It’s the romance of the century: the houseplant has wrapped its tendrils around humanity’s heart, and it won’t let go.
The millennials started the affair. Filling their rental properties with greenery. Taking ‘shelfies’ to supplement their Instagram selfies. Then, annual gardening revenue in the US grew by 4.62% in 2018, as Gen Z left home and joined the houseplant craze. And just like any other relationship, the pandemic intensified things. In 2020, growth nearly doubled to 8.79%, with stores swamped by ten times the daily orders they expected.
Along with the pandemic, plant passion went if not viral, then rhizomatic, spreading and sprouting in countries around the world. An indoor plant is a hobby, a shoulder to cry on, a rosary for our existential fears, and an interiors flex on Zoom. So the world bought houseplants.
But some houseplants get more love than others. HouseFresh analyzed Google search data for the 230 most-Instagrammed houseplants to find out which one is the most popular in every country around the world. And we mapped everyone, lining each territory with its most-searched houseplant.
Key findings
- The Monstera deliciosa (Swiss Cheese Plant) is the number one plant in Europe, Asia & Oceania, and a joint favorite in North America.
- The colorful Passiflora caerulea (Blue Passion Flower) is most popular in South America. This semi-evergreen climber is the national flower of Paraguay.
- Africa’s favorite houseplant is the Lantana camara, an evergreen flowering shrub within the verbena family.
- In the Middle East and the rest of Asia, they favor the Nerium oleander, an evergreen ornamental shrub that has been cultivated since ancient times and features in many of the Roman wall paintings in Pompeii.
Read the complete article at www.housefresh.com.