It was while browsing a nursery catalogue and observing how plants of all types have gone up in price alongside everything else as a result of last two years in lockdown, and now add on the rising energy costs, that an article came up that linked with something I saw in one nursery listing.
The listing was one of a specialist in tropical plants and rarities. Some of the prices astounded me and at first I thought they were just attempting to scam the public on the back of those rare plants, but I was wrong.
A bit of digging into other specialists in this field revealed equally staggering prices, I found it difficult to believe anyone would actually pay for what in most cases were not especially rare plants, more versions of fairly common houseplants, but again I was wrong.
Twice before plants have actually traded at prices that would have got them into the FTSE 100 and in the case of Tulip Mania became more valuable than currency, such was the demand for rare bulbs as they became a trading commodity.
It started in the 1500s when the Dutch entered their ‘Golden Period.’ The first bulbs came from the Ottoman Empire in 1557 and first appeared in Vienna. This was the period when vegetables such as potato, pepper, tomato were first appearing here also. From Vienna they made their way to other capitols including Amsterdam.
The rise of tulips as a status symbol coincided with the Dutch rise in commerce as with the east India trade routes.
It was the colour breaks, unknown in European flowers at the time, that caused the interest. As with all plants or nearly all, variegation is caused by virus and crossing infected bulbs started to produce what at the time were amazing flowers.
The real trading mania started in around this period. From Wiki…
“Thus the Dutch, who developed many of the techniques of modern finance, created a market for tulip bulbs, which were durable goods. Short selling was banned by an edict of 1610, which was reiterated or strengthened in 1621 and 1630, and again in 1636. Short sellers were not prosecuted under these edicts, but futures contracts were deemed unenforceable, so traders could repudiate deals if faced with a loss."
And here…
“Tulip mania reached its peak during the winter of 1636–37, when contracts were changing hands five times. No deliveries were ever made to fulfill any of these contracts, because in February 1637, tulip bulb contract prices collapsed abruptly and the trade of tulips ground to a halt."
It was probably the first occasion in more modern times, equivalent to the economic bubble bursting in 1720 when the South Sea Company failed. The South Sea Bubble is a classic case of a company building on non existent trade and failing.
And then we had the Orchid trade that emulated the tulip one in a smaller way, when the rarity of plants demanded sky high prices only for the market to collapse again.
There is a very good book The Orchid King which traces the life of Frederick Sander whose name became synonymous with many orchid varieties. I inherited it from my grandfather who was a keen gardener and orchid grower.
In the early 1900s the craze for orchids reached its peak with rare bulbs fetching enormous figures, rare bulbs fetching £1,500 pounds. These would be split by the owners and grown on to sold at a profit down the line, but it was the beginning of the end. Sander was a classic case of a man with a passion, and a business brain who became the king of his field with a nursery in St Albans and a huge, for the time, production facility in Bruges, Belgium; but people no longer wanted to pay the prices asked and profits dwindled. It was a slow sad decline and the Second World War finished it off as a going concern with Bruges lost and no new species coming from the east to tickle the buyer's fancy.
So I was naturally surprised to come across this current fad for rare tropical plants fetching very high prices…
This like the previous trends in plants is fuelled by a desire to own a rare plant and be prepared to pay over the top for it. The business behind this is small compared to the previous tulip and orchid fads, yet is based on the same desire as the tulip mania in that most of it is reliant on virus infected plants producing rare leaf colourings or contrasting patterns.
In most cases from what I have seen very few of the plants can compare with the rarity of found species from the previous bonanzas. A cheese plant whatever the leaf is still a cheese plant but who am I to say what people spend their money on? Strangely the article gives the Covid virus as a reason for people to up their game in buying these plants; in the same way that they purchased pets and paid silly sums, they may come to regret the purchase as the post virus era is now leading us into a recession and a cheese plant won't really have much credit.
As a final word, growing orchids is no longer the preserve of the avid gardener or expert. They provide amazing value as a house plant, being in flower often for months, with exquisite flowers and colours. Production techniques are such that today what were rare plants costing a year's wages can now be purchased for a few pounds. Supermarkets often have a good selection, and with a bit of love they will give years of pleasure; few houseplants come anywhere near.
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