Are you one of those people who has a hollow, green and tall Monstera in the living room?
Then you are not alone. This plant is one of the most popular in Norway.
Sales have doubled in the past three years, Mr. Kroen says of Plantegada.
In addition, motifs of plants adorn everything from mobile phone covers to textiles and wallpaper.
But few people know what this plant is capable of in nature.
60 orders in a week
The small flower and niche shop “Perre & Dark” in Lofoten recently noticed a high demand for the green plant.
A few weeks ago, the day-to-day manager and owner took over Miriam Perre Place in a couple of plants. They were torn within a couple of minutes.
Miriam Perre, the day-to-day manager and owner at “Perre & Dark” in Lofoten, found a large market for the plant.
Photo: Miriam Perre / Private
He then went on to buy 15 new ones.
– Before I suffered, I had 60 names on the list and I still send messages to people, says Perre.
In the end, he received 60 orders one week and 50 new orders the next week. The next week he had to order another 38 new ones.
Now shop owner Miriam Perre has to use the sidewalk outside the shop to accommodate all her plants. No more room in her own compound.
Photo: Miriam Perre / Private
He has sold a total of 165 plants. She ferried many people to Bodo and received inquiries from Oslo.
– This plant seems to be in demand throughout Norway. It’s extra fun to do it in Wesle Lofoten.
A variant of Monstera that has become popular recently is the Monstera “monkey mask,” says Meister Krohn, procurement manager at Kari Brake.
Photo: Mr. Krohn
Purchasing Manager at Mester Grønn, Kari Bracke says Monstera has been one of their best sellers in the last five to six years.
– Monstera is a very easy-care plant that is easy to win, he says.
But although the plant is sought after to decorate Norwegian stoves, Tommy Prestow, a senior engineer in the Department of Natural History at NTNU, believes there are many people who don’t know about the plant.
Can grow up to twenty meters tall
– There’s something about monsters that just takes over. They’re big for us indoors, but I’ve seen bigger Monsteras, says Presto.
Kari Brekke, purchasing manager at Mester Grønn, advises people to cut the plant’s leaves and place them in a vase for decoration.
Photo: Mr. Krohn
In nature, even large houseplants can be miserable.
Naturally, Monstera is 20 meters tall.
A climbing plant
If you have a Monstera at home, you’ve probably discovered that you need to prop it up when it gets too big.
And it’s not so strange. Monstera is actually a climbing plant.
Monstera gets bigger and better as she ages. Characteristic folds also become more prominent with age.
Photo: Mr. Krohn
Naturally, they climb high on tree trunks in rainforests.
– The plants we have at home may be attractive, but compared to those in Central America, they are really sad things, says Presto.
Fruity with a pineapple flavor
And not enough with height. Monstera also has edible fruits in the wild.
Cristina Bijurek, a biologist and university lecturer at the Natural History Museum, has tasted the fruit herself while working in the Azores, an archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
– It’s a sweet plant that tastes like cerimoya or pineapple, she explains.
Now a days videos of monstera fruit abound on social media. But researchers think few people know it’s the fruit of the popular hearth plant.
Photo: Annon201 / Wikimedia
A biologist from NTNU, the Monstera plant is tropical and comes from tropical forests in South and Central America, but Europeans initially brought the plant to Europe.
Presto believes that now that people have learned the plant’s name, they can be more curious about where it actually comes from.
– This will contribute positively when it is a famous plant whose name you have just learned. I think it will spark interest in learning the names of other plants in your room.
I think the plant names are interesting
A biologist from NTNU believes some dealers know too much about the plant that sells in large numbers.
– Where it is found in nature, Monstera is a plant with little luxuriance. Because she has useful value.
But Berre in Lofoten disagreed. He is careful to study the plants in order to give good advice to his clients.
– Here in Monstera in Norway I have seen one who had fruit, so I knew this, he says.
Miriam Berre at the shop “Berre & torg” in Lofoten says more and more people are interested in knowing the names of the plants they buy.
Photo: Private
Prestø points out that generations of schoolchildren don’t even know the names of the most common Norwegian plants. He hopes the popular stove plant will spark interest.
The store owner shares that belief, with many customers curious about the names and origins of the plants.
– I see that many customers want to know the name of the plant. And they can find out more information themselves, Perre says.
– It can be believed to spread between the ages.
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