In Singapore, rare plants sell online for US$40,000 as hobbyists indulge a passion born of the pandemic

A booming marketplace for rare and costly houseplants has emerged in Singapore since last year, when pandemic-associated restrictions kept many indoors

Prize specimens can still be found listed online for as much as US$43,800 – but amid the transition towards living with Covid-19, sales have taken a tumble

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The Covid-19 pandemic sent prices for houseplants in Singapore shooting into the stratosphere. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:00am, 21 Dec 2021Updated: 10:07pm, 21 Dec 2021

Some Singaporeans used their time spent socially distanced to adopt a pet, pick up a hobby or learn a new skill – while others, like 13-year-old Sin Hai, decided to launch a business venture, inspired by the eye-watering sums that some of the rarest, slowest-growing plant species can now fetch on Facebook and Carousell.

A booming online marketplace for rare and costly houseplants has emerged in Singapore since last year, when pandemic-associated restrictions kept many indoors. Large examples of popular cultivars, such as certain subspecies of Monstera deliciosia – a large-leaved native of Central America’s tropical forests that’s also known as the Swiss cheese plant – can be found listed online for as much as S$60,000 (US$43,800).

Taking pride of place in Sin Hai’s collection is a Monstera aurea mint, worth some S$20,000. The entrepreneurial teen runs a 5-star rated store on e-commerce market Carousell called “Botanic Heaven”, which lists a range of plants in various sizes – the most expensive selling for thousands of dollars.

A screengrab of 13-year-old Sin Hai’s Carousell store ‘Botanic Heaven’. Image: Carousell

He got his start propagating favourites such as the Philodendron domesticum, or spadeleaf philodendron, and Siam Ruby Banana in his parents’ orchid plot – plants he later sold for S$998 and S$1,488, respectively.

Shawn Chen, owner of Greenfingers nursery, said the market for plants in Singapore had been kicked into overdrive by the pandemic, with the city state’s traditional nurseries reporting a surge in sales last year, by 10 per cent or more.