I love the smell of fires from chimneys in Winter, and this is exactly what August provides. You know what else August provides? An awesome Plant Club box!
The Plants
This year was the year I started dipping my toes into the world of Hoyas. So I thought it was only fitting that we have a Hoya month!
The Classic boxes included Hoya Carnosa Rubra plants (otherwise known as wax plants). What made these plants unusual from the typical ones you might find on the shelf, is that you probably received one that was either very long or had lots of variegation in it. Sometimes working with small scale growers gives us gems like this.
We decided that the Collectors would receive a clutch of hard-to-find Hoyas. So if you weren’t a Hoya collector before, now you have a collection! These included Hoya macrophylla ‘Albomarginata’, Hoya australis ‘Lisa’ and a cutting of Hoya polyneura from my personal collection. All 3 of these plants look completely different from each other and have varying reasons why they are sought after.
The Gifts
This month we had a strong creative focus for our brands involved. Two artists Joh Del and Liffey Joy showcased their talents in such an amazing way.
Joh Del is an artist with a talent for the botanical. His work includes large scale scenes of plants with many intricate details and accompanying botanical names. I have one of his ‘exotic houseplants of the world’ framed and hanging in my greenhouse.
So I felt I just had to share a slither of his amazing artistry with Plant Club members. I reached out to him and we came up with an idea of creating a note book for plant parents with a beautifully designed cover. If you’re in love as much as I am, you can admire his work on Instagram or buy some pieces from his etsy store.
Liffey Joy- the skilful artist behind Greymalkins is powerhouse when it comes to plants. And it definitely translates into her work as an artist. All plant club members received one of her designs as a license disk sticker – just to make sure whoever you’re driving around knows that you’re into plants.
The collectors received one of her pots. I personally have some of her pots in my house – expect colour, boobs and loose sweeps of movement on her pots. To check out her work, and to keep up to date for her stock drops, keep an eye on her Instagram page.
Departing from the artists and throwing something sideways at you, we included a Clivia seed packet from Incredible Plants. Co-founder, George, (The Plantfinder) is one of the most knowledgeable people I know and he’s opened my eyes to the absolute jungle that is the Clivia world. A lot of the seeds that went out are uncommon and aren’t easily found at your average nursery.
Clivia are endemic to Southern Africa, but there are collectors world round. What makes Clivia so fascinating is that the breeding of the plants can produce so many different variants. You can find huge, broad petalled flowers, red, yellow or apricot coloration, broad leaves, fan-shaped leaf arrangement, variegation, dwarfism and many others traits amongst the family. The biggest boom in Clivia breeding is happening in Japan. It’s funny how one often doesn’t notice the amazing things right on your doorstep.
Now on your packet of Clivia seeds, you would have received a code. You can match the code on this page to find out what exact species you have. For example in the above photo of the packet, D1 is your code.
Worried about planting them? No need to be – check out this very easy YouTube tutorial I put together. Get the kids involved- it’s great to see something grow before your eyes.
And with that, that’s a wrap! Thank you to all the plant club members this month! I look forward to you opening your next box!