Houseplants have been having something of a renaissance in the last decade–and not just because so many people became plant parents during the early days of lockdown. Plant-filled interiors had already reached such a level of trendiness by early 2020 that the New York Times was reporting on the emerging career of a plant stylist. Today, the houseplant trend is going strong and growing beyond the fiddle leaf figs and monstera plants that are ubiquitous on Instagram. “Plant owners are aiming to diversify the greenery within their spaces,” says Rebecca Sterling, the resident plant expert at Easyplant, an online retailer of houseplants in self-watering pots. To find out what new houseplants will be popular in 2024, we asked Sterling and other experts to tell us what they see trending.
Textured Plants
“Texture is specifically having a moment in the spotlight, and a lot of the plants within our 2024 plant trends report reflect that bold, trending texture people are loving,” says Sterling. The team at Easyplant picked Dracaena ‘Janet Craig’ Compacta, with its highly textured leaves, as their top houseplant of the year.
Larger Specimens
“This year, we’ll see consumers looking to incorporate larger-sized plants to uplevel their living spaces,” says Sterling, who notes that a large plant makes a big impact “without having to change too much or invest in home renovations.” In addition to Dracaena ‘Janet Craig’ Compacta, Sterling predicts other varieties of Dracaena (Dracaena Lemon Lime, Dracaena Cinthos, and Dracaena Warneckii) and some larger Ficus (Ficus Tineke and Ficus Altissima) will be in demand.
Variegated Leaves
“Anything variegated will be popular,” predicts houseplant influencer Hilton Carter, the author of four books about houseplants (with a fifth, The Propagation Handbook, forthcoming in April). The team at 1-800-Flowers.com agrees with Carter, choosing philodendron, and specifically two variegated varieties, Philodendron Birkin Plant and the Philodendron Pink Princess, as their 2024 houseplant of the year.
Rare Coloring
In addition to variegation, Carter says he sees collectors clamoring for rare colors. “There are new varieties of variegated alocasias and philodendrons that have crazy red and pink colors to the leaves,” he says, pointing to the pink variegated alocasia ‘Black Velvet’ and philodendron ‘Red Moon,’ which he says are trending with collectors right now, noting “Tissue culture has come a long way!” Likewise, the striking Black ZZ with its almost black leaves was among Easyplant’s picks for 2024’s trending houseplants.
Fruiting Trees
“I think we will see an influx of fruiting trees and citrus plants becoming popular for indoor cultivation,” says Carter. Last year when Bloomscape, an online plant retailer, introduced lemon trees to its offerings they couldn’t keep the trees in stock (they’ll be back in spring 2024). Bloomscape’s Variegated Pink Lemon Tree also picks up on the variegated trend with its creamy patterned leaves.
Retro Favorites
Many houseplants that might seem old-fashioned are coming back into fashion, including African violets. Commercially available for nearly 100 years, African violets are the National Garden Bureau’s pick for their houseplant of the year for 2024, and houseplant influencer Tony Le-Britton, the author of Not Another Jungle, told the Irish News he thinks African violets will be on-trend in 2024, as well. Two more retro plants that deserve another look: rubber tree and braided trunk money tree, which were both among easyplant’s 2024 picks. One more throwback plant that’s going nowhere in 2024 is Epipremnum aureum, commonly known as Pothos or devil’s ivy. In an article about the perennially popular vine in The Guardian, Freddie Blackett of Patch Plants, an online plant retailer in the U.K. told writer Alice Vincent sales of pothos had increased 45 times(!) in just five years. “In 2017, we sold 600 of them. In 2022, that had increased to 27,000.”
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