, hasn’t been to an auction but says she has seen “crazy stuff at flower shows — people spend tens of thousands of dollars.” Her own biggest splurge was a spiky, 10-year-old agave white rhino, which set her back $1,000. “I had never seen one that size and that nice before,” says Bruschi, adding, “I get bad FOMO if I miss out on a nice specimen.”
In 2020, Bruschi opened a plant store on Etsy to help support her hobby. “I started selling my propagations and reinvesting everything I made back into plants, and it snowballed from there,” she says.
Social media, say all the collectors we interviewed, is the key to turning an obscure variety into an “it” plant. “The photos are gorgeous and stylized and here is this beautiful, dream living room and there is,” says Offolter. “It is selling a dream.” Variegated plants with leaves that are more than one color are having their “it” moment right now, the collectors say. Some have big white patches mixed with green; others, like the philodendron pink princess, are swirled with vibrant pink.