Investment beauties

Philodendron billietiae for $3,000, the rare 'Hindu Rope' wax tree for $6,500 or Monstera obliqua for $23,000. In June 2021, a bidder under the moniker 'meridianlamb' paid $19,297 on the auction site Trade Me for a variegated ornamental plant with the Latin name Rhaphidophora tetrasperma, and recently a Monstera of the Adansonia Variegata variety sold on eBay for $38,000. Does that sound like a lot to you? One of the most expensive plants in the world, a specimen of which sold at auction in 2005 for a top price of $217,000, is the Shenzhen Nongke orchid. It is the first and most expensive genetically modified orchid, which can live up to 100 years under the right conditions. But it is far from the most expensive.

Bonsai and Queen of the Night

Bonsai require a lot of time and care, so it's probably not surprising that a bonsai of the approximately 800-year-old Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora) broke a record when it was auctioned for a whopping $1.3 million at the 11th Aspac show in Takamatsu, Japan, in 2011. However, the world's most expensive plant with an incalculable value is considered to be another plant altogether. Specifically, it is Epiphyllum oxypetalum, or Kadupul flower, which is native to Sri Lanka. It is a white cactus that is very rare, blooms only under a full moon and survives for only a few hours.

Not only an investment, but also a passion

For most investors who decide to put their money into rare plants, it is not just a one-time purchase, but a collector's item. According to many insiders in the global plant collecting community, there are many parallels between collecting rare plants and collecting art. Those interested invest a significant amount of money in their collections and are not primarily interested in the price of the plant.

Their main interest is to "hunt" for the right specimen. Ultimately, it is always a matter of taste and preference.

They pay for brand, trend and popularity.

It is not necessarily a rule that expensive plants that make headlines or are the focus of Instagram or Reddit must also be botanically rare. However, knowing the trends can be a very effective way to avoid exorbitant prices. During the COVID -19 pandemic, for example, so many people got into houseplants that the prices of many specimens were, and still are, artificially inflated. But of course some plants will always hold their price because of their rarity or difficulty of propagation. Often, however, even plants that are commercially rare have high prices because people hold on to their stock in an attempt to keep prices high by artificially creating shortages. Prices usually rise because avid collectors want what others cannot have and are willing to pay more than the value of a given plant just to have it in their collection before others. As with art, if you follow your instincts instead of trends, you may get lucky and get your "Picasso" before it becomes famous and valuable.

What to look for when buying

Choosing not only the plant itself but also its representative is very important. It is always important to make sure that the seller is a reliable source when it comes to ensuring good genetics of the specimen. If possible, it is a good idea to see the parent plant from which the specimen comes before making a deal. These are all factors that serious collectors look for when searching for plants.  In case you are a beginner, it is better to focus on proven exchanges or auction houses.  For example, you can find a wide range of plants on the aforementioned TradeMe exchange or on the commercially widespread eBay.

Tulip fever as a first swallowtail?

Investing in plants is nothing new. The so-called tulip fever is well known from history, during which the first bulbs were imported from Turkey to the Netherlands and the interest in hybridised species of the plant grew over several decades. Auctions began to be held and bulbs were traded on stock exchanges.  Tulip fever reached its peak between 1636 and 1637. At that time, some individual tulip bulbs sold for more than ten times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. Eventually supply outstripped demand and the price of tulip bulbs began to plummet in February 1637, causing many people who had not sold their investments in time to fall into economic difficulties or even lose their entire fortunes. On the other hand, the profits of those who sold their bulbs on time exceeded 1,000 percent in some cases. This event is now considered one of the oldest speculative bubbles in the world, but flower investing itself has retained its popularity to this day.

Olivia Lacenová, principal analyst at Wonderinterest Trading Ltd.