Rare plant collector profits from her hobby

Rare plant collector profits from her hobby

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Being a collector of a variety of plants, mainly rare ones, has
been a dream come true for Nuraini Eni Haryanti. But it never
crossed her mind that her hobby would also generate income for
her family.

"I realized later that if you take care of the plants well, it
produces a financial return," said the 41-year-old woman, better
known as Eni.

Citing an example, she said she once bought a plant, zamio
kurkes, for Rp 150,000 and then, after propagating it, sold it
again, this time at Rp 1.5 million apiece.

The collector of some 500 pots of different plant types,
mostly decorative, developed her love for planting from the time
she was very little, growing up in a house surrounded by yards
full of plants.

At the age of 25, she has already became a plant "maniac,"
going anywhere -- mostly plant exhibitions, to hunt for her
desired plants. For example, she has visited exhibitions in major
cities in Java, excluding Jakarta, like Surabaya, Semarang and
Bandung.

"Sometimes I just look around at exhibitions, keeping an eye
open in case there's something I'd like to buy," Eni said.

Some of the plants in her collection are rare, so rare they
are priced based on a single stem of leaves. For instance, a rare
plant, ence phalartos from Africa sells at up to Rp 25 million
for a single stem of leaves.

"It's really rare. I had to wait for at least six to 18 months
to see it grow into a stem of leaves," said Eni, who bought the
plant from another collector after some hard bargaining.

"The previous owner made me promise not to sell the plant to
other collector, and that I would keep it," said Eni, who lives
in Nogotirto housing complex, Gamping subdistrict, Sleman, in the
western outskirts of Yogyakarta.

At a glance, ence phalartos does not seem that special, much
less a very rare and expensive plant. It has no flowers but
dozens of stiff and prickly green leaves on each of the stems,
which grow right from the bottom of the plant.

"The rarity of a plant changes from time to time. At a
particular time, a plant is considered rare, but if it's easy to
grow then it's no longer considered rare. But ence phalartos is
an example of a rare plant as it's hard to grow," Eni said.

Eni, however, said she did not begin smoothly. At first she
had to lie to her husband about the real amount of money she
spent on plants. She had to do it to forestall protests from her
husband and their two children.

"Often I would say that I had bought a particular plant for
just Rp 50,000 or Rp 100,000, whereas the real price was Rp
500,000 or even Rp 1 million," said Eni.

But everything came out into the open when people started
visiting her house to buy her plants.

"At that time, I was forced to tell the truth, but to my
surprise, my husband had also developed the same love of plants
just like me," said Eni, a member of the Central Java chapter of
the Association of Decorative Plant Lovers (PPTH).

Her hobby, according to Eni, did not require special talent,
just patience and perseverance. Growing rare plants, she said,
was just like looking after ordinary plants.

But in pursuing her hobby, not everything ran smoothly for
her. Once she found 30 plants just vanished without trace due to
attacks by mice. On another occasion she found her collection of
orchids died for no apparent reason.

"Just a couple of months ago I could not save my plants when a
hut that I had built to house my rare plant collection collapsed
and fell onto them," said Eni, who prefers to use manure rather
than factory-made fertilizers for her plants.

But problems like these did not deter Eni from her hobby,
which has now become a profitable business for her, especially at
a time when most housing complexes and residential estates are
developed on confined sites.

"Decorative plants have become the preferred choice to make
the environment around houses greener," said Eni.

The woman, however, declined to reveal her monthly income from
selling her decorative plants, but said that when business was
good, a single purchase could earn her up to Rp 5 million.

"But basically, I don't sell anything from my collection of
rare plants. If I were to do so, it would mostly be to fellow
collectors by way of exchange for something from their
collection."