When you think about Amazon.com, you don’t really think “plants.” You think of literally everything else under the sun— animal paw socks? Sure, why not. A giant tortilla blanket? Of course!
But plants? Eh, not so much. While I think the best places to find cool plants are local nurseries, eBay, Etsy and just Google-searching in general, I would not write Amazon off entirely. I’ve definitely found some interesting plants there, mostly by chance. In this post, I will be showing you some plants that I’ve purchased from various vendors on Amazon.
Bloomify
I’ve been really getting into jewel orchids recently (more plant hauls featuring them later) and have been slowly putting together a small collection of them. Jewel orchids are relatively slow-growing (in general), so they are somewhat hard to find and large specimens can be quite pricey. Because of this, I’ve been accumulating younger plants slowly and intermittently whenever I find (relatively) good prices.
This is how I found my Macodes sanderiana. Just on a whim, I decided to search Amazon for “jewel orchid” and, to my surprise, a vendor called Bloomify popped up. They were selling young seedling Macodes sanderiana jewel orchids for less than $20! Considering the fact that I couldn’t find them anywhere else online, and certainly not for under $20, I all but threw my credit card at my computer screen!
Unfortunately, the plant I initially received did not fare well in transit. It arrived well-packaged but had perished after an extra day of delay during shipping (this was in the early days of COVID). I contacted Bloomify and they promptly shipped out a new one the following week. The second plant arrived in good health, and two months later, put out a brand new third leaf which can be seen in the photo above.
If you are looking to order your own Macodes sanderiana from Bloomify on Amazon, just remember that these are seedlings and most of the plants sent out are quite young and typically have only two leaves. It’s up to you to grow them out to maturity. As for me, my plant seems to be doing OK for now, but I’m sending prayers up to the Plant Gods so that my little guy will one day grow to its full glory!
Optiflora
Another interesting plant I never expected to find on Amazon was this Begonia conchifolia “Rubrimacula”, a.k.a. the Red Ruby Begonia or Bull’s-Eye Begonia. As of this writing, the vendor Optiflora no longer has these in stock.
This begonia species is occasionally found in cultivation, but I can’t seem to find much of them available online. I can only guess that it might be somewhat rare, but I’m not even sure about that. While it does not have the crazy variegated foliage of Rex begonias, I thought that the peltate (round) leaves were pretty fun. And it looked a lot like a Pilea peperomioides. The photo above is after two months of growth after I initially received the plant.
The photo here on the left is my unboxing photo. As you can see, it arrived much smaller and more compact, in a 4″ pot, and very healthy. There were no pests and shipping was very quick and timely.
JMBamboo
Philodendron micans has become an extremely popular houseplant with the ongoing aroid craze. It’s hard not to fall in love with them when you see their velvety green-bronze foliage gleaming in the light. They are not really considered rare and can be found quite readily on Etsy and eBay. However, I purchased my plants from a vendor called JMBamboo on Amazon, where they were offering—not one— but two(!) 4-inch pots for less than $20, which I thought was a pretty good deal.
The plants I received were healthy, well-established and bushy. There were no pests nor shipping damage. By now, I have had them a full year and both plants are still going strong. Unfortunately, it looks like this vendor is no longer offering Philodendron micans for sale, but they are easy enough to find elsewhere.
Aquatic Arts Store
Have no space or time to take care of regular plants? Get yourself some Marimo moss balls (Aegagropila linnaei)! These are especially perfect for those who want to add some green to their lives but don’t think they can keep other plants alive. Just drop some Marimo balls in water and keep them near a lamp or window (but avoid direct sunlight)! Make sure there is no other algae growing on them and roll them around occasionally so they maintain their round shape, and that’s pretty much it!
I remember when Marimo balls first came into commercial cultivation, and some of them were quite pricey despite their small size. Now, you can get a six-pack of them from the Aquatic Arts Store on Amazon for less than $17. They can range in size from petite 1-inchers to chonky 2.5-inchers. Or you can order them in uniform sizes. Shipping was very prompt and the Marimo moss balls were safely packaged in a plastic, watertight container. If I wanted more, I would totally go back and reorder from this vendor. After all, who doesn’t want a bunch of little green Soot Sprites floating around their homes?
The most awesome thing about Marimo balls is the fact that they require so little upkeep. You can literally put them anywhere as long as they’re in water (avoid warm water and please, no saltwater. These guys are found in freshwater lakes in the natural world). Fish and shrimp love them in aquariums, but if you don’t have pets like that, you can put them in a jar with some pretty rocks and gravel and display them that way. Do a bit of Google-searching and I’m sure there will be numerous ways to put together a stunning display of Marimo moss balls to liven up your space. They are especially beautiful when displayed in a glass container and backlit by a window.
So have you ever purchased any plants from Amazon? Did you score anything really cool and interesting? Feel free to share your own plant hauls in the comments below!
Always Keep Growing,
Heather (a.k.a. The Botanical Chick)
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