How Houseplants Get Made: Plant Breeding, Trend Forecasting and What It Takes to Grow Millions of Plants

Have you ever picked up a plant at the garden center and wondered how the houseplants even get here? I didn't think about it much until I was invited to speak at Cultivate, one of the biggest horticulture industry conferences, and I spent the whole time walking the halls. I'd been caring for plants for years. But I had no idea how much love and time go into getting one plant onto a store shelf. So I asked my friend Justin Hancock to walk us through it. Justin is a horticulturist at Costa Farms, the largest houseplant grower in the world. We talked about plant hunters, secret R&D areas in greenhouses, years of testing, and literally millions of cuttings before a plant ever makes it onto a store shelf! Let's dive in!

In this episode, we learn:[01:33] Come hang out with me over on Substack![02:58] Welcome back, Justin Hancock![05:19] Why the horticulture industry is so grounded and generational[06:30] What has Justin’s experience in the horticulture industry been like?[07:38] Why many horticulture businesses are passed down through generations[09:29] How a plant gets from discovery to your local garden center[11:12] What is a plant hunter, and how do you become one?[12:14] What makes a good new houseplant[14:00] How long does a plant spend in R&D before it hits shelves?[14:11] How growers forecast plant trends years ahead of social media[15:51] Meet the plant rebels who changed history in Rebel Gardeners by Camilla Anderson![17:43] Plant hunting vs. plant breeding[19:35] Why aureums are so shy to flower…[20:52] What happens after a plant passes R&D? (propagating from one cutting to thousands)[22:40] Costa's five-point testing process and why variegated plants are so tricky to produce[24:40] The other roles that touch plants before they reach the garden center[25:19] How Costa is making its potting mixes more sustainable and locally sourced[26:33] How many plants make it out of R&D (and the Monstera subpinnata that flopped)[28:37] How tissue culture fits into plant hunting and production[29:33] What is tissue culture, and how is it different from growing from a cutting?[30:53] Should everyday plant parents buy tissue culture plants?[34:01] When trends move faster than production: the pink princess philodendron[36:12] What's hot right now and the new genera coming out of R&D[38:55] Inside Justin's book, The New Complete Guide to Houseplants[40:40] Bonus plant profiles and signed copies when you pre-order through Costa Farms![42:31] Rapid-fire questions: underr