This article previously appeared in Boys with Plants Magazine, Issue #01. A few minor details have been updated/changed in this version. If you like this content and would like to support me, please follow me on Instagram for more plant photos and discussions!
I love tropical plants, the more intricate shapes and patterns the better. I live for Anthuriums, Philodendrons, Monsteras and Alocasias. And I’m in Brazil, a country that is home to many of my favorite plants. It’s funny though, I feel like it was much easier to find most of these plants in cold Scandinavia! Living in Sweden, I used to have almost 100 tropical plants in a very tiny apartment. If I could meet my younger self and tell him about that, he would probably laugh out loud. But it happened. And my love for plants only grew when I moved to the tropics.
Having grown up in the countryside of Sweden, I have always praised the power of nature to calm me and root me in the place I live. My first real plant, a rather shy Monstera deliciosa, made me company while I hopped around between apartments in the crazy real-estate market that is Stockholm. Life took a spin after I met my husband and we started moving around the world. And the more I moved to a new city or a new country, the more I felt like I needed plants. Throughout the past years, I have had the chance to see a lot of amazing plants while jumping between hot and cold climate countries.
In places like Brazil and Cambodia, I was impressed to see how easy plants grew. Philodendrons peeking out from the cracks in the asphalt, Alocasias growing in the running sewage water next to the streets and Ficus trees bigger than the buildings. But finding them in shops and growing them in your apartment was harder than you could ever imagine. Whenever we went back to Scandinavia however, I could see a growing trend of indoor tropical plants and they were readily available at every turn.
In Sweden, just like in most places, the modern trend of having plants all over your house started for real a few years ago. This led to a quick surge in the variety of plants you could find in shops and nurseries around the country. Ficus elastica, Monstera deliciosa and Thaumatophyllum xanadu now grow in each and every clothing store in Stockholm. The same thing happened with the Danish capital. When I lived close to Copenhagen, I got a job at Plant KBH, a conceptual botanical store with eye pleasing visuals. I worked there for almost a year before moving to Panama, and during that time I realized that there really was no stopping the growing plant trend.
Most of the tropical plants you’ll find in Scandinavia, and in Europe, are grown in labs and greenhouses in The Netherlands. The producers often don’t even know the correct latin names for the plants, and give them names such as ”Monstera monkey-mask”. What happens even more now is that they sell the same plant in different growth stages, and name them different things, so that novice collectors will get interested and buy all the varieties, only to ultimately be tricked into buying the same plant three times. Sometimes they’re hybrids too, and don’t even have scientific names. But that’s a story for another time. Let’s get back on track. The question is: how come there’s such a huge production of tropical plants in colder climates, all the way over in Europe? And why can’t I find shops that sell these plants in the tropics?
There are dozens of studies on how plants reduce stress, make you happier and more productive. This is obviously very important for people all over the world, but even more so when you live in a cold, harsh and grey climate for most of the year. It’s also no secret that Scandinavians love sleek and minimal interior design. And what combines beautifully with great design? Why, green foliage of course!
The demand for indoor plants with interesting and big foliage has become so big in Scandinavia, that you can find almost any tropical plant if you just look for it. Everyone wants more and more plants. Some apartments are so full with greenery that there’s almost no space for people. I guess we also love a challenge – growing plants which are not endemic to where we live. I believe Swedish plant lovers are even sort of famous for growing the most difficult of tropical plants in their tiny apartments. And the stranger the foliage, the more interesting it becomes.
Compare this to tropical countries, where as I mentioned earlier, many of these plants basically grow like weeds. Most of the population will become desensitized to their local flora, which makes it less unique and interesting to grow these plants indoors. For example, I’ve heard friends in Panama say “Why would I let plants take over my home, when they’re already all over the city?”. Another case in point is my own husband, who despises Swedish window sills, because they’re usually full of plants, which in turn means you can’t open the windows to let air in. Whereas in the tropics, apartments rarely have window sills at all.
Philodendron mayoi grows all over the city, sometimes trees are completely covered in them. So I figured taking a little cutting won’t hurt!
However, the design and minimal interior trend is growing around these parts as well. New cool plant spots are popping up in São Paulo all the time. And many of them are much more innovative than the ones in Scandinavia. They make their own plant stands and designed pots and plates in-house, while most Swedish and Danish shops are happy selling other people’s designs. (One can only hope Brasilia too will have some cool shops in the future, if not, I might open one myself!)
In Brazil, and Panama, you will find really common plants, like Pothos (Epipremnum aureum), Mother-in-law’s tongue (Sansevieria) or regular orchids, all of them often in small kitchen table friendly sizes. In São Paulo, where one of the biggest plant producer markets in the world is located, you can often find bigger sizes. But the plants don’t travel much to other cities. For example, in Brasilia I have hardly ever seen a shop sell a regular Monstera deliciosa. And when they do have them, they’re really yellow and damaged. I’ve only seen a couple of Alocasias, and really tiny Philodendrons. When there’s not much of a demand, producers simply won’t grow them, and shops won’t sell them. Simple as that! You’ll find the really nice foliage plants only from collectors, or very small producers who might sell out before you even find them.
So far, I’ve found some of the plants I like in parks, or growing on trees next to the sidewalk, or in people’s backyards. When the plant is public property, it’s quite easy to get cuttings and when someone owns the plant, you can always offer to buy a piece and you’ll usually get one for free. I basically never leave home without my pruning shears (plant scissors) nowadays. Who knows what plant I’ll encounter on my way to the supermarket!
And so, I get to leave my Scandi comfort zone of having things readily available. In South America, I have had to completely reinvent myself in terms of my plant love. The process of actively looking for cuttings in nature and getting these plants with my own two hands, that is what makes me feel rooted here.
PS. I obviously don’t take cuttings if the plant is rare or endangered in any way. Please use common sense. If there’s only one plant of that type, it might not be a good idea to cut off a piece of it. Let it grow!
