Succulents, air plants are big hits at holiday markets
Published Nov. 10, 2023, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.
By Barb Gorges
The market for houseplants continues to boom.
Previously, most of us accumulated houseplants as pass-a-longs from our mothers, grandmothers and friends and have continued the tradition.
But now with the internet, two local plant business entrepreneurs say, one can find so many kinds, it’s easy to become obsessed. And the pandemic certainly spurred people’s inclination to adopt houseplants.
Succulents
Melissa Mead started her houseplant business, Succulent Journey, at the farmers market in Taos, New Mexico, and transplanted it to Cheyenne when she moved here a few years ago.
She can ship online orders and is a frequent vendor at local shows including those coming up Nov. 25, Heroes Holiday Market, and Dec. 9 and 10, Cowboy Christmas Market, both at the Event Center at Archer, 3801 Archer Parkway. She also sometimes brings sourdough baked goods via her other business, Windy Kitchen.
Melissa’s plant journey began at the start of high school when she found a plant in a dumpster and took it home. It continued through high school with her part-time jobs in nurseries at various locations along the Colorado Front Range.
Concentrating on succulents works because there is such a wide variety. Most of us know the jade plant is a succulent—thick, juicy leaves, but there are hundreds of others such as Aloe, Crassula, Echeveria, with many species and varieties. One, a tiny jade-like plant but with upright leaves, is “Hobbit.” It makes terrific top-of-the-head feathers for a tiny, 2-inch pot with an owl face on it.
And this is where Melissa’s plant business takes an artisan turn. Her specialty is pairing a plant with a pot that will make both look good. Her husband makes custom wooden shelves to display them. Her mother contributes vintage finds. Any container can become a pot if it can withstand moist soil and Melissa can get the drill press in to make a drainage hole.
Every plant goes to its new home with a set of instructions which are also available at her website, https://www.succulentjourney.com/: how much light, water and fertilizer and how often.
Some plants are what she calls beginner types, those that can withstand a wide spectrum of care intensity. Melissa sells her own succulent soil mixture for when your succulent needs to be transplanted to a larger pot.
Air plants
Andrea McHenry, doing business as “The Air Plant Lady,” doesn’t worry about soil. Her plants, mostly in the Tillandsia genus, get their nutrients from air and water, no matter where they are perched.
Andrea’s first acquaintance with houseplants was through her mother. Then she bought her first air plant in 1985, but it was about four years ago she discovered they were cheaper by the dozen. Next thing she knew, she’d started a business.
The typical beginner air plant is a star-shaped bundle about the size of your hand made up of pointy leaves, but there are bigger–much bigger–kinds.
Air plants have a different life from “soil” houseplants, Andrea told me. Once they bloom, they die. But before they die, they start new plants, “pups,” that are attached to them. People often remove these when they are about one-third to half adult size and throw out the mother plant.
But if the pups are left attached, soon you have what’s known as a “cluster.” A cluster can eventually be several generations. In the middle are a bunch of dead leaves. However, Andrea once tried cleaning out those remnants of a great-grandmother and the whole cluster fell apart.
Andrea said air plant care in our dry climate is as simple as misting a plant twice a week and soaking it once a week for 30 minutes, then turning it upside down to dry for at least four hours. Hopefully, the surfaces around your air plant on display can withstand a little misting.
Fertilizing air plants is a bit tricky since they are allergic to copper, Andrea said. It’s best to go with what is formulated specially for air plants.
Andrea showed me various ways air plants are displayed: on metal structures, macrame hangings, wooden stands. They don’t do well inside bowls because they need airflow.
Some air plants “blush,” getting red-tinged leaves when they are getting ready to flower. Others are a soft gray-green because their trichomes, or hairs, are long, covering the leaves. Some of the larger air plants have long, curling leaves.
Look for Andrea McHenry on Facebook (while she gets her website set up) and at the shows coming up at Archer.
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