Analyse and discuss two (2) macroenvironmental factors and corresponding trends that could impact the sales and revenue of nurseries such as Candy Floriculture, Terrascapes or similar companies.
"Just ask yourself: Would you rather have a jungle at home or an iconic private collection admired by others?" says Ms Goh, referring to the more discerning group of plant collectors who are inspired by quality rather than quantity. "Most of my buyers are not new to collecting rare plants and they want a curated collection, a sort of centrepiece in their homes."
According to Dr Wilson Wong, deputy director of Jurong Lake Gardens under the National Parks Board, variegated plants that are sold in the plant trade are likely propagated from a single selected clone. These variegated plants have leaves that contain less chlorophyll than those that are all-green, making them grow much slower. New plants will also take time to become available in the market. These are the likely reasons variegated houseplants are more expensive than their fully green counterparts.
"The fenestration (holes or gaps) in the leaf shape of the Swiss Cheese Plant (monstera deliciosa) is unique and often used as a motif by designers," says Dr Wong, who is also the founder of Green Culture Singapore and is an adjunct assistant professor (Food Science & Technology) at the National University of Singapore.
"Variegation adds to that uniqueness as it is hard to come by, lending a beautiful design to the leaf and making the plant highly sought after for its decorative value and as a status symbol by plant connoisseurs."
Besides the visual splendour of rare plants, there is also the issue of which nursery or online seller to trust to ensure that plants are sold ethically, says hobbyist Pat Law.
"When I started on my rare plant collection a year ago, I did not realise there were nurseries that would sell plants as soon as they arrived in Singapore without acclimatising them to our weather," says the founder of social media agency Goodstuph, who gets her plants from home-grown nursery Terrascapes.
"I think that is unethical in that at that very point, you do not know if the plant will live or not," says Ms Law, who is in her 30s. She recently bought a Philodendron Joepii for $1,980 from Terrascapes. "I have also been sold plants without roots. I have done a couple of online purchases where plants came to me and died within 24 hours. I can't claim to have the best green fingers, but surely a death within 24 hours is a bit extreme," she adds.
Terrascapes' founders Sandy Soh, 46, and Bridgette Soh, 42, say that interest in rare and exotic plants started about a decade ago in Singapore and has only recently turned into a craze after the pandemic hit early last year.
"We have been growing exotics for over 10 years and there has always been an interest in these plants," says Mr Soh, who refers to himself as a "plant daddy". "We try to propagate our rare plants rather than import them whenever possible. This ensures that the plants are fully acclimatised and much easier to care for."
He advises starting a rare plant collection with aroids such as monstera deliciosa, Syngonium Podophyllum albo variegated or Philodendron Florida which do not cost the earth. "These range from $15 to $100 each at our webstore and are easy to care for," he adds.
Plant collector Amos Tan started a website called Asiatic Green in 2006 to showcase plants found throughout Asia. He believes the future for rare and exotic plants may lie in tissue culture and vegetative propagation. The trend of collecting houseplants, he says, started in the United States around late 2019 with YouTubers and Instagrammers highlighting their plant collections and knowledge online. Then, the pandemic accelerated that trend worldwide.
Question 1
Analyse and discuss two (2) macroenvironmental factors and corresponding trends that could impact the sales and revenue of nurseries such as Candy Floriculture, Terrascapes or similar companies.
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