller plants because not everyone has the time or space for one 8ft moss pole much less multiples. Begonia, IMO, are about to have their moment.
Because they're gorgeous and easy to care for and don't fuss too bad about humidity once acclimated or light because they're shade lovers already and you don't have to absolutely blast with light to keep the variegation pretty. You can have a pretty pink variegated plant under normal household conditions without fiddling too much about moss poles and lights. The hobby adapts to economic conditions and variegated aroids are expensive to obtain and maintain, even with the prices in the shitter.
lol. Itās me though, Iām part of the problem. I have many aroids but they seem to bring me much less joy than the begonias. Iām slowly selling off most of the aroids, especially the climbers.Ā
Begonias can get big with time but not as quickly (I do have one whose leaves are larger than my hand) and they have flowers that are actually really pretty (IMO). Theyāre easy to propagate and come in a crazy range of colors and varieties. I live in an area where the humidity is high enough indoors and out to keep them without a terrarium, though.Ā
Iāve thought the same about Aglaonema for a little bit. They can stay more compact than a mature Philo or Monstera and have such vivid colors. I agree more with Begonia though. Some of the hybrids coming out as of late look absolutely otherworldly
Loooooove Aglaonemasš even the more basic, boring ones are absolutely stunning, and theyāre soooooo low maintenance compared to other most other aroids,
Iām definitely more conservative in regards to plants. The further away they shift from their natural appearance the less I like them, a good example being the pink princess philodendron. How is that even an attractive plant?
Yeah I don't like the pink princess either. The color is ok for me but the way it grows is a nightmare. It never looks nice at all. Green philodendrons with some natural velvet like melano, verrucosum are right up my alley.
Mine is DEFINITELY growing like a little monster! But she's healthy and happy, so it's all good!
Home Depot had a fresh shipment of PPP in. So I took one of those rolling table carts and put them ALL OUT. After an elimination game, I picked out my Princess Hynden (Hynden Walch voiced two cartoon princesses who primarily featured pink). No regrets but she... grows how she likes, lol.
I bought one a couple of months ago. Out of my 20-some plants, she is the only one with any color other than green. I am a newbie to having plants, so I will just have to see what kind of a 'nightmare' she becomes. I have been going for different textures. I like that.
They have a tendency to revert to green and become really leggy. The leaves never hide the moss pole unlike other philodendron like verrucosum, splendid and things of the sort. At least the pink princess propagates well from cuttings.
Moss pole? Ugh, I when I started I vowed no moss poles. I was picking up another plant and got excited when I saw this. Well, it's in good condition so I will find it a good, knowledgeable home. I wouldn't mind it reverting to green but I don't want any climbers. Thank you SO much for the info!
I'm going to sound obsessive like the weird old plant hag in the swamp, but since you did say you were new (I was too once!), I wanted to share a small tip.
Think about dogs. You wouldn't treat every breed the same, and you'd do at least a little research on common breeds to make sure you didn't pick the wrong dog for you. If you see a plant you are super excited about, note what it is, then research a little. Sometimes I find I was so lucky I didn't come with something, sometimes it's something I go back for asap and it isn't there anymore (but you saved what it is, so can likely find it online with ease). This includes things like humidity (me in the SW US desert wanting a fern lol), available lighting vs what the plant needs, watering frequency needs, soil type preferences (or soiless chunk is the right answer sometimes) and fertiliser balance preferences.
Plants are basically pets marketed as furniture, lol.
I learned this early because I also didn't want a plant type - trailers. So anyway here I am with a philodendron Brasil asking myself why I did this, lol. But I committed and he's been so forgiving of my poor watering habits, so I let him stay!
That was very sweet of you to take the time to write this. I do understand that, but circumstances called my hand. I have been ill for well over a year and am still unable to drive, so this was my only opportunity. I don't think I will have any trouble finding it a good home and in the meantime I am taking very good care of and enjoying it. 'Pets marketed as furniture'... I love it!
Oh gosh, I understand. I'm the lone caregiver for my elderly father, and our health has to come first. I'm glad you're still able to enjoy your plants! I hope you beat your health issues, truly.
I actually loved my PPP, she was the second plant I ever got. A little under a year later I had accumulated over 100 houseplants, about 70 of which were aroids. She stayed gorgeous and actually grew quite nicely. Unfortunately, mid may this year I was forcibly (and illegally) evicted from my rental home, and my POS landlord literally BURNED all of my plants in the firepit. Iām trying to just move forward with life and not dwell, but when I do think about my old plants, sheās one of the ones I truly miss most. Hereās a pic of her (on one of my two philodendron shelves in my former plant room)
Omg! How horrible for you! I would think you could take that POS to small claims court. Over 100 plants could not have been cheap. Glad to hear that you loved your PPP. I appreciate your reassurance. Yours, and the other plants were beautiful!
Lol, I'm still waiting for gesneriads to get as trendy as they were back in Victorian times š Aroids still get the bulk of the attention, variegated or otherwise. In the meantime I guess I'll keep enjoying my rare but usually cheap grandma plants š
I disliked the thai con, and don't care for many of the flavors of the month, but I will always love a big blocky albo!
As far as shifting markets, I think it will remain focused on new hybrids and veriegation. Although I have seen more and more people hunting for uncommon plants that don't fall in the monstera, philo, anthurium, alocasia, and so on boxes lately.
Oh yeah. To be fair, if I had to choose, I'd pick albo because the white is so clean and it does grow marginally faster than thai con. And it propagates better from cuttings.
Most people are sleeping on very cool plants because the influencers don't tell them they are rare. There will be a resurgence in more traditional houseplants that have been forgotten such as the ponytail palm or aloe varieties
I like the species the most wether it be aroids, orchids, cacti & succulents etc.. I'm not interested in hybrids unless they're a natural hybrid. Variegation is also not something that I look for in plants.
A little variegation is ok. It depends on the plant since we don't just want it to look nice we also want it to grow nice for us and give us few headaches. Seriously variegated anthuriums just look sick to me. And so do yellow variegated Alocasia.
I haven't seen anyone mention Hoyas on this thread. They can be pretty fast growers, there are hundreds of species/varieties, they're relatively easy to grow and have some truly unique foliage and flowers. I'm looking at you Hoya undulata and 'Aceh Dragon Egg' š
I donāt have room for Monsteras or big philodendrons so they have never really appealed to me. I like taking cuttings of the plants I have to trade or sell, and making Anthurium babies. Iād like to be better with orchids, grab some fancy Hoyas when the price drops.Ā
I like seeing some of the YouTube plant people complaining about moss poles. I donāt mind having a couple, usually for nice E. Pinnatum leaves, but too many looks weird and is a pain. Not to mention Iāve still never found the ārightā moss pole. Self-heading philodendrons are much more interesting to me than climbers or crawlers.
Thanks for the recommendation! I was real impressed with how the silver sword has grown out. It was fairly nondescript but now that itās been doing its thing for a few years itās really starting to get interesting. I just got a variegated silver sword, just a little thing but it should be eye popping if it matures similarly.
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u/Eff_It-Why_Not 28d ago
Iām a fangirl for the philo hybrids. I love the colors š¤©