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Welcome back to the age of macrame hangers as a new generation gets excited about houseplants. We talk about all the great options we have coming in and trending plants in our area with tips for care and maintenance.
Show Notes
Good morning, Keith Ramsey with the garden supply company. I've got Shannon here this morning and wanted to ask her questions about what's trending and houseplants. She manages our houseplant department and garden supply company and does all our buying, and there's just been a massive growth in houseplants, Shannon.
What do you think made the house plant trend spike up? I think COVID had something to do with it. It drove people to be at home and stuck and want to bring some life into their home. It also brought in some people with more disposable income and this new generation.
Who is starting to like house plants? Millennials seem like they've picked up houseplants. It's a—resurgence of the [00:01:00] the sixties and seventies. I was a kid at that point, but that was a time when houseplants were just huge. Macrame hangers and pathos growing all over, you're taking over your house.
We're back to that scenario, especially with young kids. I couldn't agree more. And the macrome trend is also back for sure, but I see the pictures of the people, the customers home, and it is like a greenhouse. That's the thing that gets me most excited is big plant shelves and hanging plants in front of a window and just people's plant collection and how excited they are about their collection of plants.
It's been a lot of fun from my perspective as well. Not only these younger people are coming in and teaching them about. Plants and caring for them, but also people who never got into it are now adults and have started to pick enough house plans. Yeah. The thing that amazes me a lot about it is the rare and unusual house plant scenario, and it's, it's gone crazy.
It's unbelievable. Yeah. [00:02:00] We brought in last year, like that tie constellation and the pink princesses, and just the opportunity for people to come in and see them was exciting. So these are plants that nobody else has. In many cases, people haven't seen before they're plants that are newly developed or newly crossed plants.
And, the first one I purchased them hard to believe that we're buying a house plant for $800. And scary for me too. Yeah. And now we've, we've—two of those in the $500 price range. And of course, there's the same plant available for $10 without the variegation and its uniqueness as a first-time out-of-the-box plan.
So everybody can get into houseplants at any price range, but it is truly unique. We've started the rare and unusual plant collectors that are out there. Showcase those and bring in more as they become available from our growers, right in the center of the house plant section. We have a couple of tables that are really [00:03:00] featuring all those right now.
And every week we get more on different Fridays. The houseplants do we have currently are just unusual or newer. And you two of my favorite are both anther Rams right now. One is called the king Ethereum, where the leaves will bend forward a little bit. Become about three feet long.
There's also. Black cardboard and thorium are spectacular. The black heart-shaped leaf with white veining and even spikes flowers. That's awesome. We're partnering with a couple of other local garden centers as well, too. Be able to buy in more plants that are harder to get, that have to travel a long distance, or you have to buy larger quantities.
Go into a local garden center. Not necessarily just a garden supply company, but there are so many of them that are just amazing. Fairview Homewood garden. Logan's garden hut down in a few coy about finding these unusual plants that you're not going to find necessarily a box store or something like that.
Absolutely. We [00:04:00] have a couple of them that I have seen a little bit of. Big box stores that were unavailable to us were under trademark. And now we're starting to get some of those in the Ravens easy and that Claudia network. Yeah. Some of the larger, there's an extremely large grower in the states and is rolling out some unusual plants to box stores.
And they're a little bit harder for us to get, so it's a little bit of a change of pace. They're there. They're growing them specifically for them. So it's a little bit harder to chase that. Definitely. What about caring for somebody that doesn't have that hasn't had houseplants before knowing what the light condition is or bringing in pictures helps us get a sense of what is considered bright light to them, or medium light, low light.
Low light plants can tolerate bright light and thrive in bright light, but colorful light plants need. Or need bright light. But watering is probably the number one issue I see with our customers who have problems with their plants. Too much [00:05:00] love.
. Babying it just a little bit too much, instead of letting it dry out between those waterings, they want to water a little bit every day or every other day. Yeah. The thing that I think what's interesting is when a plant looks dry if you're looking at the soil and it looks dry on the surface, if you push your finger into the ground, you can push it in half an inch and all of a sudden you can feel moisture.
And so the plant doesn't need any water yet. And, but people are watering them. I like to explain to people how to lift the plant in the grower. So they can feel the bottom, the holes, of course. And then also just the weight of it, right? Yeah. I always tell people the water every week, pick your day.
If you're off on Sunday and Sunday is a day you spend time around the house to water, try to water consistently on the same day. And that way, it's either a little teeny, a few drops of water or maybe no water at all, or, a good in good, heavy watering if a plant's dried out.
So yeah. It'll make it to the following week. Absolutely. And then when you're letting it dry out, that's decreasing your odds of fungal gnats. [00:06:00] Exactly. And, when a plant's overwatered, it's just not getting enough oxygen. So if it's sitting in water, it's smothering the planet. It just doesn't get the oxygen it needs.
And without the oxygen, it can't take up water. So it does. Letting a plant's not going to dry out as fast in the house, so it's just a check that with your finger almost as he is lifted. As you said, that's a great idea.
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What is In The Garden?
In the Garden with Keith Ramsey is a podcast aimed at helping you grow and maintain a beautiful and healthy garden and landscape.
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Keith: Good morning, Keith Ramsey
with garden supply company.
I've got Shannon here this morning
and wanted to ask her questions about
what's trending and houseplants.
She manages our houseplant department
and garden supply company and does
all our buying and there's just been
a huge growth in houseplants Shannon.
What do you think made the
house plant trend, spike up?
I think COVID definitely
had something to do with it.
It drove people to be at home
and stuck and wanting to bring
some life into their home.
It also brought in some people
with more disposable income and
brought in this new generation.
Who are really starting
to like house plants.
Millennials really seem like
they've picked up houseplants.
It's a.
Resurgence of the sixties and seventies.
I was a kid at that point, but
that was that was a time where
houseplants were just huge.
Macrame hangers and pathos growing all
over, you're taking over your house.
It seems like we're back to that
scenario, especially with young kids.
I couldn't agree more.
And the macrome trend is also back
for sure, but I see the pictures
of the people, the customers home,
and it is like a greenhouse..
That's the thing that gets me most excited
is, big plant shelves and hanging plants
in front of a window and, just people's
plant collection and how excited they
are about their collection of plants.
It's really been a lot of fun
from my perspective as well.
Not only these younger people
coming in and teaching them about.
Plants and caring for them, but
also people who never got into
it and are now adults and have
started to pick enough house plan.
Yeah.
the thing that amazes me a lot about it is
the rare and unusual house plant scenario
and the it's, it's really gone crazy.
It's unbelievable.
Yeah.
We've brought in last year, like that
tie constellation and the pink princesses
and just the opportunity for people to
come in and see them was really exciting.
So these are plants that nobody else has.
In a lot of cases, people haven't seen
before they're plants that are newly
developed or newly crossed plants.
And, the first one I purchased
them hard to believe that we're
buying a house plant for $800.
And scary for me too.
Yeah.
And now we've, we've.
Two of those in the $500 price range.
And of course there's the same plant
that's available for $10 without the
variegation and the, the uniqueness of
it being, first time out of the box plan.
So everybody can get into houseplants at
any price range, but it is truly amazing.
The rare and unusual plant collectors
that are out there now we've started.
Showcase those and bring in more as they
become available from our growers, right
in the center of the house plant section.
We have a couple of tables that are
really featuring all of those right now.
And every week we get
more in different Fridays.
The houseplants do we have in currently
that are just unusual or newer.
And you two of my favorite are
both anther Rams right now.
There's one called the king Ethereum
where the leaves will actually
bend forward a little bit and.
Become about three feet long.
There's also.
Black cardboard and
thorium is spectacular.
The black heart shaped leaf with a white
veining and it even spikes flowers.
That's awesome.
We're partnering with a couple other
local garden centers as well, too.
Be able to buy in more plants that
are harder to get, , that have to
travel a longer distance or you
have to buy larger quantities.
Go into a local garden center.
Not necessarily just garden supply
company, but there's so many of them
out there that are just amazing.
Absolutely Fairview Homewood garden.
Logan's garden hut down in a few coy
to find these unusual plants that
you're not gonna find it necessarily
a box store or something like that.
Absolutely.
We do have a couple of them that
I have seen a little bit of.
Big box stores that were unavailable
to us, they were under trademark.
And now we're starting to get
some of those in the Ravens
easy and that Claudia network.
Yeah.
Some of the larger, there's a an
extremely large grower in the states
and is actually rolling out some
unusual plants to to box stores.
And they're a little bit
harder for us to get, so it's a
little bit of a change of pace.
They're there, they're growing
them specifically for them.
So it's a little bit harder to chase that.
Definitely.
What about care for somebody that doesn't
have that hasn't had houseplants before
knowing what the light condition is or
bringing in pictures really helps us
get a sense of what is considered bright
light to them, or medium light, low light.
There are low light plants that
can tolerate bright light and will
really thrive in bright light,
but bright light plants need.
Or need bright light.
But watering is probably the number
one issue I see with our customers
who have issues with their plants.
too much love.
. Babying it just a little bit too much,
instead of letting it dry out in between
those waterings, they want to water a
little bit every day or every other day.
Yeah.
The thing that I think that's
interesting as, when a plant looks
dry, if you're looking at the soil
and it looks dry on the surface, if
you push your finger into the soil,
you can push it in a half an inch and
all of a sudden you can feel moisture.
And so the plant really
doesn't need any water yet.
And, but people are watering them.
I like to explain to people how to
just lift up the plant in the grower.
So they can feel the bottom,
the holes, of course.
And then also just the
weight of it, right?
Yeah.
I always tell people the water
on a weekly basis, pick your day.
If you're off on Sunday and Sunday
is a day, you spend time around
the house just to water, try to
water consistently on the same day.
And that way, it's either a little
teeny, a few drops of water or maybe no
water at all, or, a good in good, heavy
watering if a plant's really dried out.
So yeah.
It'll make it to the next week.
Absolutely.
And then when you're letting
it dry out, that's decreasing
your odds of fungal gnats.
Exactly.
And basically when a plant's overwatered,
it's just not getting enough oxygen.
So if it's sitting in water, it's
basically like smothering the planet,
just doesn't get the oxygen it needs.
And without the oxygen,
it can't take up water.
So it does.
Letting a, plant's not going to
dry out as fast in the house, so
it's just a check that with your
finger almost as he, are lifted up,
like you said, that's a great idea.